September, 2018

• 12 September

  Mittal’s Essar show mired in legal farce

  

  It’s a forlorn sight when emerging markets stage a creditable performance and investors don’t turn up. It’s miserable when patrons head for the exit after denouncing the play as a flop. While it’s still grappling with the second problem, India also has a third. It has a good show going, for which the likes of ArcelorMittal are reluctantly paying a ...

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• 12 September

  Amazon delivery push is a gift to automakers

  

  Amazon.com Inc. is usually cast as a predator that’s going to topple business models. But here’s a role that’s less talked about: valued customer. The e-commerce giant this week announced an order for 20,000 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vans, making it the world’s largest customer for the vehicle. It’s a key vindication of Daimler AG’s $500 million investment in a new state-of-the-art ...

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• 12 September

  The trade slowdown has already begun

  One of the paradoxes of this year’s trade tensions is that in many parts of the world, it doesn’t yet feel like a crisis. For all the turmoil in emerging-market currencies, equity investors in major markets seem … relaxed? The milestone passed with little fanfare, but the S&P 500 index closed at a record high of 2,914.04 on August 29. ...

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• 12 September

  Italy’s greater fiscal clarity alone won’t be enough

  

  After a summer of shadow-boxing over Italian fiscal policy, autumn will deliver the main event. By the end of September, finance minister Giovanni Tria is expected to finalize a medium-term budgetary plan. The entree, however, will be the 2019 Budget Law, due in October. Over this period, rating agencies will complete their reviews of the country’s credit-worthiness. Another downgrade would ...

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• 12 September

  Hershey is getting into online shoppers’ heads

  

  The packaged-food industry faces an unenviable list of problems right now. The most existential is shoppers’ embrace of healthy eating habits, but these companies also are being pummeled by insurgent niche brands, rising commodity costs, and retailers’ focus on private labels. Several are also navigating a CEO change or other leadership drama, while others have become the target of activist ...

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• 12 September

  Facebook and its users tell different stories

  

  Americans have drastically cut back their use of Facebook, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. Yet the company’s reported results have held steady. Something is not right. The survey, conducted in late May and early June, shows that 42 percent of American adult users of Facebook took a break of several weeks or more from checking Facebook over ...

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• 12 September

  Rupee surges as India plans to end rout

  

  Bloomberg India’s rupee rallied the most in 1 1/2 years and stocks recovered after an official said the government may announce measures to support the currency after a planned review of the economy by Prime Minister Narendra Modi this weekend. The government is not ruling out an increase in interest rates, the official told reporters in New Delhi, asking not ...

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• 12 September

  Bank of England may support pound amid brighter data, hopes of Brexit deal

  

  Bloomberg The pound’s fortunes are being dictated by Brexit and recent optimism over a deal could lead to a more hawkish-sounding Bank of England driving the currency higher. Market bets on further BOE policy tightening have receded in recent weeks following August’s quarter-point interest-rate increase, with the next hike not fully priced in until the end of 2019. While this ...

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• 12 September

  Alantra hires dealmakers from China amid M&A

  

  Bloomberg Alantra Partners SA, a Spanish investment bank, has hired three bankers in Shanghai as Chinese companies increasingly turn to Europe for overseas mergers and acquisitions. Alantra has hired Richard Zhu to head the firm’s China M&A business as managing partner, according to a spokesman for the bank. Zhu, who has more than 15 years’ experience in finance, was previously ...

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• 12 September

  VTB head warns clients may not get dollars back if ban hits

  

  Bloomberg Russians with bank accounts in dollars may find they can only make withdrawals in other currencies if new sanctions proposed by US lawmakers take effect. “I am sure that all the clients of all banks should receive their money back; that’s the principal approach,” VTB Group Chief Executive Officer Andrey Kostin said. “How, in which currency, is a different ...

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