February, 2019

• 26 February

  Indonesia plans for fishing grounds in South China Sea

  

  Bloomberg Indonesia plans to develop lucrative fishing grounds in the South China Sea as part of efforts to assert its sovereign authority over waters in which it has clashed with China. The Natuna Islands on the edge of the South China Sea, rich in gas and fish stocks, would be developed into a fishing hub, Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Maritime ...

  Read More »
• 26 February

  Samsung, Huawei double down on Apple’s high-price strategy

  

  Bloomberg Samsung Electronics Co. and Huawei Technologies Co. watched as Apple Inc. first priced a mass market smartphone at more than $1,000 — and now have upped the ante with new models at almost double that cost. Apple kicked off the trend in 2017 with the iPhone X. Its latest premium iPhones, the XS and XS Max, cost as much ...

  Read More »
• 26 February

  GE’s $21.4bn bio-pharma sale lifts new CEO’s revamp

  

  Bloomberg When Larry Culp took command of flailing General Electric Co. late last year, his mandate was simple: be more aggressive. Fewer than five months later, investors are applauding. The shares soared as Culp took his boldest step yet to rescue the troubled behemoth, agreeing to sell GE’s bio-pharmaceutical business to his former employer, Danaher Corp, for $21.4 billion. Culp ...

  Read More »
• 26 February

  Finance industry wins a two-year break on EU benchmarks law

  

  Bloomberg European Union policy makers agreed to give an extra two years to the financial industry to complete an overhaul of key regional and foreign financial benchmarks to protect them from potential manipulation. The deal reached by EU diplomats and members of the European Parliament will allow Eonia and Euribor to be used by firms based in the bloc until ...

  Read More »
• 26 February

  US farmers fear Trump’s WTO assault puts them in crosshairs

  

  Bloomberg Donald Trump’s attack on the World Trade Organization has US farmers worried that the president’s ‘America first’ foreign policy approach will hamstring efforts to defend their interests. The US is strangling the ability of the WTO, which oversees the rules for nearly $23 trillion in commerce every year, to resolve disputes among its 164 members. But when the WTO’s ...

  Read More »
• 26 February

  Musk faces US contempt claim for violating accord with SEC

  

  Bloomberg Elon Musk is facing a new round of regulatory trouble for tweets about Tesla Inc., raising fresh concerns about the billionaire CEO’s ability to keep his impulses in check and responsibly run a public company. The US Securities and Exchange Commission asked a judge to hold Musk in contempt for violating a settlement that required him to get Tesla ...

  Read More »
• 26 February

  Are these US economic policies or pipedreams?

  

  As Democrats swing left, it becomes increasingly difficult to imagine what their triumph in the next election would mean for America. The presidential candidates endorse a variety of far-reaching proposals that, if adopted, would represent the largest expansion of government since Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society. The added spending, taxes or deficits could total hundreds of billions. Are these sound economic ...

  Read More »
• 26 February

  ECB doesn’t have superheroes!

  

  Spare a thought for the European Central Bank (ECB). The minutes of the last Governing Council show the central bank is in a bind over the state of the euro zone recovery and the next steps to take. Still, it is hard to see why they shouldn’t be. The economic picture is objectively confusing. The problem is that we have ...

  Read More »
• 26 February

  Wayfair can’t relax on easy chair of sales growth

  No one should be surprised that Wayfair Inc.’s earnings report showed that it had a gangbusters holiday season, with retail sales growing 41 percent from a year earlier. After all, the digital home-goods seller had already said its sales were up 58 percent from a year earlier during the five-day stretch, suggesting it had started the season with a bang. ...

  Read More »
• 26 February

  Trade truce between US, China is promising

  President Donald Trump’s decision to delay new tariffs on Chinese imports is good news. There’s no guarantee he’s about to strike a sensible agreement on trade with Beijing, but the suspension of hostilities is welcome. Trump’s approach up to now has become all too familiar. Ratchet up tensions with incendiary rhetoric; impose unilateral sanctions; engage in talks ending in incremental ...

  Read More »