October, 2018

• 30 October

  US-Japan tug of war keeps yen traders on their toes

  

  Bloomberg A tug-of-war between Japanese and American traders has been keeping yen watchers busy in October, according to a pattern which has emerged in daily price moves for the currency several times this month. On those days, the yen has shown a tendency to strengthen during US trading hours, as stock market volatility sparks a flurry of haven bets, before ...

  Read More »
• 30 October

  UK targets tech giants with a digital services tax in 2020

  

  Bloomberg Commonly seen as a tech-friendly hub, the UK is now targeting the likes of Alphabet Inc. and Facebook Inc. by introducing a digital services tax, joining the growing chorus against cash-rich tech giants. UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond unveiled the measure in his Autumn Budget in London. Aiming to raise 400 million pounds a year ($512 million) ...

  Read More »
• 30 October

  Britain’s gig economy faces biggest test as Uber heads to court

  

  Bloomberg Just months after Uber Technologies Inc. persuaded a London judge to allow it to keep operating in the city, the ride-hailing company is back in court. At stake this time is an issue that could strike at the core of the UK’s burgeoning gig economy: whether Uber’s drivers are really self-employed. Two days of hearings kicks off at the ...

  Read More »
• 30 October

  IBM trying to steer clear of bond market’s triple-B bogeyman

  

  Bloomberg International Business Machines Corp. is trying to avoid the fate of other companies that loaded up on debt to fund acquisitions, saying it will use some of its cash hoard and suspend share buybacks in an effort to prevent downgrades to the cusp of junk. The transaction will take IBM’s debt load close to $80 billion as it pursues ...

  Read More »
• 30 October

  Novartis cuts 20 pct of drug-research projects

  

  Bloomberg Novartis AG has dropped about a fifth of its research projects as the drugmaker narrows its focus on the most cutting-edge medicines. The pharmaceutical giant has reduced its drug programs to 340 from 430 after completing a review of its portfolio, Jay Bradner, president of the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, said in an interview. Among the resea-rch projects ...

  Read More »
• 30 October

  Homes slipping beyond grasp of buyers in US

  

  Bloomberg This is how housing markets turn. Slowly. Six years of home-price gains outpacing wage growth; bidding wars replaced by sales at the asking price; days or weeks on the market turning into months; rising mortgage rates. First-time shoppers start to get priced out, making it harder for move-up buyers to sell, and the slowdown ripples gradually up the real ...

  Read More »
• 30 October

  Ignoring climate change dangers is only human

  

  A recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suggests that we’ve probably lost our chance to keep the planet’s temperature within a safe zone for humanity, which would require limiting global warming to just 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial times. Doing so would mean entirely transforming the world’s diet, agriculture practices and energy infrastructure ...

  Read More »
• 30 October

  IBM, Red Hat are much better together

  

  IBM just made the cloud-computing war far more interesting. International Business Machines Corp. announced that it’s buying Red Hat Inc., one of the most successful pioneers of a software movement known as open source, which allows programming instructions to be accessible to anyone to view and alter. Red Hat’s version of the Linux open-source software became widely used in companies’ ...

  Read More »
• 30 October

  Europe is too exposed to Italy to let it go

  

  Europe’s leaders are engaged in a high-stakes standoff with Italy, trying to coerce the populist government to drop its budget-busting spending plan. But how far can they go? Can they risk pushing Italy out of the currency union? Judging from the exposures of French and German banks, they have a strong incentive to seek a compromise. Looking at what banks ...

  Read More »
• 30 October

  Damage control is all the UK budget can do

  Pity Philip Hammond, the UK’s chancellor proposed a budget amid political chaos, faltering public services, simmering anger, and, in the background, the specter of Brexit. Also: He’s supposed to simultaneously cut taxes, end austerity and reduce debt. It’s an impossible task. And this budget — the last before Brexit — will be a premonition of bigger debates to come. Start ...

  Read More »