November, 2018

• 24 November

  Xi can’t ignore private enterprise anymore

  

  After more than five years in power, Xi Jinping has constructed a singular political persona: of a leader who places the Communist Party and its authority above all, on top of the state, the economy and military. So it may have come as a surprise to see Xi usher China’s top entrepreneurs into Beijing’s Great Hall of the People earlier ...

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• 24 November

  Equity analysts can dream of autonomy

  

  If some of the most august independent analysts in the business feel their future lies inside a large US broker, does any research boutique have a future? There is still hope. Autonomous Research, the London-based firm set up in 2009 by Stuart Graham, the former head of Merrill Lynch & Co.’s European bank-stocks team, agreed to be taken over by ...

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• 24 November

  When Foxconn sounds alarm, you better listen

  

  There’s no denying it now. The global electronics industry is in a funk, and the world’s biggest manufacturer has the wounds to prove it. Foxconn Technology Group aims to cut $2.9 billion in costs next year, Bloomberg News’s Debby Wu reported, citing an internal company memo that she had seen. You may know Foxconn as the assembler of iPhones for ...

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• 24 November

  Thailand is no beach party for investors

  Bangkok may be among the world’s top 10 tourism destinations, but for overseas investors it’s about as popular as a beach holiday in the Arctic. Foreigners sold a net $8.7 billion or so of Thai stocks this year, the most since data began in the late 1990s. On the face of it, that’s a puzzle. Thailand has been something of ...

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• 24 November

  Theresa May’s Brexit deal has a fatal defect

  

  When Theresa May unveiled her draft agreement with the European Union (EU) on the terms of Britain’s exit, the reaction was exactly as expected. Remainers despaired because the deal is so much worse than staying in the union. Leavers despaired because the deal is Brexit in name only. But that was bound to happen, right? Whatever variant of the earlier much-derided ...

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• 24 November

  Want to see your dystopian future? Look at China

  

  South Koreans are worried about the surveillance state. At a recent conference that was supposed to be about protests, journalists invariably asked me one question: How do we maintain democracy in an age when governments and companies are collecting ever more data on everything we do? They’re right to be concerned. If people don’t recognise the danger, they might eventually ...

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• 24 November

  Here is a Thanksgiving wish: Let’s slow things down

  

  Here’s a simple four-word wish for Thanksgiving 2018 — a day when most of us take a break from the blurring, dizzying speed of our internet world: Let’s slow things down. I don’t just mean stopping to smell the roses, or taking a hike in the woods, or hiding our screens for a few hours. I mean, literally: Slow down ...

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• 24 November

  Danske row: Shell firms forced into limelight

  

  Bloomberg A setup long acknowledged as dubious but tolerated in many countries just got thrown into the limelight. Shell companies — constructions often used to hide the identity of investors keen to dodge authorities — played a key role in Europe’s dirty money machine as billions of dollars flowed from Russia into the west. Danske Bank A/S was allegedly at ...

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• 24 November

  Greece unveils salvage plan for its banks

  

  Bloomberg The Bank of Greece released details on how it proposes lifting much of the burden weighing on the country’s lenders under a complex plan involving securitisations and the shifting of tax credits. The plan foresees the transfer to a special purpose vehicle of a significant part of banks’ non-performing loans at net book value, along with a portion of ...

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• 24 November

  Bank of Canada plans to buy mortgage bonds

  

  Bloomberg The Bank of Canada plans to buy for the first time government-backed mortgage bonds in a bid to broaden the range of high-quality assets in its operations to manage its balance sheet. The move, which is part of a decision of including government-guaranteed debt issued by federal Crown corporations, will allow Ottawa-based central bank to offset continued growth in ...

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