Bloomberg Barnaby Joyce will return to parliament as Australia’s deputy prime minister after winning a special election, five weeks after he was forced to step down for being a dual national in breach of the constitution. Joyce, 50, claimed victory in the rural seat of New England, winning 63 percent of the vote to 11 percent for his nearest rival ...
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The risky lure of passive investment proxies
The most commonly cited reasons for the surge of interest in passive investing products are fee savings and skepticism about the ability of active funds to outperform. Most likely, these two factors explain a dominant part of the record flow into an ever-widening range of these investments, including mutual funds and ETFs. But they may not be the only reasons. ...
Read More »The bitcoin is still sucking up all the crypto oxygen
With all this love for bitcoin, spare a thought for the little guy. Despite a plethora of new coins coming online in the past year, and the emergence of ethereum as an alternative cryptocurrency, bitcoin is still sucking up most of the oxygen. Without a doubt, the new coins’ sponsors owe a debt of gratitude to bitcoin for blazing a ...
Read More »A failed census would harm America
Enshrined in the Constitution, the census is among the federal government’s most fundamental responsibilities. It is also one the government is perilously close to flunking, unless Congress and the administration act now. The decennial census is arguably the most important data set the government produces. It determines how many representatives each state sends to Washington, who sends them there, and ...
Read More »Blockchain is bigger than any bubble
An influential new recruit has joined the chorus of bitcoin skeptics. The chief investment officer of UBS, the world’s biggest wealth manager, says it’s too risky to be added to the firm’s portfolios — and his assessment is relatively mild. Others have called it “the very definition of a bubble†and even “a fraud.†Those stronger terms are justified, especially ...
Read More »Modi government is getting atleast one big reform right
According to one of India’s most respected bankers, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—a mammoth sale of distressed assets, some $40 billion in the first round. Much could go wrong, of course, especially given that so many powerful interests have so much money at stake in the process. Fortunately, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, which has stumbled in some of its biggest ...
Read More »CDB is offering Indian banks a risky reliance
By making a bid to push Reliance Communications Ltd into bankruptcy, China Development Bank (CDB) has one what Indian lenders were trying their best to avoid. But now that it’s pulled the trigger, State Bank of India and other domestic creditors won’t be terribly unhappy. The Indian wireless company owes one fifth of its $7 billion debt to CDB, which organized ...
Read More »While Time Warner is in limbo, watch the walking dead
Recent developments in the media world are suddenly highlighting the takeover value of also-ran TV-network operators such as AMC Networks Inc. and Viacom Inc., just as many of their stocks trade near lows. AT&T Inc.’s pending acquisition of Time Warner Inc., the parent of HBO, has been hogging the media spotlight, with the US Justice Department suing to block the ...
Read More »Apple all set for in-house chip designing
Bloomberg Apple Inc. is designing its own power-management chips for use in iPhones from as early as 2018, reducing its dependence on Dialog Semiconductor Plc, Japan’s Nikkei reported, without identifying its sources. The report sent Dialog plunging the most in almost eight months. Such chips handle charging and power-management functions in smartphones, and UK-based Dialog relies on Apple for about ...
Read More »Amazon brings Alexa voice-command tools to workplace
Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc. announced new voice-activated tools for the workplace, hoping that verbal commands—“Alexa, print my spreadsheetâ€â€”will handle common office tasks. Alexa for Business will let users issue voice commands to begin a video conference or print documents, among a multitude of common workplace functions, Amazon said at its cloud computing conference in Las Vegas. “You no longer ever have ...
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