The firing of a Google employee for writing a memo that suggested women are biologically less equipped for engineering and management jobs has triggered a whole range of reactions, from those who strongly support the company’s action to those who see it as repression of free speech. Where you come out on this is partly a function of your assessment …

This month marks the 10th anniversary of the beginning of the global financial crisis that set off the Great Recession. What the then-Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke had characterized as a mere “$50 billion problem” morphed into a plunge in equity values with investors losing trillions of dollars, and a recession that caused unemployment to peak at 10 percent in …

Bloomberg The dollar rallied and U.S. stocks nudged lower amid a receding threat of war with North Korea. Treasuries extended losses and the dollar rallied after US retail sales exceeded forecasts last month, boosting speculation the Federal Reserve might lift interest rates again this year. S&P index futures also gained after the data, while traditional havens including gold and the …

DUBAI / Reuters Middle Eastern stock markets sagged again on Tuesday because of a mediocre economic outlook, with a shock loss at a real estate developer weighing on Dubai and Egypt dropping for a sixth straight day. Union Properties sank 4.3 percent to 0.82 dirham after it reported a 2.29 billion dirham ($624 million) net loss for the second quarter, …

Bloomberg What once seemed a highly unlikely call on euro-sterling is gaining momentum, with two of the world’s leading banks predicting that Europe’s shared currency will attain and even go beyond parity with the pound for the first time. Morgan Stanley sees the pair at 1.02 by the end of March, which represents a 12 percent gain for the euro …

Bloomberg Standard Bank Group Ltd.’s Ugandan unit plans to raise $3 billion for a crude pipeline by the second half of next year as the East African country prepares to start oil production by 2020. Stanbic Bank Uganda was appointed alongside Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. as joint financial adviser for the 1,445-kilometre pipeline, Patrick Mweheire, the chief executive officer …

Bloomberg South Africa’s High Court scrapped a bid by the nation’s anti-graft ombudsman to change the central bank’s inflation-targeting mandate. The Public Protector’s instruction that lawmakers should start a process to change the constitution and amend the Reserve Bank’s mandate is set aside, Judge Cynthia Pretorius said in a ruling. The judgment removes the risk of politicians interfering in the …

Bloomberg Hong Kong’s attempt to force bank interest rates higher—seen by some as a bid to arrest losses in the local currency—has been given a big fat zero by the markets. Plans to sap liquidity by boosting debt sales triggered an about-turn in the Hong Kong dollar on Wednesday, spurring speculation over the fate of one of the world’s surest …

Bloomberg The Commonwealth Bank of Australia money-laundering scandal has damaged public’s perception of the whole banking sector, according to the head of the industry’s lobby group. “The issue that Australian banks are suffering with is community trust and public reputation,” Australian Bankers’ Association Chief Executive Officer Anna Bligh said in an interview. “The events of the past week, 10 days, …

Bloomberg Danske Bank A/S is telling corporate clients to think hard about what to do with their excess cash before December 31, because Denmark’s biggest lender doesn’t want it. After a world-record-setting half decade of negative interest rates, Denmark still has a few surprises up its sleeve that show how such a monetary regime works in practice. Though corporate clients …