December, 2019

• 18 December

  Trade skepticism is alive, well in the bond market

  It looks as if after all the talk, all the back-and-forth and all the market swings, the US and China have finally reached the terms of a “phase-one” trade deal. The message from the world’s biggest bond market: Don’t get too excited about what that means for the economic outlook. For the first half of the US trading session, long-term ...

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• 18 December

  Halting 737 Max would hit half of Boeing’s business

  

  Imagine if Toyota Motor Corp. stopped making Corollas, or Coca-Cola Co. stopped making Diet Coke, or McDonald’s Corp. stopped serving Big Macs. That’s the best way of looking at reports that Boeing Co. is considering halting production of its troubled 737 Max single-aisle jet. Making and servicing commercial airplanes accounts for about 80% of Boeing’s operating income, and the 737 ...

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• 18 December

  Tech makes life on the coasts tough for banks

  

  Why is the nation’s financial industry concentrated in just a few very costly cities? The latest actions by the Charles Schwab Corp. suggest there’s less reason than there once was amid the squeeze the industry has been feeling since the Great Recession ended. In Schwab’s case, the discount brokerage firm slashed its fees, said it would buy a main rival ...

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• 18 December

  Bankers are actually playing with fire, once again

  

  As 2019 draws to a close, there’s more than a whiff of banking deregulation in the air. The US has relaxed its lender stress tests and made it easier again for Wall Street to trade using its own funds. In Europe, capital requirements are being softened. The reining in of bank risk after the financial crisis is giving way to ...

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• 18 December

  US futures, Europe stocks fluctuate; pound weakens

  

  Bloomberg US equity futures and European stocks drifted on Wednesday as investors digested a flurry of corporate news amid a lull in trade-war headlines. Bonds were mixed and the pound weakened. Contracts on the three main American equity benchmarks pointed to a directionless open a day after the S&P 500 Index closed just one index point higher at a new ...

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• 18 December

  FedEx plunges as bad results spur outlook cut

  

  Bloomberg FedEx Corp plunged after cutting its profit forecast for the second straight quarter, as weak international demand hurt sales and the courier ramped up investment to handle soaring e-commerce deliveries. The results for the company’s fiscal second quarter were “breathtakingly bad,” with weakness in both the ground-delivery unit and air-cargo business, said Deutsche Bank AG analyst Amit Mehrotra. Adjusted ...

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• 18 December

  Hong Kong’s airlines facing job cuts, even bankruptcies

  

  Bloomberg Hong Kong’s airlines face the prospect of further job cuts and even bankruptcies as anti-Beijing protests continue to deter tourists from the city, adding to the pressure on an industry already facing headwinds globally. Six months of anti-Beijing demonstrations have sent passenger traffic tumbling in Hong Kong, producing a cascade of profit warnings, flight cancellations and cost cuts at ...

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• 18 December

  Walmart taps ‘SWAT teams’ to handle 500 store remodels a year

  

  Bloomberg American retailers remodel thousands of stores each year, but the process is rarely smooth. Now imagine the headaches for Walmart Inc., which overhauls 500 locations annually on its own. “Things always come up that you can’t plan for,” according to Tara Barnes, a store manager in Allen, Texas, whose location went through a refurbishment this summer. In the past ...

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• 18 December

  Southwest extends 737 Max cancellations until mid-April

  

  Bloomberg Southwest Airlines Co. won’t schedule any flights on Boeing Co.’s 737 Max jets until April 13 — more than a month later than previously planned — further clouding the outlook for the best-selling aircraft that’s grounded globally after two fatal crashes. The airline, the biggest operator of the single-aisle jet, is extending the timeline from March 6 because of ...

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• 18 December

  Airlines are scrambling for Airbus jets Made in America

  

  Bloomberg For US airlines, the phrase “Made in America” comes with a whole new financial imperative thanks to the trade fight between the Trump administration and Europe. In October, the White House levied a 10% tariff on European-built aircraft as part of a broader conflict over aviation industry subsidies. The move followed a World Trade Organisation ruling that EU assistance ...

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