July, 2019

• 24 July

  Chasing global sway, China’s car industry influence is rising

  Bloomberg China has long been a key market for global automotive manufacturers. Now the country is asserting its role as an investor in the industry, stepping up the pace of purchases in the car and heavy-truck sector. The latest foray: state-backed Beijing Automotive Group Co is buying a 5 percent stake in Daimler AG, the maker of Mercedes-Benz. The announcement ...

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• 24 July

  Nissan braces for pain as weak profits force restructuring

  

  Bloomberg Nissan Motor Co confirmed reports of a 90 percent drop in quarterly operating profit and a broader restructuring a day before posting results, underscoring the Japanese automaker’s struggle to get back on stable footing. Operating profit for the fiscal first quarter will be several billion yen, the Nikkei newspaper reported earlier on Wednesday, indicating a result well below analysts’ ...

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• 24 July

  Uncertainty clouds path forward for Afghanistan

  

  At the military headquarters where commanders oversee Am- erica’s longest war, an official explains in one sentence the US-led coalition’s bottom-line objective: “Peace is a situation where we can leave, and we don’t have to come back.” But how will United Sta-tes move towards this end-game, as US special envoy ZalmayKhalilzad nears conclusion of his secret peace negotiations with the ...

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• 24 July

  Fed has reached a turning point

  

  The US Federal Reserve is poised to put interest rates on a new, downward trajectory in its efforts to support an increasingly fragile economy. The move is long overdue, but it’s crucial that officials and the public recognise the risks. Although Fed officials meet at least eight times a year to deliberate over monetary policy, they change the direction of ...

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• 24 July

  China’s Nasdaq-style star market risks swift burnout

  The star that burns the brightest may also burn out fastest. Investors tempted by the blazing debut of China’s new tech board should bear that in mind. The first 25 companies to start trading on Shanghai’s Star market posted an average gain of 140 percent. The value of shares that changed hands surpassed 48 billion yuan ($7 billion) — about ...

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• 24 July

  Trump ‘third country’asylum rule doubles down on failure

  Another directive on immigration from the Trump administration begets another court challenge. In a sweeping rule change, the administration has declared that, with narrow exceptions, any “alien who enters or attempts to enter the United States across the southern border after failing to apply for protection in a third country outside the alien’s country of citizenship, nationality, or last lawful ...

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• 24 July

  Flight shaming won’t cut carbon emissions in Asia

  

  This summer, European vacationers are being brought down to earth. A campaign, marked by hashtags such as #stayontheground and #flightshame, is pressuring travellers to think twice about the carbon impact of their air travel. Even airlines are joining in the public shaming. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is encouraging people to fly less, and Deutsche Lufthansa AG’s CEO recently declared that ...

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• 24 July

  European Central Bank leans into active inertia

  

  Having been upstaged again last week by the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank will join its US counterpart in global economic spotlight when the Governing Council meets on Thur- sday in Frankfurt and, like Fed, signals further monetary stimulus ahead. But ECB is facing a much more difficult script than the Fed. Lacking a more substantial role, the council’s ...

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• 24 July

  Spain can flourish with a coalition government

  

  This week, Spain may finally get a government based on the results of its April parliamentary election. If it doesn’t, there’s likely to be a fourth election in as many years. Spain joins the growing ranks of countries run for extended periods by technocrats rather than politicians, and it appears to be doing fine — like most of the others ...

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• 23 July

  China backs UAE’s commitment to regional peace, stability: Xi Jinping

  BEIJING / WAM Chinese President Xi Jinping has stressed the significance of peace and stability in the Gulf region for the Middle East as well as for the whole world, saying the region should be an “oasis of security” rather than a new “source of turmoil.” “China backs the UAE’s commitment to regional peace and stability,” Xi said, calling on ...

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