August, 2019

• 20 August

  Thai developer says HK protests ‘good’ for sales

  

  Bloomberg Two months of increasingly chaotic protests in Hong Kong are driving investment money out of the city and into Thailand’s ultra-luxury condominiums, according to one of the biggest developers in the Southeast Asian country. Some 40% of the condos in a 52-story Bangkok tower that opened last week have already been sold to buyers from mainland China, Hong Kong, ...

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• 20 August

  Fortis CEO plans cost cuts of 20%

  

  Bloomberg The new chief executive officer at Fortis Healthcare Ltd. plans to cut a fifth of costs to resuscitate India’s second-largest hospital chain after a regulator found it was defrauded of tens of millions of dollars by its former owners. Fortis is now looking to squeeze spending in everything from energy-efficient light fixtures to automating its business analysis unit and ...

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• 20 August

  Huawei founder sees ‘live or die moment’ from US uncertainty

  

  Bloomberg Huawei Technologies Co.’s founder Ren Zhengfei warned in an internal memo the company is at a “live or die moment” and advised underutilized employees to form “commando squads” to explore new projects. Workers who fail will have their salaries cut every few months and may lose their jobs, the billionaire said. Since May, Huawei has occupied the uncomfortable position ...

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• 20 August

  Tax evasion threatens India budget gap goal

  

  Bloomberg India’s slowing economy could easily be the fall guy for Prime Minister Narendra Modi government’s struggles with meeting tax targets. But there’s another culprit: tax evasion. A nationwide consumption tax, introduced in 2017 and widely regarded as a tool to improve tax compliance and boost economic growth, may have failed to plug evasion, according to a report by the ...

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• 20 August

  China to boost Shenzhen’s role in Greater Bay Area

  Bloomberg China plans to let Shenzhen City, which borders Hong Kong, play “a key role” in science and technology innovation in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, according to state media. Shenzhen will be granted favourable policies including privileges in yuan internationalisation, China Central Television reported. China will also promote the connection of the financial markets of Shenzhen, Hong Kong ...

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• 20 August

  Oil steadies on US-China trade detente

  

  Bloomberg Oil steadied near $56 a barrel as hints of a trade detente between the US and China, along with the prospect of monetary stimulus, buoyed financial markets. Futures were little changed in New York after settling 2.4% higher on Monday. US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said America will delay restrictions on some of China’s Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.’s business ...

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• 20 August

  US sanctions force Iran to ditch push to cleaner fuels

  

  Bloomberg Iran is about to burn a lot more fuel oil as a result of US sanctions and new global shipping rules, reversing the nation’s progress in switching to cleaner-burning natural gas. Power plants and other industrial facilities will burn more than 200,000 barrels a day of highly polluting fuel oil next year, double the amount Iran used in 2018, ...

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• 20 August

  Shale bond buyers get picky as defaults rise

  Bloomberg After years pouring funds into the shale boom, bond buyers are getting increasingly selective as defaults rise and many explorers continue to burn more cash than they make. While Exxon Mobil Corp. and Occidental Petroleum Corp. have recently sold a combined $20 billion of investment-grade debt, junk rated issuers are getting a far different market reception. High-yield energy companies ...

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• 20 August

  Trump blasts Fed again, seeks rate cut by 100 basis points

  

  Bloomberg President Donald Trump stepped up his assault on the Federal Reserve, urging it to cut interest rates by a full percentage point to aid global growth while complaining the “dollar is so strong that it is sadly hurting other parts of the world.” “The Fed Rate, over a fairly short period of time, should be reduced by at least ...

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• 20 August

  Germany readying fiscal stimulus plans

  

  Bloomberg The German government is getting ready to act to shore up Europe’s largest economy, preparing fiscal stimulus measures that could be triggered by a deep recession, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. The program would be designed to bolster the domestic economy and consumer spending to prevent large-scale unemployment, said the people who asked not ...

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