December, 2019

• 25 December

  Tesla arranges over $1.4 billion in financing from China

  

  Bloomberg Tesla Inc has lined up more than 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) in financing from local banks for its Shanghai factory as it prepares to begin deliveries of China-made Model 3 sedans in the country, people familiar with the matter said. An announcement will probably be made as soon as this week, one of the people said, asking not ...

  Read More »
• 25 December

  ByteDance to sell TikTok stake amid US concerns

  

  Bloomberg China’s ByteDance Inc created one of the country’s rare global hits with the addictive video app TikTok Now the US government is threatening that success as officials in Washington warn the service presents a security threat. The Beijing-based company, led by Chief Executive Officer Yiming Zhang, is weighing a range of options to address those concerns, according to people ...

  Read More »
• 25 December

  PG&E says Elliott, Pimco don’t deserve $5 billion ‘windfall’

  

  Bloomberg Bondholders don’t deserve a $5 billion “windfall” when PG&E Corp reorganises next year because the utility is in bankruptcy, voiding any right investors had to an early payoff premium, the company said in a court filing. PG&E’s bankruptcy-exit plan is built on a proposed funding package that includes refinancing about $17.5 billion of debt that has not yet matured. ...

  Read More »
• 25 December

  Orban ally sells coal plant before overhaul

  Bloomberg The Hungarian conglomerate controlled by Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s closest business ally sold the country’s biggest coal-fired power plant to the state in a U-turn after the premier agreed to the European Union‘s climate deal. The transaction on Matrai Eromu plant, signed on Monday between Opus Global Nyrt and state-owned energy group MVM Zrt, means that the projected $1 ...

  Read More »
• 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 ...

  Read More »
• 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 ...

  Read More »
• 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 ...

  Read More »
• 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 ...

  Read More »
• 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 ...

  Read More »
• 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 ...

  Read More »