Business

Just about everyone dreams about cars they wish they could own, and there’s no better time than the holidays to make a list of vehicles you’d love to have in your driveway. The car pros at Edmunds rounded up five of their favorite dream-worthy vehicles. But rather than just list the most outlandish and expensive exotics, they focused on highlighting models that are expensive but not so pricey that it’d be completely unrealistic for you to own one one day. The vehicles are ordered in ascending order of price and include destination fees.

Off-road trucks look fantastic and are extremely capable. What truck enthusiast wouldn’t have one topping their wish list? The king of the hill for 2025 is the F-150 Raptor R. The regular Raptor is already impressive, and the R takes it to the next level with a bonkers 720-horsepower supercharged 5.2-liter V8 engine, upgraded Fox dual-value shock absorbers, and massive 37-inch all-terrain tires. An R-specific grille and hood are also part of the R’s upgrades.

Thankfully, the Raptor R isn’t all bark and bite. It also has plenty of features to make it a livable truck for daily driving. Standard features include leather upholstery, cooling front seats, a premium sound system, and a surround-view camera to help make this big truck easier to park.

Starting Price: $112,825

Few sedans can match the Mercedes-Benz S-Class for opulence, luxury and prestige. This grand sedan showcases nearly every luxury, technology and performance innovation that Mercedes-Benz has concocted. Everything you touch inside is likely covered in leather, heated, or bathed in disco-worthy ambient light.

A novel could be written about all of the S-Class’ luxury and comfort features, but one of the most notable is the E-Active Body Control system. It scans the road surface ahead and adjusts the suspension to deliver the best ride possible. The S-Class also boasts an extensive list of advanced safety features and has an augmented reality head-up display that projects images that appear to float in front of the car. For the ultimate S-Class, get the 791-horsepower AMG S 63 E Performance model.

Starting Price: $118,900

Who needs a European exotic car when the Corvette ZR1 is just as capable? A sports car fanatic’s wish list wouldn’t be right without the ZR1. The new Corvette hit a record-setting top speed of 233 mph, making it the fastest car ever built by an American automaker and the fastest current production car priced under $1 million, according to Chevrolet.

The top speed record was possible thanks to the ZR1’s turbocharged 5.5-liter V8 engine that cranks out a staggering 1,064 horsepower. Its carbon-fiber aero package kept it glued to the track by generating over 1,200 pounds of downforce at top speed. Chevrolet also says the ZR1 can accelerate through the quarter mile in less than 10 seconds. We expect the Corvette ZR1 to go on sale in early 2025.

Estimated starting price: $150,000

Does your wish list include a big and powerful SUV? If it does, the Escalade-V should top it. The big Caddy roars like a muscle car thanks to its supercharged 6.2-liter V8 that churns out 682 horsepower and helps it hit 60 mph in just 4.4 seconds. The Escalade-V also boasts enormous 24-inch wheels and large Brembo brakes that help bring the three-ton SUV to a stop.

But the Escalade-V isn’t only about brute power. It also has three rows of seating, plenty of cargo space and offers impressive tech like Super Cruise, a hands-free highway driving system, and an enormous 55-inch curved display that spans the dashboard.

Starting Price: $161,990

What if we told you there was a car that could outpace almost anything on a drag strip, keep up with high-end sports cars on a racetrack, and be comfortable enough for daily errands? Well, if that sounds amazing, add the Air Sapphire to your dream list.

The Air Sapphire is a high-performance electric luxury sedan made by Lucid, an electric vehicle startup. It’s one of the most powerful production cars in the world, producing an astonishing 1,234 horsepower from its three electric motors. Lucid says it has a top speed of 205 mph and can rocket to 60 mph in a mind-numbing 1.9 seconds. You can adjust the vehicle’s setting for exceptional track performance or simply provide a comfortable ride around town.

