March, 2020

• 3 March

  Reckitt Benckiser is crying over $6.5bn of spilled milk

  When Laxman Narasimhan cut the full-year outlook for Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc in October, the company’s new chief executive officer threw in everything but the kitchen sink. Last week, he said the operating margin would be much lower in the future and announcing a 5 billion-pound ($6.5 billion) writedown to the value of the Mead Johnson baby-formula business, which Reckitt ...

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• 3 March

  Trump must do more to stem fallout from virus

  Both the Federal Reserve and the White House are considering emergency measures to combat the economic fallout from the coronavirus. These are the right responses, but they don’t go far enough. To be clear, the coronavirus is first and foremost a public-health threat. The full resources of the federal government should be marshalled against it. At the same time, the ...

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• 3 March

  Don’t blame capitalism for shrinking airline legroom

  

  A viral video of a man punching the back of a women’s reclined airline seat got Delta Air Lines Chief Executive Officer Ed Bastian’s attention. But he made things worse, when he asked flyers to be polite and check with the passengers behind them before hitting the recline button. This angered many people who have watched seats shrink over the ...

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• 3 March

  Heathrow is more than big enough

  

  There hasn’t been a full-length runway built in southeast England, where London’s Heathrow airport is located, since World War Two. With a climate crisis raging, now is a bad moment to try. Europe’s largest airport hub makes do with two landing strips (Amsterdam’s Schiphol has six), and with 80 million passengers using them every year, they can’t handle any more. ...

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• 3 March

  The Sanders bill for democracy: $50 trillion

  

  If you ever wondered how much Sen. Bernie Sanders’ vast array of policy proposals would cost, we now have a reasonably good estimate from his own staff. The answer is about $50 trillion over the next decade. Sanders may or may not be a “democratic socialist” — whatever that means — but he clearly is a soak-the-rich radical who would ...

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• 3 March

  Stocks rally with futures while Treasuries steady

  

  Bloomberg European stocks surged and US equity futures jumped as expectations grow that policy makers and governments will act to guard against the economic threat of the coronavirus. Treasuries were steady as the number of infections continued to grow. Futures on the S&P 500 Index had fluctuated at the start of the day after the underlying gauge climbed the most ...

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• 3 March

  Local funds snap up Philippine equities while foreigners sell

  

  Bloomberg As foreign investors exit Philippine equities at a record pace amid the sell-off brought on by the coronavirus, some domestic fund managers are scooping up blue-chip bargains. Local stock valuations have become too attractive to pass up, according to Helen Oleta, head of trading at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp, and Robert Ramos, chief investment officer at East West Banking ...

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• 3 March

  Lagarde joins central bankers pledging outbreak response

  

  Bloomberg European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde belatedly joined the crowd of leading central bankers pledging to take action if needed against the economic damage from the coronavirus outbreak. In a statement, Lagarde said the outbreak is a “fast-developing situation, which creates risks for the economic outlook and the functioning of financial markets.” That echoes communications by the US ...

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• 3 March

  Malaysia cuts key rate as global central banks act on virus

  

  Bloomberg Malaysia cut its benchmark interest rate on Tuesday, with analysts predicting more easing to come as global central banks boost stimulus to counter the coronavirus’s impact on economic growth. Bank Negara Malaysia reduced the overnight policy rate for a second time this year, lowering it by 25 basis points to 2.5%, as forecast by 15 of 24 economists surveyed ...

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• 3 March

  RBA cuts rates amid China slowdown

  

  Bloomberg Australia kicked off an expected worldwide policy response to China’s slowdown and fallout from the coronavirus with an interest-rate cut that’s set to operate in tandem with fiscal measures to cushion the economic blow. Reserve Bank chief Philip Lowe reduced the cash rate by a quarter percentage point to 0.5%, a new record low, as expected by traders and ...

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