July, 2019

• 21 July

  Microsoft cloud software fuels sales, profit beat

  

  Bloomberg Microsoft Corp rose to a record after topping quarterly sales and profit projections, fuelled by steady demand for cloud-computing services and a surprisingly strong Windows business. The company’s forecast promised robust growth will continue into next year. The software maker pledged “double-digit” percentage gains in sales and operating income for the year. Results are getting a boost from larger ...

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• 21 July

  Boeing’s 737 Max charge is only end of the beginning

  

  Boeing Co.’s willingness to put a price tag on its 737 Max crisis and set a firmer timeline for the plane’s return is a sign it sees those troubles as closer to being resolved. The risk is that the company is still the most optimistic one in the room. Boeing announced it would take a $4.9 billion after-tax charge in ...

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• 21 July

  Amazon.com plays nice in Germany

  

  As part of a settlement with Germany’s antitrust authorities, Amazon.com Inc. has agreed to change a number of its business practices. The move should serve as a model to other US tech companies that prefer to pay fines to the European Union and challenge its antitrust rulings in the courts rather than alter their behaviour to comply with local rules. ...

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• 21 July

  Negative yields tempt fund managers into liquidity trap

  With almost $13 trillion of bonds in the global debt market yielding less than zero, fund managers are increasingly chasing returns in less liquid assets. The result could be a reduction in the transparency about what portfolios are really worth. Regulators are right to be paying heightened attention to any misadventures in illiquidity. The decline in interest income available in ...

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• 21 July

  Donald Trump needs to hold firm on Iran

  President Donald Trump reinserted himself into the Iran nuclear negotiations this week, with decidedly mixed results. Trump’s reiteration that he isn’t looking for regime change was welcome. As efforts to persuade Iran to scale back uranium enrichment intensify, it’s important for the regime to know that it faces no existential threat. The US hopes only to crimp its capacity to ...

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• 21 July

  Modi should starve India’s state-controlled lenders

  

  Fifty years ago, India took a wrong turn leftward from which it is yet to recover: On July 19, 1969, the government took over the banking system, nationalising 14 banks which together controlled 85 percent of bank deposits. Today, even after a quarter century of liberalisation, state-controlled banks still control 70 percent of the sector’s assets. As a consequence, credit ...

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• 21 July

  Netflix’s optimistic scenario took a hit

  

  The optimistic scenario about Netflix Inc. goes like this: The company is wise to spend like mad to create a new generation of entertainment service that capitalises on the inexorable shift of people away from old ways of wasting time like television towards new modes of wasting time like staring at smartphones. Eventually, the theory goes, Netflix will stop bleeding ...

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• 21 July

  In PG&E battle, time is money and money is time

  

  Money talks, but the big question for PG&E Corp next week is how closely the bankruptcy judge is listening. The battle for the future of the wildfire-prone California utility intensified this week with a fusillade of court filings. To recap, PG&E has an exclusive period until late September to file a proposal to get out of chapter 11. Late last ...

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• 21 July

  Walmart integrates stores with e-comm as web unit struggles

  

  Bloomberg Walmart Inc is conducting its second US restructuring in as many months to better integrate its money-losing online business with its 4,700 physical stores. The world’s largest retailer will merge the logistics and finance teams for its e-commerce unit and stores, according to an internal memo obtained by Bloomberg News. The company’s merchandising operation, which makes critical decisions on ...

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• 21 July

  Cathay adds budget carrier after buying Hong Kong Express

  

  Bloomberg Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd completed the acquisition of Hong Kong’s only budget carrier as the company expects to lift its market share amid growing competition from mainland Chinese airlines. Hong Kong Express Airways Ltd, which was previously owned by HNA Group Co, will continue operating as a standalone airline under the low-cost model, Cathay said in a statement. The ...

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