May, 2019

• 4 May

  Brazil’s economy shrinks in Q1 as industrial production falls

  

  Bloomberg Odds that Latin America’s largest economy contracted in the first quarter increased after March industrial production fell by more than double analysts’ expectations. Brazil’s output tumbled 1.3 percent in March, its worst reading in six months, the national statistics bureau reported. In the 12 months through March, industrial production contracted for the first time since 2017. The Brazilian economy ...

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• 4 May

  UK government told to adopt toughest climate targets

  

  Bloomberg British people need to fly less, drive electric cars, eat little meat and turn their home thermostats down to 19 degrees Celsius (66 Fahrenheit) in order to rein in greenhouse gases damaging the planet. Those are the recommendations from the government’s official adviser on climate change and sketch out the toughest measures anywhere in the industrial world to rein ...

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• 4 May

  Do we really have a deflation problem?

  

  There are times when it seems we’re worrying about things that aren’t worth worrying about. A good example these days is inflation. Amazingly, the complaint is that it’s not rising fast enough. In March, the consumer price index, or CPI, had increased 1.9% over the past year. The gain of another inflation indicator, the “deflator” of the personal consumption expenditures, ...

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• 4 May

  Market exerts its power over Google

  

  Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are still among the richest people in the world, but they are worth a lot less this week than they were last. The decline in their fortunes, and that of Google parent company Alphabet Inc. after a disappointing earnings report, should sound a note of caution — not just to investors, but to ...

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• 4 May

  Samsung’s secret weapon finally lost its firepower

  It was only a few years ago that the term OLED elicited excitement among consumers and investors. Organic light-emitting diodes were the hippest new display technology because they offered better screen quality while using less power. Smartphone makers were keen to preach the technology’s virtues in order to juice sales. When Apple Inc. finally joined the party in 2017, it ...

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• 4 May

  A wake-up call for the perfect economy

  Anyone who still thinks Australia’s economy is an all-conquering model of perfection is likely to get a wake-up call soon. A 28-year run of expansion has had people abroad fawning over life Down Under — Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell among them. For all the superlatives, though, the local central bank considers everything far from rosy. Reserve Bank of Australia ...

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• 4 May

  The world shouldn’t help save the Belt and Road

  

  China’s second Belt and Road Forum, convened by President Xi Jinping in Beijing last week, looked less like an imperial celebration than a summit meeting. Xi’s tone had also become less triumphant. Instead, he spoke about a commitment to zero corruption. He promised to make the environment a central concern for any infrastructure projects included in his globe-spanning Belt and ...

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• 4 May

  Disappointing plans of UK’s Sainsbury

  

  If this was Mike Coupe’s manifesto for J Sainsbury Plc’s life without Walmart Inc.’s Asda, it was pretty disappointing. The Sainsbury chief executive officer promised improvements to stores and price cuts. But details were vague and it is not immediately clear that they will be enough to revive the group’s underlying sales growth, which continues to decline. Among the plans ...

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• 4 May

  TikTok could shake Silicon Valley’s free-trade spirit

  

  Silicon Valley has been a perennial champion of globalisation and free trade because of the belief that expanded access to markets would mean higher profits for American tech companies and more jobs for American workers. That love of globalisation might sour if a Chinese company becomes the next big winner. The growing popularity with American teens of the Chinese-created video ...

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• 4 May

  Robots race to unload trucks in Amazon-era

  

  Bloomberg As FedEx Corp and United Parcel Service Inc beef up automation to keep pace with surging e-commerce and a potential threat from Amazon.com Inc, they’ve been stumped at a crucial stage: loading and unloading trucks. Robot makers are getting close to solving part of that puzzle. Siemens AG and Honeywell International Inc have built machines that pull packages from ...

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