Fed up with US trade tactics, Europe eyes its own escalation

Bloomberg Europe’s relationship with the US has been stretched to the limit by President Donald Trump’s “America First’’ foreign policy. But disputes about aircraft subsidies and auto tariffs coming to a head over the next two months could put the allies in a trade war. And while transatlantic relations have been fraying since Trump came to office more than two ...

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Property bubble risks in euro area grow

Bloomberg The risk of a property bubble in the euro zone surged last year as ultra-low interest rates helped drive up house prices. Munich is now the city most vulnerable to a property bubble, according to UBS Group AG’s annual Real Estate Bubble Index. Frankfurt and Paris are increasingly in danger of prices becoming unsustainable, even as some of the ...

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John Malone’s $6.4 billion Swiss sale is too close to call

Bloomberg Liberty Global Plc Chairman John Malone’s latest move to reshape his European interests is hanging in the balance. The sale of his Swiss business to Sunrise Communications Group AG for 6.3 billion Swiss francs ($6.4 billion) is proving a tough sell for the buyer’s shareholders and the biggest of those, Freenet AG, on Monday rejected management’s latest move to ...

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New York City heat to near record

Bloomberg New York City will flirt with record heat on Wednesday when the temperature is set to reach 32 Celsius, just one degree shy of a level that’s only been hit five times on this date in 150 years. If the mercury reaches 90 on October 2, it will tie a record last felt in 1927. The heat is being ...

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EU jobs offer some joy amid manufacturing, inflation gloom

Bloomberg Europe’s job market is giving some hope to the region’s economic story, which has been dominated by a deepening slump in manufacturing that’s tipped Germany close to recession. Figures showed the euro-area unemployment rate fell to 7.4 percent in August, the lowest in over 11 years. Italy also reported an unexpected drop in its rate to 9.5 percent and ...

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Trump compromised national security for personal interests

If you’re wondering why it matters that President Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine while he was requesting political favours from its new president, think about the Ukrainian soldiers who are fighting a nasty proxy war against Russian-backed separatists. America is Ukraine’s ally in this fight. Ukrainian commanders, battling to hold their country together against a five-year onslaught by Russia, ...

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Commerzbank is painfully honest

Commerzbank AG, Germany’s second-biggest publicly traded bank, has just unveiled a strategic overhaul that is supposed to secure its future as a standalone company. But even if everything goes well, its new “Commerzbank 5.0” plan foresees meager profitability at best. Weakened by fierce domestic competition, bloated costs and a squeeze on margins from negative central bank interest rates, Commerzbank explored ...

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Netflix turns negative amid Disney, Apple, AT&T threat

“Look away, I’m hideous!” Fresh off its costly deal for the exclusive streaming rights to the sitcom “Seinfeld,” shares of Netflix Inc. are officially in the red this year. That’s as HBO’s parent AT&T Inc., Walt Disney Co. and other old world media giants surge. A five-day losing streak sent Netflix’s 2019 shareholder return into negative territory last week, a ...

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Businesses now think big about cutting emissions

Amazon.com Inc.’s recent announcement that its operations will be carbon neutral by 2040 stands out for its sheer size. But Amazon is only one among dozens of companies that announced new carbon-intensity benchmarks at United Nations General Assembly. It’s hardly a new phenomenon. Eighty-one percent of S&P 500 companies had set emissions-reduction or energy-use targets by at least four years ...

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Japan’s consumption tax hike is a risk for economy

Japan’s consumption-tax hike doesn’t look like it’s going to sink the economy, as a similar increase did five years ago. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the bump, to 10% from 8%, is still happening at an inauspicious time. While a recession isn’t in the cards for Japan, the last thing any major economy needs is a ...

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