May, 2019

• 13 May

  Italy limbers up for its big fight

  

  If you thought the fight between Italy and the European Commission was over, think again. Brussels produced its latest batch of forecasts for EU countries. For Rome, they paint an ugly picture. Italy is expected to grow by a meager 0.1% this year, the slowest pace in the bloc. Meanwhile, its budget deficit is forecast to reach 2.5% of gross ...

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• 13 May

  GE investors are ready to put away their pitchforks

  General Electric Co.’s attempts at a revival are starting to bear fruit – not necessarily in its cash flow, but in its culture and in the hearts and minds of shareholders who’ve had to slog with the industrial giant through some of the worst years in its history. They are ready to believe again. GE hosted its annual meeting in ...

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• 13 May

  Can Asia’s richest man take Hamleys global?

  For Reliance Industries Ltd., buying Hamelys is a dream come true. The group hasn’t said much about its plans for the British toy store. Nor has Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, who controls Reliance. Whatever global aspirations they may have, achieving them won’t be straightforward. For buyers of British trophy retail assets, hopes of catapulting them to international domination don’t ...

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• 13 May

  Trump should let the world join fight against China

  

  Whatever one thinks of Donald Trump’s trade negotiating strategy — which has largely relied on tariffs that have hurt US companies and consumers most of all, many of them from parts of the country that are both economically fragile and that supported Trump in the last election — he’s right about one thing. A global trading system meant to benefit ...

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• 13 May

  Hong Kong has a haven from trade-war jolts

  

  The plunge in Hong Kong stocks triggered by the renewed US-China trade conflict was the latest jolt for a market that’s veered wildly between bear and bull territory in the past two years. Investors seeking a haven from the volatility have few places to turn: one may be stocks tied to the Greater Bay Area. China’s plan to knit together ...

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• 13 May

  A Facebook breakup? Let’s think about it a minute

  

  It’s impossible to root for Facebook Inc. It’s like rooting for the New England Patriots. (Sorry, Pats fans.) Besides partisans and kooks, who could side with an organization that is successful beyond belief, skirts the rules and is led by an all-powerful boss facing serious legal questions? And unlike the sports team, Facebook wields enormous influence over how the world ...

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• 13 May

  Stocks slump, dollar gains as trade talks deadlock

  

  Bloomberg US equity futures slumped and stocks declined across Europe and Asia as investors prepared for the next phase of the escalating trade war between America and China. The yuan tumbled, while Treasuries rallied. Contracts on the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq 100 indexes all slid, pointing to a big drop at the US open, as President ...

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• 13 May

  India Sensex falls to two-month low

  

  Bloomberg India stocks plunged in a last-hour selloff as investors weighed positions ahead of the national election results due next week and as escalation in the trade war between the US and China remained an overhang on the region’s risk assets. The S&P BSE Sensex dropped 1 percent, after fluctuating between gains and losses for most of the session. The ...

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• 13 May

  Kashkari adds income inequality to argument for Fed’s low rates

  

  Bloomberg Federal Reserve officials are speaking out about rising inequality and the harm it does the US economy, but most still hesitate to say monetary policy can do much to help. Neel Kashkari is starting to sound like an exception. Since becoming president of the Minneapolis Fed in 2016, he’s been a consistent dove, arguing for keeping interest rates lower ...

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• 13 May

  Not all banks are evil, says German finance app to clients

  

  Bloomberg Germany’s latest banking upstart has a message for the millennials it’s trying to lure away from giants like Deutsche Bank AG: We’re one of the good guys. Hamburg-based Tomorrow, which offers free current accounts via mobile phones, promises to use customer deposits to finance only sustainable projects such as renewable energy and organic agriculture. The company claims that its ...

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