January, 2019

• 23 January

  Trump tariffs, Nafta re-do spur trade lobbying in US

  

  Bloomberg President Donald Trump’s trade war has sparked a surge in lobbying in the fight over his tariffs. American companies and business groups mostly opposing Trump’s tariffs closed out an active year of lobbying on trade issues in 2018. They expect a busy 2019 as the trade conflict continues and action is pending in Congress on a renegotiated deal with ...

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• 23 January

  IBM’s 2019 outlook, quarterly earnings beat analyst estimates

  

  Bloomberg International Business Machines Corp (IBM) gave a positive forecast for 2019 and beat analysts’ estimates for quarterly sales and earnings, led by its business that helps companies and governments manage their technology. Revenue was $21.8 billion in the fourth quarter, topping the average analyst forecast of $21.7 billion. Earnings were $4.87 a share, also beating analysts’ forecasts. IBM said ...

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• 23 January

  Google, Facebook set lobbying records as techlash grows

  

  Bloomberg Google and Facebook Inc set company records for annual lobbying spending in 2018 as Washington’s scrutiny of Big Tech intensified. Alphabet Inc’s Google unit spent more than $21 million to influence Washington, according to federal disclosures, in a year when its chief executive officer, Sundar Pichai, made his first appearance before Congress. The search giant, which spent $4.9 million ...

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• 23 January

  Chip gear-maker ASML sees sales below estimates

  

  Bloomberg ASML Holding NV, Europe’s largest semiconductor equipment maker, forecast first-quarter sales well below analyst expectations, mainly due to a fire at a strategic supplier. Shares fell as much as 4.9 percent to 134.50 euros at the market open. ASML Chief Executive Officer Peter Wennink said in Bloomberg TV interview that the mobile phone market “is not where I believe ...

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• 23 January

  PG&E raises $5.5bn to fund ‘bankruptcy’

  

  Bloomberg PG&E Corp expects its looming bankruptcy to take about two years to resolve and has arranged $5.5 billion to fund its operations during the process. Its shares and bonds both gained. Four banks agreed to provide debtor-in-possession fun-ding including a $3.5 billion revolving credit facility, the embattled California utility said in a filing. “It’s a pretty substantial amount of ...

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• 23 January

  President Trump is an almost sad specimen

  

  Half or a quarter of the way through this interesting experiment with an incessantly splenetic presidency, much of the nation has become accustomed to daily mortifications. Or has lost its capacity for embarrassment, which is even worse. If the country’s condition is calibrated simply by economic data — if, that is, America is nothing but an economy — then the ...

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• 23 January

  Draghi, you have a serious problem

  

  The European Central Bank (ECB) needs to wake up. Of all major central banks, it’s the one that really should be reacting to an evident economic slowdown in its backyard. There’s a danger this might turn into a recession, Europe’s third in a decade. But being proactive is not in its nature. Its Achilles’ heel is running monetary policy via ...

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• 23 January

  Elliott’s rocky path to Telecom Italia victory

  Vivendi SA’s plans for Telecom Italia SpA haven’t quite been dealt a sucker punch by Italian regulators. But they – and billionaire Vincent Bollore, who controls the firm – certainly received a blow. The focus should now shift to the carrier’s underlying business, and it needs to do so soon. The communications regulator said the plan, proposed by then-CEO Amos ...

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• 23 January

  Is Europe trying to kill the digital ad business?

  This week, France’s data-protection regulator demanded that Google pay a record fine for violating Europe’s expansive new privacy rules. The tab? About $57 million. The purpose? Hmm. In its ruling, the regulator alleged that Google fails to adequately explain how it collects data to offer personalised advertising. Some information is “excessively disseminated” across different documents. Some requires more than one ...

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• 23 January

  Europe is as clueless as Britain about Brexit

  

  At the moment, despite strong competition from the US, Britain leads the industrialised world in political breakdown. Prime Minister Theresa May’s plan for Brexit has been crushingly rejected by the House of Commons yet the government plods on robotically. As May explained: One, she has heard what Parliament just said and respects it; two, her deal with Europe is the ...

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