March, 2018

• 7 March

  Investors will pay price if tariffs are imposed

  

  Corporations warned last week that if the Trump administration imposed tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum, consumers would pay the price. That’s wishful thinking in the C-suite. Toyota said tariffs “would substantially raise costs and therefore prices of cars and trucks sold in America.” Higher costs are undebatable. But can Toyota actually raise prices? That gets to the challenge ...

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• 7 March

  The end of diesel is here. Germany isn’t ready yet

  

  A top German court in Leipzig ruled that cities have the right to ban diesel cars. Though the incoming coalition government has vowed to avoid such bans, the ruling is a deadly blow for diesel engines in Germany, an event on a par with the country’s 2011 decision to phase out nuclear power plants. From now on, buying a diesel ...

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• 7 March

  US inflation is ECB’s risk as bonds show end of decoupling

  

  Bloomberg European Central Bank officials considering when to end their bond-buying program have a new reason to move carefully: US inflationary pressures are helping to push up euro-zone borrowing costs. President Mario Draghi and his colleagues spent years insulating the single-currency area from global financial markets as it recuperated from a double-dip recession, debt crisis and brush with deflation. Now ...

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• 7 March

  Malaysia holds policy rate as inflation eases

  

  Bloomberg Malaysia’s central bank kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged as expected, after inflation eased and an early rate hike this year helped to bolster the currency. Bank Negara Malaysia left the overnight policy rate at 3.25 percent, it said in a statement in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, as predicted by all 17 economists in a Bloomberg survey. As one ...

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• 7 March

  BlackRock, Soros eye Deutsche Bank unit IPO

  

  FRANKFURT / Reuters BlackRock, George Soros and big sovereign wealth funds are among investors expressing interest in buying stakes in the initial public offering of Deutsche Bank’s asset management arm, a person familiar with the matter said. The sovereign funds include Singapore’s Temasek, the person said. Deutsche Bank is finalising plans for the IPO of the asset management business, known ...

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• 7 March

  Trade war biggest economic risk for Thai central bank

  

  Bloomberg President Donald Trump’s trade policy has Thailand worried. Trade and geopolitics are the key risks for Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy, Bank of Thailand Senior Director Don Nakornthab said in an interview in Bangkok. Exports of goods and services account for about 70 percent of Thai gross domestic product. “Trade politics is the most important risk for our economy as ...

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• 7 March

  Investment banking in crosshairs as Iceland explores limits

  

  Bloomberg Few countries conjure up images of financial ruin like Iceland. Its economy was famously gutted in 2008 when its over-sized banks all collapsed within weeks of each other. A decade later, the island nation is still trying to crisis-proof its financial system. A key goal is to shield banking operations that are vital to the economy, such as deposit-taking, ...

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• 7 March

  Boeing faces US-Asia clash over 797 jet design

  

  Bloomberg Boeing Co. may need to rethink one of the most distinctive features of its proposed new mid-range jet—a small cargo hold—to win over customers in Asia, potentially the plane’s largest market. The manufacturer faces a “cargo conundrum,” for the jetliner dubbed the 797 by industry observers, said Domhnal Slattery, founder and chief executive officer of Avolon Holdings Ltd., the ...

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• 7 March

  Airbnb hires Amazon Prime head to run homes unit

  Bloomberg Airbnb Inc. hired Greg Greeley, the head of Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime business, as president of its main home-rental unit. Greeley, who had been at Amazon for more than 18 years, helped the retail giant expand the Prime membership service internationally. He announced his resignation on LinkedIn. Airbnb said he will join the San Francisco-based company on March 18. At ...

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• 7 March

  Hawaiian opts for 787 Dreamliners, cancels competing model A330 deal

  

  Bloomberg Hawaiian Holdings Inc. handed Boeing Co. a victory by selecting 10 of the planemaker’s 787 Dreamliners and canceling a deal for a competing model from Airbus SE. The airline signed a non-binding letter of intent for the Boeing 787-9 jets in a deal valued at $2.82 billion at list prices, passing over Airbus’s A330. Hawaiian expects to use the ...

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