Bloomberg Tom Watson, deputy leader of the UK opposition Labour Party, said he thought another Brexit referendum could be necessary if Theresa May’s proposed Brexit deal can’t get support. After months of trying to find a Brexit position that all wings of the Conservative Party could agree on, May seems to have given up, and gone for something that at ...
Read More »PM Mahathir calls on his cabinet to declare wealth
Bloomberg PM Mahathir Mohamad is putting safeguards in place to prevent graft in Malaysia by requiring his cabinet declare their wealth and refuse gifts more valuable than perishable food and flowers. “We will do everything possible,†Mahathir told reporters in Putrajaya. “We are in the midst of formulating laws and ways of administration so that we can reduce corruption and ...
Read More »Brazil votes: Ghost names plague ‘women quota’
Bloomberg With elections approaching, Brazil’s political parties are preparing to field the legally required minimum quota of female candidates, but that doesn’t mean they want them to win. Take Danielle Silva Lopes, for example, who only found out on polling day in October 2016 that she was running for city councilor in Sao Paulo for the Christian Social Democratic Party, ...
Read More »One sure way to hurt US economy? Cut immigration
What caused the Great Depression? Most people wou-ld probably say that the trigger was the stock market crash of 1929. From peak to trough, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost about 88 percent of its value, and the index didn’t regain that peak until the mid-1950s: There was also a housing boom and bust in the 1920s, which was probably ...
Read More »It’s size that did it for Idemitsu
The last two major companies holding out against Japan’s plans to consolidate its bloated refinery sector are finally giving in. After almost three years of wrangling driven by Idemitsu Kosan Co’s founding family, the company will merge with Showa Shell Sekiyu KK after shareholders — including those founders, who opposed the initial version of the deal — signed off. The ...
Read More »Son has a plan for Yahoo Japan. It begins with D
A shoe just dropped for Masayoshi Son. Shares of Yahoo Japan Corp rose as much as 13 percent on Tuesday after SoftBank Group Corp said it will buy $2 billion worth of stock in the internet portal, or an 11 percent stake, from Altaba Inc. Investors were elated because the block sale eased concerns over a messy open-market sale that ...
Read More »Trade wars risk spurring currency devaluations
Rising global trade tensions are morphing into a conflict fought with currency devaluations that historically have proven even more important than tariffs in influencing economic growth and financial markets. If this trend continues, the ultimate impact will likely be negative for asset valuations. This shift, which is aimed at gaining export competitiveness, is important for investors partly because it will ...
Read More »May’s Brexit gamble might actually work
Theresa May’s plan for Britain’s post-Brexit relationship with the European Union comes at least 18 months too late. With only a few months of real negotiating time before the UK leaves, it has triggered the worst political turmoil yet faced by May, calling into question her future as prime minister. On top of all that, it’s a plan that the ...
Read More »Tesla can win in China, on Beijing’s terms
Elon Musk is heading to the world’s biggest market for electric cars. Again. This time around, the Tesla Inc. CEO doesn’t have much choice. Musk’s visit to Shanghai , following Tesla’s move to register a wholly owned subsidiary in China, could provide the solution to the problems the carmaker is combating at its factories, in financial markets and with its ...
Read More »Bond market signals boom times will end soon
It’s abundantly clear that Americans as a whole are experiencing the best economy since the Great Recession. US employers are adding so many workers that more people are growing encouraged to enter the labour force. Wage growth is well above the average of the past decade. Corporate earnings remain rock solid. For bond investors, though, the question is never really ...
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