October, 2018

• 10 October

  EU governments toughen car-emissions cap

  

  Bloomberg European Union governments tightened a proposed cap on carbon dioxide from cars in 2030, whittling away German resistance in a sign of heightened sensitivity across the bloc to road pollution. EU environment ministers set a CO2-reduction target for autos of 35 percent compared with 2021 in a bid to give a stronger spur to the development of electric vehicles. ...

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• 10 October

  Fiat nears deal to sell its auto-parts unit to Calsonic

  Bloomberg Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV is nearing a deal to sell its high-tech car-parts unit, Magneti Marelli, to Calsonic Kansei after the Japanese firm raised its bid, according to people with knowledge of the talks. Calsonic, an automotive supplier owned by private equity firm KKR & Co., and Fiat have reached a tentative agreement on price and may announce an ...

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• 10 October

  A Brexit trade deal with Asia isn’t outlandish

  

  Brexiters have long claimed countries are queuing up to sign trade deals with Britain once it leaves the European Union (EU). It’s one reason they so oppose any Brexit deal that leaves the United Kingdom tied to Europe’s customs union, even temporarily. Right on cue, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told the Financial Times this week that the UK would ...

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• 10 October

  Google’s devices like Pixel are a hobby

  

  So many internet and software companies make gadgets now. Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Facebook all make some type of internet-connected computing gear. Even Uber has started to engineer its own electric scooters. The one thing all these newcomers have in common is that their hardware businesses are irrelevant. That’s important to remember with Google’s introduction of the latest in its ...

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• 10 October

  This Nobel rewards the right kind of economics

  

  At its best, economics poses a simple question: What makes people better off, and how can we have more of it? This year, the Nobel committee has rightly chosen to honor two academics, William Nordhaus and Paul Romer, who have demonstrated a rare dedication to finding answers — and to making the case for action. Economic growth can be a ...

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• 10 October

  New era of free trade leaves Mexico more isolated

  The rejiggered North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) pulls the Mexican and US economies closer together, and raises the drawbridge to reduce trade with Asia. For Mexicans who already felt too dependent on the US, this is a grim combination. The reconfigured accord, announced last week, seems like another chapter in the global playbook of muscular regionalism. Globalisation is morphing ...

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• 10 October

  Political pressures make for bad policy in India

  

  A couple of things happened last week in India that deserve a bit of attention — mostly because they reveal how deep the country’s structural problems go and how few good options the government has left. The first was the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) decision to hold interest rates steady even though the rupee had hit record lows against ...

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• 10 October

  How to lose $86mn in just three weeks

  

  How do you mislay 75 million euros ($86 million) of operating profit in just three weeks? That’s the question Ceconomy AG investors are asking themselves after the German electronics retailer issued its second profit warning in rapid succession. Bizarrely, the company hasn’t provided an explanation for the further 16 percent downgrade to its operating profit forecast for the financial year ...

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• 10 October

  Carmakers throw money at the future of driving

  

  Japan Inc. is leaping into the future of cars, courtesy of SoftBank Group Corp. On October 3, Honda Motor Co. announced a $2.75 billion investment in General Motors Co.’s self-driving subsidiary Cruise, a departure from the Japanese carmaker’s tight-fisted approach to technology spending. That follows SoftBank Vision Fund’s $2.25 billion outlay just months ago. With these, GM Cruise is now ...

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• 10 October

  US stocks fall for a fifth day as Treasuries retreat

  

  Bloomberg US stocks fell for a fifth day as Treasury yields resumed their upward march and investors grew increasingly concerned about the effects of the trade war with China. Oil held near $75 a barrel as a major hurricane headed for the Florida Panhandle. The S&P 500 headed for its longest slide since Donald Trump’s election win on rising concern ...

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