Toyota’s turn
Toyota is poised to take back the title of world’s biggest automaker for 2012, as Volkswagen fights GM for second place. Global 2012 sales will top 80 million cars and trucks for the first time, as robust US and Japanese purchases offset a European downturn, according to estimates from LMC Automotive.
Yield $ign
Most big banks predict Treasury yields will rise in 2013, according to a survey of 21 primary dealers. They see a median 10-year yield of 2.25 percent at the end of 2013; forecasts ranged from 1.4 percent to 3 percent. Benchmark 10-year notes yielded 1.709 percent late Friday from 1.878 percent at the end of 2011.
Slower China
China said it will seek a higher “quality and efficiency” of growth next year, signaling new leaders may accept a reduced pace of expansion in exchange for a more sustainable model. China’s economy has slowed sharply over the past seven quarters. In the third quarter, GDP rose 7.4 percent compared with the year-earlier period, the slowest pace of expansion since the global financial crisis of 2009.