December, 2018

• 31 December

  China slowdown deepens as trade truce impacts factories

  

  Bloomberg China heads into the new year with its factories back in contractionary territory as the threat of a prolonged trade war dampens sentiment and stimulus struggles to gain traction. The manufacturing purchasing managers index dropped to 49.4 in December, the weakest since early 2016 and below the 50 level that denotes contraction. Measures of new orders and new export ...

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• 31 December

  Canada carbon tax set to take effect in industrial heartland

  

  Bloomberg Canadians will start paying a carbon tax in what is set to be a key political battleground of the 2019 election. From January 1, Justin Trudeau’s government will start rolling out a “backstop” price on provinces that don’t have their own levies on emissions. That includes Ontario, an industrial heavyweight whose populist premier scrapped an existing plan, setting up ...

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• 31 December

  Texas job growth to take hit in 2019 if oil rout drags on

  

  Bloomberg Job growth in the Lone Star State will likely weaken in the first half of 2019 if oil prices remain at current levels, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Changes in Texas job growth tend to lag big moves in the crude price by about six months, according to a report. With the average price of West ...

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• 31 December

  Pimco, Allianz pile into Argentine bonds

  

  Bloomberg The world’s best-paying bond has a big fan in one of the world’s largest bond investors. Pacific Investment Management Co and its parent company, Allianz Global Investors, have snapped up an Argentine government note that pays a floating coupon equal to the country’s benchmark interest rate — which at one point in October reached a staggering 74 percent. They ...

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• 31 December

  Home price gains in 20 American cities slow

  

  Bloomberg Home prices in 20 US cities slowed in October for a seventh consecutive month, extending the longest streak since 2014, a sign of waning demand amid higher mortgage rates and elevated property values. The 20-city index of property values increased 5 percent from a year earlier, after rising 5.2 percent in the prior month, S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller data showed. ...

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• 31 December

  Verizon, Disney avert bowl-day blackout with contract accord

  

  Bloomberg College football won’t go dark on New Year’s Day. Millions of TV customers from Boston to Washington were spared the loss of channels such as ESPN — and popular college football games — after Verizon Communications Inc and Walt Disney Co struck a distribution agreement on the eve of the New Year. The companies reached a broad-based, multiyear agreement, ...

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• 31 December

  Here’s hoping US-N Korea dialogue goes on in 2019

  

  Here’s one New Year’s resolution that should be easy: The United States and North Korea should resume the diplomatic progress they began in 2018 towards peace and denuclearisation. It’s a measure of this year’s turbulent pace that the Singapore summit between President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un just six months ago now seems a distant memory. The promise of ...

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• 31 December

  Thank goodness Fed thinks globally

  

  Donald Trump’s reported musings about whether he could fire the Federal Reserve chairman eclipsed an important signal from the central bank last week. Those who perused December’s interest-rate documents were focused on why the ‘dot plots’ projected two hikes next year and why the Fed didn’t abandon forward guidance. A stock-market swoon and press conference from Chairman Jerome Powell added ...

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• 31 December

  Japan stocks can be the haven in a bleak world

  Global equity investors have reason to be concerned: The economic outlook is worsening, interest rates are rising and tensions in the US-China relationship could further harm growth. But all is not bleak. Japan provides a measure of certainty and promise, with a stable government, expanding economy, improving return on equity and booming tourism. Japanese stocks aren’t reflecting these positive factors. ...

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• 31 December

  Four focus points for retail investors in new year

  As 2018 ends, retailers say goodbye to a relatively good year for the industry. Upbeat consumers, coupled with the long-awaited payoff from some slow-burn investments in e-commerce and supply-chain capabilities, finally helped them demonstrate they aren’t doomed. So what will shape retailers’ fates in 2019? Here are four focus points to keep an eye on: Tariffs: The industry may have ...

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