The Turkish central bank is employing short-term borrowing to bolster the lira. Investors and currency traders are uneasy with the actions. Laura Pitel and Adam Samson report for the FT: Turkey’s central bank has bolstered its foreign currency reserves with billions of dollars of short-term borrowed money, raising fears among analysts and investors that the country is overstating its ability to defend itself in a fresh lira crisis. Reported net foreign reserves held by the central bank stood at $28.1bn in early April — a sum that investors already believed was inadequate because of … [Read more...]
Could an EU-US Free Trade Deal Happen in 2019?
The economies of the European Union and the United States are the largest in the world. A free trade agreement between the two would create the largest free trade bloc in history. Reuters' journalist Philip Blenkinsop reports that European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom suggests a deal could be done by the end of this year. He writes: BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union is ready to starts talks on a trade agreement with the United States and could conclude a deal before the end of the year, European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said on Monday. Malmstrom spoke after EU … [Read more...]
Is Germany About to Drag Europe Into a Recession?
The German economy has been showing signs of a slowdown. Could it be that Europe's biggest economy leads the continent into a recession? Nina Adam and Bertrand Benoit write in The Wall Street Journal: German manufacturers saw orders drop sharply in February, increasing the likelihood that Europe’s flagship economy could contract in the first half of 2019 in a setback for a weakened continent. Total orders for the sector dropped 4.2% from January, Germany’s statistics office said Thursday, missing forecasts by a large margin. Compared with February 2018, order volumes were down a steep … [Read more...]
Electric Cars Take the Lead in Norway Sales
For the first time ever, electric cars have outsold fossil fueled cars in Norway for a month. In March, 58% of all car sales were of electric vehicles. NPR's Bill Chappell reports: Electric vehicles are now the norm in Norway when it comes to new car sales, accounting for 58 percent of all car sales in March. Tesla's mass market Model 3 was especially popular, accounting for nearly 30 percent of new passenger vehicle sales, the Norwegian Information Council for Road Traffic, or OFV, says. The figures reflect Norway's desire to move away from fossil-fuel vehicles — with help from lucrative … [Read more...]
The Small Italian Town Feeding the World’s Luxury Feast
The rise of affluence in Asia has brought on a wave of demand for luxury goods. Feeding that wave is a small town outside of Florence, bustling with activity to create "Made in Italy," luxury goods. Matthew Dalton reports for The Wall Street Journal: SCANDICCI, Italy—This district of drab industrial buildings outside Florence is getting crowded as high-end fashion houses jostle for an edge in one of the industry’s most important products: the expensive leather handbag. Luxury giants from Prada to Burberry are snapping up workshops, expanding their own factories and building new ones around … [Read more...]
Can You Guess 2018’s Most Profitable Company?
If you guessed Apple, you'd be wrong. The iPhone maker came in second with a profit of $59.53 billion. The most profitable company was Saudi Aramco, the national petrochemical company of Saudi Arabia. Rory Jones and Summer Said report for The Wall Street Journal: The oil firm’s 2018 net income shot up from 284 billion riyals, or the equivalent of $75.9 billion, in 2017. By comparison, Apple Inc.’s equivalent profit was roughly $60 billion in its last full year; Amazon.com Inc. was $10 billion and Exxon MobilCorp. was $21 billion. The three years of financial information contained in the … [Read more...]
The World is a Drive-Thru With Xevo and Domino’s
You can now order pizza in your car and have it delivered anywhere Domino's will deliver with an automotive commerce platform from Xevo. Food Logistics reports on what may be the next step in the fast food wars: Domino's Pizza is working with Xevo Inc. to launch an ordering platform pre-loaded in cars starting in 2019. The new in-vehicle Domino's app is powered by Xevo Market, an automotive commerce platform for connected cars. "At Domino's, we want pizza ordering to be simple and always within reach, no matter where a customer happens to be," says Chris Roeser, director of digital … [Read more...]
Can Services be the “Next iPhone?”
By this point, people are accustomed to every new product from Apple being described as the "next iPhone." Now Apple is making a pivot to build its services business, announcing new streaming TV, gaming, magazines, and credit card products at an event yesterday. Can services ever be the "next iPhone?" Tripp Mickle reports on Apple's new strategy for The Wall Street Journal: The iPhone is running out of juice. To go beyond the device that made Apple Inc.AAPL 1.38% a global colossus, Tim Cook is betting on a suite of services—marking the company’s biggest shift in more than a decade. The … [Read more...]
What’s Driving the Housing Market?
In February, sales of existing homes in the U.S. increased by 11.8%. Laura Kusisto of The Wall Street Journal explains that the market appears to be driven by the strong labor market and rising wages. She writes: Sales of previously owned homes posted their largest monthly gain since 2015 in February, a sign that lower mortgage rates and more attractive prices are helping to lure buyers back to the market just in time for the critical spring selling season. Existing home sales rose 11.8% in February from the prior month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.51 million, the National … [Read more...]
Is Europe the Next Japan?
Europe's growth and inflation are slowing, worrying economists and investors that the continent may be the next place to go through "Japanification." James Mackintosh reports: Japanification is back. The slowdown in European growth and inflation has Wall Street once again raising the fear that Europe is turning Japanese, something Bank of America Merrill Lynch argues is now the “most consensus trade in the world.” Japan, of course, has struggled for years with low inflation, and its stock market has never recovered from a crash nearly 30 years ago. Europe has some strong similarities. The … [Read more...]
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