September, 2019

• 21 September

  The good news about income inequality

  

  The headline from the US Census Bureau’s report on health insurance coverage was that the ranks of the uninsured swelled by almost 2 million Americans in 2018. But the larger trends illustrated in the report are more consequential — and more positive — for the US economy. First, about those health-insurance numbers. More than half of the decline in insurance ...

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• 21 September

  SoftBank needs a different IPO after WeWork slip

  

  SoftBank Group Corp. and its Vision Fund need another win. And they need it fast. With news that US rental office company WeWork – formally known as The We Company – looks set to delay its IPO, we can see just how dependent SoftBank supremo Masayoshi Son’s empire was on this one exit to keep the Japanese company’s hit machine ...

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• 21 September

  Amazon’s Alexa masters Hindi, Hinglish for Diwali

  

  Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc’s Alexa has mastered Hindi in just a few years. The voice assistant introduced to India in 2017 gets a major local makeover for one of the largest retail markets. Amazon launched a version that now speaks Hindi and Hinglish — a unique blend with English. It can also switch automatically between all three. The new, improved Alexa ...

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• 21 September

  Facebook upgrades Portal video chat devices with new TV model

  

  Bloomberg Facebook Inc upgraded its Portal video chat devices, with a new model for TVs and lower prices. It also said users can opt out of the company accessing voice recordings collected by the hardware. With the new products, called Portal TV, Portal, and Portal Mini, Facebook is trying to break into the crowded smart speaker and connected living room ...

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• 21 September

  Glencore joins grain firms’ digital project

  Bloomberg Glencore’s agriculture unit has become the latest trading house to join an initiative to modernise the way grain and oilseed transactions are handled. The group, which includes Archer-Daniels-Midland Co, Bunge Ltd, Cargill Inc, Louis Dreyfus Co and Cofco International, is working on a new platform in an effort to make global trading faster and more efficient. The platform, which ...

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• 21 September

  Robo tuk-tuk to zip about an upscale Bangkok neighbourhood

  

  Bloomberg Thailand’s ubiquitous tuk-tuk, the noisy, colourful three-wheeled taxi that’s been belching exhaust on local roads for almost a century, is getting a cutting-edge makeover to help carry the local auto industry into the future. Beginning in November, a public-private partnership will test the nation’s first self-driving tuk-tuk in an effort to nudge Thailand towards the forefront of developing autonomous-vehicle ...

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• 21 September

  Commerzbank to slash 4,300 jobs as Zielke steps up cost cuts

  

  Bloomberg Commerzbank AG is planning to cut 4,300 jobs as part of a new strategic plan that will also see the bank sell a stake in its Polish mBank unit to reduce risk and help pay for the measures. Germany’s second-biggest listed bank plans to close 200 branches as part of the measures, and buy the 18% it doesn’t yet ...

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• 21 September

  Indonesia cuts key rate for third month in row

  

  Bloomberg Indonesia’s central bank cut its key interest rate for a third straight month to bolster growth amid a deepening global economic slowdown. The seven-day reverse repurchase rate was lowered by 25 basis points to 5.25%, as predicted by 21 out of 28 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The rest forecast no change. The latest round of easing, after the Federal ...

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• 21 September

  India’s central bank chief signals more rate cuts to boost economy

  

  Bloomberg India’s central bank Governor Shaktikanta Das said there’s room for interest rate cuts to spur economic growth given stable and below-target inflation. Speaking at the Bloomberg India Economic Forum in Mumbai, Das said a surge in oil prices following the supply disruption at a Saudi Arabian crude facility will likely be contained and won’t pose a major challenge to ...

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• 21 September

  Zimbabwe tightens rules for currency exchanges

  

  Bloomberg Zimbabwe’s central bank has tightened the rules governing the trade of foreign currency by money exchange offices with immediate effect. The rates offered by exchange offices must be 7% above or below the interbank mid-rate, the central bank said in an emailed statement. Failure to comply would result in either heavy financial penalties or license revocation, it said. The ...

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