Taco Bell has entered a brave new world: China. The Doritos Locos taco inventor just unveiled a new store in Shanghai and plans to have 1,000 restaurants operating in the country by 2022, according to the Wall Street Journal.
This new push is a leap of faith for Yum China , which also oversees the KFC and Pizza Hut brands in the country. Yum previously operated a handful of concepts in China under the name Taco Bell Grande, but all closed by 2008. The menu at this new Taco Bell is different from the one fans in America are used to, with some of the well-known favorites getting «adapted to local tastes. » Diners in China can expect to see some new sauces (like spicy Sriracha) alongside items like a shrimp and avocado burrito, spicy fried chicken, and Mexican fries.
This is the first step of a larger expansion plan from Yum China to add to its presence in China. The move comes as fellow fast-food giant McDonald’s is in the midst of selling off portions of its business in China, as part of a larger overhaul that will cut back on company-owned restaurants and increase franchised locations. (The Golden Arches still has major expansion plans there, though, with plans for 1,500 new China and Hong Kong restaurants over the next several years.)

Similarity rank: 0

Sentiment rank: 3

© Source: http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/10/taco-bell-bets-big-on-china-unveiling-first-of-1000-locations-to-come.html
All rights are reserved and belongs to a source media.

DETROIT — Optimistic executives at General Motors say strong sales in two core markets, the U. S. and China, along with cost-cutting will power the company to higher profits in 2017.
CEO Mary Barra and President Dan Ammann told a Deutsche Bank auto industry conference in Detroit to expect pretax adjusted earnings per share of $6 to $6.50 this year, up 50 cents from guidance issued for 2016. GM also said 2016 earnings would be at the high end of its guidance of $5.50 to $6 per share. GM reports 2016 results next month.
Barra said revenue would be higher this year than last, with an improved pretax profit margin, which was 8 percent in the third quarter.
She also addressed the incoming Trump administration, which has criticized the auto industry and GM specifically for building cars in Mexico instead of in the U. S. She said she plans to stress GM’s record as a job creator in the U. S. when she speaks to Trump.
GM also said it will buy back another $5 billion in stock. GM shares were up 4 percent to $37.45 in afternoon trading after hitting a 52-week high of $38.16 shortly after the outlook was issued.
The big driver of GM’s optimism continues to be North America, where the company makes the bulk of its profits. Ammann predicted continued strong sales, especially as it rolls out more new SUVs, which have been the sweet spot of the market. Sales of GM’s big SUVs, including the Chevy Tahoe and GMC Yukon, rose by double-digits last year, according to Autodata. GM unveiled an updated version of the smaller GMC Terrain at the Detroit auto show this week.
The company also expects more of the same from its joint venture with the Chinese government. Ammann said China is heading from a super-high-growth economy to a maturing one with growth slowing. But buyers are going for more expensive vehicles as the economy matures, he said.
“We see from a macroeconomic point of view pretty robust underpinnings for another good year, absent an external shock,” Ammann said.
GM also added $1 billion to its annual cost-savings target, raising it to $6.5 billion through 2018. Already it has cut administrative, material, logistics and manufacturing costs by $4 billion per year from 2014 levels.
Barra gave a glimpse into GM’s strategy for dealing with President-elect Donald Trump, who has threatened the company with a tax for importing compact cars from a factory in Mexico. Barra said GM doesn’t plan to change where it makes vehicles and plans to emphasize to the Trump administration that complex production decisions were made years ago. She said the company already is helping to grow jobs and the economy in the U. S.
“We look forward to having the conversation with the administration with the president-elect to make sure that they also understand the number of jobs we already produce,” said Barra, who is among a group of CEOs advising Trump on the economy. The company has invested over $11 billion in the U. S. in the past two years to preserve or add jobs and employs more than 100,000 people in the country, she said.
Were you interviewed for this story? If so, please fill out our accuracy form
Send questions/comments to the editors.

Similarity rank: 0

Sentiment rank: 5.6

© Source: http://www.pressherald.com/2017/01/10/gm-emits-optimism-for-2017/
All rights are reserved and belongs to a source media.

Clare Hollingworth, the veteran British war correspondent who broke the news of the Nazi invasion of Poland, has died in Hong Kong at the age of 105.
James Robbins looks back at her career in journalism.

