March, 2017

• 8 March

  Fiat mulls to shift Panda manufacturing to Poland

  

    Bloomberg Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV is considering shifting manufacturing of its Panda city car to low-wage Poland to create production space for more upscale models in Italy, according to people familiar with the matter, as earnings pressure on European automakers mounts amid stalling growth. Carmakers fighting for customers at the Geneva International Motor Show this week are aware that …

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• 8 March

  Trump enters Obamacare spat as Conservatives savage GOP plan

  

    Bloomberg President Donald Trump threw his weight behind a House Republican plan to replace Obamacare, even as conservatives mounted their own savage attack on the bill, with one Republican senator declaring it “dead on arrival” in the Senate. Trump held a White House meeting with the House Republican vote-counting team to rally them behind the bill, setting up an …

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• 8 March

  Travel ban may cost US billions, thousands of jobs

    LONDON / AP President Donald Trump’s immigration stance has begun to discourage foreign visits to major US cities, threatening to cost billions of dollars and thousands of jobs. New York, the nation’s most visited city by people overseas, predicts such trips will drop more than 2 percent this year to 12.4 million, the first decline after eight consecutive annual …

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• 8 March

  Subaru targets sun belt states despite rising costs

  

    Bloomberg Peaking demand, sky-high sales incentive costs, threats of a border tax — none of these are distracting Subaru from its marketing and growth ambitions in its biggest market. “America is the pillar,” Yasuyuki Yoshinaga, chief executive officer of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., which owns the Subaru brand, said in an interview Thursday. “It’s true we want to increase …

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• 8 March

  Steel ETF delivers big pay off before Trump spends $1trn

  

    Bloomberg Long before President Donald Trump has made good on his pledge to spend $1 trillion on US infrastructure projects — including using only American metal in new pipelines — investors already are seeing a big payoffs from domestic steel producers. The VanEck Vectors Steel ETF delivered an 82 percent return in the past year as shares surged in …

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• 8 March

  Prime London office values may fall 20% this year on Brexit

  

    Bloomberg Central London office values will probably fall as much as 20 percent this year as the economy slows and investors are deterred by uncertainty in the face of the UK’s exit from Europe and increased business rates, according to Deutsche Bank AG’s asset management unit. Spending on properties in the British capital slowed sharply before and after the …

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• 8 March

  ‘UK economy to grow faster than forecasts’

    Bloomberg Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond said the UK economy will grow faster than previously forecast this year as he set the course for government spending with Britain preparing to leave the European Union. Opening his Budget speech in Parliament on Wednesday, Hammond said the Office for Budget Responsibility now sees 2017 economic growth of 2 percent compared …

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• 8 March

  State Farm profit falls on $7bn auto underwriting loss

    Bloomberg State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., the largest U.S. property-casualty insurer, said annual profit fell 94 percent on car insurance claims costs. Net income dropped to $400mn from $6.2bn in 2015, when results included one-time gains in the stock portfolio tied to pharmaceutical deals, the Bloomington, Illinois-based firm said. The underwriting loss from auto insurance widened to $7bn …

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• 8 March

  EU to increase defense cooperation amid doubts on US role

  

    Bloomberg The European Union will for the first time bring its military operations under a single command in a symbolic move that signals the bloc’s renewed push to cooperate on defense matters. EU governments are showing a readiness to pull together military resources and decision-making capabilities as statements from the US have called into question American commitment to European …

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• 8 March

  US airports infrastructure needs $100bn over five years

  

    Bloomberg US airports estimate they need almost $100 billion for capital projects during the next five years and can only fund about half of that on their own, according to a study by a group representing commercial airport owners. Airports are coping with a number of changes that have stretched existing facilities, including higher passenger and cargo activity, aging …

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