November, 2018

• 4 November

  Berkshire Q3 profit surges as Buffett’s insurers weather storms

  

  Bloomberg Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s insurers dodged the worst of losses caused by Hurricane Florence as the businesses kept up their rebound from a rough 2017. The company’s operating profit doubled last quarter, capitalising on trends ranging from more train traffic on its railroad to a surge in demand for electronic components. The biggest boost came from the insurance division, where ...

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• 4 November

  WPP tumbles after CEO outlines painful turnaround effort

  

  Bloomberg WPP Plc Chief Executive Officer Mark Read is off to a disappointing start for investors with a cut to the ad giant’s outlook, triggering the company’s biggest share slump in almost two decades. The owner of Ogilvy, Grey and J. Walter Thompson said it now expects sales to fall this year and its profit margin to decline as it ...

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• 4 November

  Apple shares slide amid concerns of slowing iPhone demand

  

  Bloomberg Apple Inc. shares had their worst day since 2014 amid concerns that growth in its powerhouse product, the iPhone, is slowing. In the fiscal fourth quarter, Apple said iPhone unit sales barely grew from a year earlier, even though new flagship devices came out in the period. At the same time, Apple said it would stop providing unit sales ...

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• 4 November

  German business confidence slumps

  Bloomberg German business sentiment deteriorated amid signs economic growth ground to a temporary halt and as risks surrounding a US-China trade spat and a disorderly Brexit increased. The Ifo institute’s gauge of corporate confidence fell to 102.8 in October after a drop to 103.7 in Sep- tember. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey was for a decline to 103.2. ...

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• 4 November

  US payrolls beat forecast as wage gains hit 3.1%

  

  Bloomberg American workers enjoyed the biggest leap in pay since 2009 as job gains topped forecasts and the unemployment rate held at a 48-year low, a boost for President Donald Trump ahead of midterm elections and reason for the Federal Reserve to keep raising interest rates. Nonfarm payrolls rose 250,000 after a downwardly revised 118,000 gain, a Labour Department report ...

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• 4 November

  Wake up, UK! You need EU workers post-Brexit

  

  It’s been an unsettling couple of years for an estimated over 3.5 million European Union (EU) nationals who live and work in the UK. They’ve been victims of attacks, pawns in the Brexit negotiations and, more recently, an afterthought as an army of civil servants and consultants map out contingency plans for various Brexit scenarios. None of that augurs well ...

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• 4 November

  China fights the wrong yuan battle

  

  As the US dollar hits highs for the year, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) seems determined to hold the value of the yuan at seven to one, or stronger. This barrier holds little technical significance, but its psychological value and the central bank’s interest in holding the line are enormous. While it’s difficult to confirm, there’s strong evidence that ...

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• 4 November

  The Bank of Japan is too focused on 2 percent

  For the Bank of Japan (BOJ), failure can be an opportunity. Judging from the latest economic forecasts, the central bank is falling even farther behind on meeting its 2 percent inflation target. Meanwhile, its efforts to keep interest rates down are bringing the bond market to the verge of a coma. So great is the BOJ’s buying to support its ...

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• 4 November

  The slowdown in Europe should give the Fed pause

  The Federal Reserve’s confidence in its policy of interest-rate hikes was undoubtedly bolstered by last week’s report of a strong US economy. Look to Europe, however, and there are reasons to doubt that confidence. Economic growth in the Euro area was just 0.2 percent in the third quarter, it was reported, half of what had been forecast and in stark ...

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• 4 November

  Italy’s economic horror show is bound to get worse

  

  Italy’s horror show has just started – and it’s bound to get worse. The country’s economy stagnated in the third quarter, according to latest figures. The slowdown may be part of a wider trend: the euro zone economy expanded by a meager 0.2 percent in same three months. But it’s clear that the uncertainty which has accompanied the rise to ...

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