September, 2017

• 27 September

  Twitter Inc to let some break 140-character limit in tweet test

  

  Bloomberg Twitter Inc., struggling to attract new users, will lift its 140-character limit on tweets in an experiment with a small group that may expand to the entire social media platform. The test will let users send tweets with as many as 280 characters. Lengthening the character limit may result in more engaging conversation on the platform, helping its bid …

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• 27 September

  Dior buyers respond to Chiuri twist, says CEO

  Bloomberg One year after designer Maria Grazia Chiuri showed her first collection for Christian Dior Couture, Chief Executive Officer Sidney Toledano says customers are responding to her creative changes. Chiuri, who was formerly co-creative director of closely-held Valentino SpA, is the first woman to lead Dior since it was founded in 1946. “She is totally excited—obsessed—to understand what is the …

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• 27 September

  US must think outside the box on North Korea

  

  The Trump administration often talks about North Korea policy as if it’s an on-off switch. President Trump thundered that the US will “totally destroy” North Korea to defend itself and its allies. But Defense Secretary James Mattis blandly insisted the next day that it’s “still a diplomatically led effort.” Somewhere in this maze of public statements—including the announcement of new …

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• 27 September

  May shows Europe she’s no Thatcher

  

  Margaret Thatcher redefined the UK’s relationship to Europe in 1988 in a fierce speech on the continent that chastised her European partners while promising to stick with them. Twenty-nine years later, Prime Minister Theresa May made a similar journey to do the opposite. In a speech Friday in Florence, May addressed continental Europe softly, about separation. When Thatcher went to …

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• 27 September

  Driverless trucks will be great except for truckers

  For generations, the open road has provided good jobs for Americans, whether truckers, novelists or country-music lyricists. Soon it may be crowded with some less sympathetic protagonists: self-driving robots. Trucks with some degree of automation are already plying ore mines and hauling freight. Investment is pouring into the industry. As Congress debates a new law to promote self-driving technology, however, …

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• 27 September

  Merkel’s top challenge is building a new coalition

  Angela Merkel’s victory in Sunday’s election gives her a fourth term as Germany’s chancellor and should be seen as a remarkable achievement—one that few would have predicted back in 2015, when her popularity slumped during the worst of the refugee crisis. Merkel’s resilience, based on a careful blend of principle and pragmatism, deserves to be celebrated. To be sure, this …

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• 27 September

  Europe’s going the wrong way on taxing tech giants

  

  The European Commission tentatively opened the door to a plan by 10 member states, including Germany, France, Italy and Spain, to hit multinational tech companies with a turnover tax to compensate for their avoidance schemes. A new proposal presented by European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis allows for such stop-gap measures while it works with members states on a better, …

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• 27 September

  GOP healthcare bill is fair to all states

  

  Before Obamacare, state governments were the chief regulators of health insurance. Obamacare put the federal government in that role. The latest Republican health-care bill, sponsored by Senators Lindsey Graham, Bill Cassidy and others, would partially reverse that shift in authority. It would also give states the ability to allocate a lot of federal health-care dollars as they wish. The fact …

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• 27 September

  Trump slams the brakes on self-driving cars

  

  What if your car could keep you out of an accident by knowing what was coming around the corner? No, I’m not just telling you what you already know about self-driving cars. Most of the self-driving prototypes we’re familiar with rely on sensors, which have limited range and can’t see past obstacles. That’s enough to prevent a lot of accidents—but …

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• 27 September

  Stocks, dollar rise on Fed, US tax plans; bonds fall

  

  Bloomberg US stocks advanced as President Donald Trump prepares to lay out his tax-cut plan, while the dollar extended gains and bonds fell after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen boosted expectations for an interest-rate rise in December. The S&P 500 Index was near record levels in early trading. The Bloomberg dollar index headed for a six-week peak and Treasury yields …

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