December, 2019

• 17 December

  Boris bounce won’t save Christmas for UK retailers

  

  Brits haven’t felt very much like shopping this year, and understandably so. There’s been political gridlock and upheaval, the repeated threat of a hard Brexit and an election in December for the first time since 1923. No wonder despite strong employment, and wage growth outpacing inflation, UK consumers have been acting as if they’re in a recession. As a result, ...

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• 17 December

  WTO paralysis means law of jungle

  

  A core function of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) — founded in 1995 to govern the rules of trade between 164 countries — ground to a halt. The reason for that was US President Donald Trump, who has never really had much time for multilateral institutions. The WTO has been on his hit-list for some time as an entity that ...

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• 17 December

  Postal Savings Bank shows flaws in China’s IPO system

  Even China’s IPO-mad retail investors are souring on the country’s banks. Postal Savings Bank of China Co. began trading with a whimper in Shanghai, after a 32.7 billion yuan share sale that was nation’s largest since 2010. The stock rose as much as 2.7% in the trading, a fraction of the 44% limit that most newly listed shares hit on ...

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• 17 December

  Politicians fiddle as Australia burns

  For weeks, drifting clouds from bushfires around Australia’s east coast have settled on Sydney. Thick smoke has rendered the Sydney Harbour Bridge invisible. Ambulance calls for breathing problems have risen 30% on typical seasonal levels. Beaches are black from settling embers. You’d think that Australia’s political class would be under pressure to come up with solutions to the disaster spreading ...

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• 17 December

  Trump’s US-China deal wasn’t worth a trade war

  

  After almost two years of tariffs, counter-tariffs, meetings, bad-tempered tweets, and backroom maneuverings, we may finally be on the brink of the first part of a hoped-for trade deal between the US and China. It wasn’t worth it. President Donald Trump has signed off on an agreement to de-escalate his conflict with Beijing. Discussions will focus on the US reducing ...

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• 17 December

  Food delivery firms are divvying up world market by market

  

  As food delivery companies gobble up their competitors around the world with mounting haste, the firms’ customers risk being left with scant choice when it comes to ordering nosh online. Regulators need to take notice. Last week, Germany’s Delivery Hero SE agreed to buy Woowa Brothers Corp. in a deal valuing the South Korean company at $4 billion. The acquisition ...

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• 17 December

  Climate change: Business class flying is under attack

  

  Michael O’Leary of Ryanair Holdings Plc is an unlikely spokesman for how aviation can avoid killing the planet. The budget travel evangelist has delighted in disparaging “eco-warriors” and casting doubt on climate science. But as chairman of the European airline association, A4E, he’s now front and center of the effort to persuade governments not to impose new climate taxes on ...

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• 17 December

  US stocks drift as trade deal euphoria fades, dollar gains

  

  Bloomberg Stocks declined in Europe and US index futures dipped on Tuesday as the global rally in equities eased, with the sugar rush of a partial trade deal between the two largest economies fading and investors on the hunt for fresh catalysts. Treasuries were steady. Declines in banks and consumer-goods companies undercut European stocks. Unilever tumbled after a sales-growth warning ...

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• 17 December

  Unilever slumps as weak demand hits sales, growth

  

  Bloomberg Unilever slumped after Chief Executive Officer Alan Jope backed away from his predecessor’s growth targets as consumers around the world jilt mainstream brands. The maker of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and Dove soap said sales gains will be slightly below guidance for 2019 and in the lower half of its multiyear range of 3% to 5% in 2020. ...

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• 17 December

  Boeing halt on 737 output to add more stress on airlines

  

  Bloomberg Airlines could come under further financial pressure should Boeing Co. go ahead with a production halt of the grounded 737 Max, with any prolonged delays in jet deliveries raising their operating costs. Carriers are paying higher rates to lease planes to make up for the loss in capacity, while delays to their expansion plans are holding back revenue growth, ...

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