February, 2019

• 4 February

  UK sees consumer worries near crisis-era levels, investment falls

  

  Bloomberg Concern about Brexit’s impact on the UK economy is growing, with consumer worries near crisis-era levels, investment falling and the property market suffering. Nationwide Building Society said that house-price growth ground close to a halt as values rose just 0.1 percent in January from a year earlier. That report came hours after research group GfK said consumers are the ...

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• 4 February

  Infrastructure spending to help US keep recession at bay

  

  Bloomberg Minnesota leaders are starting work on a $2 billion light rail project, the state’s largest infrastructure project — and the kind of spending that may help keep recession risk at bay. Spending by cities and states is a bright spot that could help to extend the expansion, now in its 10th year and within months of becoming the longest ...

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• 4 February

  Job creation is job one

  

  Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome (‘Jay’) Powell didn’t waste much time getting to the point at last week’s press conference. “My colleagues and I have one overarching goal: to sustain the economic expansion, with a strong job market and stable prices, for the benefit of the American people,” he said. It was a statement purged of ambiguity, with the Fed deciding ...

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• 4 February

  Tesla’s shrinking growth machine

  

  The biggest thing underpinning Tesla Inc.’s valuation is the promise of growth. And the biggest head-scratcher to emerge over the course of January concerns how that growth is being funded. Bonus: On an earnings call, the company managed to not so much bury the lead as entomb it. Almost two weeks after the electric-vehicle maker announced it was laying off ...

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• 4 February

  Wirecard has a $17.5bn question to answer

  

  Wirecard AG has strongly denied fraud allegations reported by the Financial Times last week. But that hasn’t stopped about $5.7 billion being wiped from the German fintech darling’s market value in a matter of days. Even if the allegations are as unfounded as the company says, there are valid questions about whether the payments processing specialist justifies its generous valuation. ...

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• 4 February

  Spare a thought for Fed’s Jerome Powell

  Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is an experienced central banker and won’t be surprised at the rough reception he’s been getting lately from analysts and commentators. This kind of treatment is traditional, almost mandatory, for a recently appointed Fed chief. Nonetheless, it shows he’ll have his work cut out in nudging the Fed towards the approach to monetary policy he ...

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• 4 February

  Why cutting interest rates won’t help China economy?

  

  The Chinese economy is sputtering, deflation looms and businesses are downbeat. Trade tensions with the US portend an even scarier growth outlook. The Federal Reserve, too, has given China more room to ease. So where are the outright rate cuts? Beijing has pulled out many other weapons from its vast arsenal. Most recently it introduced a new tool that extends ...

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• 4 February

  Exxon speaks up as Chevron catches up

  

  Exxon Mobil Corp. wants you to know it is serious. On February 1, Darren Woods became the first CEO of the famously aloof oil major to grace an earnings call in 15 years. Fortunately for him, he had some decent results to talk about. After several quarters of decline, year over year, Exxon’s production finally ticked up in the last ...

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• 4 February

  Angel investors must be spared India’s tax hell

  

  About three years ago, Anup Kuruvilla left his corporate banking job in Hong Kong to return to Bangalore and assemble a group of wealthy individuals willing to place small, early-stage bets on fledgling founders. 1Crowd, the platform Kuruvilla and his partners helped set up, has 500 investors. Members co-invest with 1Crowd Fund, sharing the risks in mentoring young ventures: Some ...

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• 4 February

  NordLB gets $4 billion state rescue as Cerberus loses out

  

  Bloomberg Germany’s NordLB will be bailed out by public-sector savings banks and the state of Lower Saxony at a cost of as much as 3.7 billion euros ($4.2 billion), thwarting a bid by Cerberus Capital Management and Centerbridge Partners for a stake in the struggling lender. The restructuring package, which Lower Saxony Premier Stephan Weil called “the best of all ...

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