Starting price: $250,500

Even if you can’t afford any of these vehicles, you can still picture one sitting in your driveway or imagine yourself cruising around town in it. And who knows, maybe holiday magic will give you the opportunity to own one in the future.

____

This story was provided to The Associated Press by the automotive website Edmunds.

Michael Cantu is a contributor at Edmunds.

source

BEIJING (Reuters) -China’s commerce ministry said on Wednesday it would extend its anti-dumping investigation into brandy originating from the European Union by three months, less than the full extension allowed under its previous guidance.

The probe, which was launched on Jan. 5 and due to be completed in a year, will be extended to April 5 due to the “complexity” of the investigation, the ministry said in a brief statement, without elaborating.

The ministry previously said the probe could be extended by six months under special circumstances.

Preliminary findings from the probe have shown dumping of EU brandy threatens to damage China’s sector, the ministry said in October as it imposed temporary measures on EU brandy imports, hitting French brands including Hennessy and Remy Martin.

The probe was widely seen as the outcome of France’s support of EU tariffs on China-made electric vehicles. French President Emmanuel Macron previously called the probe “pure retaliation”.

The Chinese measures require China’s importers to pay security deposits of nearly 40% if they wish to import brandy from the bloc, making it more costly upfront to ship brandy from the EU.

France’s trade ministry previously called the Chinese measures “incomprehensible”, and that they had violated free trade.

Last month, the EU Commission said it had formally brought the provisional Chinese anti-dumping measures to the World Trade Organization.

French brandy shipments to China reached $1.7 billion last year and accounted for 99% of the country’s imports of the spirit.

(Reporting by Ryan Woo; Editing by William Mallard and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

source

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares slipped in Tokyo and Shanghai on Wednesday, two of only a handful of world markets open on Christmas day.

Oil prices rose.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index edged 0.1% lower to 38,997.02, while the Shanghai Composite index lost 0.2% to 3,387.41.

Thursday will bring a weekly update on U.S. unemployment benefits.

Also early Wednesday, U.S. benchmark crude oil was up 93 cents at $70.17 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, picked up 6 cents to $73.23 per barrel.

The dollar rose to 157.37 Japanese yen from 157.11 yen. The euro rose to $1.0431 from $1.0397.

On Tuesday, stocks closed higher on Wall Street in a shortened holiday session. Gains in Big Tech stocks helped the S&P 500 to a 1.1% gain, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.9%. The Nasdaq composite climbed 1.3%.

Advancers outnumbered decliners by more than 3-to-1 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Broadcom rose 3.2%, Apple gained 1.1% and Amazon closed 1.8% higher. Super Micro Computer climbed 6%.

Tesla jumped 7.4% for the biggest gains among S&P 500 stocks.

American Airlines shook off an early loss and ended with a 0.6% gain after the airline briefly grounded flights nationwide due to a technical issue.

Elsewhere in the market, U.S. Steel rose 1.9% a day after an influential government panel failed to reach consensus on the possible national security risks of the nearly $15 billion proposed sale to Nippon Steel of Japan.

NeueHealth surged 74.9% after the health care company agreed to be taken private in a deal valued at roughly $1.3 billion.

Tuesday’s U.S. market “Santa rally” comes as the stock market enters what’s historically been a very cheerful season. The last five trading days of each year, plus the first two in the new year, have brought an average gain of 1.3% since 1950.

So far this month, the U.S. stock market has lost some of its gains since President-elect Donald Trump’s win on Election Day, which raised hopes for faster economic growth and more lax regulations that would boost corporate profits. Worries have risen that Trump’s preference for tariffs and other policies could lead to higher inflation, a bigger U.S. government debt and difficulties for global trade.

Even so, the U.S. market remains on pace to deliver strong returns for 2024. The benchmark S&P 500 is up 26.6% so far this year and remains within roughly 1% of the all-time high it set earlier this month — its latest of 57 record highs this year.

source

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian companies have begun using bitcoin and other digital currencies in international payments following legislative changes that allowed such use in order to counter Western sanctions, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Wednesday.

