September, 2019

• 10 September

  Kim tests more weapons after fresh bid for US talks

  

  Bloomberg North Korea delivered a pointed message to the Trump administration — firing two “short-range projectiles” into its eastern seas hours after saying it was willing to restart nuclear talks with the US. The launches began shortly before 7 am local time on Tuesday, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said. The incident came shortly after a top North Korean ...

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• 10 September

  Johnson to work for Brexit deal with EU

  

  Bloomberg After parliament blocked his Brexit strategy, and then refused to give him the election he wanted, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is promising to work for a deal with the European Union (EU). The British premier suffered his sixth consecutive defeat in a vote in the House of Commons, after his attempt to get approval for a snap poll ...

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• 10 September

  Bulgaria official charged with espionage for Russia

  

  Bloomberg Bulgaria charged the head of a pro-Russian civil-society group with espionage, alleging he supplied information to help shift the Balkan nation’s geopolitical trajectory. The move could complicate ties between the two countries, which have remained cordial — particularly in the energy sector — despite Bulgaria’s membership of the European Union and NATO. In a possible sign of tougher rhetoric ...

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• 10 September

  Regulations are needed to prevent satellite collisions

  

  Last week, the European Space Agency reached out to warn Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. that one of its satellites might collide with a SpaceX communications satellite. When ESA first raised such concerns in late August, the chances of a crash were 1 in 50,000; SpaceX had said then that it didn’t think the risk was high enough to ...

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• 10 September

  HK should cut stock-trading tax

  

  Hong Kong’s stock market is in need of support. While the Hang Seng Index rose the most in more than 10 months after Chief Executive Carrie Lam formally withdrew an extradition bill that sparked months of protests, the benchmark remains 5% lower than in mid-June before the turmoil started. The government should consider cutting the trading tax, or stamp duty, ...

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• 10 September

  Shareholder primacy means shareholders are paid last

  The Business Roundtable touched off a storm of commentary with its abandonment of the “shareholder primacy” view that the goal of a for-profit business corporation should be to maximize shareholder value. Most people celebrating this move seem to think it means stakeholders such as employees, customers, suppliers and communities will do better if corporate boards and managers treat their interests ...

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• 10 September

  A strong US consumer is a lagging indicator

  Investors who are optimistic about the outlook for the US economy and financial markets due to reports of healthy consumer spending, retail sales and an unemployment rate that held near a 50-year low in August need a history lesson. Even though consumer spending accounts for about two-thirds of the economy, it was a poor predictor of the last two recessions, ...

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• 10 September

  UK can’t fix Brexit until it drafts a constitution

  

  Democracy, Winston Churchill once famously said, was the worst way to run a country “apart from all the others that have ever been tried.” Unfortunately, he did not make clear what kind of democracy he favoured. Britain’s dreadful Brexit impasse has divided the country into roughly equal camps, both convinced democracy has been traduced. And they both have a point. ...

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• 10 September

  M&S’s relegation isn’t such a bad look, really

  

  Marks & Spencer Group Plc (M&S) showed off its key looks for the autumn winter season this week. It is aiming to woo shoppers with 1970s-inspired prints, jewel toned blouses and tailored coats. But the high street stalwart has gone out of fashion with investors. Its shares are set to fall out of the FTSE 100 index for the first ...

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• 10 September

  Grounding the 737 Max eases turbulence for airlines

  

  The grounding of Boeing Co.’s 737 Max after a pair of accidents killed 346 people might seem an unmitigated disaster for the world’s airline industry. Look at flight data, though, and you can glimpse a grim benefit supporting carriers’ bottom lines. To see why, it’s worth remembering just how crucial the 737 and its arch-rival, the Airbus SE A320, are. ...

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