February, 2018

• 3 February

  Heaping taxes on investors in India is a terrible idea

  

  Sending investors the bill for a shortfall from India’s new goods and services (GST) tax is a bad idea. Finance minister Arun Jaitley should resist the temptation. A long-term capital gains levy on equity can be problematic in a country perennially short of domestic savings. In a frothy stock market, it’s like crying “fire” in a crowded room. Profits from ...

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• 3 February

  Yellen’s calm competence will be truely missed

  

  As Janet Yellen’s tenure comes to an end, it’s worth reflecting on what may be her greatest accomplishment as chair of the Federal Reserve: With calm and dispassionate competence, she kept the central bank at arm’s length from a political system paralyzed by partisan strife. Look at the rest of Washington to see how valuable to the country that distance ...

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• 3 February

  UK businesses are having a problem and it’s not Brexit

  The UK economy isn’t in recession. So why are some businesses having such a bad time? The number of profit warnings by British firms is at the highest in two years, with retailers and outsourcing firms among the worst-hit, according to accounting firm EY. Carillion Plc imploded this month, while shares of Carpetright Plc and Dignity Plc have seen 50 ...

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• 3 February

  Trump is still dreaming of a 1950s-era economy

  

  Have you ever had the wild thought that if you shut your eyes really tight and then opened them again, you’d wake up and find that you were a kid again, and that your whole adult life had been one long dream? No more backaches, no more mortgage payments, just Saturday morning cartoons and Mom and Dad waiting for you ...

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• 3 February

  Boeing needs to stay out of its own way

  

  What goes up must come down, unless we’re talking about Boeing Co. The plane-maker — now also the biggest US industrial company after doubling its market value over the last year — reported fourth-quarter results last week that were nearly perfect. The recently passed US tax legislation contributed an outsized $1.74 to Boeing’s fourth-quarter earnings per share, equating to a ...

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• 3 February

  Kuroda deserves a second term as BOJ governor

  

  The re-election of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in October was welcomed warmly by stock market investors. The reappointment of Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda to another five-year term starting this April would also be viewed as a reassuring sign of policy continuity. The Japanese tradition of naming economic expansions after Shinto deities dates back to the 1950s. A fitting ...

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• 3 February

  UK banks fearing Brexit have US blueprint to follow

  

  Bloomberg UK politicians pushing for a post- Brexit trade deal on financial services are trying to stem an exodus of bankers from the City of London. For British banks, the stakes aren’t quite as high. A UK withdrawal with no preferential access to the single market would result in declining tax revenue and the potential loss of 75,000 finance jobs ...

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• 3 February

  Bitcoin ban expands across credit cards

  

  Bloomberg A growing number of big US credit-card issuers are deciding they don’t want to finance a falling knife. JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. said they’re halting purchases of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on their credit cards. JPMorgan, enacting the ban, doesn’t want the credit risk associated with the transactions, company spokeswoman Mary Jane ...

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• 3 February

  Deutsche Bank traders set for ‘generous’ bonus despite slump

  

  Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG Chief Executive Officer John Cryan, seeking to restore morale after massive bonus cuts last year, raised compensation for traders and bankers in 2017. He didn’t get much in return. Trading at Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank slumped 27 percent in the fourth quarter to 886 million euros ($1 billion), while fees from advising on deals and arranging debt ...

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• 3 February

  Wells Fargo hit with growth ban in Yellen’s final act

  

  Bloomberg After markets closed on her final workday in office, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen delivered a blow to one of the nation’s largest banks: Wells Fargo & Co. won’t be allowed to grow until it cleans up. Fed officials said the San Francisco-based lender’s pattern of consumer abuses and compliance lapses called for an unprecedented sanction. Until Wells Fargo ...

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