November, 2018

• 20 November

  Japan shipping line Yusen plans digital cash for crew

  

  Bloomberg Nippon Yusen K.K., Japan’s largest shipping line by sales, is introducing its own digital currency for crew members, people with knowledge of the matter said. The goal is to make it easier for seafaring workers to manage, send and convert money into their local currencies, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the plan ...

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• 20 November

  Maldives set to scrap China deal

  

  Bloomberg The Maldives is reportedly planning to pull out of a free trade agreement with China as the island nation moves closer to India and the West after Ibrahim Mohamed Solih won the presidency in a September election. The trade imbalance between China and the Maldives is “so huge that nobody would think of a free trade agreement between such ...

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• 20 November

  Malaysia, Japan, Thailand benefitting from ‘trade war’

  Bloomberg Asia, at the broad level, will lose from the US-China trade war, but a few countries will emerge as relative winners. Nomura Holdings Inc. found that a push by companies in the US and China for import substitution towards the rest of Asia will benefit Malaysia in particular, followed by Japan, Pakistan, Thailand and the Philippines, based on its ...

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• 20 November

  Takeda’s dissident holders keep trying to kill Shire deal

  

  Bloomberg They have little chance of success, but the shareholder group trying to derail Takeda Pharmaceutical Co.’s $62 billion purchase of UK-listed Shire Plc is making last-minute attempts to win over investors. The dissident holders account for only about 1 percent of Takeda’s shares outstanding, but the group is raising its profile as the Japanese drugmaker inches toward completing its ...

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• 20 November

  Apple nears bear territory as iPhone demand woes mount

  

  Bloomberg Apple Inc shares dropped close to bear market territory on concern consumers are no longer clamouring for its cornerstone product, the iPhone. The stock closed at a record of $232.07 on October 3. Since then it’s plunged almost 20 percent — the official bear market threshold — as multiple suppliers indicated the company is cutting parts orders for the ...

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• 20 November

  BASF eyes $2.3bn profit boost from corporate revamp

  

  Bloomberg BASF SE Chief Executive Officer Martin Brudermueller unveiled a comprehensive redesign of the chemical giant’s corporate structure to boost profit by 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion) from 2021 and challenge smaller, more focussed competitors. The Ludwigshafen, Germany-based company is also targeting growth in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation of 3 percent to 5 percent per year, although ...

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• 20 November

  Coal pollution to surge in UK if Brexit comes without deal

  

  Bloomberg Britain’s pollution levels would probably rise if the country crashes out of the European Union without a deal, breaching a key pledge Prime Minister Theresa May has made to rein in emissions. That’s the conclusion of Bloomberg NEF, which forecasts that burning coal would increase in the first quarter of next year if there’s a no-deal Brexit. Without a ...

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• 20 November

  US homebuilder index dips most since 2014

  

  Bloomberg Confidence among US homebuilders plummeted by the most since 2014 as the highest borrowing costs in eight years restrain demand, adding to signs of a cooling housing market that will weigh on the Federal Reserve’s debate over how far to raise interest rates. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index dropped eight points in November to ...

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• 20 November

  London stockpile of unsold houses hits all-time high

  

  Bloomberg London’s stock of completed but unsold homes has surged by almost half this year as Brexit uncertainty and affordability issues dog the housing market. The number in the capital jumped to 2,374 units as of September 30, the most on record and up from 1,595 at the end of 2017, according to data compiled by Molior London. The borough ...

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• 20 November

  Want to topple Trump? Take John Delaney seriously

  

  The world’s oldest political party has developed an aversion to discretion. The Democratic Party is manacled to an over-caffeinated base that believes that deft government can deliver parity of status to everyone while micromanaging the economy’s health care sector, which is larger than all but three other foreign nations’ economies. Inconveniently, the party must appeal to voters who, living in ...

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