Bloomberg German investor confidence soured on the back of this month’s stock-market selloff and rising concern that global trade tensions will harm economic growth. ZEW’s measure of investor expectations for the region’s powerhouse plunged to levels recorded at the height of the debt crisis in 2012, highlighting the magnitude of current uncertainty. A gauge for the euro area also declined. ...
Read More »US says TV medicine ads should include list prices
Bloomberg US health officials want to force pharmaceutical companies to disclose the prices of their products in television advertisements, setting up a clash with drugmakers who see the move as impinging free speech. Under the proposed rule released, the Department of Health and Human Services would require drug companies to share in ads the full list prices of any medication ...
Read More »Canadian companies ramp up investment
Bloomberg Canadian business sentiment remains at elevated levels, with companies expecting to ramp up investment to build new capacity and accommodate demand, according to a survey by the central bank. The Ottawa-based central bank’s third-quarter survey of executives — which took place in August and September before Canada reached a deal with the US to replace the North American Free ...
Read More »UK wages rise at fastest pace in almost a decade
Bloomberg UK wages are growing at their fastest pace in almost a decade, suggesting the economy is continuing to operate with little slack. Average earnings excluding bonuses rose 3.1 percent in the three months through August, the most since January 2009, the Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday. Unemployment held at a 43-year low of 4 percent. While wage ...
Read More »Trump’s China battles give boost to Taiwan supporters
Bloomberg Escalating tensions between the US and China over trade, the South China Sea and recent arms sales are pushing Taiwan back into the American foreign policy spotlight, attracting Beijing’s ire. After a precedent-shattering phone call with Trump when he was president-elect, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen has found a more receptive audience in the US during the recent disputes. She’s ...
Read More »US is ‘obviously’ not out to contain China, says Mattis
Bloomberg Secretary of Defense James Mattis played down tensions with Beijing, saying the US was “not out to contain China†and was cooperating whenever possible, but that there would be times they would “step on each other’s toes.†“Obviously, we’re not out to contain China. We’d have taken an altogether different stance had that been considered. It has not been ...
Read More »Macron’s new cabinet sticks to agenda of French reform
Bloomberg Emmanuel Macron is changing his people, not his plans. The French president on Tuesday announced his long-anticipated cabinet overhaul prompted by the October 2 resignation of the interior minister and postponed numerous times. The reshuffled government will still be headed by Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, since Macron wanted a “renewed team with the same political mandate,†his office said. ...
Read More »Ethiopian PM hands half of cabinet to women in government overhaul
Bloomberg Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed named Ahmed Shide his finance minister in sweeping changes to the Horn of Africa nation’s government that included appointing women to half of cabinet posts. Abiy appointed Aisha Mohammed as defense minister and created the Ministry of Peace that will be headed by Mufuriat Kami, making them two of 10 women in his cabinet. ...
Read More »Brazil’s Bolsonaro builds large lead over rival: Poll
Bloomberg Brazil’s far-right presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro stands 18 percentage-points clear of his rival in the latest opinion poll ahead of the final round of the presidential election. Bolsonaro won 59 percent of valid vote intentions versus 41 percent for the Workers’ Party candidate, Fernando Haddad, in an Ibope poll published Monday evening. The survey also showed Haddad’s rejection rating ...
Read More »Climate-change battle will be won or lost in China
Climate change is a menace. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change just issued a report showing how serious the situation is. If warming continues on its current trajectory, the report warns, then by the end of this century average temperatures will be 4 degrees Celsius higher than at the start of the Industrial Revolution. That may not sound like a ...
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