August, 2016

• 1 August

  Australia’s Fairfax Media flags $760mn in writedowns

  

    AFP Leading Australian publisher Fairfax Media said it would post nearly Aus$1 billion in writedowns in the year to July, while it announced the creation of a new reporting segment for its lucrative online real estate division. Like its global peers, the group, which owns The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers, has had add to slash jobs ...

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• 1 August

  Tokyo Gas in talks with European firms to swap LNG cargoes

  

    Bloomberg Tokyo Gas Co., Japan’s second-biggest buyer of liquefied natural gas, is in talks with European companies to swap cargoes it owns from the U.S. with those in Asia to reduce shipping times and costs. The utility is offering cargoes from the Cove Point project on the U.S. East Coast, which is expected to start up late next year ...

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• 1 August

  Earnings tumble as firms dig deeper for savings

  

    Bloomberg Corporate earnings are heading for a fifth straight quarter of declines, dragged down mostly by energy companies’ struggles with low oil prices and a tepid global economy that threatens to throttle sales growth in many industries. U.S. companies as varied as hamburger chain McDonald’s Corp. and Honeywell International Inc., a maker of gas-processing equipment and cockpit controls, have ...

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• 1 August

  Tesla Motors to buy SolarCity in biggest clean-power deal

    Bloomberg SolarCity Corp. board members approved a $2.6 billion buyout from Elon Musk’s Tesla Motors Inc. in the solar industry’s biggest deal to date. Tesla agreed to pay $25.37 a share in stock for the largest U.S. rooftop solar company, according to a statement. Analysts have said the price is too low and investors have questioned the wisdom of ...

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• 1 August

  Nissan chases US sales gains as discounts lift it beyond Honda

  

    Bloomberg Nissan Motor Co. is growing faster in the U.S. than any mass-market carmaker and edged past rival Honda Motor Co. in this year’s first half. That might not be a good thing for Nissan’s bottom line. Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn wants Nissan to pass Honda and get 10 percent of the North American market. Yet Nissan’s growth ...

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• 1 August

  Verizon to buy fleetmatics

    Bloomberg Verizon Communications Inc. agreed to buy GPS vehicle-tracking company Fleetmatics Group Plc in an all-cash deal valued at $2.4 billion, vaulting the telephone giant deeper into the automotive-technology market. Verizon will pay $60 a share for the Dublin, Ireland-based company, a 40 percent premium to Fleetmatics’ closing price last week, according to a statement. With its wireless business ...

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• 1 August

  Carney nears rate cut after BOE detour on ‘stimulus road’

  

    Bloomberg The Bank of England is mere days away from its first interest-rate cut in more than seven years. It wasn’t easy getting here. After shocking traders by leaving the key rate on hold last month, Governor Mark Carney and the Monetary Policy Committee signaled that loosening would probably come this month. But with five sets of public comments ...

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• 1 August

  ECB accused of favouritism over Brussels appointment

    Bloomberg The European Central Bank Executive Board received a complaint from the institution’s staff council last month, alleging that the appointment of its new Brussels representative looks like an act of favoritism. Employee representatives penned their letter after Stephane Rottier was chosen to lead the ECB’s office in the city that hosts most European Union institutions. The position was ...

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• 1 August

  Nedbank heads for 8-month high on profit increase

  

    Bloomberg Nedbank Group Ltd., the South African lender controlled by Old Mutual Plc, headed for the highest level in eight months after first-half profit rose, beating analyst estimates that had predicted a decline. The shares jumped as much as 7.5 percent on Monday before paring gains, leading returns on the seven-member FTSE/JSE Africa Banks Index. First-half earnings per share ...

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• 1 August

  US GDP flop is a sign of secular stagnation, says Deutsche Bank

  

    Bloomberg You can now add the rates strategy team at Deutsche Bank AG to the growing list of Wall Street analysts who reckon the U.S. economy is probably ensnared in secular stagnation. In a research note published on Friday, Deutsche Bank strategists, led by Dominic Konstam, say the Federal Reserve risks a “big policy error” if it hikes interest ...

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