May, 2019

• 27 May

  Kurz faces ouster as nationalists turn on him

  

  Bloomberg Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz is on track to be ousted on Monday after his erstwhile coalition partners in the nationalist Freedom Party lined up behind a motion to dismiss him. The Freedom Party’s acting chairman, Norbert Hofer, told public broadcaster ORF that his group “will probably support” the no-confidence vote against Kurz and his cabinet that was expected to ...

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• 27 May

  Merkel ‘partner’ vows to fight back after ballot blow

  

  Bloomberg Chancellor Angela Merkel’s junior coalition partner vowed to shake things up in the government but stopped short of threatening to immediately pull out of the alliance after Germany’s Social Democrats suffered a double blow at the polls. SPD leaders pleaded for patience as they analyse the results of the elections, which saw them drop to third behind the Greens ...

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• 27 May

  Donald Trump likes fossil fuels but investors don’t

  

  Fossil fuel never had a better friend in the White House than Donald Trump. So why, two years into his presidency, are investors favouring public companies devoted to renewable energy and giving the Bronx cheer to the coal, gas and oil crowd? Trump campaigned against the scientific consensus on climate change and promised to repeal any regulation that impeded the ...

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• 27 May

  US-China trade clash goes global

  

  The impact of the US-China trade spat is no longer limited to just the two countries. The Trump administration’s latest move – seeking to limit access to American suppliers for the Chinese telecom manufacturer Huawei Technologies Co. – may force many businesses worldwide to reconsider their own dependence on supply chains that go through China, and consumers their reliance on ...

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• 27 May

  The real reason we are not driving electric cars

  It seems every major carmaker these days is thinking about electric vehicles in some capacity. At one of the world’s largest auto shows in Shanghai this year, several manufacturers boasted their snazzy concept cars and talked up imminent launches. Electric-vehicle sales are rising fast, and battery installation is climbing — largely thanks to China, where battery demand rose more than ...

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• 27 May

  $3tr bond beast runs the show in Europe

  It’s been a surprisingly good year for Europe’s government bond markets. Yields are down across the board even though the European Central Bank (ECB) is no longer adding to its 2.7 trillion euro ($3 trillion) bond stockpile. The central bank might not be adding to its holdings, but it’s still maintaining them at that vast level and that has a ...

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• 27 May

  How Brexit consumed a British Prime Minister

  

  Prime Minister Theresa May was popular once. That may be hard to remember as she steps down in two weeks’ time, but it’s true. Just three years before her own political party forced her to step aside, she was hailed by politicians and citizens as the wisest choice to lead the UK’s separation from the European Union (EU). Then came ...

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• 27 May

  Huawei gets kicked in the teeth by the British

  

  When it comes to 5G-enabled smartphones, Britain is a pretty decent bellwether: It’s one of just five countries currently rolling out the new mobile standard. So the decision by BT Group Plc, the UK’s former national carrier, not to offer 5G handsets made by Huawei Technologies Co. augurs badly for the beleaguered Chinese telecoms firm’s consumer aspirations. The mobile operator ...

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• 27 May

  Indian democracy was dying before Modi came along

  

  NarendraModi’s emphatic re-election victory makes inevitable something that was long feared: the transformation of India from secular democracy to Hindu majoritarian state. Far from helping to reverse the global tide of illiberal figures and movements, voters in the world’s largest democracy have advanced it. Modi won with a landslide despite having failed miserably in his central mission: to create jobs ...

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• 27 May

  Europe stocks advance with bonds following EU election

  

  Bloomberg Stocks rose in Europe on Monday and markets were mixed in Asia as investors mulled three weeks of global declines amid escalating US-China trade tensions. Core sovereign bonds in the European Union advanced after mainstream parties held their ground against populists in elections. The Euro Stoxx index rose, helped by Fiat Chrysler’s proposed merger with France’s Renault, which drove ...

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