August, 2019

• 6 August

  Toronto home sales, prices soar in July

  

  Bloomberg Toronto home sales and prices continued to move higher in July amid tight supply. Sales in Canada’s biggest city jumped 24% to 8,595 from the same period last year, the Toronto Real Estate Board said in a report Tuesday. On a seasonally-adjusted basis, sales rose 5.1% from June, the most since the end of 2017, before harsher mortgage-lending rules ...

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• 6 August

  Barneys in talks to sell brand name as bankruptcy looms

  

  Bloomberg Barneys New York Inc. is in talks with potential buyers of the rights to its name and trademarks as its advisers search for ways to salvage the luxury retailer, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Potential buyers include Authentic Brands Group LLC, a brand management firm that has snapped up intellectual property from several retailers in recent ...

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• 6 August

  Prospects for German economy gloomy even as orders rise

  Bloomberg A rebound in German factory orders in June might be as good as the news gets this week from Europe’s largest economy. Manufacturing is already experiencing its worst slump in seven years, and declining business confidence has raised the risk of a recession. While orders jumped 2.5%, erasing the decline in May, industrial production data due on Wednesday are ...

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• 6 August

  Pakistan says military will go to ‘any extent’ to help Kashmiris

  

  Bloomberg Pakistan’s foreign minister wrote to the United Nations, while its army pledged to go to “any extent’’ against India’s move to revoke the autonomous status of Kashmir, that’s claimed in full by the two South Asian nations. Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi wrote a letter to the secretary general of the United Nations informing him about the “critical situation” ...

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• 6 August

  N Korea warns US talks at risk after latest missile tests

  

  Bloomberg Six weeks after US President Donald Trump took his historic first steps into North Korea, talks with Kim Jong-un appear to be back on the verge of collapse. North Korea’s foreign ministry renewed its threat to take “new road” in negotiations with the US, saying Washington and Seoul would “pay a heavy price” if they continued to disregard the ...

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• 6 August

  China urges HK people to oppose protests

  

  Bloomberg China urged Hong Kong residents to stand up to protesters challenging the government, after a general strike that led to a day of traffic chaos, mob violence, tear gas and flight cancellations. In some of the Chinese government’s strongest comments yet on the unrest gripping the Asian financial hub, the top agency overseeing Hong Kong reiterated support for local ...

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• 6 August

  Taliban threatens to sabotage Afghan poll

  Bloomberg The Taliban has warned Afghan citizens to boycott presidential elections or face attacks at rallies, as the militant group nears a peace deal with the US. The polls are a “ploy to deceive the common people” because foreigners hold the ultimate decision-making power, according to a statement emailed by the group’s spokesman Yousef Ahmadi, referring to the US and ...

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• 6 August

  Trump puts new curbs on Venezuela in bid to pressure Maduro

  

  Bloomberg President Donald Trump imposed further sanctions on Venezuela, freezing the government’s assets in the US and adding immigration restrictions in a move aimed at stepping up pressure on the regime of Nicolas Maduro. Property belonging to the Venezuelan government “may not be transferred, paid, exported, withdrawn, or otherwise dealt in,” Trump said in an executive order by the White ...

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• 6 August

  The Fed’s jobs machine

  

  Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has not been shy about saying what he’s trying to do: prolong the economy’s expansion so that it creates more jobs for those who, in the past, have often felt left out. The Fed increasingly sees itself as a social agency dedicated to job creation. That — more than the effect on stock prices — ...

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• 6 August

  It’s time for HSBC to tap an outsider CEO

  

  Extraordinary times require extraordinary measures. Just 18 months into the job, John Flint has stepped down as CEO of HSBC Holdings Plc. It may be time for this lumbering giant to turn to an outsider rather than the homegrown veterans that the bank has typically chosen as its leaders. Flint was cut from the same cloth as his predecessors, having ...

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