August, 2018

• 6 August

  GCL-poly shares tumble as $1.9bn unit sale collapses

  Bloomberg China’s GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Ltd. sank to the lowest level in more than nine years as a deal for the company to sell a controlling stake in its polysilicon unit worth $1.9 billion to Shanghai Electric Group Co. fell apart. Shares of GCL-Poly in Hong Kong fell 7.6 percent to close at HK$0.61, the lowest since March 2009, paring ...

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• 6 August

  US considers oil sanction waivers as new Iran penalties start

  Bloomberg The Trump administration will consider partial exemptions from oil sanctions against Iran for some countries as a first wave of non-oil penalties against the Islamic Republic snap back into effect on Tuesday, US officials said. President Donald Trump is still willing to meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani at any time, without preconditions, as the US ramps up economic ...

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• 6 August

  Beijing meets Trump’s tariff hardball with pledge to endure

  

  Bloomberg After a weekend of claims by US President Donald Trump that he has the upper hand in the trade war with China, Beijing responded through state media by saying the nation is ready to endure the economic fallout. China is prepared for a “protracted war” and doesn’t fear sacrificing short-term economic interests, according to an editorial in the nationalist ...

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• 6 August

  Subaru joins Toyota in expecting ‘big impact’ from US auto levies

  

  Bloomberg Subaru Corp. reported a sales slide in the US, its largest market, and predicted a “big impact” from President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs on imported vehicles following the escalation of a global trade war. Unit sales in the US dropped about 14 percent to 149,800 vehicles in the three months through June 30, the company said in a presentation. ...

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• 6 August

  TSMC blames WannaCry variant for plant closures

  

  Bloomberg Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. blamed a crippling cyber-virus outbreak on a variant of the 2017 WannaCry ransomware, outlining how it shut several plants just as the company ramps up chipmaking for Apple Inc.’s next iPhones. Chief Executive Officer C. C. Wei said full operations have resumed and that the malware would reduce revenue this quarter by no more than ...

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• 6 August

  GE Appliances’ Chinese owner readies for ‘tariff hit’

  Bloomberg One of China’s largest appliance makers is preparing for the impact of US trade tariffs as it seeks to expand its international footprint. About 5 percent of products sold in the US by GE Appliances — a unit of Qingdao Haier Co. — are imported from China and face tariffs now or will get hit by those being proposed ...

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• 6 August

  Japan mulls daylight savings to save Olympics from summers

  

  Bloomberg Japan is considering implementing daylight savings time in 2019 and 2020 to cope with the intense summer heat, after soaring temperatures this year cast doubt over the ability of the country to safely host the 2020 Olympics, the Sankei newspaper reported. The government and ruling parties are seeking to pass a bill this autumn, according to the report, which ...

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• 6 August

  Path from Pyongyang to Washington is via Seoul

  

  Koreans have a saying that helps explain the recent upbeat exchanges between Washington, Seoul and Pyongyang: “Say pretty things to hear pretty things.” Beyond the Trump White House, there remains much skepticism that North Korea will ever give up its nuclear weapons. Recent leaks about North Korea’s continuing efforts to build its nuclear and missile arsenal underline this concern that ...

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• 6 August

  Big banks get payday from deposits

  

  One of the chief criticisms of the Federal Reserve’s strategy of prolonged low interest rates was that it punished savers. But now that Fed is generally raising rates, the rewards don’t appear to be going to them. Instead, I calculate that as much as 83 percent of the gains are going to the banks, with the largest ones sucking up ...

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• 6 August

  End-of-days metals rout overstates trade risks

  Commodity investors are acting like it’s the last days of Rome. News that the Trump administration was planning to increase the tariff rate on $200 billion of Chinese imports to 25 percent from 10 percent sent markets into a tailspin, with a Bloomberg Intelligence index of mining companies falling 1.7 percent and every major industrial metal slumping in synchrony. Rio ...

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