November, 2018

• 25 November

  Macron is hardly blameless over Nissan

  

  Making cars is always an intensely political business, one that brings good local jobs and global prestige. This applies to France as much as anywhere else; the country places the same importance on its carmakers as it does on playing host to Airbus SE. The French have been happy to pursue international partnerships — the Germans and Spanish on Airbus, ...

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• 25 November

  General Electric has reason to offer thanks

  

  The beatings for General Electric Co. have finally eased off during the Thanksgiving holiday lull, at least in terms of the credit market. There might be more to it than just an absence of market activity as traders tuck into their turkey. The US industrial giant has been through the wringer ever since its third-quarter results and the subsequent loss ...

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• 25 November

  Europe’s first small step towards fiscal reform

  France and Germany have agreed on an idea for improving euro-zone budget policy, and other governments have said they can support it. The plan falls short of what’s needed, but it’s progress nonetheless. The greatest weakness of the euro zone is that it lacks a way to support member states that fall into recession: Monetary policy isn’t enough, because the ...

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• 25 November

  India misses wake-up call from shadow-bank bust

  

  India’s finance industry is letting a good crisis go to waste by not learning from it. The sudden $12.8 billion bankruptcy of infrastructure lender IL&FS Group, currently sequestered under a government-blessed, out-of-court process, underscores India’s lack of preparedness to handle a big shift in lending in recent years — away from banks. Before I illustrate that challenge with a little ...

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• 25 November

  Jack Ma’s Singles Day is coming for Black Friday

  

  Watch out: Jack Ma’s Singles Day is going to make Black Friday a lot less alluring. There’s trepidation in the air this holiday season. In just a few brutal trading days, the whipsawing US stock market wiped out its entire 2018 gain. Meanwhile, the US economy is heading for a 10th year of expansion, by far the longest in history. ...

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• 25 November

  The easiest way to set Facebook is to break it up

  

  Occam’s razor is a principle that says when something happens that can be explained in multiple ways, the simplest explanation is usually the right one. The same is true of solutions: the simplest, most straightforward solution is usually the best way to solve a problem. In the US, social media giant Facebook Inc. has become a problem. It makes its ...

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• 25 November

  UK won’t get better Brexit deal if parliament votes no

  

  Bloomberg European leaders gave Theresa May her Brexit deal but warned that the UK Parliament must vote for the plan as it stands because negotiations will not be reopened if British politicians reject it. On Sunday, the prime minister got her agreement on the UK’s divorce from the European Union at a special summit in Brussels, when the leaders of ...

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• 25 November

  Giuseppe Conte vows to revolutionise Italy despite EU deadlock

  

  Bloomberg Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte pledged to keep “revolutionising” Italy after a working dinner with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker failed to break a long-running standoff over the populist government’s push to follow through on expensive election promises. At a Brexit summit of European Union leaders in Brussels on Sunday, Conte clearly had other concerns preying on his mind. The ...

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• 25 November

  French grassroots protest is Macron’s biggest challenge

  

  Bloomberg Emmanuel Macron swept aside France’s traditional parties to win the presidency. He tamed unions as he reformed the labour market and income tax, all without much mass protest. Now though, his presidency is being shaken by a grassroots movement with no real leadership. Organised through social media, the so-called yellow jackets have shut down key transport links at times ...

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• 25 November

  Taiwan vote: Tsai’s party suffers loss

  

  Bloomberg Taiwanese voters delivered President Tsai Ing-wen’s party a resounding defeat in local elections Saturday, ousting it from several key strongholds. Opposition Kuomintang candidates claimed victory in mayoral races in the major cities of Kaohsiung and Taichung as well as the governor positions in Yilan, Changhua and Yunlin counties, traditionally seen as bastions of support for Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party. ...

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