Similarity rank: 4.3

Sentiment rank: -8.2

© Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38576883
All rights are reserved and belongs to a source media.

The next cue for China’s battered yuan may come from U. S. President-elect Donald Trump ‘s press conference on Wednesday as the market looks for more clarity on trade policy.
The mainland’s currency has recently become a source of political tension with the U. S., with President-elect Trump vowing during his campaign to label the country a currency manipulator for the purposes of a competitive trade advantage and threatening to impose a tariff of as much as 45 percent on China’s exports to the U. S.
Trump has said that he will hold a press conference on January 11, his first since July. A previously scheduled press conference in December was cancelled. He is widely expected to be asked about trade issues and analysts have pointed to a higher level of uncertainty than would usually be seen in a U. S. administration change.
In the wake of the surprise Trump win, the yuan fell to nearly eight year lows against the dollar, touching its weakest since at least January 2009, during the global financial crisis. But analysts attributed the slide primarily to the strength of the dollar, with the dollar index , which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, surging to a 14-year high after the election.
Indeed, some analysts had noted that, based on currency movements within the yuan’s trade-weighted basket, policymakers appeared to be supporting the Chinese currency somewhat.
The past week has been a turbulent one for the Chinese currency, which first weakened against, then unexpectedly climbed, squeezing short sellers, before retracing gains.
Many analysts viewed the currency’s surprise bump higher as just a hiccup as it moves toward further, mild depreciation as the dollar strengthens and mainland policymakers aim for yuan stability against the trade-weighted basket.
But analysts pointed to risks from Trump’s potential policy tilt.
«A more protectionist tilt in U. S. trade policy could trigger a trade war. This in turn could result in bigger-than-expected renminbi depreciation,» Sim Moh Siong, senior currency strategist at Bank of Singapore, said in a note on Tuesday.
«Increased protectionism is not our base case. But the risk of it occurring is meaningful,» Sim said.
In a report last week, the Bank of Singapore noted that starting a trade war risked a global recession, especially as China «is not a good candidate to be bullied. »
Sim estimated the dollar/yuan pair would rise to 7.20 by the end of 2017, compared with the pair trading around 6.9238 in onshore trade on Tuesday.
Others also noted the possibility the yuan could tumble based on Trump’s comments at the press conference.
«It is certainly susceptible to weakness if a hard line is taken,» noted Patrick Bennett, a foreign exchange strategist at CIBC, on Tuesday.
He pointed to the yuan’s drop since Trump’s election win as «moving counter to the wishes or theme of the Trump policy,» which complained that the renminbi was being manipulated lower.
Bennett attributed the yuan’s decline to the dollar’s rise on the likely market impact of Trump’s domestic policies, adding that he expected the renminbi would continue to lose ground against the greenback amid capital outflows from the mainland.
But he also said he didn’t think Trump would take too hard a line.
«Heightened protectionism would be no good for anyone,» he said.
However, there have been signs that Trump may not be softening his rhetoric.
On January 2, Trump indicated in a tweet that he remained concerned over China’s policies, saying «China has been taking out massive amounts of money & wealth from the U. S. in totally one-sided trade. »
Other analysts have taken the threat of protectionism more seriously.
«The biggest macro and market downside risks from a Trump presidency arguably derive from his trade agenda – such as his pledges to withdraw from the Trans-pacific Partnership, declare China a currency manipulator and lift tariffs. A new era of protectionism would be negative for the global economy,» Jeremy Lawson, chief economist at Standard Life Investments, said in an email note dated Wednesday.
«We believe the most likely scenario is that heightened rhetoric is used to secure better access to foreign markets for U. S. companies and incentives to keep production at home,» he added. «However, the views of Trump’s nominees for key trade policy roles in his administration shows that there is a significant risk that Trump means what he says. »
Trump has said he intended to nominate lawyer Robert Lighthizer as U. S. trade representative. A proponent of a tough U. S. position on China, Lighthizer has negotiated restrictions on steel imports and was deputy U. S. trade representative in the Reagan administration.
Lighthizer’s positions were similar to Trump’s pick to head the newly created National Trade Council, Peter Navarro, author of the book «Death by China. »
Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook.

Similarity rank: 2.1

Sentiment rank: 0

© Source: http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/10/why-the-chinese-yuans-next-move-may-hinge-on-trumps-press-conference.html
All rights are reserved and belongs to a source media.