Sanctions have complicated Russia’s trade with its major partners such as China or Turkey, as local banks are extremely cautious with Russia-related transactions to avoid scrutiny from Western regulators.

This year, Russia permitted the use of cryptocurrencies in foreign trade and has taken steps to make it legal to mine cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin. Russia is one of the global leaders in bitcoin mining.

“As part of the experimental regime, it is possible to use bitcoins, which we had mined here in Russia (in foreign trade transactions),” Siluanov told Russia 24 television channel.

“Such transactions are already occurring. We believe they should be expanded and developed further. I am confident this will happen next year,” he said, adding that international payments in digital currencies represent the future.

Earlier this month, President Vladimir Putin said that the current U.S. administration was undermining the role of the U.S dollar as the reserve currency by using it for political purposes, forcing many countries to turn to alternative assets.

He singled out bitcoin as an example of such assets, saying that no-one in the world could regulate bitcoin. Putin’s remarks indicated that the Russian leader backs the extensive use of cryptocurrencies.

(Reporting by Gleb Bryanski; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

source

By Takaya Yamaguchi

TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan’s government is set to compile a record $735 billion budget for the fiscal year from April due to larger social security and debt-servicing costs, adding to the industrial world’s heaviest debt, a draft seen by Reuters showed.

The 115.5 trillion yen draft budget is being compiled as the Bank of Japan shifts away from its decade-long stimulus programme, putting more burden on the government to stimulate the economy.

In an attempt to improve public finances, however, the government plans to trim new bond issuance next fiscal year to 28.6 trillion yen from this fiscal year’s initially planned 35.4 trillion yen, helped by tax revenue growth, the draft showed.

It is the first time in 17 years that new bond issuance will drop below 30 trillion yen.

Decades of stop-start fiscal spending and reform have left Japan with the industrial world’s heaviest public debt burden – more than double the size of its annual economic output.

The BOJ’s retreat from a decade of radical stimulus adds to pressure on Japan’s fiscal health, as the government can no longer count on the central bank to effectively bankroll debt.

The BOJ ended negative interest rates in March and raised its short-term policy target to 0.25% in July. Governor Kazuo Ueda signalled on Wednesday that the next rate hike is nearing, saying wage and price developments indicate the economy will move closer to sustainably achieving the central bank’s 2% inflation target next year.

The draft budget, up from this fiscal year’s 112.6 trillion yen, is expected to be approved by Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s cabinet on Friday for submission to parliament for deliberation early next year.

Tax revenue is projected to rise 8.8 trillion yen from this year’s initial estimate to a record 78.4 trillion yen, thanks in part to a recovery in corporate profits, according to the draft.

The primary budget balance, which excludes new bond sales and debt servicing costs, will be in deficit of less than 1 trillion yen, keeping alive the possibility of achieving the government’s goal of delivering a primary budget surplus by the next fiscal year.

The budget draft assumes the yield on the benchmark 10-year government bond rises to 2% next fiscal year from this year’s 1.9%, topping 2% for the first time in 13 years.

That would boost debt-servicing costs for interest payments and debt redemption to 28.2 trillion yen from 27 trillion yen for this fiscal year.

The government on Wednesday revised its economic outlook, estimating the real economic growth rate for the current fiscal year at 0.4%, down from 0.7% projected in November as a Chinese economic slowdown weighed on exports.

The growth projection for the next fiscal year was kept at 1.2%.

($1 = 157.2200 yen)

(Reporting by Takaya Yamaguchi, Makiko Yamazaki, Yoshifumi Takemoto and Kaori Kaneko; Editing by William Mallard and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

source

By Ryan Woo, Ethan Wang and yukun zhang

BEIJING (Reuters) – In China’s take on Squid Game, fraudsters are preying on the financially distressed in a slumping economy with promises of prize money, debt restructuring and other schemes that are not always what is promised.

