August, 2019

• 6 August

  Yuan-dollar currency war will do collateral damage

  It didn’t take long for the Donald Trump tweet. That you can get more than 7 Chinese yuan to the dollar for the first time since 2008 was always going to be a red rag to the White House bull in the escalating economic battle between Washington and China. The president tweeted — inevitably — that Beijing was a currency ...

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• 6 August

  IMF top job shouldn’t be another stitch-up

  After a messy selection process, the European Union’s finance ministers have picked Kristalina Georgieva as their candidate to lead the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Bulgarian economist, currently chief executive of the World Bank, has suitable credentials but it would be wrong of the IMF board to rubber stamp her nomination just because a European has always held the post. ...

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• 6 August

  New US sanctions on Cuba have a silver lining

  

  Cuban socialism has survived the collapse of the Soviet Union. So however much pain the Trump administration means to exact upon the island economy through a new bout of sanctions, the imminent demise of the autocrats in Havana seems unlikely. No doubt, the recent US-imposed measures, including a ban on cruises, restrictions on remittances and a green light for aggrieved ...

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• 6 August

  Google thumbs its nose at European regulators again

  

  To call it brazen would be an understatement. A year ago, the European Commission fined Google parent Alphabet Inc. 4.3 billion euros ($4.8 billion) and ordered it to stop making its search engine the default on Android-powered smartphones. The tech behemoth presented its remedy: it will ask other search engines to pay for the privilege. When setting up their handsets, ...

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• 6 August

  Flying isn’t the worst offender for carbon emissions

  

  Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish clim-ate activist, recently ann- ounced that she will cross the Atlantic Ocean by boat to attend a United Nations global warming summit in New York. She does not believe in flying in airplanes, for the obvious reason that air travel is a contributor to the carbon emissions problem. I am here with a simple message: ...

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• 6 August

  US futures rise with Europe stocks as China’s yuan gains

  

  Bloomberg US equity futures rose alongside European stocks while Asian shares fell after China moved to stabilise its currency, helping ease some of the market turmoil that kicked off the week. The global sell-off in equities abated after China fixed its yuan exchange rate at stronger than 7 per dollar, a key level that when breached in markets fuelled the ...

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• 6 August

  India stocks advance on Credit Suisse’s upgrade, Kashmir ‘special status’

  

  Bloomberg Indian stocks rose after Credit Suisse AG upgraded the nation to overweight amid an escalating US-China trade war, while the government sought to cement its position by revoking seven decades of autonomy in the disputed Muslim-majority state of Kashmir. The S&P BSE Sensex gained 0.8 percent, its biggest increase in a month, to 36,976.85 at the close in Mumbai. ...

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• 6 August

  Banks seeking softer capital rules rebuffed by EU regulator

  

  Bloomberg European banks lobbying for special treatment on new capital rules are in for a disappointment. The European Banking Authority (EBA) said the bloc should stick closely to what was agreed at a global level when it implements new regulations in the region, according to a report. It specifically rebuffed suggestions from banks on how to tailor the rules to ...

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• 6 August

  SNB’s pile of US shares hit record $93bn in Q2

  

  Bloomberg The Swiss National Bank’s (SNB) holdings of US stocks touched a record $92.7 billion in the second quarter, benefiting from a rise in equity markets. The SNB’s US regulatory filing is one of the few glimpses into its vast investment portfolio, amassed as a consequence of its interventions to weaken the franc. It revealed stakes in 2,554 US companies, ...

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• 6 August

  Wells Fargo joins investing round in esports company

  Bloomberg Wells Fargo & Co. is getting into the burgeoning esports market, joining a funding round for Matcherino Inc., a provider of software and services for running competitive video-gaming tournaments. Wells Fargo Strategic Capital and technology investment firm Galaxy Digital are putting in $1.5mn for an undisclosed percentage of Matcherino, bringing the startup’s current funding round to more than $4.1mn, ...

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