Three days before Joe Biden dove back into the deep end of the political pool, a rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said the terrorist who bombed the 2013 Boston Marathon, and everyone else in America’s prisons, should be allowed to vote, lest the “chipping away†of voting rights leave America “running down a slippery slope.†Such running — to be ...
Read More »Credit Suisse hides success secrets
Tidjane Thiam, chief executive of Credit Suisse Group AG, says one of his most senior managers has told him not to be too bullish. He should heed the warning. The Swiss bank reported first-quarter earnings that beat estimates for both net income and revenue. Wealth management assets increased by a net 5 percent, marking a rebound from the end of ...
Read More »It’s hard to win against a CEO with a 300% return
European shareholder activism has suffered a painfully public humiliation. The lesson for investors is clear: Pick your battles. Paris-based investment fund CIAM wanted to split the chairman and CEO roles at French re-insurer Scor SE, which has been run for 17 years by Denis Kessler. In addition, it tried to prevent the reelection of the company’s lead independent director Augustin ...
Read More »Trump can’t easily break the Federal Reserve
President Donald Trump keeps attacking the Federal Reserve, and has recently moved toward appointing loyalists to the Fed’s governing board. This has sparked fears that he might gain some control over the world’s most powerful central bank, getting it to do his bidding rather than what’s best for the economy in the long term. Are those fears justified? Although my ...
Read More »Exporting fewer plastics won’t save the oceans
A plastic water bottle, a Snickers wrapper and a container of detergent are dropped into a recycling bin. Are they hazardous waste? They could be, according to a Norwegian government proposal, which marks the latest effort by activists and government officials to tackle the growing tide of plastics threatening the ocean. The proposal has good intentions: It aims to mitigate ...
Read More »Private equity firms drift from catch to release
Private equity firms appear to be signaling “Last one out is a rotten egg.†If those powerhouse investment firms smell something fishy, other investors should take notice. Holding periods — the amount of time between when a buyout firm makes an acquisition until it flips the company back into the public markets or to another buyer — have been drifting ...
Read More »Boeing avoids compounding its 737 Max crisis
No one knows when the 737 Max will return to the skies, least of all Boeing Co. The planemaker gave its first financial update since the Max was grounded by regulators across the globe in March after two fatal crashes. Boeing is suspending its guidance until a future date “due to the uncertainty of the timing and conditions surrounding return ...
Read More »Warning signs are flashing in China stock market post surge
Bloomberg Investors are running out of reasons to chase the bull market in Chinese stocks. After adding as much as $2.5 trillion to share values and outpacing gains everywhere else in the world, the rally in China is starting to look tired. Headwinds include an uninspiring earnings season, as well as the likelihood that Beijing will pursue a less aggressive ...
Read More »US stock slide deepens on tech earnings, trade
Bloomberg The decline in US stocks deepened as disappointing results from Alphabet Inc weighed on technology companies amid heightened angst over US-China trade talks. The S&P 500 Index fell from a record high, while the Nasdaq-100 Index was poised for its biggest drop in more than a month. Pfizer Inc surged on better-than-estimated results. Treasuries rose on the eve of ...
Read More »Biggest Nordic banks hit by selloff after bleak results
Bloomberg The two biggest banks in the Nordic region saw their market values shrink on Tuesday after publishing first-quarter results that disappointed investors. Danske Bank A/S said it now expects net interest income to be lower this year than in 2018 as the higher cost of funding brought on by its money-laundering scandal erodes its top line. Its shares plunged ...
Read More »