The European Union and Canada signed a far-reaching trade agreement this week that commits them to opening their markets to greater competition, after overcoming a last-minute political obstacle that reflected the growing skepticism toward globalization in much of the developed world.

Guidance from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for improving motor vehicle cybersecurity has attracted criticism from lawmakers who said that mandatory security standards are needed.

Cross-border e-commerce is growing in popularity - particularly in China, according to a new report from market research company eMarketer. By 2020, a quarter of the Chinese population, amounting to more than half of all the nation's digital buyers, will be shopping either directly on foreign-based sites or through third parties such as Alibaba's Tmall Global and JD.com's JD Worldwide, the report says.

U.S. industrial production rose slightly in September, improving on August's decline but still showing the effects of low energy prices and the strong dollar. Output increased 0.1 percent in September after falling a downwardly revised 0.5 percent the previous month, according to the Federal Reserve. The gain was in line with economists' expectations, according to Reuters.

Target has surpassed perennial champion Walmart as the U.S.'s top corporate user of solar power, according to a new report. Target has installed 147 megawatts of solar capacity on 300 stores, according to the 2016 Solar Means Business Report from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).