April, 2017

• 24 April

  China cools its growth in wealth products

  

    Bloomberg China’s boom in wealth-management products worth trillions of dollars, under scrutiny from regulators because of potential threats to financial stability, is slowing for now. Outstanding products issued by banks stood at 29.1 trillion yuan ($4.2 trillion) as of March 31, up 18.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the China Banking Regulatory Commission. The growth rate slumped ...

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• 24 April

  Republican cracks emerge in Trump energy plan

  

    Bloomberg For all Donald Trump’s efforts to revive coal, market forces and some of his own supporters are vying to write their own version of America’s energy future. Divisions persist among the president’s supporters — and even within his own cabinet — about whether to continue subsidies for wind and solar power, enact a carbon tax, remain party to ...

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• 24 April

  London house prices decline most in 8 years

  

    Bloomberg London house prices posted their largest annual drop in almost eight years in April as buyers shunned the capital’s central areas. The average asking price in the city fell 1.5 percent to 636,777 pounds ($813,000) this month from a year earlier, the largest annual decline since May 2009, property website Rightmove Plc said on Monday. On the month, ...

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• 24 April

  German business confidence climbs to highest since July ’11

    Bloomberg German business sentiment rose to the strongest level in almost six years in a sign that the momentum in Europe’s largest economy is set to continue. The Munich-based Ifo institute’s business climate index increased to 112.9 in April from a revised 112.4 in March. That compares with a median estimate of 112.4 in a Bloomberg survey of economists. ...

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• 24 April

  Sprint looks beyond T-Mobile for deal options

  

    Bloomberg Wall Street is betting Sprint Corp. and T-Mobile US Inc. will soon revive talks on a blockbuster merger, but a recent surge in demand for wireless assets has Sprint exploring other ways to unleash value. Sprint’s parent SoftBank Group Corp. believes the company’s vast trove of wireless spectrum, which can be used for faster 5G services, has been ...

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• 24 April

  Philips confident of sales growth

  

    Bloomberg Royal Philips NV said a strong order book and resilient performance in markets including China and India would allow the Dutch health-care equipment provider meet sales targets, even as uncertainty surrounding US policy led hospitals there to delay spending. The company reiterated a full-year revenue growth target of between 4 percent and 6 percent for its health technology ...

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• 24 April

  Akzo Nobel to consider PPG’s sweetened $29bn takeover offer

  

    Bloomberg Akzo Nobel NV said it would consider PPG Industries Inc.’s new unsolicited 26.9 billion euros ($28.8 billion) takeover bid, which the US rival extended with “one last invitation” for Europe’s largest coatings company to negotiate a deal. Akzo Nobel will “carefully review and consider” the proposal, the Amsterdam-based company said in a statement on Monday. PPG earlier offered ...

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• 24 April

  SLM taps Lazard to study options after GE failed bid

  

    Bloomberg SLM Solutions AG has hired Lazard Ltd. to help it explore strategic options six months after General Electric Co. withdrew a 680 million-euro ($737 million) offer for the 3-D printing company, according to people familiar with the matter. The review could lead to the sale of a stake in the Luebeck, Germany-based company or even a complete takeover, ...

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• 24 April

  Trump’s stock boom – illusion or reality?

  

    The last thing President Trump now needs is for the stock market to go south on him. After all, he’s got worries aplenty: abroad, North Korea, Syria, Russia and Brexit; at home, the stalled effort to repeal Obamacare; and uncertainty surrounding “tax reform.” Compared with this tapestry of troubles, the stock market has been a splendid blessing. It’s called ...

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• 24 April

  Yankee hedge funds, don’t go home. Japan wants you

  

    Activist investors, Japan’s the next place to go. Yes, you heard right. In the past two weeks, Hong Kong-based Oasis Management Co. has managed to score victories against two of the country’s oldest and biggest companies. The hedge fund got Panasonic Corp. to up its offer for a unit the electronics maker is seeking to take private, while also ...

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