May, 2018

• 30 May

  What Europe should do about crisis in Italy

  The crisis in Italy is also a crisis for the European Union. The populist parties that won the last Italian election, and that hope to do even better next time, are united in little except blaming the EU for Italy’s setbacks. They’re wrong about this, and now Europe must be careful not to play into their hands. The immediate political ...

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• 30 May

  Europe has tamed Russia’s Gazprom, not let it off easy

  

  The European Commission has settled a seven-year antitrust dispute with Gazprom, which was required to make concessions but avoided a fine. Although the Russian natural gas monopoly’s detractors in Eastern Europe are likely to say Europe caved, the settlement shows that the company has been defanged and is no longer a threat to Europe’s energy security. Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s ...

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• 30 May

  The race to autonomy may be won in China

  

  Everybody wants autonomous vehicles now: It’s the auto industry’s way forward and Silicon Valley’s latest preoccupation. China is no different. Alibaba Group Holding is testing self-driving cars in China, and Baidu Inc. started trials of autonomous technology last year. BMW earlier this month was the first foreign carmaker to get a license to test its offering in China. In mid-May, ...

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• 30 May

  Tesla’s well-paid board directors sound the retweet

  

  Elon Musk’s recent Twitter-lashing of the media has prompted comparisons to President Donald Trump’s “fake news” obsession. For me, though, its sheer variety — encompassing Soviet propaganda, a new Model Y launch date, the Theranos scandal, the lameness of car emoji, and much more — instead brought Steve Bannon to mind, particularly his media strategy: “flood the zone with shit.” ...

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• 30 May

  Stocks advance, bonds slide as Italy concerns fade; dollar falls

  

  Bloomberg Stocks rose along with Treasury yields as investors deemed the market reaction to Italy’s political turmoil overwrought. The dollar slipped and oil rose. The S&P 500 Index headed for the first gain in four days as US 10-year yields pushed above 2.84 percent, boosting financial shares that had sold off on Tuesday as worries about Italy leaving the euro ...

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• 30 May

  Tencent’s no longer a sure bet as China selling nears $1bn

  

  Bloomberg Traders in China are unwinding positions in Tencent Holdings Ltd. faster than ever, turning to other targets amid a lack of reasons to push Asia’s biggest stock any higher. Mainland investors sold a net $81 million worth of shares in the Chinese Internet giant through trading links with Hong Kong on Tuesday, according to exchange data. That’s the 12th ...

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• 30 May

  Crisis-weary global central banks brace for turmoil

  

  Bloomberg Just when central bankers thought they were about to get out of the business of emergency economic stimulus, jittery financial markets are threatening to pull some of them back in. For the European Central Bank, the latest threat requiring vigilance is political turmoil in Italy that’s reviving memories of the debt crisis that threatened to fracture the euro area. ...

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• 30 May

  Bank Indonesia’s new governor stamps his mark with rate hike

  

  Bloomberg Indonesia’s new central bank chief raised interest rates at an early policy meeting on Wednesday, moving swiftly to counter an emerging-market selloff that’s shaken the nation’s currency and bonds. Less than a week in office, Governor Perry Warjiyo led the board in increasing the seven-day reverse repurchase rate by 25 basis points to 4.75 percent, in line with almost ...

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• 30 May

  Hawks take hold in India as RBI’s monetary policy looks set to tighten

  

  Bloomberg The interest-rate cycle in India is turning. The central bank may be set to tighten policy next week to keep inflation in check and stem the declines in the rupee, if the rate-market moves are any indication. The Reserve Bank of India hasn’t tinkered with rates since August, and even cut inflation projections last month, raising expectations that borrowing ...

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• 30 May

  Deutsche Bank staff ‘to learn their fates’ by July

  

  Bloomberg If you’re at Deutsche Bank AG and haven’t already been fired, you’re likely to find out next month if you will. The bank will have completed the “vast majority” of front-office job cuts by the end of June, Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing said at a conference in New York, adding that 600 staff have already left the Corporate ...

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