Akzo Nobel issued a profit warning on Friday and announced a revamp that will include the chief financial officer stepping aside and a shake-up to its paints and industrial coatings businesses. The Dutch company, citing cost inflation and currency headwinds, said it would not achieve the 100 million euros ($121 million) in 2017 operating profit […]
Read moreThe Federal Reserve should continue gradually raising U.S. interest rates given low inflation should rebound, an influential Fed policymaker said in a Thursday speech that sounded slightly less confident than his previous hawkish comments in the face of weak price readings. New York Fed President William Dudley did not repeat an assertion three weeks ago […]
Read moreThe number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits jumped to a more than two-year high last week amid a surge in applications in hurricane-ravaged Texas, but the underlying trend remained consistent with a strong labor market. The surge in claims reported by the Labor Department on Thursday offered an early glimpse of Hurricane Harvey’s impact […]
Read morePresident Donald Trump has often touted his ability to create jobs. In September 2016, Trump boasted that his economic plan will make him the “greatest president for jobs that God ever created.” Fast-forward to Trump’s Tuesday announcement that he plans to halt the Obama-era DACA program that protects 800,000 children of undocumented immigrants from deportation. […]
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EVIDENCE unearthed at Mijiaya in Shaanxi province proved that the Chinese have an ancient tradition of making beer. Brewers were operating 5,000 years ago, using grains such as millet and Job’s tears (a kind of pearl barley). This year a couple of small-scale brewers lovingly recreated that Neolithic ale. The cloudy, hop-free beverage would challenge […]
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WHEN North Korea said on September 3rd that it had developed a hydrogen bomb, adding that it could be used for a “super-powerful” high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) attack, America’s electricity industry was already on alert. Sceptics tend to dismiss as far-fetched the idea that the rogue regime would knock out the electricity grid by detonating […]
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WHEN the doors open to the warehouse at Ambey Spinning Mills in Panipat, a city 90km from Delhi, it seems as if its contents might tumble out like those of an overstuffed cupboard. Heaps of clothes are piled to the ceiling. Ten women meticulously extract zips, chains and buttons from T-shirts, winter jackets and denims […]
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THOSE of a cynical bent might think Tom Stuker a glutton for punishment. Over the years, Mr Stuker has flown more than 18m miles (29m kilometres) on United Airlines, a carrier not always renowned for treating its passengers tenderly. Mr Stuker may possess the world’s most impressive frequent-flyer account. Over the past half-decade he has […]
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A NEW phrase, “range anxiety”—the fear that an electric vehicle (EV) will run out of power before it reaches a charging-point—entered the Oxford English Dictionary in 2013. At the time a Nissan LEAF, the world’s best-selling EV, could travel only 120km between charges. A car with a full tank of fuel will travel 650-800km between […]
Read moreThe euro saw a volatile afternoon of trade on Thursday as currency traders reacted to comments from Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank (ECB). The single currency was trading at 1.1970 against the U.S. dollar before the economist started his speech at a press conference at 1:30 p.m. London time, but jumped […]
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