Society

The Exchange: Steering Europe’s green transition

1 Jun 2021

Frans Timmermans has a key leadership role in the European Union’s quest to reduce its 2030 emissions by 55% compared to 1990 levels. Ahead of a major set of green policy updates next month, he talks to George Hay about both these and November’s COP26 conference.

Review: A theory of everything green

28 May 2021

Carbon taxes, ESG investing, colonizing Mars – they’re all pieces of the puzzle. In “The Spirit of Green,” Nobel laureate William Nordhaus gives a sweeping account of how they fit together, and what economists can offer to counter climate change, if only humans would listen.

Capital Calls: Airbus signals liftoff, Bill Gates

27 May 2021

Concise views on global finance: The global aircraft industrial complex got a boost after the European plane maker said it hopes to churn out more of its A320 short-haul workhorses per month than expected; Microsoft founder’s huge private investment vehicle under scrutiny.

Capital Calls: Uber union

26 May 2021

Concise views on global finance: UK union’s success in representing drivers may hit potholes in the United States.

The Exchange: South Africa’s prospects

25 May 2021

Johannesburg Stock Exchange CEO Leila Fourie tells Swaha Pattanaik how South Africa’s economy has coped with Covid-19. In an interview recorded for the International Economic Forum of the Americas, she also flags sectors that will rebound fastest and discusses ESG investing.

Capital Calls: BlackRock/Exxon, Media deals, SPACs

25 May 2021

Concise views on global finance: The giant asset manager will vote for three dissident nominees for Exxon Mobil’s board; boutique adviser LionTree has benefited from a rash of media deals; Lordstown Motors show why blank-check merger projections can’t be relied upon.

Capital Calls: Apollo, Microsoft

20 May 2021

Concise views on global finance: The second of the asset manager’s three founders moves on; the software firm is pulling the plug on Internet Explorer.

Capital Calls: Retail sales’ wild ride

19 May 2021

Concise views on global finance: Some U.S. retailers are reporting better growth than others, but there’s still much to play for.

Chancellor: Beware the hyperreal financial market

18 May 2021

Americans have never been richer. Yet much of this wealth is comprised of claims not represented by anything of value in the actual world. Like the steak consumed by the cinematic villain Cypher in “The Matrix”, it looks juicy enough and tastes delicious but is mostly illusory.

Viewsroom: China’s baby bust, European SPAC boom

13 May 2021

China’s census data showed the population grew just 0.53% every year in the decade to 2020, with fertility rates dropping to Japanese levels. That’s bad news for growth. And European rainmakers like Claudio Costamagna and Ian Osborne offer market-friendlier blank-check deals.

Capital Calls: Disney misses the mark

13 May 2021

Concise views on global finance: Walt Disney reported nearly 104 million subscribers for its streaming flagship service.

Germany becomes food delivery battleground, again

12 May 2021

Delivery Hero is returning to the market it exited in 2018, while Uber is also preparing to take a bite. The pandemic has given Germans a taste for home-delivered meals, boosting market leader Just Eat Takeaway. With big players piling back in, shareholders may go hungry.

Guest view: Colombia’s struggle against poverty

11 May 2021

President Duque’s shift of tax burdens to the poor and middle class backfired. Despite their withdrawal and the finance minister’s exit, protests will continue until the country starts reversing Latin America’s worst income inequality, Smith College’s Veronica Kessler writes.

Review: A better way of valuing the world

6 May 2021

The pandemic is one of three crises that Mark Carney dissects to show how market prices can fail, to society’s detriment. He suggests solutions in “Value(s)”. Better still, the former central banker is trying to practice what he preaches with his work on climate change.

Biden’s vaccine shift has risky side effects

6 May 2021

The U.S. president backed waiving intellectual property rights for Covid-19 jabs to help crisis-torn countries. Yet a shortage of ingredients and manufacturing challenges mean the move may not boost supply much. And it may hurt investment in remedies during the next pandemic.

Africa’s digital payments race becomes a scramble

5 May 2021

The pandemic has brought the region’s mobile-based money networks and their 159 mln users to a crossroads. Airtel and MTN may spin off their payment arms. Banks and card giants like Mastercard are joining in. The victors will hold sway over an increasingly cashless continent.

Capital Calls: Peloton, Honest Co, Office Depot

5 May 2021

Concise views on global finance: Treadmill recall leaves investors in the workout app stranded; shares in Jessica Alba’s consumer packaged goods company opened more than 30% above their IPO price; the office-supply company paper-shuffles its way to a higher valuation.

Drug giants offer pandemic recovery sleeper trade

4 May 2021

While vaccine makers flourished, companies like GSK, Novartis and Sanofi suffered during lockdown as fearful citizens postponed tests and avoided hospitals. The reopening should mean a surge in delayed treatments and give their depressed share prices a booster shot.

Capital Calls: Robinhood vs. Munger, Meredith deal

3 May 2021

Concise views on global finance: Warren Buffett and his investing sidekick takes on Robinhood, and vice versa; and the U.S. media company is selling its local TV stations to Gray Television for $2.7 bln.

Capital Calls: Apple, UK SPACs

30 Apr 2021

Concise views on global finance: Apple’s European antitrust problem may start a global trend; UK regulators scramble to join SPAC party.