May, 2019

• 15 May

  Danger of dabbling in protectionism

  

  A man who worked in a boxer’s corner in a 1962 match against Cassius Clay, as he still was known, explained why the referee stopped the fight in the fourth round: “Things just went sour gradually all at once.” It can be like that when government dabbles in protectionism. US industrial capacity has never been larger — it is 66% ...

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• 15 May

  Ireland is being tech-shamed

  

  “Only Facebook Ireland can respond to your concerns.” That is the response you are likely to get from Facebook Inc. if you accuse the world’s biggest social network of breaching Europe’s tough new laws on data privacy. The company’s European headquarters are in Ireland; data from its users in the region is officially controlled and processed there; and its lead ...

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• 15 May

  German driver is hitting brakes, pulls epic U-turn

  Breaking up an indebted German conglomerate was never going to be easy, but ThyssenKrupp AG boss Guido Kerkhoff probably hoped an enduring share price bounce would help smooth the process. Instead, ThyssenKrupp’s stock tumbled about 45 percent since he announced a plan to split the company’s steel and capital goods activities in September. The shares touched a 15-year low this ...

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• 15 May

  One million species will disappear, if we let them

  When the findings of a landmark UN report on biodiversity came out last week, the headlines ran the gamut from depressing to apocalyptic. One million species face extinction, readers were told. Almost a third of the world’s reef-forming coral species, more than a third of its marine mammals, and 40 percent of its amphibian species could die out. And that’s ...

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• 15 May

  The White Walkers of Brexit are riding again

  

  It was the moment businesses exhaled and viewers switched the channel. On April 4, the UK parliament voted, by a margin of one, to ensure that the country wouldn’t leave the European Union (EU) without a deal. Brexit may or may not happen – but there would be no chaotic crashing out because parliament had vetoed it. Except, like a ...

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• 15 May

  Cruise control isn’t fast enough for Toyota

  

  By the looks of it, Toyota Motor Corp. is holding steady, even as other carmakers flail. But some caution is warranted. Toyota has consistently outperformed its rivals over the last year as the industry struggles with everything from technology adoption to tariffs. Its shares are down just 5 percent in the past year, compared with its peers’ average of almost ...

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• 15 May

  India hoped for an Abe. It got a lost decade

  

  Five years ago, I wrote that Narendra Modi could be India’s Shinzo Abe. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The chief minister of Gujarat state had just been chosen by his party to become the next prime minister if it won the popular vote. Writing for Reuters then, I predicted he could lift the country’s drooping economy, just as Abe ...

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• 15 May

  US futures, Europe stocks slump as Asia advances

  

  Bloomberg US equity futures slipped on Wednesday alongside European stocks as the rebound in global shares struggled for momentum. Oil declined, while Treasuries advanced with German bonds. Contracts on the S&P 500, Dow and Nasdaq all swung from a gain to a loss, though Alibaba’s US-listed shares bucked the trend, rising in pre-market trading after beating estimates. The Stoxx Europe ...

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• 15 May

  China stocks rally after data miss strengthens ‘economic stimulus’

  

  Bloomberg China’s stocks rose, as traders speculated Beijing will consider more measures to support the economy after data showed weaker-than-expected growth in April. The CSI 300 Index jumped 2.3% at the close, though volume in the gauge was about 35% lower than the 30-day average at this time of day, signalling little conviction in the gains. The offshore yuan was ...

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• 15 May

  Trump suggests Fed could help his trade fight against China

  

  Bloomberg President Donald Trump called on the Federal Reserve to “match” what he said China would do to offset economic hardship being caused by tariffs as he sought to draft the US central bank into his simmering trade war. “China will be pumping money into their system and probably reducing interest rates, as always, in order to make up for ...

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