December, 2019

• 25 December

  Are Trump’s trade wars over, or enjoying a truce?

  

  President Trump has essentially declared victory in his relentless trade wars against China and Mexico, but whether this is a lasting triumph or just a truce remains to be seen. Even Trump may not know what comes next. Here’s a summary of what’s happened recently. First, China. It agreed to buy substantial amounts of US exports over the next two ...

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• 25 December

  Sweden’s hike holds a lesson for ECB

  

  If you’re searching for an example of how not to deal with negative rates, look no further than Sweden. The Riksbank chose to raise its repo rate back to zero, after years of negative rates, but it’s not at all clear why. Sweden’s economic outlook hardly suggests a hike is needed. Inflation is running at 1.7%, which is just below ...

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• 25 December

  Motorola’s ‘back to future’ play needs more future

  It seems like Motorola has invented a 2019 version of the Flux Capacitor. That fictitious device from “Back to the Future” made time travel possible. Now, the phone division of Lenovo Group Ltd. has to overcome the same kinds of struggles faced by the vintage film’s DeLorean-driving scientist. Rather than racing to meet a lightning bolt, Motorola is rushing to ...

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• 25 December

  The city of London starts to crack over the Brexit

  Boris Johnson’s triumphant UK election victory makes Brexit a near certainty next month. For the City of London, Britain’s split from its biggest trading partner is a huge leap into the unknown; one that will test its cohesion like never before. Banks, insurers and asset managers have spent billions preparing for their departure from the European Union and have moved ...

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• 25 December

  Boeing CEO’s ouster won’t solve deeper problems

  

  Two years ago, Boeing Co. could do no wrong. Lately, it can do nothing right, and someone had to pay the price. That person turned out to be Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg. Boeing announced that he was resigning because the board had decided a change in leadership “was necessary to restore confidence in the company” after two fatal crashes ...

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• 25 December

  If Credit Suisse has tailed anyone, its CEO didn’t know

  

  The Credit Suisse AG spy scandal was supposed to be a one-off incident, albeit an astonishing one. It turns out it wasn’t. Worse, the Swiss bank is in the surreal situation of confirming that it now knows it tailed multiple people, but that its board and management were completely in the dark, and that Chief Executive Officer Tidjane Thiam definitely ...

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• 25 December

  Fighting shipping pollution is bad for the planet

  

  The shipping industry is getting serious about cutting sulfur dioxide emissions. People who live along busy shipping lanes will see health benefits from reduced particulate emissions and a reduction in acid rain when new regulations come into force on January 1. But the sulfur particles help offset some of the warming caused by powering the ships, so the rules may ...

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• 25 December

  Mexican airport U-turn spurs interest in Lima expansion

  

  Bloomberg Mexico’s decision to cancel a $13 billion airport has made investors hungrier to participate in the expansion of Peru’s main air terminus, according to the project’s director. Anton Aramayo, who is overseeing the plans at Lima Airport Partners, said dozens of international companies are interested in bidding for around $1.2 billion of works to build a second runway and ...

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• 25 December

  ‘Nut rage’ heiress slams brother atop family business

  

  Bloomberg The South Korean business dynasty that gained notoriety with the “nut-rage incident” is generating turbulence again. Heather Cho, 45, the eldest daughter of the founding family’s late patriarch, voiced her discontent over how her brother has been running the Hanjin conglomerate, whose units include flag carrier Korean Air Lines Co. Walter Cho, the 43-year-old chairman of Hanjin Group and ...

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• 25 December

  Shoppers in Asia want Europe’s handbags, not its supermarkets

  

  Bloomberg Even as global consumer brands grow more dependent on Asia for sales of everything from fancy handbags to baby formula, European retailers keep retreating from the world’s fastest-growing markets. The UK’s Tesco Plc, which said this month that it’s weighing a sale of its Thailand and Malaysia operations, is just the latest. Earlier this year, Germany’s Metro AG and ...

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