Bloomberg Forever 21 Inc filed for bankruptcy protection, the latest big fashion merchant who couldn’t cope with high rents and heavy competition as the shift to e-commerce cut a swathe through traditional retailers. Court papers filed in Wilmington, Delaware, show Forever 21 has estimated liabilities on a consolidated basis of between $1 billion and $10 billion. The Chapter 11 filing ...
Read More »Trade war foils Thai firm’s spree for chemical-buying
Bloomberg India-born billionaire Aloke Lohia’s global acquisition spree for chemical plants was designed to give Thailand-based Indorama Ventures Pcl more pricing power. But Donald Trump’s trade war has spoiled the party and driven its shares to a record slide. Indorama’s operating margin has hovered around 4 percent to 5 percent the past year, the narrowest since late 2015, as a ...
Read More »Japan Post’s chief pledges to restore trust after scandal
Bloomberg Japan Post Holdings Co’s top executive vowed to restore public confidence in the postal giant, which has been rocked by a scandal over missold insurance. In an interim report, Japan Post said it found about 6,300 cases of insurance sales at post offices that possibly violated the law or company rules. “Customers’ trust has been gravely hurt, and I ...
Read More »Indiabulls sinks 34% amid pressures
Bloomberg Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd suffered the worst decline since its 2013 initial share sale after India’s central bank placed curbs on a lender it plans to acquire, extending Friday’s slide sparked by a court probe into allegations of fraud. The stock crashed as much as 38 percent before closing 34 percent lower at 255.9 rupees, the lowest in five ...
Read More »China factory outlook improves in September ahead of US talks
Bloomberg China’s manufacturing sector improved in September on an uptick in new orders and infrastructure spending, but with the data showing factories still contracting and other indicators pointing to economic weakness, it’s not unalloyed good news for policy makers. The manufacturing purchasing managers’ index rose to 49.8, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Monday. That’s ...
Read More »Consumer gloom in India may dim festive cheer
Bloomberg Poor demand from Indian consumers could dampen the mood during festivals in October, especially for automobile makers and retailers that count on the season for a sales boost, analysts predict. Indians typically buy everything from new cars to shoes for themselves and as gifts during celebrations steeped in religion and tradition. Yet the slowest economic growth in six years, ...
Read More »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 ...
Read More »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 ...
Read More »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 ...
Read More »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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