April, 2019

• 27 April

  China’s bond market reaches a tipping point

  For those who watch China closely, there has never been a more pivotal moment in the evolution of its economy and financial markets. More than 40 years since the start of its “Reform and Opening Up” process, and despite the volatility in US-China relations, China’s commitment to market reform remains. This year will likely see the improvement of market access ...

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• 27 April

  Jet Air crisis and collapse of the Indian capitalism

  

  The grounding of Jet Airways India Ltd., the country’s oldest private-sector carrier, isn’t just bad news for customers and its 23,000 employees. It raises yet again a question that’s puzzled two successive governments and will continue to bedevil whichever party takes power after elections conclude next month: What’s killing capitalism in India? Jet was born in the early 1990s, when ...

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• 27 April

  Deutsche goes back to a cold, dark place

  

  Deutsche Bank AG’s decision to abandon an attempted takeover of Commerzbank AG makes sense, but it still leaves both sides scrambling for alternative solutions to the same problem of pathetic returns. After weeks of deliberations, the German behemoth concluded the benefits would not have offset the “additional execution risks, restructuring costs and capital requirements.” The rationale is hardly a surprise. ...

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• 27 April

  Facebook proves adept at beating lower expectations

  

  This shouldn’t be a surprising quality in one of the world’s most valuable companies, but it’s worth saying: Facebook Inc. is savvy. This company has a list of problems longer than a drugstore receipt. It’s a creepy data hoarder. It has botched efforts around the globe to stem violence or other abuses on its internet hangouts, and it was an ...

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• 27 April

  SoftBank unit invests $125mn in Google’s Loon balloons

  

  Bloomberg One of the most improbable ideas from Google’s eccentric co-founders — using high-altitude balloons to provide internet connections — is getting a boost from another unconventional technology mogul. An affiliate of Masayoshi Son’s telecom company SoftBank Corp is investing $125 million in Loon, a subsidiary of Google parent Alphabet Inc. The SoftBank unit and Loon will share technology and ...

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• 27 April

  Sequoia-backed drone startup begins Ghana medical deliveries

  

  Bloomberg US venture capitalists Sequoia Capital Operations LLC and Andreessen Horowitz are backing a tech startup that says it’s the world’s largest medical drone delivery service, sending 148 types of medicine to areas around Ghana. San Francisco-based Zipline International Inc struck a deal with the West African nation’s government to make on-demand deliveries of vaccines, blood products and other treatments, ...

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• 27 April

  Alexa reviewers can access customers’ home addresses

  

  Bloomberg An Amazon.com Inc team auditing Alexa users’ commands has access to location data and can, in some cases, easily find a customer’s home address, according to five employees familiar with the programme. The team, spread across three continents, transcribes, annotates and analyses a portion of the voice recordings picked up by Alexa. Team members with access to Alexa users’ ...

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• 27 April

  Waymo picks Detroit plant for self-driving cars

  Bloomberg The birthplace of America’s auto industry and driving culture will soon have one of the world’s first plants making driverless cars. Alphabet Inc’s Waymo LLC has picked an idled American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc facility in Detroit as the site where it will equip vehicles made by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and Jaguar Land Rover Automotive Plc with ...

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• 27 April

  Client backlash key in collapse of Deutsche Bank’s merger deal

  

  Bloomberg Fierce resistance from corporate clients dealt a key blow to Deutsche Bank AG’s deal talks with Commerzbank AG, according to people familiar with the matter. Many Deutsche Bank customers threatened to cut ties with Germany’s largest bank should the deal go through, said the people, asking not to be named because the details haven’t been publicly disclosed. That ultimately ...

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• 27 April

  BOE expected to keep interest rate unchanged

  

  Bloomberg The Bank of England (BOE) is widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged when it meets next week, although some analysts see the risk of a hawkish surprise. While all 24 economists surveyed by Bloomberg predict policy makers will maintain rates at 0.75 percent, six see one official voting for an immediate hike. Such a move would be a ...

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