February, 2019

• 11 February

  UK economy wilts amid Brexit jitters

  

  Bloomberg The UK economy buckled under the strain of Brexit uncertainty in the fourth quarter. Gross domestic product (GDP) increased a smaller-than-forecast 0.2 percent, compared with 0.6 percent in the third quarter. December alone saw the economy shrink by 0.4 percent, the most since before the 2016 vote to leave the European Union. The slowdown over the quarter came as ...

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• 11 February

  Drugmaker Bristol-Myers gains after Starboard Value takes stake

  

  Bloomberg Shares of drugmaker Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. gained, with acquisition target Celgene Corp. falling after activist hedge fund Starboard Value was said to have taken a stake in Bristol-Myers. The size of Starboard’s stake and any plans that Jeff Smith’s hedge fund might have for its investment in the $81 billion drugmaker couldn’t immediately be learned when Bloomberg reported the ...

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• 11 February

  Panalpina investor rebuffs DSV’s $4bn takeover offer

  

  Bloomberg Panalpina Welttransport Holding AG’s largest shareholder rejected a $4.2 billion offer from Denmark’s DSV A/S, saying the Swiss air-cargo company would do better with its own expansion plan. The Panalpina committee of the Ernst Goehner Foundation, which holds 45.9 percent of the stock, said in a statement it “supports Panalpina’s board of directors in pursuing an independent growth strategy ...

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• 11 February

  Europe’s scooter startups talk merger

  

  Bloomberg Europe’s scooter startups Tier Mobility and Voi Technology AB have held early-stage discussions to combine their operations, in response to the impact of larger US rivals on the continent, according to people familiar with the discussions. The talks, which started in November, recently stalled after Voi concluded that it could continue its growth independently, one person said. All of ...

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• 11 February

  US strikes back at Russia in cyberspace warfare

  

  With little public fanfare, US Cyber Command, the military’s new center for combating electronic attacks against the United States, has launched operations to deter and disrupt Russians who have been meddling with the US political system. Like other US cyberwar activities, this effort against Russia is cloaked in secrecy. But it appears to involve, in part, a warning to suspected ...

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• 11 February

  Macron is happy to fight with Italy

  

  Emmanuel Macron has followed the old adage: Never waste a good crisis. As relations with Italy go from bad to toxic, the French president has taken the unprecedented step of recalling his ambassador from Italy — the kind of diplomatic spat that doesn’t usually happen between big EU member states. It’s calculated to embarrass Luigi Di Maio, Italy’s deputy prime ...

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• 11 February

  Just what we need, more Amazon HQ2 drama

  As if Amazon.com Inc.’s search for a second headquarters didn’t have enough reality-show-esque plot twists brought yet more. The e-commerce behemoth is reevaluating its decision to set up an office in New York that was to bring 25,000 jobs to Long Island City, according to a report in The Washington Post. Amazon is reportedly considering the turnabout amid backlash from ...

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• 11 February

  Undoing the damage of Trump’s nuclear blunder

  The Trump administration’s decision to pull out of the 1987 treaty with Russia on intermediate-range nuclear forces is a mistake. For all its faults, the pact was one of the West’s great Cold War triumphs, and it continued to serve US interests. Fortunately, if the administration is willing to think again, there’s a way to correct the error. The White ...

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• 11 February

  US-China trade deal may be unpleasant for investors

  

  When data showed China’s industrial production and retail sales slowed significantly in the final months of 2018, US President Donald Trump took credit, telling Fox News that “China’s economy, if it’s in trouble, it’s only in trouble because of me.” The implication is that global trade is a zero-sum game, and losses in China resulting from US tariffs translate to ...

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• 11 February

  Walmart Plan B for UK isn’t about Brexit

  

  When J. Sainsbury Plc announced its 7.3 billion-pound ($9.5 billion) acquisition of rival Asda in April, it looked like the British grocer had beaten the mighty Walmart Inc. But if the takeover falls apart, it is the US retailer that will emerge from the wreckage the least damaged. The Competition and Markets Authority is expected to rule on the transaction ...

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