Bloomberg Sentiment in South Africa’s manufacturing industry fell to the lowest level in more than a decade in February as the prospect of continued power cuts and concern about the global economy weighed on confidence. That makes the recovery of an economy that the government estimates expanded at the slowest pace in 10 years in 2019 even more challenging. Absa ...
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UK outlines $4.4bn objectives for US trade negotiations
Bloomberg The UK outlined its negotiating objectives for trade talks with the US, seeking a deal it hopes will deliver a 3.4 billion-pound ($4.4 billion) boost to the British economy. Talks, which are expected to start this month, will seek to protect the National Health Service and uphold food safety and animal welfare standards — all sticking points in recent ...
Read More »Huawei makes end-run around US ban by turning to own chips
Bloomberg Huawei Technologies Co, the Chinese technology giant barred from doing business with US suppliers, is finding a way around the strict limits imposed by the Trump administration. The Commerce Department, citing national security concerns, has largely forbidden American companies from selling Huawei the computer chips it needs to make a piece of equipment integral to newly introduced high-speed wireless ...
Read More »G7 finance ministers to hold teleconference on outbreak
Bloomberg Group of Seven finance ministers will hold a teleconference this week to coordinate their response to the coronavirus outbreak, France’s Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Monday. Finance ministers need to ensure that their responses are “as coordinated as possible†in order to be effective, Le Maire said on France 2 television. “There will be concerted action,†Le ...
Read More »Rajeev Suri to step down as Nokia CEO
Bloomberg Nokia Oyj will replace Chief Executive Officer Rajeev Suri after the Finnish maker of telecommunications gear lost ground to rivals including Huawei Technologies Co in the race for 5G networks. Pekka Lundmark, the CEO of Fortum Oyj, will take over from Suri at the start of September. Nokia is also set to elect Sari Baldauf as its new chairman ...
Read More »BMW to livestream debut of i4 battery-car concept
Bloomberg With the annual Geneva car show cancelled for the first time since the World War II era, automakers are going virtual in a bid to wow the hordes who would otherwise descend on the Swiss city to inspect the latest models up close. BMW AG will livestream the debut of its i4 battery-car concept on Tuesday, while Mercedes-Benz’s popular ...
Read More »Dorsey absent as Twitter’s activist talks on CEO’s future
Bloomberg When Twitter Inc executives met their activist investor agitators from Elliott Management Corp for the first time last week, the man with the most to lose was absent. Jack Dorsey, the Twitter chief executive officer whose role is in the crosshairs, didn’t attend the summit in San Francisco where his future was the main topic of conversation, according to ...
Read More »The coronavirus gores Trump’s bull market
We all knew that the stock market boom would one day come to an end, but who imagined that the instrument of its demise would be a runaway global virus? The market had been setting new highs as late as February 12 and appeared little concerned with the coronavirus, whose effects seemed mainly confined to China. Since then, it’s been ...
Read More »China’s NIO needs a new strategy
Will a provincial government be able to save China’s Tesla wannabe? Investors seem to think so. The reality may be different. New York-listed NIO Inc., a self-described pioneer in China’s premium electric vehicle market and rival to Elon Musk’s company, said that it has made a tentative agreement with the municipal government of Hefei in Anhui province for funding support. ...
Read More »Warren Buffett eats profits ahead of virus
Warren Buffett is credited with that old saying about receding tides and embarrassed skinny-dippers. In Occidental Petroleum Corp.’s case, the lack of swimwear is one problem, but so is the anchor tied around its ankle. Part of that anchor is the old sage himself. Oxy, as it is known reported results for its first full quarter since acquiring Anadarko Petroleum ...
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