March, 2020

• 2 March

  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 ...

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• 2 March

  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 ...

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• 2 March

  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. ...

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• 2 March

  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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• 2 March

  A global rout is a great time for a command economy

  In times of distress, a centralised financial system can go a long way. Global investors, bruised by an ugly week of asset selloffs, can perhaps consider buying the dip — but only in China. In the past, if the US sneezed, emerging markets would soon be in the emergency room. Not this time. While the S&P 500 Index is heading ...

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• 2 March

  Germany should scrap its balanced-budget law

  

  It’s not often these days that Germany’s Social Democrats have good economic ideas. But a forthcoming initiative by one of them makes eminent sense, and deserves more support than it’s likely to get. Olaf Scholz, the finance minister, wants to suspend the country’s so-called “debt brake,” a constitutional limit on public deficits and borrowing. But the SPD’s senior partners in ...

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• 2 March

  Markets are off so it must be time for a jumbo LBO

  

  With impeccable timing, the private equity industry has agreed a jumbo leveraged buyout (LBO) just as markets have turned dramatically. It’s a bad look, and Advent International and Cinven will have to strain every sinew to make their 17 billion-euro ($19 billion) deal for Thyssenkrupp AG’s elevator business pay off. Germany’s Thyssenkrupp is a distressed seller but the industrial conglomerate ...

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• 2 March

  Lenovo has one number that deserves scrutiny

  

  Concerns over Lenovo Group Ltd.’s financial outlook have brought new scrutiny to the Chinese maker of computers, servers and smartphones. Its stock dropped 5.7% on February 26 in Hong Kong, the fourth straight decline, after a tweet from short-seller Muddy Waters referenced a recent report by Bucephalus Research Partners Ltd. That piece highlighted a series of issues it had with ...

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• 2 March

  More training for 737 Max pilots may be needed: FAA

  

  Bloomberg US regulators have told Boeing Co that pilots may require additional training to properly respond to emergencies on the 737 Max after airline crews failed to perform proper procedures in simulator tests. In a February 19 letter to Boeing reviewed by Bloomberg News, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) detailed multiple missteps that airline crews had made in the December ...

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• 2 March

  HK January retail sales fall for 12th straight month

  

  Bloomberg Hong Kong retail sales by value tumbled again in January, entering a 12-month losing streak after a Lunar New Year holiday interrupted by the coronavirus outbreak and amid months of anti-Beijing protests. Retail sales by value fell 21.4% in January from a year earlier, extending a run of declines that started in February, the longest downward trajectory in three ...

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