August, 2019

• 13 August

  UK commuter train fares set to rise 3%

  Bloomberg After cancelations, delays and strikes, British train commuters are bracing for another kick in the teeth: fare hikes. Rail users could be looking at an increase of almost 3% in the cost of travel, based on inflation data set to be announced on Wednesday. Last month, a number of services were cancelled because of record temperatures, with many train ...

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• 13 August

  China-US trade tensions becoming more ominous

  

  Donald Trump sold himself to the American public as an expert deal-maker. At the top of his list was a promised trade bargain with China that would boost US exports and remedy some of the more egregious exa-mples of discrimination against American firms. It isn’t working as planned. To the contrary: The ensuing trade war between the United States and ...

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• 13 August

  UK firms trapped paying high dividends

  

  Reality is beginning to bite in the FTSE 100 as some high-yielding stocks give up on generous dividends. But many British companies are still continuing to offer jaw-dropping payouts when what investors really crave is growth. The dividend culture of the FTSE 100 has long been an oddity. Its investors have received a far higher proportion of their total returns ...

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• 13 August

  Bitcoin and gold are two monuments to irrationality

  With worries about a currency war growing and bond yields collapsing, investors have reached for their usual haven of gold. Only this time it has a friend (as my colleague Tim Culpan wrote): Bitcoin. Gold’s dollar price has risen 7 percent this month, Bitcoin’s by 18 percent. This apparent use of the two commodities as companion ports in a storm ...

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• 13 August

  Christine Lagarde’s biggest problem at ECB is Germany

  Christine Lagarde is still to be confirmed as the European Central Bank’s next president, but work is already piling up on her desk. The euro zone is in danger of becoming the biggest collateral victim of the US-China trade war and Lagarde will need all her political skills to plot an escape route from the threat of recession. The euro ...

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• 13 August

  In Russia’s summer wildfires, climate change is to blame

  

  Summer wildfires devouring Siberian forests are hardly unusual, but this year’s are a bigger worry than normal because clouds of smoke have reached big cities in the Asian part of Russia and because the authorities have reacted clumsily. The extra attention from the Russian and global media is welcome, even if it’s tinged with unnecessary alarmism: Russia needs to start ...

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• 13 August

  China clips Cathay Pacific’s wings over Hong Kong protests

  

  Airlines are fundamental to the self-image of sovereign territories. The largest one in any country is routinely dubbed a ”flag carrier,” as if it was the leader of a naval squadron. No wonder Beijing has it in for Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. China’s civil aviation authority has ordered Cathay to bar air crew who supported Hong Kong’s recent protests from ...

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• 13 August

  Tourism is overwhelming the world’s top destinations

  

  In 1953, mountaineers Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary made the first confirmed summiting of Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak. Recently, Everest has grown so popular that photos are surfacing showing huge lines of climbers waiting to surmount that same peak. On rarefied ground where once only Norgay and Hillary tread, now climbers are dying because of overcrowding. A less ...

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• 13 August

  ECB’s stimulus push keeps bond investors in suspense

  

  Bloomberg Mario Draghi’s plans for a parting stimulus shot before he retires as European Central Bank president are laced with even more suspense than usual. While the ECB is widely expected to cut interest rates next month, the prospect of a renewed round of asset purchases is shrouded in uncertainty. Investors must judge how much quantitative easing the euro-zone economy ...

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• 13 August

  Commerzbank hits record low as Europe’s banking woes worsen

  

  Bloomberg Three years into Commerzbank AG Chief Executive Officer Martin Zielke’s turnaround, the party’s over. Shares of the lender fell to a record low, capping a roller coaster ride that saw the stock more than double after the CEO announced his plan, buoyed by expectations for higher interest rates and consolidation in European banking. Zielke has refocused the bank on ...

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