Money‚ Markets & Macroeconomics

Alibaba partly punctures China’s AI hopes

16 May 2025

The $295 bln e-commerce group's shares plunged 8% in New York following tepid quarterly results. An unexpected drop in its cloud unit's profitability is worrying. Despite Alibaba's impressive AI advances, business models remain hazy and competition fierce.

Value investing is poised to rise from the dead

15 May 2025

Warren Buffett has announced his retirement. The investment style championed by the Oracle of Omaha has fallen out of fashion as buyers chase growth stocks and passive funds. However, history suggests the prospects for value investors are brightest when the world loses faith.

Gulf’s delicate US-China balance can easily flip

15 May 2025

Saudi and the UAE’s reliance on Silicon Valley’s talents and tech makes it easier to adhere to Washington's new Huawei chip curbs. But Beijing remains a big trading customer and is making headway in AI. The Gulf states may be in the West's camp, but they may not stay there.

Hong Kong is solid plan B for robotaxi operator

15 May 2025

Just 6 months after its New York IPO, China's Pony AI may be exploring a listing in the city. The risk of being kicked off American exchanges makes finding a second home more urgent. Meanwhile, dual-listed Alibaba and peers show the Asian financial hub can offer decent liquidity.

Pauses, tweaks and can-kicking are new trade norms

15 May 2025

The US inked a deal with the UK and agreed to freeze triple-digit tariffs on China. In this Viewsroom podcast, Breakingviews columnists explain what these agreements reveal about the Trump administration’s negotiating hand, and what trade is likely to look like in the future.

Toyota clan needs to shore up its influence

15 May 2025

Japan's corporate overhaul is weakening a web of cross-shareholdings Akio Toyoda relies on to hold sway over the world's biggest carmaker he chairs. He can up his less-than-1% stake through a $42 bln buyout of a related company. Investors’ diminishing support adds urgency.

Coinbase amplifies crypto’s shiny object syndrome

13 May 2025

The $60 bln cryptocurrency exchange operator will join the S&P 500 Index, putting decentralized finance into far more investment portfolios. It’s a fresh step in legitimizing digital money, following ETFs and lax oversight. The glossy veneer, however, belies a murky industry.

UK pension private-market punt is acceptable risk

13 May 2025

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is cajoling retirement funds to pour more money into domestic private equity, infrastructure and the like. The risk is higher losses, and a lack of the right sort of assets to invest in. Yet easing UK investors’ low-returns problem is a laudable aim.

Apple’s China detox is painful and overdue

13 May 2025

Geopolitics and trade wars have upended the iPhone maker's lucrative dependence on the People's Republic. As CEO Tim Cook seeks other supply chains, Beijing has reason to keep the giant onside. Spreading the $3 trillion company’s risks will be costly and time-consuming.

US tariff climbdown complicates bleak budget math

12 May 2025

Trump officials once touted twin benefits of reshoring supply chains and raising $600 bln from trade levies. Now-reduced charges on Chinese goods, if they stick, may make a smaller revenue bump more sustainable. Some $5 trln in proposed tax cuts, though, would overwhelm it.

US-China truce cools down trade war, for now

12 May 2025

Traders bought stocks and the dollar after the duo removed triple-digit tariffs. Beijing deflected much of the threat to its growth and showed Donald Trump will back off when consequences bite. Uncertainty and damage to US credibility endure, but it’s a significant de-escalation.

Ultra-rich shoppers wield perverse economic aegis

9 May 2025

As Main Street brands cope with tariffs and anxious customers, Ferrari projected confidence and Hermes flaunted its pricing power. It suggests the 1.5% with $210 trln, or half the world’s wealth, could buttress a slump for a bit. Such inequality, however, betrays a shaky system.

NTT generously models Japan’s next wave of buyouts

9 May 2025

At over $16 bln, state-backed Nippon Telegraph and Telephone's offer for the 42% of information technology services firm NTT Data it doesn't already own carries a chunky premium. But it lays out a blueprint for the type of dealmaking officials want to see more of in Japan.

US exceptionalism becoming a matter of perspective

8 May 2025

American stocks trounced the rest of the world for years, as Berkshire Hathaway’s outgoing CEO Warren Buffett likes to point out. But for foreigners, it was partly thanks to a surging dollar. If those days are over, Uncle Sam’s outperformance may only persist for US investors.

Trump mineral plan will create bigger problems

8 May 2025

The US wants to produce more minerals like rare earths and apply tariffs on Chinese imports. Hiking production in the $325 bln market makes sense but opening new mines will take decades. In the meantime, Washington will have to scramble for limited supplies from other countries.

Tech can give Europe more bang for defence buck

8 May 2025

A big chunk of the bloc’s hundreds of billions of euros in extra military spending will go on tanks, guns and shells. But if Europe wants to prevent its armies from becoming obsolete, it needs to invest much more in tech and R&D. Doing so could even reduce its overall bill.

Geely’s electric vehicle US delisting is shrewd

8 May 2025

The Chinese group is offering to take $6 bln Zeekr private less than a year after the unit’s New York IPO. Geely is reorganising its sprawling auto businesses to find synergies. But the price of its buyout is opportunistic and leverages US-China financial decoupling fears.

India hands Global Britain another second-rate win

7 May 2025

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has inked a trade pact with New Delhi, a sign the UK can strike deals quickly outside the EU. Yet some terms look skewed to India’s benefit, and the economic gains are slight. Its main appeal is to show trade upheaval has not left Britain friendless.

Capital intensity will reprogram Big Tech values

7 May 2025

Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft are due to spend a combined $320 bln on physical assets this year. For now, there’s enough to fund AI-related projects while also returning cash to shareholders. The danger is that so much investment leads to less profitable business models.

China’s wait-and-see approach exposes policy limit

7 May 2025

The country's top three regulators unveiled rate cuts, liquidity injections and other steps in a rare meeting but held off on major spending. It shows Beijing is biding its time ahead of US trade talks. Yet the reluctance also stems from limited room to expand the fiscal deficit.