August, 2018

• 15 August

  ‘Mortgages’ rise in Brexit-vulnerable areas

  

  Bloomberg Lenders are ramping up riskier mortgage lending in the north of England just as property values start to fall and interest rates increase. That could be bad news for banks and home-loan providers in a region that’s already facing a hit to its wealth from the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union, no matter what kind of agreement is ...

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• 15 August

  Cabot agrees to buy KMG for $1.2 billion

  Bloomberg Cabot Microelectronics Corp. agreed to acquire KMG Chemicals Inc. for $1.2 billion in an effort to strengthen its position as a supplier to the semiconductor industry. “KMG’s industry-leading electronic materials business is highly complementary” to Cabot’s portfolio in polishing pads for chipmakers, Cabot Chief Executive Officer David Li said in a prepared statement. “Its performance-materials business broadens our product ...

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• 15 August

  Atlantia to call emergency meet on Genoa bridge fall

  

  Bloomberg Atlantia Spa’s Autostrade arm will hold an emergency meeting as top executives come under pressure to quit after dozens died when an Italian bridge it operated collapsed, people with knowledge of the matter said. The extraordinary board meeting is expected to be held next week to consider the impact of the disaster in Genoa, which killed at least 39 ...

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• 15 August

  Canadian home sales climb for 3rd month in July

  Bloomberg Increases in Toronto pushed Canadian housing sales higher for a third month, further evidence the country’s real estate market is regaining strength after it stumbled at the start of this year. Transactions nationwide rose 1.9 percent from June to 38,612, bringing them back towards the 10-year average, the Canadian Real Estate Association said from Ottawa. Sales in Toronto advanced ...

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• 15 August

  Big New York City landlords vow to cut energy use

  

  Bloomberg Some of the biggest names in New York real estate, including SL Green Realty Corp., Vornado Realty Trust and Related Cos., have signed on to an ambitious plan to reduce energy use in the city’s larger buildings by 20 percent by 2030 — with some “wiggle room.” If it’s implemented, the plan would take the city’s 50,000-plus buildings of ...

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• 15 August

  Good ideas are also an important US export

  

  If you are a believer in free markets, you might be tempted to be pleased by some of the more positive policies of the Trump administration: lo-wer corporate tax rates, more market-friendly jud-ges, a greater emphasis on deregulation. Resist (the temptation, if not the administration). When it comes to ideas, the lifeblood of capitalism, the influence of President Donald Trump ...

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• 15 August

  Can India turn its back on free trade

  

  India’s state is a mirror of its noisy, messy democracy. It’s often hard to achieve even a modest internal consensus between government departments in New Delhi: Right now, the heads of several ministries are scrambling to find a common position on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, or RCEP — a giant trade deal that stitches together India, the Association of ...

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• 15 August

  US should keep up the fight against extinction

  Forty-five years ago, Congress passed the US Endangered Species Act — quietly, near-unanimously and with no concern that any American would ever object. Everyone wanted to avoid the extinction of wildlife, to save the likes of the California condor, the Florida panther and the North Atlantic right whale for their “esthetic, ecological, educational, historical, recreational, and scientific value to the ...

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• 15 August

  Bond market says Fed isn’t world’s central bank

  For US bond investors, the summer hiatus from Federal Reserve speakers couldn’t have come at a better time. Since the central bank left interest rates unchanged on Aug. 1, only two officials have made public comments: Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin on Aug. 8 and Chicago Fed President Charles Evans on August 9. None are scheduled to talk again until ...

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• 15 August

  Euro fans have a blind spot they keep forgetting

  

  It should have been a good day for the euro after Eurostat said the euro-area economy grew faster in the second quarter than initially reported. But instead, the Bloomberg Euro Index that measures the shared currency against its major peers fell the most in two months, dropping as much as 0.92 percent. The seemingly illogical response by foreign-exchange traders becomes ...

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