TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese customers will have to settle for a small serving of McDonald’s fries for the next month or so after the fast-food chain said it was limiting portions due to shipping problems. McDonald’s Holdings Company Japan said in a statement on Friday that the impact of flood damage on the port of…

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s auditing regulator said officials should “keep their eyes open” when conducting audits, after recovering more than 300 billion yuan ($47.04 billion) in government funds, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported. The task of auditing this year will focus on fiscal expenditure, including implementing tax cuts and reductions, Xinhua quoted Hou Kai,…

By Tetsushi Kajimoto and Leika Kihara TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki stressed on Friday the need for currency stability and said he was watching market moves “carefully,” in the wake of the yen’s recent declines against the dollar. Domestic media and some market participants have warned of the potential demerits of a…

By Howard Schneider WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Since adopting a new approach to U.S. monetary policy weighted towards ensuring a strong labor market, Federal Reserve officials have been reluctant to define key terms like “maximum employment,” arguing they did not want to prejudge how many jobs the economy could produce but feel their way toward that…

By Tom Westbrook SYDNEY (Reuters) – The dollar is set to notch broad weekly gains and could extend its rally if U.S. labour data due on Friday reinforces the case for early Federal Reserve interest rate hikes. The yen has been the most prominent casualty in the first trading week of the year, as investors…

By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. employment growth likely picked up in December, culminating in record job creation in 2021, but the labor market could temporarily lose its luster as raging COVID-19 infections cause disruptions at businesses and schools. The Labor Department’s closely watched employment report on Friday is also expected to show the…

By Omar Younis LAS VEGAS (Reuters) – German carmaker BMW has unveiled the world’s first “colour-changing” car at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The concept car, called the BMW iX Flow, uses electronic ink technology normally found in e-readers to transform the car’s exterior into a variety of patterns in gray and…

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s wholesale inflation in December is expected to remain near a recent peak as companies hike prices to offset rising raw material costs, a Reuters poll showed on Friday. The corporate goods price index (CGPI), a gauge of the prices companies charge each other for their goods, in December likely rose 8.8%…

BEIJING (Reuters) – China will aim to have over 270 civil airports by 2025, part of the next five-year development plan for the aviation sector, Han Jun, an official with the aviation regulator, told an online press conference on Friday. As at the end of 2020, China had 241 civil airports. (Reporting by Stella Qiu…

By Daniel Leussink TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s household spending posted an annual drop for the fourth straight month in November, a weaker-than-expected reading that threw into doubt hopes that a consumer demand recovery will give a major boost to the economy in the final quarter of 2021. Household spending fell 1.3% in November from a…