August, 2019

• 24 August

  US raises tariffs on China ahead of G-7

  

  Bloomberg President Donald Trump escalated the trade war with China and moved further away from a deal to resolve frictions, announcing a wave of higher tariffs even as he prepared to set off for a gathering of world leaders. In an announcement, tweeted after major indices on Wall Street sank, Trump said existing 25% tariffs on some $250 billion in ...

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• 24 August

  Allianz buys $738mn insurer in Brazil

  Bloomberg Allianz SE agreed to pay 667 million euros ($738 million) for the general-insurance assets of SulAmerica, a deal that will make the German firm Brazil’s second-largest provider of motor insurance. Europe’s largest insurer will combine the new assets with its existing Brazilian subsidiary to create a business with 1.5 billion euros of gross written premiums, according to a company ...

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• 24 August

  Tesla agrees to buy LG batteries for its vehicles made in China

  

  Bloomberg Tesla Inc. agreed to buy batteries from South Korea’s LG Chem Ltd. to be used in electric vehicles produced out in China, according to people familiar with the matter. Batteries made by LG Chem will be used initially in Model 3 cars manufactured in the plant near Shanghai, Tesla’s first outside of the US. LG Chem batteries will also ...

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• 24 August

  ‘German Chancellery sees mild recession’

  

  Bloomberg The German Chancellery now also expects Europe’s largest economy to slip into a mild recession in the third quarter, news magazine Der Spiegel reports. Gross domestic product contracted by 0.1% in the second quarter, and Angela Merkel’s economic advisers expect a similar result in the period between July and September. Economists at the German central bank had been making ...

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• 24 August

  UK to plow $370 million into delivery drones, flying taxis

  

  Bloomberg The UK announced a $370 million investment aimed to spur the development of greener flights for people and goods. The government will put 125 million pounds into the initiative, which will to supplement 175 million pounds from industry, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s office said in a statement late Friday. The intention is to support new technologies including freight-carrying drones, ...

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• 24 August

  Smart cities need to spend more on security tech’

  Bloomberg The world’s largest cities need to invest billions of additional dollars into their infrastructure in order to secure citizen data, new research suggests. Of the roughly $135 billion expected to be spent globally on cybersecurity for critical city infrastructure in 2024, 44% will be split across data protection provisions for energy, health care, public security, transport, water and waste ...

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• 24 August

  The unlikely crusade to save capitalism from itself

  

  Evolve or die — wrote hedge-fund billionaire Ray Dalio in a manifesto published in April titled “Why and How Capitalism Needs to be Reformed.” With each passing month, more business executives have been joining this unlikely crusade to save capitalism from itself. The loudest reform call yet from inside the system came this week from the Business Roundtable, which represents ...

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• 24 August

  Germany is preparing to save itself

  

  For nearly a decade Germany has faced calls from across the euro zone to loosen its fiscal belt. Now that Berlin has finally hinted it might spend more to combat the risk of recession, the rest of Europe has some cause to celebrate. But any jubilation should be tempered. Finance minister Olaf Scholz has said that Germany can spend up ...

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• 24 August

  Sotheby’s, the billionaire and the reserve price

  Sotheby’s is under fire for accepting a $2.7 billion takeover bid from billionaire art lover Patrick Drahi. The handling of the sale reflects poorly on the board, even if it led to a generous offer relative to where the stock was trading. The venerable auctioneer received a takeover approach from a group of unidentified private equity investors in December. Others, ...

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• 24 August

  Trump’s tax cut could work for Democrats, too

  Donald Trump was unable to say whether he supported the single most viable idea for forestalling a recession: a payroll tax cut. It’s not a hard question — and by promising to make the cut temporary, he could increase the chances of it actually happening. The worsening US economic outlook has sparked a blame game in Washington. Trump blames the ...

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