Finally, the economy saw record levels of corporate borrowing in the fourth quarter, the survey showed. “Loan applications nationally shot to an all-time high, while rejections sank to an all-time low,” according to the China Beige Book. That’s now become an understatement,” the China Beige Book said. China’s manufacturing was “surprisingly solid” despite a protracted trade war with the U.S., the survey showed. Shehzad Qazi managing director at China Beige Book

Meanwhile, shares in Australia rose in early trade as they returned from the holidays, with the S&P/ASX 200 rising about 0.3%. Stocks in Asia were set to trade mixed on Friday as shares on Wall Street jumped to new record highs overnight stateside. Overnight stateside, stocks on Wall Street surged to new records. Recent market sentiment has been boosted since the U.S. and China announced they have reached a phase one trade agreement earlier in December. The two economic powerhouses are in the mi

It’s not too late to book a last-minute adventure that’s fun, frivolous and out-of-town. In Pennsylvania, Kennett Square, the “Mushroom Capital of the World,” drops a 600-pound mushroom on New Year’s Eve. Hangover relief includedIV Drop, Hotel Hugo Hotel HugoOn New Year’s Eve, Hotel Hugo in New York’s City is launching an ‘SOS Package.’ Guests also can join the hotel’s NYE party at Bar Hugo, the hotel’s rooftop lounge, complete with view of midnight fireworks. At Virgin Hotels Chicago, the You,

At Party City, Halloween is the holiday that fills its coffers. Party City declined to comment on questions about its performance, but it did address concerns about a worldwide shortage of helium. But there are a variety of problems facing the business, including the aftershocks of the helium shortage and changing consumer preferences. Does Party City have reason to celebrate in 2020? Watch the video above to learn why the party store isn’t a happy as it used to be.

That seemed to be what analysts all over were asking as the stock hit another all-time high on Thursday. Those upbeat expectations include calls from Wedbush and Piper Jaffray, both of which raised their price targets for Apple on perceived 5G iPhone demand. But Joule Financial Chief Investment Officer Quint Tatro said that he wouldn’t chase Apple’s record run here. “This is a stock [that is] trading [at] five times sales, 20 times forward earnings,” he said in the same “Trading Nation” intervie

In 2010, a voter rebellion against the health-care law helped Republicans wallop Democrats and gain House control. Eight years later, Democrats made GOP efforts to scrap Obamacare the centerpiece of their campaigns and then won back the chamber. “Health care was on the ballot, and health care won,” Pelosi told reporters in November 2018 after Democrats flipped House control. Before the shift, the Affordable Care Act appeared to hurt Democrats politically at the outset as Republicans billed it as

The difference a decade ago was that the tech index was coming off 2008, in which it plunged 44%, creating a buying opportunity and setting the stage for a so-called dead cat bounce. Even so, among the FANG stocks, only Facebook has outperformed the tech index, while each of the others underperformed by at least 18 percentage points. “The FANG trade did not work out this year,” said Jake Dollarhide, CEO of Longbow Asset Management, which oversees $110 million in assets and is overweight tech sto

Tobias Lutke, founder and CEO of Canadian e-commerce company Shopify, says working 80 hours each week is not necessary for success. My (belief) is that there are 5 creative hours in everyone’s day,” Lutke said in a tweet on Thursday. The Shopify CEO shared his opinion in response to an ongoing conversation on Twitter, as some were debating whether working nights and weekends in addition to a standard day of work is necessary for success. “I’ve never worked through a night,” Lutke said in a tweet

The FDA changed Gottlieb’s official twitter handle @SGottliebFDA to @SteveFDA. Another account @FDACommissioner appears to contain the agency’s tweets from Gottlieb’s interim replacement from April 5 when he left to Dec. 17. The FDA made Gottlieb’s tweets available for download as an HTML file on its website after several reporters noticed the deleted tweets earlier this week and tweeted their outrage. Social media content meets that definition, according to the U.S. government. In a statement,

The 2020 playbook for President Trump and D.C.CNBC’s Eamon Javers reports on the 2020 outlook on Trump’s trade deal with China.

