September, 2019

• 15 September

  California to veto ‘Trump insurance’ bill

  Bloomberg California Governor Gavin Newsom plans to veto a bill approved by the Democrat-controlled legislature that sought to preserve federal environmental and worker safety standards in the face of any Trump administration rollbacks. Under SB 1, if federal officials weaken certain regulations in effect the day before Donald Trump took office, the state’s agencies would have to maintain the protections ...

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• 15 September

  California hit with biggest wildfire, NASA warns on climate

  

  Bloomberg California’s biggest wildfire of the year has already burned more than 50,000 acres of timber and grass as NASA scientists say climate change is making such blazes more likely and harder to stop. It’s a sobering scenario for the US state with the highest wildfire risk, where land damaged or destroyed by fire has expanded fivefold over the last ...

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• 15 September

  S Africa revives plan to take free stake in new energy projects

  

  Bloomberg South Africa’s government is drafting a new law that aims at securing it a free stake in all new oil and gas ventures, revising the terms of a proposal shelved four years ago. Under the legislation, which the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy outlined to lawmakers in Cape Town, the state would secure 10% ownership of energy projects ...

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• 15 September

  Trump has an opportunity to reset the table in Afghanistan

  

  Every president since Jimmy Carter has dreamed of signing a peace agreement at Camp David. That’s a forgivable vanity, even for our current narcissist-in-chief. But it nearly led President Trump to make an unwise deal on Afghanistan with a Taliban that continues to use terror as its chief weapon. Trump’s closest Republican allies, such as Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., have ...

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• 15 September

  UK banks face a Corbyn battering

  

  Lloyds Banking Group Plc is within touching distance of putting behind it a scandal that has cost a breathtaking 21.8 billion pounds ($27 billion). But any celebration would be premature: The lender is, in effect, one of the biggest bets on Brexit Britain. On September 9, Lloyds said it would suspend a share buyback after setting aside an additional 1.8 ...

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• 15 September

  SoftBank, WeWork are as bad as each other

  SoftBank Group Corp. is having second thoughts about whether WeWork Cos Inc. should go public just yet. Having valued the heavily loss-making office space provider at up to $47 billion, Masayoshi Son’s affiliates are doubtless reluctant to write down their more than $10 billion investment – something they’d have to consider once there’s an observable price for the shares. WeWork, ...

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• 15 September

  Fed is set to cut interest rates multiple times

  The Federal Reserve is set to lower its target for the federal funds rate by another 25 basis points while leaving the door open for further reductions. When does this cycle end? When the Fed either stabilizes the economy with something on the order of 75 basis points of rate cuts or the economy slips into recession and rates head ...

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• 15 September

  India’s big lenders: Going subprime isn’t the answer

  

  Any financing that’s secured by collateral — steel mills, textile factories, power plants, roads or land — is in trouble in India. A multiyear investment slowdown has decimated credit quality. Now, the problem is spreading. The near-recession in the consumer economy means unsecured lending could be the next domino to fall. With business collateral losing its sheen, India’s top three ...

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• 15 September

  This phone isn’t just about the folding stuff

  

  With Samsung Electronics Co. finally launching its troubled Galaxy Fold, success for the $1,980 luxury handset may be measured not in how many it ships, but how many competitors decide to develop their own. Pre-release enthusiasm for the device turned to exasperation in April when review units were found to have a severe defect related to the folding screen design. ...

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• 15 September

  Hold your tears at T-Mobile’s Sprint pity party

  

  T-Mobile US Inc. is trying to make the case that Sprint Corp. is on its deathbed, and that T-Mobile alone can save it. That’s rich coming from the company that happily helped put Sprint there. It’s also a misleading prognosis for Sprint. A Sprint pity party is one way T-Mobile is defending against a multi-state lawsuit that seeks to prevent ...

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