China's third quarter economic growth slowed to its weakest pace since the global financial crisis, and missed expectations, as a campaign to tackle debt risks and the trade war with the US began to bite. The Chinese economy grew 6.5% in the third quarter from a year earlier, slower than the second quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics said today. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected the economy to expand 6.6% in the three months from July to September. | European Union chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has said a Brexit deal with the United Kingdom was 90% done, although there was still a chance no accord would be reached due to ongoing stumbling blocks over the Irish border. Mr Barnier said that problems over Ireland could lead to the failure of Brexit talks. | PayPal Holdings last night reported a third-quarter profit that beat analysts' estimates as the company signed up more new customers and volume of payments processed rose. PayPal said its net income rose to $436m, or 36 cents per share, in the third quarter, from $380m, or 31 cents per share, a year earlier. Third quarter revenue rose to $3.68 billion from $3.24 billion. | ISME's latest Bank Watch survey shows a small decrease in loan refusal rates, with the rate decreasing from 36% to 29% in the three months from July to September.The SME association said the survey also revealed that demand for credit rose from 31% to 36% while the waiting time from funding decision to drawdown is on average eight weeks. According to ISME, awareness of the Credit Review Office among SMEs remained unchanged at 68%. | Unilever has today reported a pick-up in third-quarter sales, as higher prices helped blunt commodity cost increases. The Anglo-Dutch maker of Dove soap and Ben & Jerry's ice cream said underlying sales rose 3.8% in the third quarter. The company said pricing growth in Argentina was excluded, due to its hyperinflationary status. Including Argentina, sales growth would have been 4.5%, the company said. Analysts on average were expecting 4.3% growth, according to a consensus supplied by the company. | Japan's SoftBank Group is in discussions to buy a majority stake in US shared office space provider WeWork Cos, a source said, potentially doubling down on one of its biggest bets on a loss-making startup. Pricing and other details have yet to be firmed up, the source said, adding that it was not a done deal. A second source also said SoftBank is in talks about a major new investment in WeWork. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that SoftBank's investment could be between $15 billion and $20 billion and would likely come from SoftBank's Vision Fund.   |||