Record rally continues as the Nasdaq hits 9,000The Nasdaq crossed over the 9,000 threshold today. With CNBC’s Brian Sullivan and the Fast Money traders, Tim Seymour, Gina Sanchez, Victoria Fernandez and Dan Nathan.

Boeing 737 MAX airplanes are stored on employee parking lots near Boeing Field, on June 27, 2019 in Seattle, Washington. After a pair of crashes, the 737 MAX has been grounded by the FAA and other aviation agencies since March, 13, 2019. Boeing said on Thursday Michael Luttig, who was appointed senior adviser to the planemaker’s board amid the 737 Max crisis in May, will retire at the end of the year. The 737 Max has been grounded since March after two crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia killed 34

Twenty-year-old Dallas Mavericks player Luka Doncic, who is originally from Slovenia, grew up admiring Michael Jordan — as many do. “We’re very pleased to welcome Luka to the Jordan Brand,” Craig Williams, president of the Jordan Brand, said. “He is an undeniable talent, and he’s already demonstrated a fearlessness in the clutch that we prize in the Jordan Brand family.” “We are excited to welcome [Doncic] to the Jordan Brand family,” Michael Jordan said in the release. “He rounds out a roster

ESPN said the reporter, Ed Aschoff, died on Tuesday after a brief illness, without elaborating on a cause of death. The virus itself can cause viral pneumonia, but having the flu can also put at person at risk for bacterial pneumonia, which is considered more severe. It’s unclear if Aschoff had bacterial pneumonia, but he said in his Dec. 5 tweet that he was taking antibiotics. Not every case of pneumonia is severe, however, and many can be treated with outpatient care, Choi said. “It must be re

The electric car maker said it has also signed agreements for an unsecured revolving loan facility of up to 2.25 billion yuan, adding that both the loans will be used for its Shanghai car plant. Tesla entered into agreements with lenders in China for a secured term loan facility of up to 9 billion yuan ($1.29 billion), according to a regulatory filing on Thursday. Besides construction and production at the Shanghai factory, the loan may also be used to repay the 3.5 billion yuan debt due to be r

The S&P 500 also hit a fresh record, rising 0.51% to close at 3,239.91. The Dow Jones Industrial Averaged climbed 105.94 points, or 0.37%, to 28,621.39. The number is slightly higher than estimates of 220,000 in a Dow Jones poll of economists. Still the data provided another sign that the U.S. labor market remains strong. President Donald Trump also said Tuesday the deal is “getting done,” adding there will be a signing ceremony with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick. Kalanick co-founded Uber in 2009, then took over as CEO the following year. The second actMarc Andreessen, cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz, speaks at Recode’s 2017 Code Conference. Then, a decade ago, Andreessen co-founded Andreessen Horowitz, where he used his hard-gained knowledge as an entrepreneur to build one of the most successful venture capital firms in Silicon Valley. Kalanick sold less than $3 billion worth of Uber stock, which barely buys an NBA team these d

According to the people, Bloomberg himself prodded the financiers to open up their donor networks to the Democratic National Committee and state Democratic parties. The aides showed a map highlighting Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as states Bloomberg could pick up during the primary. Bloomberg, who founded financial services and media company Bloomberg LP, has known several of these business leaders for years. In California, one of the most delegate-rich Super Tuesday states, Bloomb

Amazon stock gained more than 4% Thursday after the company claimed a record holiday shopping season. This was the best day for Amazon stock since January 30th, putting the company positive for December after a bumpy start to the month. The company also claimed that more people signed up to try Amazon Prime, its subscription service, than ever before. Today’s gains put Amazon stock up 37% since its 52-week low of $1,363.01 per share this day last year. Amazon stock faltered at the beginning of t

The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. said Thursday that a TV version of the Christmas movie “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York,” which erased a cameo from President Donald Trump, was edited years before Trump became president. The president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., pushed the story on Twitter, as well. “As is often the case with feature films adapted for television, Home Alone 2 was edited for time,” Thompson said. “The scene with Donald Trump was one of several that were cut from the movie as no