February, 2017

• 25 February

  The Trump bump in Moscow’s market

  

    Financial markets have been sending an interesting message about President Trump and Russia. After Trump’s election, investors seemed to be betting that sanctions against Moscow would soon be eased. But this confidence collapsed in late January, and Russian stocks plummeted. The numbers tell the story: From Nov. 7, the day before the election, to Jan. 27, the MICEX index ...

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• 25 February

  Political risk hampers the ECB

  

    The European Central Bank (ECB) just can’t get a break. After many years of unconventional monetary measures that have drawn lots of political criticism and attacks and forced it to intervene uncomfortably in the functioning and pricing of financial markets, it was hoping that a pickup in euro-zone economic activity would allow it to declare victory and gradually normalize ...

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• 25 February

  Who will watch the banks under Trump?

  

    Nearly a decade after a devastating financial crisis, the U.S. remains poorly prepared for a repeat. So it’s unsettling that Daniel Tarullo, the Federal Reserve official who has done the most to make the country’s banks stronger, plans to step down — and all the more important that President Donald Trump find a worthy replacement. The 2008 crisis exposed ...

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• 25 February

  Moving US embassy will have repercussions

    US Vice President Mike Pence told Republican Jewish Coalition that Washington is assessing whether to move American embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Trump on the campaign trail had pledged to move the embassy, although he’s softened his stance since taking office in January. Pence assured the influential Jewish group that he alongwith President Trump will work ...

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• 25 February

  What Google hopes to gain by suing Uber

  

    The legal battle that’s starting between Waymo, the self-driving car spin-off of Google’s former “moonshot” unit, and ride-hailing giant Uber appears to be all about trade secrets and patents. But there is a bigger issue behind it: Silicon Valley ethics and employee loyalty. The Waymo lawsuit contends that a former employee, Anthony Levandowski, downloaded 9.7 gigabytes of sensitive data ...

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• 25 February

  Snapdeal setbacks are pragmatic response to a bumpy boom

  

    No one should be surprised about job cuts at Jasper Infotech Pvt’s Snapdeal. The Indian media have chronicled the struggles facing the country’s e-commerce industry, including executive departures and lower equity valuations, and I foreshadowed trouble back in July in looking at rescinded job offers for college students. Shining a light on these valuation hiccups and stumbles is important ...

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• 25 February

  Buffett and investors dislike fees, but maybe too much

  

    A big day is coming for the faithful followers of the Oracle of Omaha. Warren Buffett’s annual letter is due out, and he’s expected to take up the long-simmering debate about active versus passive investing. Buffett has a somewhat complicated relationship with that debate. On the one hand, he is the most famous — and arguably the most successful ...

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• 25 February

  British Airways poised to join long-haul narrow-body craze

  

    Bloomberg British Airways-owner IAG SA is looking at acquiring more long-range narrow-body planes in order to open up inter-continental routes where demand is insufficient to support bigger twin-aisle jets. IAG has already ordered seven LR variants of the Airbus Group SE A321neo for trans-Atlantic services at Irish unit Aer Lingus and is evaluating plans for a wider roll-out that ...

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• 25 February

  Business-jet deliveries fall to 12-year low

  

    Bloomberg Business-jet shipments tumbled to a 12-year low last year because of slow economic growth and probably won’t rebound until 2018 when new models debut. Deliveries fell 7.9 percent last year to 661 from a year earlier, according to the General Aviation Manufacturers Association. Sales tumbled 16 percent to $18.4 billion as demand for higher-priced large and medium aircraft ...

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• 25 February

  Airbus sees Africa demand for 1,000 jets over next 20 years

    Bloomberg Airbus SE expects African operators to buy about 990 new planes over the next two decades to meet increasing demand for passenger and freight services on the continent. While making up only 3 percent of overall global demand, the planes will more than double the number of such aircraft on the continent, according to Airbus’ vice president for ...

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