February, 2020

• 5 February

  iPhonemaker Hon Hai slashes 2020 outlook

  

  Bloomberg Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, Apple Inc’s main production partner, cut its 2020 revenue growth outlook after assessing the potential impact of a deadly coronavirus outbreak. Hon Hai, which makes the vast majority of the world’s iPhones from the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou, is now projecting a sales increase of 1% to 3% this year, Chairman Young Liu ...

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• 5 February

  China wants to patent Gilead’s experimental coronavirus drug

  

  Bloomberg Chinese researchers have applied for a local patent on an experimental Gilead Sciences Inc drug that they believe might fight the novel coronavirus outbreak. The Wuhan Institute of Virology — based in the central Chinese city at the epicenter of the epidemic — has applied for a patent in China for the use of the antiviral drug, known as ...

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• 5 February

  Indonesia growth slows to 4-year low adding to calls for rate-cut

  

  Bloomberg Indonesia’s economy expanded at its weakest pace in four years in 2019, opening the door for additional interest-rate cuts as the nation braces for the impact of a spiraling coronavirus crisis. Gross domestic product rose 5.02% last year, broadly in line with the 5.04% forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists, according to data released Wednesday. Fourth-quarter growth of ...

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• 5 February

  What’s in PM Modi’s budget for Indians? Precious little

  

  An all-out push to revive its sputtering economy is not within India’s reach. Instead of spending meager local resources to rebuild faltering demand, New Delhi is betting that world growth this year will be down in the dumps — and that will make India appear attractive to foreigners even when it really isn’t. The budget unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra ...

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• 5 February

  Better days are here for fund managers

  

  What a difference a year makes. This time in 2019, all of the numbers at DWS Group GmbH were heading in the wrong direction. Four consecutive quarters of outflows in 2018 drove assets under management to their lowest in at least two years, revenue declined, and the firm’s cost to income ratio rose. The German fund manager was far from ...

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• 5 February

  Goldman, Deutsche Bank have something in common

  For the first time in more than two decades as a publicly traded company, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. laid out a detailed strategic vision and financial ambitions to investors. Corporate slogans aside, the big reveal is that Goldman will be playing catch-up for some time. The Wall Street titan presented plans to add $5 billion of revenue and improve profitability ...

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• 5 February

  There’s one metric that can stabilise China’s markets

  Just a few weeks ago, optimism was palpable in the heart of Shanghai’s financial district. UBS Group AG’s annual China conference enjoyed a record turnout and investors from abroad were enthusiastically buying mainland shares — so much so that some hit foreign-ownership limits. Now all anyone can think about is the number of coronavirus cases. The Shanghai Composite Index slid ...

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• 5 February

  The more Macron does, the more unpopular he gets

  

  Remember when we all believed in Emmanuel Macron? The question comes not from an angry trade unionist but a stand-up comedian in central Paris, facing a crowd of thirty-something urbanites cut from the same cloth as France’s 42-year-old president. A collective groan of “yes” rises from the audience, many of whom spent the winter struggling through transport strikes triggered by ...

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• 5 February

  Starbucks challenger Luckin isn’t out of luck

  

  China’s Luckin Coffee Inc. hasn’t been having much luck lately. The last thing a retail business in the middle of a breakneck expansion needs is a deadly virus that keeps consumers off the streets and away from malls. What could be more damaging? Perhaps an attack by short-sellers branding your business a fraud. Shares in Nasdaq-listed Luckin Coffee plummeted 11% ...

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• 5 February

  Banker tests are causing the wrong type of stress

  

  Europe’s banks have come a long way since the euro zone crisis. Lenders have halved their piles of non-performing loans from 1 trillion euros ($1.1 trillion) in 2014 to 543 billion euros in the third quarter of 2019. However, markets still doubt lenders’ real strength, as you can see from their depressed price-to-book ratios. The blame falls, in part, on ...

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