Xiaomi is more like Facebook than Apple

Services, services, services, services. That’s the mantra that you’ll surely hear most as Xiaomi Corp. tries to convince investors that a hardware company with razor-thin margins is worth $100 billion. “We pioneered an amazing, innovative business model underpinned by courage and trust,” founder Lei Jun said in an open letter accompanying its offer document in which he reiterated a pledge ...

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France’s banking champions need the Macron touch

Emmanuel Macron’s youthful energy stands in sharp contrast with France’s biggest banks, whose shares have, in the main, languished since his election as president. Societe Generale SA, once the poster child for French expertise in derivatives, has the most work to do to restore investor confidence. A more energetic approach to succession planning and to pruning underperforming businesses — with ...

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The Federal Reserve is on quickly shifting ground

The biggest short-term threat to the US economy comes from President Donald Trump’s dangerous maneuvers on trade, not the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy. But knowing this doesn’t much help the Fed do its job, which is getting more complicated for reasons closer to home: The outlook for inflation is shifting, and Fed officials are wondering how to respond. At their ...

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EU wants members to respect its values or take a pay cut

European Union bureaucrats have come up with an ingenious mechanism for getting maverick governments, mostly in Eastern Europe, into line. The EU wants the power to cut off funding to countries it sees as weakening the rule of law. At the same time, if the bureaucrats get their way, the affected governments would be forced to provide financing for the ...

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India can relax. There’s a bigger China bet than Pak

After a two-day ‘informal summit’ between Xi Jinping and Narendra Modi, China and India agreed to avoid military disputes on their contested Himalayan border. Left unresolved was a much bigger issue: what China is doing in Pakistan. Fifty years ago, Pakistan’s foreign minister gave a box of mangoes to Mao Zedong, little realizing that this gesture would secure a special ...

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Microsoft’s turnaround could have started sooner

The Microsoft antitrust trial, which will have its 20th anniversary this fall, began with the legal equivalent of shock and awe. To the surprise of everyone in the courtroom, the government’s trial lawyer, David Boies, decided to use video clips of Bill Gates’s deposition as part of his opening statement. A Justice Department lawyer would touch a laptop button, and ...

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HSBC costs, conduct charge overshadow $2bn buyback

Bloomberg John Flint is off to a bumpy start at HSBC Holdings Plc. Costs at Europe’s largest bank rose at a quicker pace than revenue in the first quarter and it took a surprise charge for past misconduct. HSBC also said a $2 billion share buyback would be the only one this year given the “growth opportunities,” signaling the bank ...

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Argentina boosts rate in second surprise move

Bloomberg Argentina hiked interest rates for the second time in less than a week to stem the peso’s sharp decline, a tactic that many investors say will again bring only temporary relief. The central bank raised its key interest rate to 33.25 percent, the central bank’s press office said. The peso has fallen more than 5 percent since the day ...

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Demonetisation a boon for Indian private banks

Bloomberg India’s clampdown on unaccounted cash has sent a flood of money into the private banking industry, prompting a major lender to embark on a hiring binge for wealth managers. HDFC Bank Ltd — the most preferred wealth manager in India among high net worth clients surveyed by Euromoney — plans to add as many as 150 relationship managers by ...

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BofA sued by DACA recipient after being denied advisory job

Bloomberg Brazilian Daniel Marques hoped to parlay his Dreamer work permit into a job with Bank of America Corp. Instead, he’s suing the firm for discrimination. Marques claims his application to work in the bank’s wealth management department was denied after he told a vice president who interviewed him in 2016 that he’d be required to renew his work authorization ...

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