THE proposed sale of 5% of Saudi Aramco is not just likely to be the biggest initial public offering (IPO) of all time. “It’s like Gibraltar selling the rock,” as one expert on Saudi Arabia’s oil policy puts it. The world’s biggest oil company keeps the House of Saud in power, bankrolled 60% of the […]
Read moreJEFF BEZOS does not like sitting still. In his annual letter to Amazon’s shareholders this year, he warned of “stasis. Followed by irrelevance. Followed by excruciating, painful decline. Followed by death.” Competitors are toiling to avoid the same fate but it is hard to keep up. On June 16th Amazon said it would pay $13.7bn […]
Read moreTHE big investment shift of recent years is from active to passive. Clients have been buying index funds, which passively track a benchmark like the S&P 500 index, and shunning fund managers who actively try to pick the best shares. One reason for the shift is that passive managers charge lower fees than active funds. […]
Read moreWHEN it comes to inflation, the Federal Reserve sometimes resembles a child freshly emerged from an age-inappropriate horror film. To its members, runaway price increases seem to lurk in every oddly shaped shadow. On June 14th America’s central bank raised its benchmark interest rate for the third time in six months, even as inflation lingered […]
Read moreIn times of organizational crisis, some companies are able to right the ship, while others sink under the pressure. Recently, Uber has been under fire for a bad corporate culture, which promoted, among other things, sexism and other forms of toxic behavior. This led to a four-month investigation and pressure from the board for founder […]
Read morePresident Donald Trump has offered a simple explanation for his wealthy Cabinet choices: Rich people know how to manage money better than poor people do. In a rambling aside at a rally in Iowa on Wednesday night, Trump responded to criticism about his choices for top economic jobs, including billionaire investor Wilbur Ross for Commerce […]
Read moreWal-Mart could step in as a rival bidder for Whole Foods Market, JPMorgan analysts said, as shares of the grocery chain rose above the $42 price offered by Amazon earlier this month. JPMorgan research analysts said in a note Thursday that Wal-Mart could be drawn to Whole Foods for its relatively wealthier customers and strong […]
Read moreFacebook is introducing new protections for profile pictures for users in India, in a bid to stop people from copying, sharing, or otherwise misusing their images. Users who elect to guard their profile through the new system will ensure that others can’t send, share, or download their picture, and will keep strangers from tagging themselves […]
Read moreOracle’s stock opened at a record high on Thursday. Shares opened at $51.57 after the company’s fourth-quarter earnings beat analysts’ expectations. Oracle hit its last all-time high on March 16, when shares climbed to $46.99. The company reported earnings per share of 89 cents, excluding items, beating the 78 cents a share expected by analysts, […]
Read moreCanaccord Genuity’s Tony Dwyer is using just one chart to show the bears that stocks are moving higher. “There’s this narrative out there that the yield curve flattening is telling you that the economy is closer to recession and the stock market is in trouble. History shows the opposite is true,” the firm’s chief market […]
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