US stocks resilient in week of surprises as VIX stays quiet

  Bloomberg A week marked by surprises, from a US missile strike in Syria to a jobs report that was the weakest in almost a year, did little to rattle US equities sitting near record levels. Against a backdrop of rising geopolitical tensions and uncertainty over the Donald Trump administration’s approach to financial regulation, volatility remained muted in the stock ...

Read More »

On Syria, Trump confronts a moral test

  Even for a president who advertised his coldblooded pragmatism, the moral dimensions of leadership find a way of penetrating the Oval Office. In the case of President Trump, the emotional distance seems to have been shattered by simple, indelible images of suffering children in Idlib, Syria. “When you kill innocent children, innocent babies — babies! — little babies … ...

Read More »

Modi is a different nationalist than Putin or Trump

  Over the past year, Russia’s Vladimir Putin has emerged as the ideological patron of a certain brand of conservatism worldwide. Politicians from France’s Marine Le Pen, to Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, to Donald Trump appear drawn to Putin’s vision of a world marked by weaker transnational power blocs, fewer meddlesome liberals and a harder line against radical Islam. ...

Read More »

Making the Syria strikes count

  In the span of just a few days, US President Donald Trump appears to have met both his first true foreign policy crisis and his most challenging bilateral summit more smoothly than many had feared he might. Whether this turns out to be anything more than a symbolic victory, and whether it has an effect in the fight against ...

Read More »

Trump, Xi ice-breaking summit

  North Korea, trade and tariff were among many issues on the table at the much heralded summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jingping. But Xi visit was overshadowed by US missile strikes on Syrian base in the wake of chemical weapons attack by Assad regime that killed more than 80 civilians, including dozens of children. ...

Read More »

How to build China’s latest city of the future

  On April 1, real estate prices in rural Xiongxan County, roughly 80 miles south of Beijing, spiked as much as 37 percent; highways jammed as speculators rushed to the obscure district. That morning, the Chinese government had announced that at the direction of President Xi Jinping, 800 miles surrounding Xiongxan would be developed into a city meant to serve ...

Read More »

IPO investors take baton of tech valuation insanity

  Six months ago, technology investors were complaining privately that bankers were lowballing stock prices when companies went public. Fast-forward to today; no one should be griping about overly conservative IPO prices. Late Thursday, business software company Okta Inc. sold 11 million shares in its initial public offering. The IPO values Okta out of the gate at about 13.6 times ...

Read More »

Amazon finds there’s nothing foolish in fuel cells

  Victims of tech hype should be a bit wary of Elon Musk’s dismissal of hydrogen fuel cells as “fool cells.” A figure as iconic in the tech industry, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, appears to disagree. Amazon has acquired the right to buy 23 percent of Plug Power, a Latham, New York-based company that went public back in 1999, has ...

Read More »

KLM calls for Brexit compromise

  Bloomberg Dutch national carrier KLM said it favours a ‘liberal’ Brexit deal that would maintain maximum access for UK and continental airlines, after announcing plans to double flights to London City airport starting next month. KLM has held talks with the Dutch government about the split and made clear the importance of safeguarding UK operations, Chief Executive Officer Pieter ...

Read More »

Qantas gains from Cathay’s loss amid cheap Chinese airfares

  Bloomberg The flood of cheap Chinese airfares that’s undoing Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. is proving a boon for Qantas Airways Ltd. Hong Kong-based Cathay posted its first loss in eight years last month, overwhelmed by pricing competition from mainland rivals including China Eastern Airlines Corp. and China Southern Airlines Co. For Qantas, it’s doing the opposite — bringing a ...

Read More »
Send this to a friend