December, 2017

• 18 December

  China plans to stop local subsidies for electric cars

  Bloomberg China is planning to tell local governments to stop offering subsidies for electric cars and other new-energy vehicles, people familiar with the matter said, a move that could undermine demand for autos made by companies including BYD Co. and BAIC Motor Corp. The Ministry of Finance is working on a plan that would mandate authorities to phase out the ...

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• 18 December

  British PM risks Brexit row over migration, trade

  

  Bloomberg UK Prime Minister Theresa May will set out her plan for how a proposed Brexit transition period will work, stoking a potential new row with the European Union as she tries to keep different factions inside the Conservative Party on her side. May was expected to address Parliament around 3.30 pm London time on Monday, saying that after March ...

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• 18 December

  London property market shines as sales climb

  

  Bloomberg Prime London property has had a tough year, but there are signs that the slump is easing. The capital’s three most expensive boroughs—the City of Westminster, Camden, and Kensington and Chelsea—each saw sales jump by more than 20 percent in the third quarter from the same period in 2016, according to a report from LSL Acadata. The year-earlier period ...

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• 18 December

  Oracle to buy Aconex for $1.19 billion

  

  Bloomberg Oracle Corp. agreed to buy Aconex Ltd., an Australian company that makes cloud-based collaboration software for construction projects, for $1.19 billion cash as it pushes deeper in to new markets to gain more customers. The deal values Aconex at A $7.80 per share. Aconex shares surged 44 percent to A$7.63 at 11:09 am in Sydney trading. Oracle has been ...

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• 18 December

  China’s top phone makers to challenge Apple on home turf

  

  Bloomberg China’s top smartphone makers are ready to challenge Apple Inc. on its home turf after trouncing the iPhone maker in their own market. Huawei Technologies Co. and Xiaomi Corp. are in talks with US wireless operators about selling flagship smartphones to American consumers as soon as next year, according to people familiar with the matter. The handset makers are ...

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• 18 December

  Republicans’ tax delusion

  

  Last June, the center-left government in Sweden proposed cutting the country’s top corporate tax rate, already a below-the-international-average 22 percent, to 20 percent. The rate cut would be offset by a set of limitations on the deductibility of interest, so overall the Swedish government — currently running a fiscal surplus of more than 1 percent of gross domestic product — ...

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• 18 December

  KKR’s margarine binge will need more ingredients to work

  

  At the eleventh hour, KKR & Co. has clinched what is likely to be Europe’s biggest leveraged buyout of 2017. The US private equity firm’s 6.8 billon-euro ($8 billion) agreement to buy Unilever NV’s spreads business will need some full-fat ingredients to generate a decent return. The Anglo-Dutch consumer giant put the business on the block in April after Kraft ...

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• 18 December

  Wells Fargo’s potential tax windfall is hard to ignore

  

  For Wells Fargo & Co., is the worst over? The scandal-plagued bank’s recent stock revival suggests yes, maybe it is. But even if there are more revelations to come, there’s a good chance that the shares may hang onto its gains. While it continues to lag rivals and the benchmark US bank index since last year’s presidential election, the San ...

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• 18 December

  Janet Yellen’s legacy is trickier than it looks

  Departing Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen is leaving US monetary policy in pretty good shape, and her colleague and successor, Jerome Powell, can be expected to continue her record of stewardship. As always, though, the economy may have other ideas. The Fed will most likely raise interest rates another quarter-point — the latest step in a carefully laid out plan ...

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• 18 December

  Politics are dragging down Pakistan economy, again

  

  Like much else about Pakistan, it’s often infuriatingly difficult to determine whether or not its economy is on the brink of disaster. This week, as the Pakistani rupee lost 5 percent of its value in just three days, it looked like trouble was brewing. And sure, this might be a sign of the economy slipping towards a balance-of-payments crisis. But, ...

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