Bloomberg Hyundai Merchant Marine Co., South Korea’s biggest sea carrier, said it will post losses through the first half of 2018 as the container-shipping industry attempts to recover from Hanjin Shipping Co.’s bankruptcy and years of excess capacity. As a hedge against adverse conditions plaguing shipping, Hyundai Merchant has initiated talks to invest in box terminals in Southeast Asia, ...
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Harvard’s record $1.2bn haul erased by investment losses
Bloomberg Harvard University raised $1.2 billion from donations, a record for the world’s richest college. The haul was erased by $2 billion in investment losses and spending. Harvard’s take was the most by any US university as colleges collected an unprecedented $41 billion in fiscal 2016, the New York-based Council for Aid to Education, which tracks university giving, said ...
Read More »US solar industry employment grows fastets in seven years
Bloomberg US solar-industry employment in 2016 grew at the fastest pace in at least seven years, with growth in all sectors including manufacturing, sales and installations, as demand for clean power swelled. One out of every 50 new American jobs last year was in the solar industry, which now employs more than 260,000 workers, according to an annual report ...
Read More »GM defies slower growth with bigger profits
Bloomberg Swelling inventories, rising incentives and a flat US auto market usually suggest General Motors Co. will be preparing investors for a tough year. Instead, the biggest US automaker on Tuesday posted record annual profit and said it sees more growth on the horizon. GM expects to match or exceed last year’s results in large part because lucrative sport ...
Read More »Trump’s trade shifts put Brazil back in agriculture game
Bloomberg Brazil’s agriculture minister expects that rising protectionism in the US will create “many opportunities†for his country’s industry, including increased trade with Mexico. Mexico’s representatives will discuss the possibility of importing soybean and beef from Brazil in a meeting with local farmers and industry members later this month, Blairo Maggi said at an event in Sao Paulo. “Brazil ...
Read More »Donald Trump is the singularity!
There’s been some controversy over when Donald Trump decided to run for president. Some say it was at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, when he was roasted by both Seth Meyers and President Obama. I think it happened much earlier: August 29th, 1997, the date that Skynet became self-aware. Skynet is the artificial intelligence in the 1984 ...
Read More »Uber’s big fat Indian wedding service shows commitment
After its defeat in China, Uber Technologies Inc. can’t afford to lose a second billion-people-plus market to a local incumbent. So the ride-hailing company has introduced a service in India to suit tastes there. Letting customers book the same cab for as long as 12 hours — instead of finding a new one for every journey — doesn’t have ...
Read More »China’s factories don’t fear Trump
President Donald Trump seems determined to start a fight with China over trade. He’s appointed notable China skeptics to his economic team, badgered companies like Apple Inc. to stop making products on the mainland, and threatened tariffs of 45 percent on Chinese goods. He hopes to get companies to move their manufacturing operations back home and create jobs in ...
Read More »Israel’s settlement bill crosses red line
Israel’s parliament passed a bill to retroactively legalise thousands of West Bank settler homes built on privately-owned Palestinian land. The move has triggered international outrage and will lead to setting up a court fight where the politically charged law may be overturned. The European Union postponed a February 28 meeting with Israel meant to signify improved relations and Jordan, ...
Read More »Pakistan’s economy is a pleasant surprise
Each year I perform the exercise of picking what I think is the most underrated (and overrated) economy in the world. Past winners have included Germany, Mexico and, more recently, the Philippines. The designation is tricky, because it can go to an ailing country with an excessively bad reputation or maybe to a known star with virtues beyond what ...
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