Bloomberg The US economy was steadier than thought at the end of last year, but it’s probably too soon to give it a clean bill of health for 2019. That’s the main takeaway from the shutdown-delayed report on fourth-quarter gross domestic product, which cooled by less than expected to a 2.6 percent annualized gain thanks to surprisingly robust business investment ...
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Activists press for bankrupt PG&E’s leadership change
Bloomberg BlueMountain Capital Management LLC has found a potent ally in its fight to overhaul leadership of bankrupt utility giant PG&E Corp: activist investor ValueAct Capital Management. BlueMountain, a PG&E shareholder that pushed to keep PG&E out of bankruptcy, launched a proxy fight to replace its board in the days prior to the company’s Chapter 11 filing in January and ...
Read More »Daimler, BMW to develop self-driving cars
Bloomberg Daimler AG and BMW AG have agreed to cooperate on developing self-driving cars, the latest move by the luxury-car rivals to share cost as a technology shift shakes up the industry. The German manufacturers have signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly develop the next generation of autonomous-driving technology, which should be market-ready by the middle of the next ...
Read More »China-backed trade pact faces fresh hurdles amid Bali talks
Bloomberg A bid to kick-start a China-backed trade pact that would cover a third of the global economy is facing a fresh hurdle as upcoming elections across Asia and the Pacific threaten to stall progress on reaching a deal. With fallout from trade ructions between US and China endangering global growth, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), is seen as ...
Read More »Hyundai plans $40bn in spending as car industry transforms
Bloomberg Hyundai Motor Co. joined automakers pledging massive spending in the years ahead to address the industry’s transformation and fend off new competition from the likes of Tesla Inc. The South Korean maker of Sonata sedans and Tucson SUVs plans to invest 45.3 trillion won ($40 billion) in the next five years in development of new models and technologies for ...
Read More »Hong Kong cuts budget handouts with slowing economy in view
Bloomberg Hong Kong’s economic growth is forecast to slow this year as the city grapples with weaker property values and the fallout from US-China trade tensions, leading to a more modest range of budget handouts than last year. The economy will grow by 2 percent to 3 percent, Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan said, after the 3 percent pace ...
Read More »Axiata to revive IPO of $2.5b Edotco
Bloomberg Axiata Group Bhd., Malaysia’s biggest wireless carrier, is reviving preparations for an initial public offering (IPO) of its tower business Edotco, according to reports Axiata’s advisers recently resumed work on the deal, which was shelved last year, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Axiata aims to list the unit in Kuala ...
Read More »Coal’s perfect storm rattles home to $50bn of projects
Bloomberg It’s been a tough few weeks for Australia’s coal industry. First there was a court ruling blocking a new mine on climate change grounds, then one of the world’s largest producers Glencore capped output growth, and finally China was seen to be slowing down Australian imports. The developments are symptoms of fuel’s decline and likely signal headwinds for the ...
Read More »AT&T defeats US bid to kill $85bn Time Warner deal
Bloomberg AT&T Inc. beat back another effort by the US to undo its purchase of Time Warner, cementing an $85 billion deal to help it compete with Netflix Inc. The US Appeals Court in Washington said the Justice Department failed to establish that a lower-court judge made a clear error when he rejected the government’s case that AT&T should be ...
Read More »US antitrust task force targets technology giants
Bloomberg US antitrust enforcers are zeroing in on technology giants following years of criticism that they haven’t done enough to rein in dominant internet companies like Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Facebook Inc. The Federal Trade Commission said it’s creating a task force led by senior competition officials and 17 staff lawyers to investigate potentially anticompetitive conduct by technology companies. It ...
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