Unlike the dystopian South Korean TV series, which returns to the small screen for a second season on Thursday, Chinese players taking on “self-discipline” challenges do not risk their lives if they lose.

But courts have found some participants in isolation challenges – who pay hundreds of dollars to stay in a room for days, following prescribed rules in the hopes of winning as much as 1 million yuan ($140,000) – are being scammed. And regulators are warning people about dodgy debt relief claims.

Isolation challenges, often advertised on Douyin, as TikTok is known in China, have risen in popularity this year as the world’s second-biggest economy slows. It grew at the weakest pace in more than a year in the three months to September, spurring policymakers to pledge fresh measures to boost household incomes among other steps.

The long lists of rules in the challenges include toilet breaks not exceeding 15 minutes and bans on touching the alarm clock more than twice a day.

Many players cry foul when they do not survive their first day for infractions caught on surveillance cameras, which they dispute.

In October, a court in the eastern province of Shandong ordered an organiser to refund 5,400 yuan ($740) in sign-up fees to a player surnamed Sun, ruling the contract was unfair and “violated public order and good morals”.

Sun was trying to win 250,000 yuan by surviving a 30-day isolation challenge with rules forbidding smoking, use of electronic devices, consumption of alcohol and contact with anyone outside the room.

On the third day of the challenge, organisers said Sun had covered his face with a pillow, breaking a prohibition on players obscuring their faces.

The Cyberspace Administration of China, which regulates the country’s internet, and ByteDance, owner of Douyin, did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.

The National Financial Regulatory Administration (NFRA) warned the public on Tuesday not to fall for “debt intermediaries” claiming to help people restructure their borrowings or improve their credit profiles.

Touting their services through phone, texts, flyers and ads on social media, such intermediaries claim they can help secure new loans or provide temporary funds, but the regulator warned the services come with a high fee.

Intermediaries charge as much as 12% of the loan value in “service fees”, the state-backed National Business Daily said.

Another scheme involves charging large fees to ostensibly help debtors repair their credit records, according to the NFRA, which cautioned that borrowers’ personal information might also be leaked or sold.

China’s household loans totalled 82.47 trillion yuan ($11.3 trillion) in November, according to central bank data.

($1 = 7.2988 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Ryan Woo, Ethan Wang and Yukun Zhang; Editing by William Mallard)

source

By Takaya Yamaguchi

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s government is set to compile a record $734 billion budget for the fiscal year from April due to larger social security and debt-servicing costs, adding to the industrial world’s heaviest debt, a draft plan seen by Reuters showed.

The record 115.5 trillion yen budget comes as the Bank of Japan shifts away from its decade-long stimulus programme, which means that the government can no longer rely on ultra-low borrowing costs and on the central bank to effectively bankroll debt.

In a show of will to improve public finances, however, the government plans to trim new bond issuance in the next fiscal year to 28.6 trillion yen from an initially planned 35.4 trillion yen for this year thanks to tax revenue growth, the draft showed.

It is the first time that new bond issuance will drop below 30 billion yen in 17 years.

Tax revenue is estimated at a record 78.4 trillion yen thanks in part to recovery in corporate profits, according to the draft.

The assumed interest rate would increase to 2% for the year starting in April from the current year’s 1.9%, boosting debt-servicing costs for interest payments and debt redemption to 28.2 trillion yen from 27 trillion yen for the current year.

($1 = 157.2900 yen)

(Reporting by Takaya Yamaguchi, Makiko Yamazaki and Kaori Kaneko; Editing by William Mallard and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

source

NEW YORK, Dec 24 (Reuters) – Short interest on the New York Stock Exchange rose 2.4 percent in mid-December, the exchange said on Tuesday.

As of Dec. 13, short interest rose to about 16.155 billion shares, compared with 15.784 billion shares as of Nov. 29.

