Opinion

A Joe Biden surprise: Bipartisan foreign policy

  It’s time to give President Joe Biden credit for achieving something no one predicted: bipartisanship in foreign policy. The Senate delivered a victory for Biden’s foreign policy agenda, voting almost unanimously to admit Finland and Sweden into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Previously, Biden was able to get the Ukraine aid he has asked for. That Senate vote in ...

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Google trends an arbiter of economic downturns

  We didn’t need the reported two consecutive quarters of declining real gross domestic product —the unofficial determination of a recession — to tell us the US economy is already in, or at least close to, a business downturn. And we certainly don’t need to wait for many months for the official declaration by the National Bureau of Economic Research ...

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Toyota’s supply-chain woes loom large

The world’s biggest car company had a rough quarter, and its supply-chain problems aren’t going away any time soon. That’s a warning for other large manufacturers — and their stakeholders. Toyota Motor Corp’s profits fell 18% for the quarter ended June. Much of the hit came from raw material prices that knocked operating income down by 315 billion yen ($2.35 ...

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Honeywell’s CEO needs to tap dealmaker goals

  Darius Adamczyk, the chief executive officer of Honeywell International Inc, is running out of excuses not to make a splash in M&A. Adamczyk, who has been CEO since 2017, has talked for a while about Honeywell’s large pipeline of potential acquisitions and how he wants to prioritise doing deals over buying back stock. But he usually quickly countered that ...

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Ruble rally is a headache for banks stuck in Russia

  You don’t often hear bankers embarrassed about a surge in profits. But Johann Strobl, chief executive officer of Austria’s Raiffeisen International Bank, sounded almost exasperated explaining its exceptionally strong gains driven by its business in Russia. “While we are of course pleased to report record results … we have seen an unusual, high contribution out of Russia and an ...

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Germany’s switch to diesel from gas comes at a cost

Across Germany, executives have spent the last few months war gaming how to respond if Russian President Vladimir Putin cuts off gas supplies. And many, from tiny companies to global behemoths, have arrived at the same solution: switch to oil. In Munich, the municipal utility has converted two gas-fired boilers to run on diesel. Further South, in the German Alps, ...

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Uber embodies post-Covid economy

Uber Technologies Inc Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi said not long ago that the rideshare company’s mission was to become profitable, rather than the loss-making enterprise it had been since inception. For the first time, Uber is succeeding, posting the biggest positive free cash flow in its history in the second quarter. This may finally be the long-awaited turning point ...

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Xi Jinping’s $920b VC push has a dark side

  China’s industrial policy seems to have fans across the Pacific. The US’s $280 billion Chips and Science Act is a direct response from the Biden administration to Beijing’s spending to help key industries. But just as the likes of Intel Corp and Micron Technology Inc jostle for a slice of US government support, the perils of relying upon public ...

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Can DBS challenge HSBC with Fed’s help?

  The battle for Asia’s preeminent financial institution will be fought with the Federal Reserve providing ammunition — to both sides. Just how much profit each can squeeze out of US monetary tightening may end up deciding if Hong Kong’s biggest bank, HSBC Holdings Plc, stays whole and dominant. Or if Singapore’s largest lender, DBS Group Holdings Ltd, gets a ...

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Pelosi’s Taiwan trip is start of US headaches

To widespread relief, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s plane landed in Taipei without incident on August 2. Fears that the Chinese military might interfere with her flight, triggering a dangerous confrontation with the United States, did not materialise. The challenge facing the US, however, has only just begun. In response to Pelosi’s visit, the Chinese military announced a three-day military exercise ...

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