February, 2019

• 2 February

  UK auto investment down 50% as Brexit hits spending

  

  Bloomberg The British automotive industry saw investment plunge last year as carmakers delayed decisions on upgrading machinery and factories amid mounting concern about the impact of a hard Brexit. Spending plunged 46 percent to 589 million pounds ($769 million), the lowest since the global financial crisis, the Society of Motor Manufacturers said in a statement. Concern about the impact of ...

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• 2 February

  Spain remains an economic bright spot in euro-area

  

  Bloomberg Spain remained an economic bright spot in the euro zone in late 2018 even though the country, like the rest of the region, faces a weaker outlook this year. Growth unexpectedly accelerated to 0.7 percent in the fourth quarter, contrasting with figures reported by Germany, France and Italy, where trade tensions, violent pro-tests and budget struggles hobbled growth. Spanish ...

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• 2 February

  Italy caps turbulent year with first recession since 2013

  

  Bloomberg Italy fell into recession at the end of 2018, capping a year of political turmoil, higher borrowing costs and fiscal tensions that took their toll on the economy. Output shrank 0.2 percent in the three months through December, following a 0.1 percent decline in the previous quarter, statistics agency Istat said in a preliminary report. The year-end shrinkage was ...

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• 2 February

  Farmers forge ahead as cold snap freezes US Midwest

  

  Bloomberg While many Americans in the frozen Midwest hunker down indoors, central Iowa farmer Ethan Crow has been outside lining his barn and fences with extra bales of hay and corn stalks to break the wind hitting his cattle. He checked on his roughly 50-head herd every few hours to make sure they had feed and he chipped ice off ...

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• 2 February

  Trump’s venom for allies could take a toll this year

  

  After two years under rhetorical assault from the president, US alliances have somehow held up. This year, however, the constraints on Trump’s anti-alliance instincts are falling away, and a mix of internal and external pressures are endangering several key alliances at once. This trend is most visible with respect to Nato. The transatlantic alliance has been a target of Donald ...

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• 2 February

  The US debt is still out of control

  

  At the start of every year, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) publishes its annual “The Budget and Economic Outlook,” a tome full of statistics, tables and charts. Frankly, it’s easy to get swamped by the numbers. To make sense of the report, I’ve selected five takeaways that capture the main points. (1) The US economy is in the midst of ...

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• 2 February

  Caterpillar comes back down to earth in China

  

  All Caterpillar Inc. said was that demand in China would be flat this year. That only scrapes the surface. The US industrial bellwether blamed China for the 4 percent slide in its Asia-Pacific sales for the fourth quarter. The mainland market constitutes 10 percent to 15 percent of the company’s construction-segment sales and 5 percent to 10 percent of the ...

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• 2 February

  In Brexit talks, May opts for dithering and delay

  On January 29, the UK sent a resounding message to the European Union: “We demand that you give us what we want.” Don’t expect the audience to be receptive. Parliament was considering changes to Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal, which it rejected by a spectacular margin two weeks ago. One measure that carried the day, and which May supported, ...

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• 2 February

  Germany shouldn’t rush to abandon coal by 2038

  

  Policy decisions about climate change are among the toughest a government can make: Any change in direction is practically guaranteed to displease the stakeholders. A commission set up by the German government to work out how the country will phase out coal called for ending the fuel’s use by 2038. Energy companies, labor unions and environmentalists are all unhappy. The ...

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• 2 February

  Anbang Insurance is not that ‘toxic’

  

  Foreign firms eager for a $119 billion slice of China’s insurance market might just want to give Anbang Insurance Group Co.’s assets a closer look. You’d be forgiven for wanting to steer clear of a firm that’s become the face of China’s toxic debt binge. But the timing could be right: It’s been almost a year since Beijing seized temporary ...

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