Investors who sell securities short borrow shares and then sell them, expecting the stock to fall so they can buy the shares back at the lower price, return them to the lender and pocket the difference.

source

By Mariko Katsumura

TOKYO (Reuters) – On the face of it, the duo hardly seem fit to inspire confidence as the brains behind Japan’s newest stock fund: one, a former comedian and the other, every bit the stereotypical “otaku” geek.

But their maiden fund, announced on Wednesday, may be the Christmas gift that followers of the one-time entertainer, Toshiya Imura, have been waiting for since he revealed his plans for it about two years ago.

The 40-year-old father of three had gained fame and an enthusiastic fan base by turning his obsession with stock research into 6.5 billion yen ($41.4 million) in assets as an individual investor.

His reputation was such that any time his name appeared in a regulatory filing as a major shareholder, that company’s stock would surge, as followers sought out “Imura stocks” to piggy-back on his value-investment bets.

But Imura had bigger dreams: to become a professional investor to get more Japanese to profit from the stock market – a goal that aligns with the government’s efforts to shepherd the roughly $6.5 trillion of households’ cash into financial investments.

He doggedly began his courtship of Keizo Takeiri, a quirky, former Goldman Sachs analyst, to be his partner-in-crime.

Imura said he was instantly struck by Takeiri’s photographic memory, talent for analysis and sheer geekdom when they first met in 2020.

“His knowledge was next-level,” Imura told Reuters in an interview this month alongside Takeiri and an official from the fund’s operator, Fundnote.

Takeiri had also previously caught the eye of Akira Katayama, a famous online gamer-turned-billionaire whose invitation to work at his hedge fund was further proof of his analytical chops.

Known to his ex-Goldman colleagues as “that stock otaku”, Takeiri, 38, said his years at the elite Tokyo University were spent skipping classes, playing mahjong and researching stocks. Grooming was low on his priority list.

“He sometimes shows up with holes in his clothes and bizarrely long fingernails,” Imura teased. “Maybe he doesn’t care or notice? He’s a real high-spec weirdo.”

That sentiment is mutual.

Takeiri said Imura would send him 200 Slack messages on a typical day but then go missing for days on end when diving deep into a company’s balance sheet.

“The force with which he throws himself into finding out what he wants to know is out of this world.”

The pair’s new fund goes on sale on Jan. 10 and will have an initial investment cap of 10 billion yen.

($1 = 157.1000 yen)

(Reporting by Mariko Katsumura, Additional reporting by Shinichi Uchida; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim and Stephen Coates)

source

TOKYO (Reuters) – Toyota Motor’s global production decreased for a 10th straight month in November, the Japanese carmaker said on Wednesday, although its worldwide sales grew for the second consecutive month on solid demand in the United States and China.

The world’s biggest automaker manufactured 869,230 vehicles globally in November, down 6.2% from the same month last year, a larger fall than October’s 0.8% dip.

Toyota’s U.S. output was down 11.8%, making a slow recovery although the production of Grand Highlander and Lexus TX SUV models resumed in late October after a four-month stoppage.

China production dropped 1.6%, which was however better than a 9% decline in the previous month, as Toyota saw higher local sales of its Granvia and Sienna minivan models and the electric sedan bZ3 jointly developed with BYD.

Amid the rise of BYD and other Chinese brands, Toyota has decided to build an independent plant in Shanghai and start manufacturing electric cars for its Lexus luxury brand from around 2027, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Monday.

In Japan, which accounts for about a third of Toyota’s global output, production was down 9.3% in November, due in part to a two-day production halt at its Fujimatsu and Yoshiwara plants.

Toyota saw its worldwide sales rising for a second straight month, by 1.7% to 920,569 vehicles, setting a new record for the month of November.

In the January-to-November period, Toyota’s global output was 5.2% lower than the same period last year at around 8.75 million vehicles, while global sales were down 1.2%.

The production and sales figures include vehicles of Toyota’s Lexus brand but exclude those of group companies Hino and Daihatsu.

(Reporting by Kantaro Komiya; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

source