December, 2018

• 26 December

  Euro economy sees positive signs despite a tough 2018

  

  Bloomberg Despite a flurry of disappointing data, the euro-area economy doesn’t necessarily face a bleak winter. Hidden behind figures that point to a protracted slowdown — such as yet another drop in German business confidence — are a few encouraging signs. For European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, pay gains, rising exports and receding problems in the auto industry offer ...

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• 26 December

  London loses way as home for gold miners

  

  Bloomberg Reports that AngloGold Ashanti Ltd is considering a London listing provide some festive cheer to a city that’s lost its way as a home for gold miners. While Toronto, Johannesburg and Sydney have long hosted the biggest producers, London vies with New York as the world’s premier gold trading hub and its financiers have bankrolled the industry since the ...

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• 26 December

  Mattel mired in longest streak of daily declines since 2015

  

  Bloomberg Mattel Inc extended its longest streak of daily declines since 2015 after Goldman Sachs analysts cut estimates following the toymaker’s loss of licensing for certain DC Comics products, including boys’ action toys. Spin Master Corp will be the new licensee for DC in the boy’s action category, remote control and robotic vehicles, water toys and games and puzzles, displacing ...

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• 26 December

  London’s loss is Luxembourg’s gain as funds face Brexit flux

  

  Bloomberg Britain’s Brexit limbo is helping to give Luxembourg’s booming funds industry a boost at the expense of jobs in the City of London. UK funds are racing to set up management units in the EU to avoid being locked out of the soon-to-be 27 nation bloc come March 29. And many are choosing tiny Luxembourg, which has already carved ...

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• 26 December

  Russia mulls constitution changes over Putin’s term

  

  Bloomberg The speaker of Russia’s parliament raised the possibility of changing the constitution as speculation grows that the Kremlin is considering ways to allow President Vladimir Putin to remain in power beyond the end of his current term, when current law requires him to step down. “This is about the transfer of power,” said Gleb Pavlovsky, a political analyst and ...

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• 26 December

  Sudan protests death toll tops 37

  

  Bloomberg The death toll from a week of demonstrations against rising inflation and food shortages in Sudan rose to more than 37, Sudanese doctors said, as protests against the nearly 30-year-rule of President Omar al-Bashir snowballed. “The number is higher than 37 as new protesters have been killed,” the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors said in a statement. Amnesty International ...

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• 26 December

  Trump says federal employees want border wall

  

  Bloomberg President Donald Trump said that federal workers furloughed in a partial government shutdown support his effort to force Democrats to vote to spend billions of dollars for a wall on the Mexican border. “They understand what’s happening. They want border security,” Trump told reporters at the White House, after he was asked what message he had for workers affected ...

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• 26 December

  EU calls for calm over Bosnia protests

  

  Bloomberg Hundreds attended protests in Bosnia’s two biggest cities, and the European Union demanded an explanation for police detaining the man whose months-long public search for information about his son’s death has turned into an anti-government movement. Davor Dragicevic, 49, was taken into custody in Banja Luka, in the Serb half of Bosnia-Herzegovina, after he failed to appear for questioning ...

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• 26 December

  CBP orders medical check over migrant child death

  Bloomberg US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) ordered new medical testing on all children in its custody, following the death of a 8-year-old Guatemalan boy caught crossing the border near El Paso, Texas, the agency said in a statement. The directive will mean secondary medical checks on children in the agency’s care, including unaccompanied minors and those who arrive as ...

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• 26 December

  How Beijing risks trashing its amazing growth story

  

  In a recent column, I observed that by many measures, China is the world’s largest economy. This means a number of benefits will now flow — and indeed are already flowing — to China that used to go to the US and Europe. Chief among these is agglomeration, of the tendency of businesses to seek out the biggest markets and ...

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