May, 2018

• 27 May

  M&S needs to stock up on its bitter medicine

  Archie Norman, the famed turnaround specialist who is now chairman of Marks & Spencer Group Plc, is hoping for a textbook turnaround of Britain’s biggest clothing store by value. He is certainly reading from the classic first page: on Wednesday the company announced 514 million pounds ($688 million) of one-time charges, more than halving pre-tax profit in the year to ...

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• 27 May

  It’s good if Trump surrenders on tariffs

  President Donald Trump’s aggressive new trade policy isn’t going too well. His threats to impose tariffs on imports from China, Europe and other trade partners have so far yielded much less than he promised — and instead of retaliating, he shows signs of backing off. It’s right to criticize him for saying one thing and doing another, but bear in ...

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• 27 May

  Homelessness is a tragedy the US can afford to fix

  

  First the good news: Homelessness in the US is down. In the mid-2000s, President George W. Bush’s ‘housing first’ program made substantial inroads against the problem. President Barack Obama continued the campaign with the Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program in 2009 and a follow-up program in 2010. As a result of these efforts, the nationwide homeless population has continued ...

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• 27 May

  It’s time to regulate the lithium cartel

  

  The world doesn’t like its essential commodities being controlled by a small group of producers. Less than a year after BHP Billiton Ltd. announced plans to merge its iron ore operations with those of Rio Tinto Group in 2009, the proposal was dropped amid expectations that regulators in Europe and Asia would oppose the deal on antitrust grounds. So why ...

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• 27 May

  Facebook’s apology tour just raises more questions

  

  A pattern has emerged in Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg’s response to various legislative bodies’ interest in his company. The more informed and pointed questions legislators want to ask, the less time Zuckerberg is willing to spend answering them. That should mean it’s probably time to stop asking and start acting in specific areas that have been adequately pinpointed ...

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• 27 May

  Halfway back from brink, stocks sit still as investor mood heals

  

  Bloomberg Anyone with a sense of symmetry can appreciate the S&P 500 Index right now. After bouncing all year, the equity benchmark just spent a week sitting at the precise midpoint of this year’s trading range. A perfect 50 percent retracement, in the language of technical analysis. Which is to say, it’s stopped moving — at least for the last ...

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• 27 May

  Political risks grip European markets

  

  Bloomberg Traders could be forgiven if flashbacks of the euro zone crisis come back to haunt them as the euro slid to a six-month low and risk premiums on Spanish and Italian bonds soared amid rising political risks. European risk assets took a massive pounding ahead of a long weekend in London as investors fled from riskier bonds, stocks and ...

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• 27 May

  Swiss private banks may finally merge

  

  Bloomberg For years, Swiss private banks largely resisted the temptation to merge with rivals. Often run by proud families, few wanted to let go of their independence or dilute their legacies. While local giants UBS Group AG and Credit Suisse Group AG went through painful reorganisations, smaller banks had time to continue with business as usual, even winning over disaffected ...

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• 27 May

  Wells Fargo dismisses bankers in struggling municipal-bond unit

  

  Bloomberg Wells Fargo & Co.’s new public finance chief Stratford Shields is shaking up the department by dismissing senior bankers in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles and bringing in colleagues from his former employer, Morgan Stanley. Fifteen employees from its public finance department were removed, retired or quit as the bank shifted its strategy, according to a person familiar ...

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• 27 May

  BoK stands pat in face of rising uncertainties

  

  Bloomberg The Bank of Korea (BoK) stayed the course amid rising uncertainty, leaving its benchmark interest rate unchanged in a unanim-ous decision. The central bank is balancing concerns including record household debt and recent weak domestic economic data with external risks such as rising US interest rates and global emerging-market instability. Governor Lee Ju-yeol described uncertainties as high, and as ...

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