February, 2018

• 13 February

  Germany’s wage deal is good for Europe too

  Rarely has a round of wage negotiations been watched so closely as the recent dispute involving Germany’s IG Metall labor union. The agreement reached in Baden-Wuerttemberg with the Suedwestmetall employer’s federation, including a 4.3 percent raise from April and the right to a 28-hour working week, is a further sign that wage pressures are finally returning to the euro zone. ...

  Read More »
• 13 February

  In the end, the system seem to work for investors in India

  

  Sometimes it feels like, wherever I go in the world, local businessmen have a story to tell me about one of their peers who has lost big money in India. This week, I have a story to tell them in return — one that may make everyone feel a bit better. These hard-luck stories are particularly common in the sort ...

  Read More »
• 13 February

  Boeing’s Woodward approach puts suppliers on notice

  

  The aerospace industry better be ready for Boeing Co. to become even more of a behemoth. The plane maker has reportedly held preliminary talks about acquiring Woodward Inc., a $5 billion maker of cockpit controls and fuel-metering units. No deal is imminent, and truth be told, Woodward is a weird choice (more on that later). But the fact that Boeing ...

  Read More »
• 13 February

  Uber’s gender-blind pay system is struggling

  

  Uber is trying to defeat the gender pay gap by relying on an algorithm that has no idea whether drivers are men or women. But is it working? A recent paper studying more than a million drivers reached a conclusion: not so much. Men earn about 7 percent more than women do, as it turns out. This could be taken ...

  Read More »
• 13 February

  Asia stocks gain in global rebound

  

  Bloomberg Asian stocks rose amid signs markets are beginning to stabilize after the biggest weekly rout in two years. Japanese equities pared gains as the yen advanced. Shares in Hong Kong and China led the rally in Asia after the S&P 500 Index posted its biggest two-day advance in 18 months. Japan’s equities retreated from the day’s highs after traders ...

  Read More »
• 13 February

  Sweden’s H&M drops dividend reinvestment plan

  Bloomberg Hennes & Mauritz AB has abandoned a plan to try to get shareholders to reinvest their dividends in new stock. The Swedish fashion retailer said that the project proved too difficult, after the company encountered technical issues and ran up against time constraints. An “investigation” into the plan showed it wasn’t really feasible, H&M said. Shares initially jumped on ...

  Read More »
• 13 February

  Dubai strong on Emaar Malls, Aramex earnings

  

  DUBAI / Reuters Dubai’s stock market rose in early trade on Tuesday after Emaar Malls and Aramex reported strong earnings, but most of the Gulf was quiet, gaining little momentum from the rise of Wall Street and other global markets. The Dubai index added 1.0 percent as Emaar Malls , the emirate’s flagship mall operator, rose 3.1 percent after reporting ...

  Read More »
• 13 February

  Rebound in global equity may lift Gulf markets

  DUBAI / Reuters A rebound in global equity markets may lift stock markets in the Gulf on Tuesday. Wall Street’s three main indexes surged well over 1 percent on Monday, and MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan is up 1.2 percent on Tuesday morning. Brent oil has not recovered much, however, standing at $62.95 per barrel. In Egypt, ...

  Read More »
• 13 February

  Hong Kong banks seen locking mortgage rates to lure customers

  

  Bloomberg Hong Kong’s biggest banks are increasingly locking mortgage rates to lure customers from upstart rivals in the world’s least affordable housing market, where borrowing costs are soon expected to rise. HSBC Holdings Plc and BOC Hong Kong (Holdings) Ltd. are offering fixed rates of 1.68 percent for the first year of a new mortgage, lower than the 2.15 percent ...

  Read More »
• 13 February

  Deutsche Bank sanctioned for misleading buyers on bond sales

  

  Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG agreed to pay about $4.5 million to settle a US regulator’s allegations that it misled clients about how much bonds backed by commercial mortgages were worth, earning the lender bigger profits than it should have made. Salespeople in its Deutsche Bank Securities unit induced customers to pay higher prices for bonds by misrepresenting how much the ...

  Read More »