It’s an economic mystery worth solving. Conventional wisdom holds that long-term job relationships between workers and their employers are breaking down. We’ve all seen and heard countless heart-breaking stories of firms firing large numbers of career workers. Labour markets provide less stability and security than in the past, it seems. And yet, this belief seems to clash with hard evidence. ...

There’s a fine line between a fudge and a workable compromise. In Britain’s handling of Huawei Technologies Co., Prime Minister Boris Johnson has just about managed to secure the latter. The UK has brushed off the US’s complaints and decided to allow its telecoms operators to install equipment made by “high-risk vendors” — read: Huawei — in their networks. But ...

China was supposed to be crucial to Apple Inc.’s future. A tech-savvy audience, impressive mobile infrastructure and growing wealth had executives and investors believing the world’s most populous country would drive growth. So far, the data indicate otherwise. The Greater China region — which comprises China, Hong Kong and Taiwan — just posted yet another period of underperformance, contributing little ...

You can’t turn a supertanker quickly, as the old saying goes. Bailing out, on the other hand, takes no time at all. The last week’s double dose of weak Big Oil earnings from Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. followed hard on the heels of Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s debacle on January 30. Shares of both companies were down about ...

Airlines are perpetually on the alert against crashes. That doesn’t mean the coronavirus epidemic will lead to any corporate disasters. The outbreak that originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan could push some airlines in Asia to the wall, according to Alan Joyce, chief executive officer of Australia’s biggest carrier Qantas Airways Ltd. “A lot of airlines may not be ...

Three months ago, Tesla Inc. notched up a $9 billion gain in market capitalisation in the immediate aftermath of reporting a $143 million quarterly profit. On January 29, it reaped $12 billion on $105 million. Don’t forget the $50 billion it racked up in between those dates, of course. Tesla’s market cap has more than doubled to more than $100 ...

3M Co.’s messy quarter does little to inspire faith in the company or the industrial economy at large. The maker of Post-it notes, Scotch tape and wound dressings announced a pair of charges – $134 million for a restructuring plan and $214 million for litigation related to PFAS chemicals – that pulled its fourth-quarter earnings per share below analysts’ estimates. ...

Bloomberg Chinese policymakers prepared to shore up financial markets, which are bracing for a sell-off when trading re-starts on Monday. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) and other regulators announced a slew of targeted measures over the weekend aimed at calming financial markets and helping companies, banks and individuals hurt by the viral pneumonia outbreak. The central bank will supply ...

Bloomberg Malaysia can expect half of its banking assets to be Islamic by 2030 as the industry’s growth outpaces conventional banking, according to a lenders’ association. Loans that comply with the religion’s ban on interest is set to increase by 10% to 15% annually over the next five years, outpacing the 5% to 7% growth seen for non-Islamic loans, said ...

Bloomberg State Bank of India (SBI) posted its biggest ever quarterly profit as it wrote back provisions on bad loans and recoveries improved. Net income rose to 55.8 billion rupees ($782 million) in the three months ended in December from 39.6 billion rupees a year earlier. That’s broadly in line with the 58.7 billion rupee average of analysts’ estimates compiled ...