The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business

Review by Jocelyn Noveck / The Associated Press Admit it. When you heard another Rocky movie was coming out—a seventh—you thought, really? How many Rocky movies do we need?

New York— December is a busy month for holiday parties and that inevitable task of trying to make your wardrobe stretch without breaking the bank on fancy dresses you’ll wear rarely the rest of the year.

The Philippine beauty industry has been growing at a phenomenal rate. In fact, it’s expected to grow 6.1 percent to P139.8 billion in 2016. Increased demand has been driving this growth, as Filipinos become more discerning users of cosmetic products and services.

By Luis Leoncio  Corporate giants Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), Globe Telecom and San Miguel Corp. (SMC) are girding up for what is expected to be a protracted, megabuck confrontation over the allocation of radio frequency that has been identifi ed for new-generation mobile technology.

By Riza Lozada and Jerry Maglunog  The European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) has placed “honoring the sanctity of contracts” on top of its wish list for the incoming administration, as it lamented the Aquino regime’s “unclear policies on government deals.”

The Philippines faces economic headwinds in the first half of 2016 despite the start of the campaign period for the national elections when consumer spending related to the polls are expected to surge, the United kingdom-based Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) said in a report. Still, SCB said the overall outlook is good in the second half.

By Luis Leoncio Business confidence rose to its highest level for the past two years as the economy maintained a healthy momentum coupled by an expected pickup in consumer spending in the runup to the elections next year.The closely watched overall confidence index (CI) grew to 51.3 percent in the third quarter of thre year, from 41.4 percent a year …

Mass-housing developer 8990 Holdings Inc. is in talks with a listed Singaporean company to form a joint venture to build up to 100,000 housing units in Tanzania, the largest of the East African countries.

By Riza Lozada Cosco Capital Inc., the retail holding firm of Lucio Co, reported a net income of P3.01 billion for the first nine months representing an 18 percent improvement from P2.55 billion profit a year ago.

By Riza Lozada Restaurant chain operator Max’s Group Inc. (MGI) signed a development agreement with De Borja Inc. to build at least three Max’s Restaurants in San Diego, California within the next five years.