November, 2018

• 17 November

  The world is adapting to the reality of Trump as president

  

  One of the assumptions that economists sometimes use to frame their models is to specify that some variables will be held constant, a concept that’s expressed with the Latin phrase ceteris paribus. We often make the same mistake in politics and foreign policy. We concentrate on our own domestic issues and assume that the rest of the world will remain ...

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• 17 November

  Bankers get nothing from Brexit

  

  Whichever way you slice it, the draft Brexit deal unveiled by British Prime Minister Theresa May is no big win for financial services, despite being lauded as such in some quarters. If she gets it past parliament, still a huge if, the accompanying transition period – which may well be extended – will give banks and other finance firms more ...

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• 17 November

  Tencent’s WeChat giant is still quick on its feet

  

  Any thoughts that the sheer size of Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s omnipotent chat app would slow it down appear unjustified. Monthly active users for WeChat hit 1.083 billion in the September quarter, the company said. That’s one in every seven people on the planet. Even more interesting is the number of users it managed to add: 102.5 million from a year ...

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• 17 November

  Do not let Italy block crucial eurozone reform

  The fight between Italy and the rest of the European Union (EU) over Rome’s rule-defying budget has only just begun, but it’s already causing serious damage. Above all, the dispute is delaying Europe’s plans to strengthen the monetary union. That’s an effort that cannot wait — because a crisis in Italy might test the resilience of the euro zone like ...

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• 17 November

  Your old smartphone is a security risk. Live with it

  

  That obsolete smartphone stashed away in a drawer or closet may not look like a national security risk, but the Trump administration is contemplating treating it as one. Unscrupulous Chinese recyclers and manufacturers could transform old phones into “counterfeit goods that may enter the United States’ military and civilian electronics supply chain,” according to a draft rule. To prevent that ...

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• 17 November

  Indonesia is a mature kid on emerging block

  

  Indonesia has just delivered a strong – and unexpected – dose of confidence to foreign investors. The central bank was sufficiently worried about the rupiah’s slide that it raised interest rates for the sixth time this year. Only three of 31 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News had predicted an increase. With the benchmark at 6 percent and a projected inflation ...

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• 17 November

  Amazon may have outsmarted itself with HQ2 tactics

  

  This season of “The Bachelor: Amazon” has ended. Next up may be the season of recriminations. It has been more than a year since Amazon.com Inc. trumpeted its hunt for “HQ2,” which was billed as a co-equal company headquarters on which Amazon pledged to spend more than $5 billion on construction and eventually hire as many as 50,000 people. More ...

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• 17 November

  Lime launches car-sharing service in Seattle

  

  Bloomberg San Francisco-based startup Lime has spent the last year scattering an assortment of brightly coloured scooters and bikes around American cities, arguing such services will reduce car use and traffic problems. But even Lime can’t quite sever ties with the automobile. Starting soon, the company will start spreading around Lime-branded cars, too. Lime is launching a car-sharing service in ...

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• 17 November

  ‘Self-driving cars won’t be ubiqitous for decades’

  

  Bloomberg The head of Alphabet Inc.’s autonomous vehicle unit gave a cautious outlook for the nascent industry, saying the technology won’t be ubiquitous for decades and that driverless vehicles will always have constraints. Waymo Chief Executive Officer John Krafcik said self-driving cars will require driver assistance for many years to come, and that he doesn’t envision a day when the ...

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• 17 November

  Tesla buys trucking firms for deliveries

  

  Bloomberg Elon Musk is apparently charting his way out of what he’s referred to as “delivery logistics hell” by making acquisitions and lining up contracts with trucking haulers. The Tesla Inc. CEO tweeted that Model 3s ordered in the US by the end of the month will be delivered by year-end. He wrote that using trucks instead of rail shaves ...

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