January, 2019

• 26 January

  Starbucks growth in China keeps investors happy

  

  Bloomberg As China goes, so goes Starbucks. The chain, which helped introduce Americans to European coffee culture, is under pressure from Wall Street to do the same in China. It’s opening stores at a rate of nearly 600 a year, but an economic slowdown there, exacerbated by the trade war with the US, have curbed its previously breakneck sales growth. ...

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• 26 January

  Postponing Brexit may leave UK worse off than May’s deal

  

  Bloomberg The prospect of a delayed Brexit may be pushing up the pound, but it’s not the best news for the UK economy. Sterling has rallied above $1.30 this week amid increasing signs of support from lawmakers across Parliament for extending the negotiating period set to expire on March 29. While that would remove the imminent possibility of a chaotic ...

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• 26 January

  Verizon to cut 7% of media staff as it revamps business

  

  Bloomberg Verizon Communications Inc is cutting 7 percent of its media staff, part of a bid to overhaul a struggling operation that includes the former online icons AOL and Yahoo. The cuts would represent about 800 jobs at the division, which previously went by Oath. Verizon dropped that short-lived name, which was ridiculed on social media, earlier this month. Some ...

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• 26 January

  US jobless claims fall to 49-year low

  

  Bloomberg Filings for US unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level since 1969, signalling the labour market remains tight. Jobless claims declined 13,000 to 199,000 in the week ended January 19, bucking economist forecasts for an increase, Labor Department figures showed. The four-week average, a less-volatile measure, decreased to 215,000, the lowest since early November. The surprise drop ...

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• 26 January

  Johnson & Johnson plans to buy Auris Health

  

  Bloomberg Johnson & Johnson, the world’s largest maker of health-care products, is pursuing an acquisition of Auris Health Inc in a deal that would bring it cutting-edge surgical robotics technology, people with knowledge of the matter said. J&J is seeking to purchase Auris at a premium to the valuation from its latest funding round, according to the people, who asked ...

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• 26 January

  California utilities risk junk-debt status as PG&E unravels

  

  Bloomberg California’s utilities could get closer to junk-bond status as PG&E Corp’s collapse highlights the hazards of wildfire liability in the state. Edison International’s Southern California Edison Co as well as Sempra Energy’s San Diego Gas & Electric Co were downgraded by S&P Global Ratings. The credit grader cited the continued risk of climate change crises and the absence of ...

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• 26 January

  How the US could lose tech Cold War with China

  

  In 1962, at the height of the Cold War, the US sought to rally its allies to block construction of a Soviet oil pipeline that would supply Red Army forces in Eastern Europe. It was an exercise in futility. West Germany grudgingly agreed not to supply high-technology pipes for the project. But Britain, Italy and Japan all rebuffed Washington’s appeals. ...

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• 26 January

  Citigroup’s Brexit warning for London

  

  If you weren’t listening extremely carefully, you’d be forgiven for missing it. But slipped into a broader conversation about Brexit’s impact on banking, a global finance chief has signaled that one of most dreaded, longer-term effects on the City of London is a real possibility. Asked about Citigroup Inc.’s Brexit plans, Chief Executive Officer Michael Corbat confirmed what is, by ...

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• 26 January

  UBS’s crown jewels are losing their sparkle

  Overseeing money for the rich is supposed to be one of the best businesses in banking, but even the world’s biggest wealth manager is finding that it doesn’t always work out like that. In what were undoubtedly difficult market conditions, clients pulled funds from UBS Group AG in the fourth quarter, leaving the firm short on one of its key ...

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• 26 January

  China Inc. is battling a crisis of confidence

  China’s industrial sector is facing a crisis of confidence. So far, Beijing’s solutions haven’t been enough to shore it up. In response to streams of gloomy data — from retail sales and industrial profits to layoffs — officials have vowed billions of yuan in support for railway infrastructure investment, employment incentives, tax cuts and loan disbursements. China watchers are now ...

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