March, 2019

• 5 March

  Euro area’s services sector puts mild gloss on economy

  

  Bloomberg Economic activity in the euro area was stronger than expected in February as an improving services sector managed to offset a slump in industry. Services expanded across the 19-nation euro area, bolstered by gains in Germany, Ireland and Spain, according to IHS Markit. That pushed a composite Purchasing Managers’ Index to 51.9, the highest in three months. An initial ...

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• 5 March

  Who has brought the United States this boom?

  

  Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Princeton economist Alan Blinder calls it “The Obama-Trump Economic Boom.” This may be the best bad label for what may soon become the longest economic expansion in American history. Anyone who regularly reads this column knows that I am a great skeptic in assigning credit for good economic times to particular presidents. But Blinder’s ...

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• 5 March

  May’s Brexit deal hinges on Corbyn

  

  Prime Minister Theresa May’s control over Brexit is slipping away. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, no doubt hoping to prevent further defections from his party, said he would support a “public vote” on Brexit. He gave no details, but it’s a significant shift in a politician who has never hidden his euroskepticism or opposition to a second referendum. Whether another vote ...

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• 5 March

  Tesla speeds up! Why aren’t you thrilled?

  Well, it’s here. Tesla Inc.’s $35,000 Model 3 went on sale in typical fashion: teased on Twitter, announced by CEO Elon Musk and a bit late. The car has a totemic significance for the company, representing the break-out moment from luxury Silicon Valley toy to electrified wheels for the masses. I went on the website and was told the base ...

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• 5 March

  The ECB is speaking with too many voices

  Mario Draghi has a problem if he wants to respond proactively to Europe’s economic slowdown: There’s push-back from the most important hawks on the European Central Bank’s (ECB) governing council. The ECB president has never had it easy trying to balance the differing demands of the 19 euro zone countries (represented on the council by their central bank governors), and ...

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• 5 March

  China’s national champions have gotten complacent

  

  A year ago, Didi Chuxing Inc., China’s largest ride-sharing company, looked like a quintessential “national champion.” It had driven Uber Technologies Inc. from the local market, attracted investment from Apple Inc. and was contemplating a Hong Kong IPO worth as much as $80 billion. State media coverage was fawning, government support was all but assured and the company’s near-monopoly looked ...

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• 5 March

  The $22bn spooking India’s bond market

  

  India’s economy is slowing, inflation is sputtering and the central bank is cutting interest rates. But the cost of long-term money is refusing to budge. The reason, in a single word: elections. Polls will be called any day now. Prime Minister Narendra Modi probably would have liked to make his reelection bid with less distress in the farm economy and ...

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• 5 March

  Google and Apple witness the ghost of future taxes

  

  Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple – or “GAFA,” as they’re known in France – are easy to group together in the European imagination. They’re big, they’re American and they’ve tended to pay relatively little tax, thanks to legal loopholes and a business model that exists largely in the virtual world. Frustrated governments have tried to use the courts and the ...

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• 5 March

  Global stocks drift, dollar climbs as trade news awaited

  

  Bloomberg Global stocks drifted alongside US index futures on Tuesday, as investors searched for fresh direction after China lowered its growth forecasts and as speculation endured that a Sino-American trade deal is near. Treasuries fell while the dollar strengthened for a fifth day. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index reversed an earlier gain, with automakers and banking shares dragging the gauge ...

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• 5 March

  Greece to sell €2.5b of 10-year bonds

  

  Bloomberg Greece marked a milestone in its recovery from a bruising financial crisis after agreeing to sell 2.5 billion euros ($2.8 billion) of 10-year bonds for the first time in nine years. The syndicated offer for the 2029 notes will price to yield 3.9 percent, less than an initial target of about 4.13 percent, a person familiar with the matter ...

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