September, 2019

• 8 September

  Italy’s new coalition looks shaky

  

  Giuseppe Conte looks set to form a new government in Italy, after activists from the Five Star Movement backed an alliance with the Democratic Party. The speedy resolution of Italy’s political crisis offers a striking contrast with the enduring chaos in Britain. But the basis of the new coalition, including the program and the likely ministerial team, appear extremely shaky ...

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• 8 September

  Key secrets to success to manage a pension fund

  

  How often does it happen that a public pension fund chooses someone to manage its money — and then sticks with that person for 43 years? Only one streak I know of has lasted this long. The Atlanta-based investment counseling firm Bowen, Hanes and Company Inc., run by Jay Bowen, has received national acclaim for its long tenure overseeing the ...

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• 8 September

  On Brexit, Boris Johnson has badly miscalculated

  After just 43 days in office, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has gotten himself into a dire fix. Unfortunately, there’s no easy way out — for him or for the country he nominally leads. Thanks to a series of miscalculations, Johnson’s party is cracking up, his government is collapsing, and his political strategy is backfiring. This week, he ejected 21 ...

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• 8 September

  Japan, South Korea trade spat boils down to trust

  

  Relations between Japan and South Korea are currently strained due to a dispute over former civilian workers from the Korean Peninsula during World War II. The heart of the problem is whether the promises made between our two sovereign states when they decided to normalise their relations in 1965 will be kept or not. In some people’s view, Japan’s recent ...

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• 8 September

  New tech paradigm won’t save you at all

  

  Back in the day, PCs were hip and investors chased computer stocks to sky-high valuations. Everyone was buying a desktop, and then a laptop, and the companies that supplied them could do no wrong. Then came the smartphone. We all know to blame Apple Inc. for the end of the PC era. Though Steve Jobs didn’t invent the “phone + ...

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• 8 September

  With Assam register, India creates its own border crisis

  

  India’s far northeast is beautiful, friendly and one of the most ethnically, religiously and linguistically diverse places on earth. Multiple distinct ethnic groups share the hills, dales and great valley of the Brahmaputra River with indigenous tribes, tea garden workers originally from central India, ethnic Nepalese, and Bengalis — both Hindu and Muslim — from the Gangetic delta. As in ...

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• 8 September

  Powell waves off recession fear while leaving rate cuts on table

  

  Bloomberg Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell pushed back against perceptions that the US economy was tilting into a recession, while leaving the door open to further interest-rate cuts to keep the country’s record economic expansion on track. Speaking in Zurich, Powell said consumer spending and support from monetary policy should help deliver economic growth between 2 percent and 2.5 percent ...

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• 8 September

  Ping An unit mulls ‘digital bank license’

  

  Bloomberg Ping An Insurance (Group) Co’s financial technology unit is considering an application for one of Singapore’s new digital banking licenses, according to a person familiar with the matter. OneConnect is looking to secure a wholesale license which would allow it to provide banking services to small and medium-sized businesses on the island, said the person, who requested anonymity because ...

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• 8 September

  Goldman CEO, Bono nicked in Sugarfina bankruptcy

  Bloomberg Sugarfina Inc, the chain of luxury candy shops backed by some of the biggest names in banking and entertainment, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as mall-based stores struggle to compete. Posh candies like Champagne gummy bears for $8.50 and bourbon-and-toffee chocolate bars at $9.50 are part of Sugarfina’s lineup. The company listed assets and liabilities of up to ...

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• 8 September

  Veteran banker touts India bonds on prospect of deeper interest rate cuts

  

  Bloomberg The slide in Indian bonds last month on concern about potential monetary stimulus has one bond veteran smelling an opportunity. The government’s scope to deliver a big package to revive the economy is limited despite the $24 billion windfall from the central bank, while the prospect of additional interest-rate cuts will drive yields lower, Neeraj Gambhir, president and head ...

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