February, 2018

• 12 February

  ‘US economy is at risk amid immigration curbs’

  

  Bloomberg The chief executive officer of the world’s biggest shipping company says curbs on immigration backed by the administration of President Donald Trump risk hurting the US economy. “The US economy is running at full steam and therefore wages have started to rise,” which “in itself is positive,” Soren Skou, the CEO of A. P. Moller-Maersk A/S, said in a ...

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• 12 February

  3.5 million jobless and French companies still can’t find staff

  

  Bloomberg Figeac-Aero has a problem that says a lot about the French economy: the Airbus supplier can’t find enough qualified people to staff its factories. Even with one in 10 workers out of a job, companies cite difficulty in hiring as one of their biggest problems as a long-awaited economic recovery takes hold. The crunch is particularly acute for Patrice ...

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• 12 February

  Where this deficit spending boom will come to an end

  

  After bottoming out at $438 billion and 2.4 percent of gross domestic product in fiscal 2015, the US federal deficit has started growing again. It was $666 billion (3.5 percent of GDP) in the fiscal year that ended in September, and with the big tax cut passed by Congress and signed by the president in December, and the moderately generous ...

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• 12 February

  China needs central bank suited for biggest economy

  

  The next governor of the People’s Bank of China has a broader, more conceptual inbox than is typical of incoming central bankers. Zhou Xiaochuan has held the post since 2002 and has hinted that retirement is coming. Zhou helped transform the bank from a fairly obscure bureaucratic outpost in the economic world to a place with a growing international profile ...

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• 12 February

  Qualcomm may blink first in staredown with Broadcom

  Qualcomm Inc. is trying to call Broadcom Ltd.’s bluff, but the company may end up with its own credibility crisis. Qualcomm’s board rejected Broadcom’s latest $82 cash-and-stock bid, saying it materially undervalued the company. The chipmaker is, however, finally willing to meet with Broadcom to determine “the true highest price at which you would be prepared to acquire Qualcomm” and ...

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• 12 February

  Market turmoil won’t deter central banks

  By signaling hawkish policy intentions that went beyond the market consensus, the Bank of England did more than convey its updated views on the UK economy and the prospects for monetary policy tightening. It also highlighted the ongoing gradual shift by central banks in advanced countries towards less stimulative policies. This evolution makes sense, given domestic economic conditions. It is ...

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• 12 February

  Cryptocurrency cynics stand to profit the most

  

  Welcome, dear average American, to the lovely world of unregulated retail finance. Perhaps you’re young enough that you missed the tech-stock housing bubbles. Perhaps you didn’t have enough cash to “flip that house” back in 2006. Well, thanks to the invention of cryptocurrency, there’s a whole new way for you to lose your life’s savings. Plunges in the value of ...

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• 12 February

  China plays yuan to demand a ‘Powell Put’

  

  Stop wondering why China is muddying already squishy global markets by driving the yuan lower, and right before next week’s Lunar New Year holiday. Although US President Donald Trump’s use of a rarely employed trade-protection measure against washing machines and solar panels is indeed a provocation, Washington think-tank folks can take a break: the People’s Republic has no intention of ...

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• 12 February

  What trucking tells us about the future of work

  

  The future of trucking may tell us a lot about the future of work. It’s no secret that many Americans fear losing their jobs to automation. In a Pew Research Center poll last October, nearly three-quarters of respondents worried that “computers and robots could do most of the work currently done by humans.” And yet the job market seems to ...

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• 12 February

  China calls on companies, mutual funds to boost stocks

  

  Bloomberg China has urged controlling investors in listed companies to boost their holdings and some mutual funds to limit equity selling this week, according to people familiar with the matter, as officials seek to stem the impact of the stock selloff. Over the weekend, the China Securities Regulatory Commission and other regulators sent informal directives to some major stockholders encouraging ...

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