August, 2018

• 8 August

  Beijing to set ‘red lines’ for state firms to curb debt

  Bloomberg China is increasing its monitoring of indebted state-owned enterprises by creating watch lists and setting alarm levels, underscoring that the government hasn’t abandoned the goal of controlling borrowing. The government will set two debt thresholds for state-owned firms — one level would trigger alarms and the other would require higher regulatory attention. Firms with debt above those levels will ...

  Read More »
• 8 August

  Focus turns to sunset clause, cars as Nafta enters 3rd week

  

  Bloomberg As Nafta negotiators from the US and Mexico meet for a third straight week in a push to complete a deal on cars, they’re also preparing for a showdown over a clause sought by the Trump administration that could end the agreement altogether. The nations are nearing an accord on content and salaries for auto manufacturing, and the issue ...

  Read More »
• 8 August

  Sun Life sees Canada pension deals reaching $3.9 billion in 2018

  

  Bloomberg Sun Life Financial Inc., one of Canada’s biggest life insurers, sees the country’s pension risk-transfer market growing to as much as C$5 billion ($3.9 billion) this year as more companies look to divest retirement plans. The Canadian group annuity market will probably reach at least C$4.5 billion this year, up from C$2.7 billion in 2016, Brent Simmons, senior managing ...

  Read More »
• 8 August

  White House readies to slap 25% duties on $16bn of Chinese goods in two weeks

  

  Bloomberg The US said it will begin imposing 25 percent duties on an additional $16 billion in Chinese imports in two weeks, escalating a trade war between the world’s two biggest economies. Customs will begin collecting the duties on 279 product lines, down from 284 items on the initial list, as of August 23, the US Trade Representative’s Office said ...

  Read More »
• 8 August

  Tech firm Salesforce.com adopts co-CEO structure

  

  Bloomberg Salesforce.com Inc., a maker of cloud-based customer-relations software, is the latest technology company to embrace the idea of having two chief executives, by promoting Keith Block to run the company alongside co-founder Marc Benioff. Block started with the San Francisco-based company in 2013, became chief operating officer in 2016 and also serves as vice chairman. He’ll remain a director, ...

  Read More »
• 8 August

  California wildfires are largely burning in rural areas—for now

  

  Bloomberg Dry, hot and windy conditions are threatening to expand California’s largest wildfires, which so far are burning in largely rural areas, muting their economic impact. The fires, which have killed 12 people and burned an area almost as big as Rhode Island, have hit the tourism industry around Yosemite National Park but left agricultural areas mostly unscathed. “While the ...

  Read More »
• 8 August

  Brexiteers are their own worst enemy

  

  As the Brexit shambles rolls on, I’ve been puzzled by the hostility of Brexiteers to the proposal that Theresa May is trying to sell at home and to the European Union. A weird domestic alliance of hardline Leavers and zealous Remainers could block May’s plans, regardless of how the EU responds — and the result might well be a no-deal ...

  Read More »
• 8 August

  Bull market bashers can’t cry complacency

  

  The S&P 500 Index rallied, coming within 0.3 percent of its intraday record set in January. If a new high is rea-ched in coming days, it wou-ld cap an incredible come- back from the sell-off in late January and early February that drove the benchmark into a correction. It would also renew criticism that investors are too complacent. If only ...

  Read More »
• 8 August

  Forget Amazon, GM’s move should worry health insurers

  Health-care sector stalwarts may be right in thinking that the joint venture between Amazon.com Inc., JP Morgan Chase & Co. and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. poses no near-term existential threat. It will likely be years before the initiative develops the potential to have a meaningful impact on the industry’s behemoths, particularly insurers. But things are happening elsewhere in the meantime. Employers ...

  Read More »
• 8 August

  Samsung, Apple and the optics of domestic cash

  For Samsung Electronics Co, the answer was 180 trillion won ($161 billion). For Apple Inc. it was $350 billion. The question was: How much are you going to contribute to your home economy? But for the smartphone giants’ finance teams, it might just as well have been – what’s the biggest number you can rustle up to impress politicians? Samsung ...

  Read More »