BANGKOK (AP) — Shares were mostly higher in Asia today after a survey of Chinese manufacturers showed factory activity improved slightly in December. In early trading in Europe, Germany's DAX added 1.1 percent, the CAC 40 in France surged 0.8 percent and Britain's FTSE 100 jumped 0.7 percent. Shares look set for gains on Wall Street, with Dow futures up 0.2 percent and S&P futures up almost 0.3 percent.
BEIJING (AP) — China's government is urging Washington to accept its industrial development after U.S. intelligence officials said Beijing steals or copies foreign technology. A foreign ministry spokesman says it was "totally unreasonable to make random accusations." On Wednesday, U.S. intelligence officials told Congress that China is the biggest commercial and military threat to the United States. A separate report this week said Beijing will steal or copy technologies it cannot make itself.
LONDON (AP) — Britain's carmakers have issued a stark warning about Brexit's impact on the industry, warning that two-thirds of the country's production is at risk if the U.K. leaves the European Union without an agreement on future trade. The Society of Motor Manufacturing says the industry is on "red alert" as the threat of no-deal increases. The trade association says investment in the industry fell 46 percent last year and new car production dropped 9.1 percent to 1.52 million vehicles in 2018, in part because of concerns over Brexit.
PARIS (AP) — Activists from an anti-globalization group staged a protest at Google's Paris headquarters today to criticize the company for paying little tax. Members of the group Attac gathered at Google's offices today and set up a pulley to pass bags of fake money between the firm's premises and a public finance center across the street. Attac claims that Google France shifts more than 85 percent of its French revenue to countries with more favorable tax regimes.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Colleges made strong returns on their financial investments last year, but experts worry the gains could be jeopardized by spending increases. A survey of more than 800 schools found that their endowments returned an average of 8.2 percent in 2018. That's a decrease from the year before but a major improvement over two sluggish years before that. Harvard University remains the nation's wealthiest school with an endowment of $38 billion.
