6 Most Important Things About Business Today

December 7, 2017 by Douglas A. McIntyre

Eurozone gross domestic product rose 0.6% in the third quarter, which was the consensus among economists.

Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) CEO Robert Iger will probably renew his contract again if the entertainment giant buys a large portion of the assets of Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. (NYSE: FOX), according to The Wall Street Journal.

The Wall Street Journal reports that General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) will spend a large sum of money to upgrade its pickups, including the addition of carbon fiber, as it tries to keep up with industry leader Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F). The Ford F-150 pickup has been the top-selling vehicle in the United States for decades.

Most electric cars need cobalt, and miners are pressing prices higher when they can, according to the Financial Times.

Bitcoin hit $14,000, a rise of 40% this month, according to Bloomberg.

China’s growth will be sharply curtailed because of the debt load carried by many banks, companies and the government. CNBC reports:

China’s growth rate will be “much, much lower” when Beijing gets a grip on controlling debt, a finance professor at one of China’s top university said Thursday.

“I have absolutely no doubt that once Beijing is able get control of the growth in credit — which they are a long way from doing — growth rates are going to be much, much lower than the current growth rate,” said Michael Pettis, finance professor at Peking University.

In that scenario, equilibrium growth rates will be 2 to 3 percent, Pettis told CNBC on the sidelines of the Fortune Global Forum in Guangzhou, China. The country targeted growth around 6.5 percent this year.

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