February, 2019

• 26 February

  Investors flee shadow banks in India after shock of defaults

  

  Bloomberg As key engines of loan growth in the world’s fastest-expanding major economy, they once were investor favourites. But now traders won’t go near India’s shadow banks. About $22 billion has evaporated from a group of almost two dozen non-bank financial companies (NBFC) since August 31, before confidence was rocked. And investors aren’t rushing to get back in, according to ...

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• 26 February

  India misses out on investment boom

  

  Bloomberg Unlike Southeast Asia, India isn’t seeing any investment gains as global trade tensions disrupt supply chains. Foreign direct investment in the third-largest Asian economy fell 7 percent in the nine months to December, signaling slowing investment before upcoming elections. FDI inflows into India during the period was $33.5 billion, lower than the $35.9 billion in the year-ago period. The ...

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• 26 February

  Hong Kong’s budget surplus shrinks

  

  Bloomberg Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary Paul Chan will have a much smaller pile of cash to distribute than last year when he presents the annual budget on Wednesday, and a longer list of problems to address. The economy has slowed as the trading hub found itself wedged between the US-China standoff and the property market has come off its record ...

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• 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 ...

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• 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 ...

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• 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 ...

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• 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 ...

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• 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 ...

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• 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 ...

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• 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 ...

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