January, 2020

• 6 January

  Zoran Milanovic wins Croatia presidential vote

  Bloomberg Croatians shot down President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic’s bid for a second term, electing the prime minister who led the nation into the European Union to rebalance politics in the bloc’s newest member. Zoran Milanovic, who ran the Adriatic state’s government from 2011 to 2015, won 52.7% of votes in the presidential runoff. Kitarovic, a former NATO executive whose popularity ...

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• 6 January

  US futures decline on Iran fallout; brent crude hits $70

  

  Bloomberg Stocks extended their losses on Monday and oil built on gains as investors continued to grapple with the aftermath of a US airstrike that killed a powerful Iranian general. Gold surged to the highest in more than six years. Futures for the main American equity gauges retreated for a second session after Iran said over the weekend it would ...

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• 6 January

  China and Hong Kong stocks slide in sharp selling on trade worries

  

  Bloomberg Chinese and Hong Kong stocks saw sharp afternoon selling, in part on fresh worries about US-China trade, and the concerns also pressured the yuan. After sporting gains despite selling in most of Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index fell as much as 0.6% on the day before ending just 0.01% lower. The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong was down ...

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• 6 January

  Strikes against French pension reform enter second month

  

  Bloomberg Strikes against French president Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform plan entered their second month, the longest such action for state-owned railway company SNCF. Transport remained gummed up as unions prepared for two more days of street protests while the government said a compromise was near. Prime minister Edouard Philippe will start another round of discussions with union representatives on Tuesday, ...

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• 6 January

  UK services get boost from Johnson’s victory as new orders increase

  

  Bloomberg The UK’s dominant services sector showed signs of strengthening at the end of the year following Boris Johnson’s decisive election victory. New orders rose at their fastest pace in five months, IHS Markit said on Monday, with anecdotal evidence suggesting that the easing of domestic political uncertainty played a key role. The uptick left services activity with an index ...

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• 6 January

  Broadcom appeals rare EU ultimatum

  

  Bloomberg Broadcom Inc appealed a European Union (EU) order forcing the company to drop allegedly unfair clauses that may compel set-top box makers to use its chips. The appeal opens a court fight over the validity of a rarely used regulatory tool meant to prevent victims from suffering while probes drag on for years. EU Antitrust Commissioner Margrethe Vestager in ...

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• 6 January

  Suppliers get a boost from Tesla

  Bloomberg Tesla Inc’s efforts to lure Chinese customers is giving its suppliers a boost in the world’s biggest electric-vehicle market. Shares of Changzhou Almaden Stock Co surged to more than a two-year high on Monday, after it said in a filing to the Shenzhen stock exchange that it has supplied solar glass to the electric car manufacturer since 2019. Appliances ...

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• 6 January

  European bond sales all set to kick off

  Bloomberg European bond sales are set to kick off in the first full week of 2020, as governments return to a market boosted by tensions in the Middle East. Portugal, Ireland and Belgium should issue debt maturing in 10 to 15 years at syndicated sales, according to Danske Bank A/S, while regular auctions are due from Germany, Austria, Spain and ...

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• 6 January

  Give up FB for a month and help economists fix GDP

  

  Bloomberg Would you give up Facebook for one month in exchange for $50? The question, posed by MIT’s Erik Brynjolfsson and four co-authors of a new paper, may help economists get a better measure of the extent to which new, free technologies are reshaping the economy and our lives. The answer, unsurprisingly, is a lot. They estimate that the social ...

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• 6 January

  Leading China carmaker BAIC says competition is ‘brutal’

  

  Bloomberg Beijing Automotive Group Co hopes to sell at least the same amount of vehicles this year as in 2019 as it battles “brutal” competition and a prolonged slowdown in China’s car market. China’s fourth-largest carmaker is targeting up to 2.35 million vehicle sales in 2020, General Manager Zhang Xiyong said at a news conference in the northeastern province of ...

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