The Traderszone Network

Data out a few mins ago
– Tokyo store sales yy +6.1% vs +7.2% prev
–  a fifth straight year-on-year rise, as the heat wave in early August boosted demand for summer clothing while the bad weather mid-month increased that for winter clothing.
Meanwhile USDJPY on new session lows of 119.64 as Nikkei falls back near session lows. Currently down -1.92% as we head into the close but China’s Shanghai Comp Index +0.81% at 3111.08

SAN JUAN/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Business is tough enough already for Carlos Jimenez without having to face higher taxes. Fast Lane, his three-location car-wash chain in Puerto Rico, has laid off about half the 106 employees it had in 2007. The sales tax also rose, from 7 percent to 11.5 percent, in July.

Oil markets were weak on Friday as fresh signs OPEC will continue to value market share over prices outweighed expectations of a lift when the United States kept interest rates at historic lows. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were trading at $46.72 per barrel at 0331 GMT, down 18 cents from their last settlement. Kuwait, a key producer of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), said on Thursday the oil market would balance itself but that this would take time, indicating support for the group’s policy of defending market share despite falling prices.

A unit of China’s CRRC Corp, the world’s biggest train maker by revenue, on Thursday joined a group of its domestic peers in agreeing a deal to help build a high-speed link from Las Vegas to Los Angeles, underlining the rail giant’s lofty overseas ambitions. Announced in a joint statement by the Chinese firms and U.S. partner XpressWest at a government forum in Beijing, the deal is the latest in a series of deeper Sino-American business ties to be unveiled before President Xi Jinping visits the United States next week.

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The company also said on Thursday that David Wadhwani, head of its digital media, was leaving to pursue a CEO opportunity. Adobe has been switching to web-based subscriptions from traditional licensed software to help attract more predictable recurring revenue. The company said it added 684,000 Creative Cloud net subscriptions in the quarter ended Aug. 28, compared with the 640,000 net additions that analysts had expected, according to research firm FactSet Street Account.

Sales from organic U.S. farms reached $5.5 billion last year, a 72 percent increase from 2008, the U.S. Agriculture Department said in a report on Thursday that highlighted the consumer trend toward such products. The USDA data, compiled through farmer surveys, showed that milk was the top organic commodity in 2014 with sales of about $1.1 billion. Sales of organic eggs, which are laid by hens raised without cages, totaled $420 million.

So says the Chinese deputy fin min. Reuters reporting
– Chinese economic volatility will not hamper reforms