December, 2018

• 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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• 31 December

  AI competition looks like a new space race

  

  It’s been another year of relentless artificial-intelligence (AI) hype and incremental AI achievement. Machines still beat humans only in carefully constructed environments or at narrow tasks. The good news is that, as technology progresses, the race for leadership is still wide open, and even Europe, where politicians fret that continent is lagging behind China and the US, is still quite ...

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• 31 December

  China’s $856bn startup juggernaut gets stuck

  

  If you’re impressed by Masayoshi Son’s $100 billion Vision Fund, China’s $856 billion in “guidance funds” will blow your mind. The country is quickly becoming a major player in the venture capital world. This year, Chinese investors are involved in over $90 billion worth of deals, second only to the US and up from only $11.5 billion five years ago. ...

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• 31 December

  Life is getting too hard for the central banks

  

  For reasons largely outside its control, the Federal Reserve is now being widely blamed for fueling financial market instability and risking derailment of the US economy. This is quite a contrast from just a few month ago, when it was still being feted by many for its role as an active and effective repressor of financial market volatility. It is ...

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• 31 December

  Fed understands it needs to communicate better: El-Erian

  

  Bloomberg The Federal Reserve realises that it can’t put its key policy tool, the federal funds rate, on autopilot, and that it needs to better communicate its policy decisions, said Mohamed El-Erian, Allianz SE’s chief economic adviser. “Even the Fed is understanding that it needs to communicate better,” El-Erian said in an interview on “Fox News Sunday.” It needs to ...

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