October, 2017

• 8 October

  Nate downgraded to tropical storm

  

  Bloomberg Tropical Storm Nate was heading inland over the southern US states of Mississippi and Alabama after the National Hurricane Center downgraded it from a Category 1 hurricane, the latest in an unusually ferocious storm season that’s racked up billions in damages. With top winds of 70 miles per hour, Nate was moving north-northeast at 23 mph, the hurricane centre ...

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• 8 October

  ‘Brexit staff shortage drives salaries higher’

  Bloomberg A Brexit-driven decline in the availability of staff and surging demand for workers are pushing up starting salaries, according to Markit and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation. The availability of permanent candidates declined at the fastest pace in four months in September, according to a report published. Net migration to the UK has fallen to a three-year low after ...

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• 8 October

  Switch gets $531mn in US tech IPO

  

  Bloomberg Switch Inc. raised $531 million in its initial public offering, making it the third-biggest technology IPO this year in the US. The data center company sold 31.25 million shares for $17 each after marketing them for $14 to $16 apiece, Switch said in a statement. Only Snap Inc.’s $3.9 billion IPO and Altice USA Inc.’s $2.2 billion offering topped ...

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• 8 October

  ‘Fake news problem is more dangerous to solve’

  

  Bloomberg Facebook Inc.’s chief security officer warned that the fake news problem is more complicated and dangerous to solve than the public thinks. Alex Stamos, who’s handling the company’s investigation into Russia’s use of the social media platform ahead of the 2016 US presidential election, cautioned about hoping for technical solutions that he says could have unintended consequences of ideological ...

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• 8 October

  What goes into making an eco-conscious jean!

  

  Bloomberg Denim production is a “dirty business,” says Michael Preysman, chief executive officer of fashion e-tailer Everlane Inc. He’s not wrong. Chances are, those jeans you’re wearing produced 44 pounds of carbon dioxide and took up to 10,000 litres of water to make, much of it ending up in waterways, along with toxic dyes and chemicals deployed in making denim. ...

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• 8 October

  Donald Trump’s geopolitical straddle on Iran question

  

  Various cultures have different phrases for expressing the idea of having it both ways at once. “To take a swim and not get wet” is an Albanian proverb. Poles talk about “having the cookie and eating it.” Iranians want “both God and the sugar dates.” The Trump administration has been weighing a contemporary geopolitical version of this straddle. Hard liners ...

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• 8 October

  Depriving the well-off is not right

  

  Many Americans are worried that the US is becoming a class society. The country’s founding mythology holds that it began as an egalitarian alternative to the hidebound, class cultures of Europe—a place where even the lowliest of birth rise through hard work and ingenuity. Of course, that rosy image was never quite accurate, but in the mid-20th century the US ...

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• 8 October

  Trump needs Fed chair who isn’t a hawk or a dove

  In selecting a chairman of the Federal Reserve, President Donald Trump should not be looking for a hawk or a dove. He should be looking for someone who is willing to play either role as circumstances warrant. One of the top contenders for the appointment, Kevin Warsh, has proved he is right for only half the job. He has leaned ...

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• 8 October

  What Congress owes Puerto Rico’s US citizens

  President Donald Trump’s visit to Puerto Rico on Tuesday brought more disruption and controversy—to the markets and the island—than aid and comfort. Fortunately, there is a better model to provide for both the immediate humanitarian needs of these Americans and the long-term health of their economy. But it will take the kind of sustained bipartisan focus that yielded last year’s ...

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• 8 October

  The EU is pulling punches against tech behemoths

  

  Margrethe Vestager, the European commissioner for competition, is again picking low-hanging fruit by ordering Amazon to pay 250 million euros ($294 million) plus interest to Luxembourg, deemed to have rendered illegal state aid to the US company. But the European Commission should be aiming higher if they want to send a serious message to US tech giants about doing business ...

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