February, 2019

• 25 February

  Barrick amasses stake in Newmont, weighs takeover

  

  Bloomberg Barrick Gold Corp, the Canadian mining giant, has amassed a small stake in US rival Newmont Mining Corp. and warned the company that it plans to propose changes to its bylaws, as it continues to weigh a hostile takeover attempt, according to people familiar with the matter. A letter was delivered to Newmont’s Greenwood Village, Colorado, headquarters informing the ...

  Read More »
• 25 February

  Unilever, L’Oreal, Danone deemed most prepared for effects of climate change

  

  Bloomberg Among the world’s biggest consumer companies, Europe’s Unilever NV, L’Oreal SA and Danone are best prepared for the effects of climate change relative to their peers, according to a report from the nonprofit CDP. Formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project, CDP took a double-barreled approach in ranking the 16 largest consumer companies on measures including exposure to emissions, ...

  Read More »
• 25 February

  German service sector keeps economy afloat

  

  Bloomberg Germany’s services providers bolstered economic momentum in February, with a slump in manufacturing deepening on the back of global trade tensions and weakness in the auto industry. IHS Markit’s composite Purchasing Managers’ Index rose in February to a four-month high of 52.7. Owing exclusively to more optimism in services, business confidence was the best since September. Manufacturing suffered from ...

  Read More »
• 25 February

  Microsoft upgrades HoloLens, seeking corporate users

  

  Bloomberg Microsoft Corp. is introducing an improved version of its HoloLens augmented-reality goggles and lowering the price, as it tries to develop a bigger business selling the devices to corporate customers. At $3,500, the HoloLens 2 with a wider field of view and easier controls than the original is still an expensive piece of gear, but it’s less than the ...

  Read More »
• 25 February

  Trump’s Syria reversal is a win for good sense

  

  President Trump, in a rare reversal of a decision, has decided to keep “hundreds” of US troops in northeast Syria to provide “campaign continuity” and stability there as the fight against the IS extremists winds down, senior defense officials told me. “After studying it further, (Trump) has decided to take a different course” from the one he announced in December, ...

  Read More »
• 25 February

  Brexit has made Telefonica lucky

  

  Europe’s political vicissitudes have been bad for France’s Orange SA and Germany’s Deutsche Telekom AG. Curiously, in one respect they’re proving positive for Spain’s Telefonica SA. All three reported earnings last week. Telefonica, long the poor relation among the former national carriers, provided the only bright spot, forecasting growing profit and sales this year where analysts had expected stagnation and ...

  Read More »
• 25 February

  Coke arrives in Europe before bonds go flat

  Business is booming in the European debt capital markets. Investment-grade corporate supply is up over 70 percent so far this year compared with the same period in 2018. But the incentive for investors to keep piling in is starting to wane. Secondary market credit spreads, and the yield premium over existing debt that issuers typically offer on new deals, have ...

  Read More »
• 25 February

  Indonesia is too wedded to monetary stability

  Bank Indonesia wants you to know it really, really likes stability. The stoutness, on display when the central bank kept interest rates unchanged, does nothing to address Indonesia’s inflation problem. The problem is that it’s too low. Like a lot of emerging-market central banks, Bank Indonesia has the ability and capacity to cut rates. It made no bones about why ...

  Read More »
• 25 February

  Chinese tourists won’t be weapons for much longer

  

  This was supposed to be the China-New Zealand Year of Tourism, but the celebration appears to be off. An influential Chinese state-owned newspaper reported that Chinese tourists were having second thoughts about traveling to New Zealand thanks to suggestions that its government might bar Huawei Technologies Co. from the country’s next-generation wireless networks. A senior official at China CYTS Tours ...

  Read More »
• 25 February

  Don’t stress over China’s ban on Australian coal

  

  Stop worrying about China’s ban on Australian coal. A Reuters report that the northern port of Dalian had banned imports from China’s biggest supplier of the black stuff sent ripples through global markets, driving the Australian dollar down as much as 1.3 percent after a whipsawing day of trade. London-listed shares in Glencore Plc, Anglo American Plc and BHP Group ...

  Read More »