When it comes to General Electric Co. and its mammoth turnaround, I’ve long felt that a recovery in its bedrock business and financials won’t mean as much without a corresponding correction to the misguided priorities and cultural arrogance that led to its difficulties in the first place. So it’s good to see the company making some progress in that area. ...
Read More »Trump’s auto tariff plan is as bad as it gets
Evidently, President Donald Trump is still toying with the idea of imposing steep tariffs on cars and automotive parts. In a White House brimming with bad economic ideas, this would be the worst one yet. Last month, the Commerce Department completed a confidential report on the national-security implications of auto imports. If the probe uncovered a threat of some kind, ...
Read More »Deficit hubris looks like next economics mistake
The 2008 financial crisis and the deep recession that followed taught the world to be more skeptical of macroeconomic theories. In the years leading up to that crisis, many leading macroeconomists displayed a startling amount of complacency, bordering on hubris. The defining quote came in a 2003 essay, when Nobel-winning macroeconomist Robert Lucas made a startling declaration: Macroeconomics in [its] ...
Read More »How can India Inc. get over its financing hump?
India’s corporate funding market is what Winston Churchill might have described as a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. The riddle, according to India Ratings and Research Pvt., a unit of Fitch Ratings Inc., is that borrowers’ credit metrics aren’t likely to worsen from here. And yet in the financial year starting April 1, their borrowing costs may ...
Read More »Do you really trust Facebook to police the internet?
Last April, when 34 technology companies announced their membership of a Cybersecurity Tech Accord, it was portrayed as proof that the private sector was, at long last, taking responsibility for protecting civilians online — something governments had conspicuously failed to do. Since then, the ranks of signatories to the self-imposed cybersecurity standards has more than doubled. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., ...
Read More »US equities gain on economic data as dollar dips; oil rises
Bloomberg US equities climbed as data showed better-than-expected demand for durable goods and modest pressure on inflation. The pound jumped before another Brexit vote and the dollar dipped. The S&P 500 Index gained for a third day, with industrial stocks among the best performers. European shares also advanced, and the pound rallied before the next major Brexit vote. Crude oil ...
Read More »China’s world-beating stock rally is putting Hong Kong in the dust
Bloomberg Hong Kong equity investors must be looking enviously across the border this year. The city’s two main benchmarks are hardly doing badly, but gauges on the mainland — after a grim 2018 — are eclipsing them and just about every other worldwide. The ChiNext in Shenzhen has led the charge with a 35 percent rally. While onshore shares slid ...
Read More »India’s sensex climbs to a six-month high
Bloomberg India’s stocks advanced with the benchmark equity index rising to its highest level in six months, led by financial services companies. The S&P BSE Sensex climbed for a third session, increasing 0.6 percent to 37,752.17 in Mumbai, bringing its gain for this year to 4.7 percent. The NSE Nifty 50 Index increased 0.4 percent. Both indexes are headed for ...
Read More »Deutsche Bank faces merger pushback as 30k jobs at risk
Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG faces stiff resistance from some supervisory board members to a merger with German competitor Commerzbank AG as the deal raises the prospect of tens of thousands of job cuts. Jan Duscheck and Stephan Szukalski, two key labour representatives on Deutsche Bank’s highest oversight body, oppose the merger, saying a combination would fail to achieve the goal ...
Read More »Strategists from UBS to SocGen see global markets at crossroads
Bloomberg Strategists are telling investors to prepare for both the best and the worst outcomes as risk assets around the world reach a crossroads. Global markets are facing a number of positive catalysts in 2019. The Federal Reserve’s in a wait-and-see mode, and the European Central Bank has begun upping its stimulus. Economies around the world are growing and the ...
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