PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Tesla is raising $1.5 billion as it ramps up production of the Model 3 sedan, its first mass market electric car.The company said Monday that it planned to offer senior notes due in 2025 and would use the offering's proceeds to further strengthen its balance sheet during rapid scaling of the Model 3.Last week CEO Elon Musk said investors should have "zero concern" about whether Tesla will be able to make 10,000 Model 3s per week by next year. Tesla just delivered the first 3

WASHINGTON (AP) _ A drop in the unemployment rate to a 16-year low raises a tantalizing question about the job market: How much better can it get?　 Earlier this year, economists worried that the low unemployment rate meant businesses would struggle to find workers and that would drag down the pace of hiring. Those fears were heightened by a tiny job gain in March and modest hiring in May.　 Yet Friday‘s jobs report suggests such concerns are premature. Employers added 209,000 jobs, after a solid

WASHINGTON (AP) _ The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in June as exports hit the highest level in 2 { years.　 The Commerce Department says the trade gap slid 5.9 percent in June to $43.6 billion. Exports of goods and services rose 1.2 percent to $194.4 billion, the highest amount since December 2014. Services exports reached a record $65.4 billion. Overall imports slipped 0.2 percent to $238 billion.　 So far this year, the trade deficit is up 10.7 percent to $276.6 billion.　 A shrinking trade gap ad

WASHINGTON (AP) _ U.S. employers added 209,000 jobs in July, a second straight month of robust gains that underscore the economy‘s vitality as it enters a ninth year of expansion. The Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate slipped to 4.3 percent, matching a 16-year low first reached in May. 　 Growth in Americans’ paychecks, however, remains stubbornly slow. Average hourly pay rose by 2.5 percent from a year earlier, the same tepid annual pace as in June. That‘s below the 3.5 per

NEW YORK -- Activist investor Nelson Peltz is attempting to secure a seat on the board at Procter & Gamble, seeking faster changes at the consumer products company.Peltz's Trian Fund Management LP, which owns about $3.3 billion worth of shares at Procter & Gamble, said Monday that it's interested in helping Procter & Gamble improve its performance, saying that its financial performance over the last 10 years has been disappointing. David Taylor was named CEO of the company two years ago and P&G

European Union regulators on Monday filed antitrust charges against Israeli drug-maker Teva for colluding to delay a cheaper generic version of modafinil, a blockbuster sleep drug.The European Commission said in a statement that it had informed Teva of its "preliminary view" that an agreement concluded with rival Cephalon was in breach of EU antitrust rules.Under the agreement, Teva committed not to market a cheaper generic version of modafinil, Cephalon's drug for sleep disorders, the EU said.T

China defended Thursday its purchase of iron ore from North Korea following criticism by US President Donald Trump and said it is "strictly and earnestly'' complying with U.N. sanctions.China stopped importing North Korean coal but total trade has risen, which prompted Trump to complain last week Beijing is failing to use its economic leverage to stop Pyongyang's pursuit of nuclear weapons. Chinese purchases of North Korea iron ore rose 34 percent from a year earlier in the first five months of

STOCKHOLM -- Apple on Monday said it would invest six billion Danish kroner ($920 million, 810 million euros) in a data centre in Denmark, its second in the country to run entirely on clean energy.Ground-breaking at the plant in Aabenraa, which will employ between 50 and 100 people, will start in the final quarter of 2017, with construction due to be completed in early 2019.The facility will help to handle data from iMessages, answers from the voice-activated assistant Siri and song downloads fr

BEIJING (AFP) -- Fears about the health of China's cancer-stricken Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo rose on Thursday as the hospital treating him said the liver function of the country's most prominent democracy advocate had deteriorated.Friends voiced concerns that Liu, 61, is now near death after it emerged last month that he had been transferred from prison to a hospital due to terminal liver cancer.Liu was sentenced to 11 years in prison in December 2009 for "subversion" after calling for democrati

BRUSSELS (AFP) -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and top EU officials agreed Thursday to the broad outline of a landmark trade deal, presented as a direct challenge to the protectionism championed by US President Donald Trump.The breakthrough capped four years of talks and came on the eve of a G20 meeting in Germany at which Trump is expected to defend his "America First" stance on world trade."Today we agreed in principle on an Economic Partnership Agreement (with Japan), the impact of whic

BERLIN (AFP) - Airbus said Wednesday it had won a major order from China of 140 planes for $22.8 billion, during a visit by President Xi Jinping to Berlin.The European aircraft maker said it had sealed the agreement with China Aviation Supplies Holding Company (CAS), which chief executive Tom Enders called "one of the biggest contracts signed in a long time by Airbus".The deal covers 100 A320 single-aisle jets and 40 A350 wide-body aircraft."This underscores the strong demand by Chinese airlines