July, 2018

• 25 July

  It’s getting harder for firms to escape Trump’s China duties

  

  Bloomberg US companies and industry groups are returning to Washington this week in an increasingly futile effort to get relief from President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports. More than 80 witnesses are scheduled to testify during the two-day hearing on the $16 billion in Chinese goods targeted for 25 percent duties, which could be imposed after a comment period ...

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• 25 July

  Trump wants Fed to roll back US economy

  

  Doves on the Federal Reserve evidently have a vocal ally in President Donald Trump. He said recently that he’s “not thrilled” about the Fed increasing interest rates — a move the central bank is expected to signal this week, without yet doing so. The president’s concern comes at the same time that interest rate watchers are getting nervous about how ...

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• 25 July

  GE investors deserve more straight talk

  

  If it’s really out with the old at John Flannery’s GE, then its arcane and vague approach to reporting earnings needs to go. Flannery has rolled out a bold transformation plan to shrink General Electric Co’s eight major business units to four and vanquish the bureaucracy that’s been stifling the 126-year-old congl- omerate. Many assumed this refresh would include a ...

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• 25 July

  Don’t blame Amazon, Apple for an expensive market

  The highest-valued stock in the S&P 500, based on this year’s expected earnings, is not Amazon.com Inc, Netflix Inc or any other member of the FANG bloc. In fact, none of the tech megacaps, which also include Facebook Inc and Google parent Alphabet Inc, even rank in the top 10. Hess Corp, an 85-year-old oil company, with a forward P/E ...

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• 25 July

  How Europe should respond to Donald Trump on trade

  European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker cannot be looking forward to his meeting with Donald Trump. He knows there’s little hope of making the US president see sense on trade. (Trump confirmed on Twitter that “tariffs are the greatest.”) But Juncker can avoid making a bad situation worse, and with luck even suggest a way out of this mess. The EU ...

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• 25 July

  Fighting tax dodgers can kill economic growth

  

  It’s easy to be outraged about multinational corporations’ shifting of profits to tax havens, but much harder to figure out how to stop them from doing it without hurting the economy. Evidence exists that curbing tax avoidance opportunities makes these firms move actual jobs, not just accounting profits, overseas. In a recent paper, Thomas Torslov, Ludvig Wier and Gabriel Zucman ...

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• 25 July

  Verizon Communications snubs Hollywood for technology. Good call

  

  Verizon Communications Inc closed the books on a critical quarter. The company named its next CEO, shut down its latest experiment in a string of failed mobile-video services, geared up for its rollout of 5G network service, and watched with insouciance as its three closest rivals — AT&T Inc., T-Mobile US Inc. and Sprint Corp. — took bold steps on ...

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• 25 July

  The three methods for an earth-friendly investing

  

  Green bonds are a fast-growing financial instrument, with annual issu- ances of less than a billion dollars a decade ago having grown to more than $170 billion last year. They’re increasingly popular as a way to fund environmentally friendly infrastr- ucture, energy efficiency and clean energy. As the market grows, an intriguing split is emerging between green bond markets: Asia ...

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• 24 July

  FAB H1 profit hits AED6.1bn

  

  ABU DHABI / WAM First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), the UAE’s largest bank, on Tuesday reported an H1 2018 group net profit of AED6.1 billion, up 10 percent year-on-year; with annualised earnings per share (EPS) standing at AED1.08. Meanwhile, operating income reached AED9.8 billion in the period between January and June. Cost-to-income ratio (ex-integration costs) at 25.7 percent continues to ...

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• 24 July

  UAE launches 16 catalysts to draw foreign investment

  Abu Dhabi / WAM The UAE has created 16 catalysts that have helped to attract foreign direct inves- tment (FDI) according to relevant national statistics for the end of 2017. Along with its political, economic, social and security stability, the country’s geographic location, competitiveness, free-market policies, encouragement for the private sector, and attractive investment environment have enabled it to lead ...

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