June, 2019

• 17 June

  Singapore’s export numbers add to GDP’s warning signs

  

  Bloomberg Trade-reliant Singapore just took another big hit in the latest data, and the implications for the economy are looking serious. Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports plunged in May by the most since February 2013, driven by an ongoing slump in the electronics sector that’s now the worst in more than a decade, Enterprise Singapore figures showed on Monday. Both trade-war ...

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• 17 June

  Yahoo Japan under fire for its ‘rating system’

  

  Bloomberg Some users of Yahoo Japan Corp. are rising up against Japan’s biggest web portal after the rollout of a new rating system that’s being compared with a social-scoring initiative in China. The 48 million people with a Yahoo! Japan ID will have to opt-out within a privacy settings webpage if they don’t want to be rated. The score is ...

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• 17 June

  Fosun International mulls joint bid for Bayer animal health arm

  

  Bloomberg Fosun International Ltd. is considering a bid for Bayer AG’s animal-health business, people familiar with the matter said, a move that would allow the Chinese conglomerate to tap into the growing market of treatments for pets and livestock. Fosun has held talks with potential advisers and is considering teaming up with private equity firms or other financial investors for ...

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• 17 June

  European firms welcome US tech giants’ digital pay push

  

  Bloomberg European financial technology firms, including TransferWise Ltd. and German banking startup N26 Bank GmbH, are embracing plans by US tech giants like Facebook Inc. to push into digital currencies and payments, brushing off potential rivalries. Speaking at Bloomberg’s Sooner Than You Think conference in London, Taavet Hinrikus, the chairman and co-founder of TransferWise, said he welcomed plans by Facebook ...

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• 17 June

  Dutch gene-therapy firm UniQure explores options including sale

  

  Bloomberg UniQure NV is exploring options including a potential sale amid interest from pharmaceutical companies looking to expand in gene therapy, people with knowledge of the matter said. The shares jumped in early trading. The biotechnology company is working with advisers as it weighs options including a sale or partnerships, according to the people, who asked not to be identified ...

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• 17 June

  Broadcom slides on dim sales outlook

  

  Bloomberg Broadcom Inc. shares tumbled after the chipmaker cut its full-year sales outlook, citing the impact of the trade war between China and the US. While the weaker guidance didn’t come as a shock, the scale of the reduction caught some analysts off guard, and it was seen as further diminishing the idea that semiconductor demand would rebound in the ...

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• 17 June

  US yields can tumble to 1.75% on trade meltdown

  

  Bloomberg Treasury 10-year yields may drop to 1.75 percent by year-end if the US-China trade war goes full throttle, says Western Asset Management. Yields may keep falling even though they have already tumbled to about 2.10 percent from a seven-year high of 3.26 percent set in October, according to portfolio manager Mark Lindbloom. The trigger: a cocktail of lower inflation, ...

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• 17 June

  UK builder Kier to cut 1,200 jobs

  

  Bloomberg Kier Group Plc plans to cut 1,200 jobs, exit businesses and suspend dividends as the British engineering company struggles to rein in debts piled up during a rapid expansion. Chief Executive Officer Andrew Davies is pulling Kier out of homebuilding and property maintenance to focus on construction of other buildings and infrastructure such as roads and railways. The job ...

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• 17 June

  Is Iran-US tinderbox about to catch fire?

  

  As Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Iran of “unprovoked attacks” near the Strait of Hormuz, video screens behind him showed thick black smoke billowing from the two tankers that were struck on June 13. It was the dramatic imagery that sometimes precedes armed conflict. Pompeo didn’t offer hard evidence, and Iran denied the attacks. The US response in escalating ...

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• 17 June

  Brexit, wages a poisonous mix for BOE

  

  Three years on from the UK’s vote to quit the European Union (EU), its failure to come up with a realistic plan for how to withdraw is pretty farcical. Officials at the Bank of England aren’t laughing, though. Mark Carney, the bank’s governor, has gone slowly on raising interest rates as he waits for the fog of Brexit to clear. ...

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