July, 2017

• 22 July

  Chinese spy ship monitored US, Aussie war games

  Bloomberg A high-tech Chinese spy ship in international waters off Australia’s northern coast has been monitoring joint military exercises between Australia and the US, the Australian defense force said. “Australia defense can confirm that a Chinese People’s Liberation Army-Navy Type 815 Dongdiao-class auxiliary general intelligence vessel has been operating off the north-east coast of Australia,” the Department of Defense said ...

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• 22 July

  Air Force has dug into the equivalent of trench warfare

  

  It is said that America’s armed forces have been stressed by 16 years of constant warfare, the longest such in the nation’s history. For the Air Force, however, the high tempo of combat operations began 26 years ago, with enforcement of the no-fly zone in Iraq after Desert Storm. With an acute pilot shortage, particularly in the fighter pilot community, ...

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• 22 July

  Horn of plenty leaves investors on horns of a dilemma

  

  The Asian dollar bond market has been a cornucopia for issuers this year. Amid plentiful liquidity, it’s easy to lose sight of just how little reward there is now for all the risks investors are being asked to accept. Less than seven months into 2017, asset managers and private-bank clients have written checks for $175 billion to companies and governments ...

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• 22 July

  Put Trumpcare out of its misery

  

  Congressional Republicans have just produced their latest version of Trumpcare. On the plus side, this one gives up on earlier proposals to repeal three taxes that the Affordable Care Act imposes on the wealthy, making it a bit less fiscally reckless. On the minus side, it’s still a terrible plan. It’s designed to drastically weaken America’s health security — and ...

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• 22 July

  India’s new tax is a work in progress

  A country rarely praised for its efficient bureaucracy, India has managed its biggest administrative reform in years pretty well. Its new goods-and-services tax, replacing 40 other taxes and levies, came into force earlier this month without undue disruption. This policy deserves to be a great success — but to make the most of it, the government still has work to ...

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• 22 July

  Why China’s acquisition spree is ending badly

  

  China’s overseas acquisition streak seems to be coming to an unhappy end. Outward direct investment fell by 46 percent in the first half of the year, due partly to tightened capital controls and partly to new restrictions on ‘irrational investments.’ But the authorities should be asking a more fundamental question: Why do China’s companies struggle so much overseas? Typically, companies ...

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• 22 July

  Amazon panic button gets a workout

  

  W.W. Grainger Inc.’s results weren’t stellar, but what exactly were investors expecting? The industrial-parts distributor has lost about a quarter of its market value over the past year amid worries that its efforts to combat Amazon.com Inc. with lower prices won’t work and will make it less profitable. We got further proof of that Wednesday when Grainger reported a further ...

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• 22 July

  Apple predictions will be very wrong again

  

  It’s the silly season for financial predictions about Apple Inc. With history as our guide, it is folly to place much faith in them. Nearly every day brings deeply researched reports from stock analysts on their Apple sales forecasts. And this is not about the next quarter or two. The most pressing question analysts are trying to answer is how ...

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• 22 July

  Barclays ‘gold’ equity research post-MiFID may cost $455,000

  

  Bloomberg Barclays Plc’s clients may have to pay as much as 350,000 pounds ($455,000) to get the top service package from its equities analysts once free research is banned in Europe, the first price for stocks coverage to emerge from a major bank. The firm is proposing three levels of service — bronze, silver and gold — with the premium ...

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• 22 July

  Mastercard wins dismissal of $18bn class action suit

  

  Bloomberg A London judge rejected an application by a group representing 46 million consumers to pursue a lawsuit against Mastercard Inc. that would have been the largest of its kind since U.S.-style class actions were introduced in the UK. The 14 billion-pound ($18 billion) lawsuit initiated by Walter Merricks, a lawyer who once led the UK organization that handles consumer ...

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