The Church of Resentment

Date: 19-04-2019
 Source: The Wall Street Journal By The Editorial Board

Some people hate the rich more than they love Paris’s cathedral.

Well, so much for unity amid disaster. Monday’s catastrophic fire at Notre Dame cathedral in Paris was barely out before a chorus of complaint began about the superrich families and large corporations that rushed to donate to the rebuilding effort.

Those extraordinary pledges now total about €850 million. Within 24 hours two of France’s richest men had promised a combined €300 million, and petro giant Total committed €100 million. Hundreds of millions of euros have poured in from L’Oreal , Apple , Disney and an array of companies, foundations and wealthy individuals.

Yet some French politicians are unhappy about this. Ingrid Levavasseur, a leader of the yellow-vest protest movement, complained about “the inertia of large companies in the face of social misery when they prove that in one night they can mobilize a crazy amount of money for Notre Dame.”

IBM Struggles to Jump-Start Its Turnaround

Date: 17-04-2019
Source: The Wall Street Journal

Computing giant posts third consecutive quarter of declines, touts growth in cloud-computing business

IBM said its cloud businesses grew by 10% in the past 12 months.

International Business Machines Corp. reported a third consecutive quarter of declining revenue, further clouding Chief Executive Ginni Rometty’s yearslong quest to revitalize the computing giant.

Under Ms. Rometty, who has been at the helm since 2012, IBM has poured resources into its cloud-computing business and new technologies such as artificial intelligence, aiming to reorient Big Blue in a world where traditional growth engines like equipment sales and services haven’t been growing as rapidly.

China Growth Beats Expectations Thanks to Humming Factories

Date: 17-04-2019
Source: The Wall Street Journal

Many economists prepared for a weaker first-quarter performance

SHANGHAI—China’s economic growth held to a 6.4% rate in the first three months of the year as factory production picked up significantly amid signs authorities worked forcefully to stabilize business following months of weakness.

The 6.4% expansion in China’s economy during the first quarter was the second straight at that level but remained below 2018’s 6.6% full-year rate, according to official data released Wednesday. The pace was slightly higher than what many economists expected and appeared buoyed by a powerful rebound in some key drivers. Industrial production, after a lackluster start to the year, surged 8.5% in March from a year earlier. Retail sales for the quarter were stronger than expected along with property investment.

While China’s economy has been on a slow downtrend this past decade—weighed down by debt and excess capacity—a sharper-than-expected slowdown hit last year, exacerbated by severe trade tensions with the U.S. The government now appears to be stepping up work to arrest the slide. Many economists prepared for a weaker first-quarter performance, and the year’s nadir, on belief that stable activity in consumer and services sectors would be offset by sluggish investment in fixed assets, such as factories and bridges.

The U.S. Wants to Ban Huawei. But in Some Places, AT&T Relies On It.

Date: 17-04-2019
Source: The Wall Street Journal

U.S. company and rivals use Chinese vendor’s equipment to run wireless networks across Mexico; ‘We just continue supplying them’

Huawei’s success in Mexico shows the uphill climb U.S. officials face convincing private-sector leaders that the company poses a threat to information security.

U.S. officials have told telecommunications executives around the world to steer clear of Huawei Technologies Co., calling the company a national-security threat, but that hasn’t prevented AT&T Inc. from using the Chinese company’s equipment in Mexico.

While AT&T has kept Chinese equipment out of its domestic networks, industry executives say the U.S. company uses Huawei’s gear to run a large part of the wireless network in Mexico, where the electronics giant is as welcome as any other supplier.

The Robots That Manage the Managers

Date: 16-04-2019
Source: The Wall Street Journal

More companies are turning to AI-driven apps that aim to help newer bosses with reminders and tips on how to maintain a well-run office

Raquel Collings often has morning coffee with her management coach. She reviews her goals in her new job as a corporate manager and ponders whether she’s spending her time wisely.

The coaching topics are the only part of the sessions that is conventional.

Ms. Collings’s coach is a bot—a manager-training app powered by the artificial intelligence of IBM ’s Watson. The app, Coach Amanda, serves up tips on her phone in five- to 10-minute videos and texts that Ms. Collings consumes during spare moments in her workday.

When she recently texted the bot that she doubted her ability to review a colleague’s performance, it chided her for being too hard on herself, based on a personality test in the app showing she was highly conscientious. “I thought, ‘Wow, she called me out on this,’ ” says Ms. Collings, a marketing manager for First United Bank, a Durant, Okla., financial-services company.

As more millennials move into management jobs, many are finding they lack basic training in such supervisory skills as delivering feedback and delegating work. A new crop of AI-driven coaching apps and platforms are aiming to fill the gap, including Butterfly, Qstream and LEADx, the Philadelphia-based maker of Coach Amanda.

Global Stock Rally Defies Dimming Economic Outlook

Date: 15-04-2019
Source: The Wall Street Journal

Some investors look warily on gains delivered while global slowdown continues apace

Indexes from New York to China have risen double-digit percentages this year.

Global stocks are rising at the fastest pace in decades as growth around the world slows, leaving many investors questioning how much longer the market can defy the gravity of the underlying economics.

Indexes from New York and Europe to China have soared double-digit percentages this year to regain most of their ground after tanking in the fourth quarter, supported by signs that central banks are willing to keep holding interest rates at low levels for the foreseeable future.

The S&P 500 has risen 15%, vaulting above the level where banks ranging from Morgan Stanley to Barclays expected it to end the year. Benchmark indexes elsewhere have rallied, too, with the Shanghai Composite rising 28%, the Stoxx Europe 600 up 15% and a measure of emerging market stocks up 14%.

All told, global stocks would close out 2019 with their best annual returns ever if they kept rising at their current pace, according to a Bank of America analysis.

China’s Dangerous Monopoly on Metals

Date: 15-04-2019
Source: The Wall Street Journal

Control of the rare-earth supply gives Beijing both economic and military advantages over the U.S.

As trade talks between the U.S. and China have focused on manufacturing, American negotiators seem to be ignoring China’s growing domination of raw materials that are crucial to both countries’ security and standard of living.

Rare-earth metals are essential for producing most technological equipment. It is impossible to build a car without cerium, a smartphone without europium, a guided missile without neodymium. China now controls the supply of all 16 strategically critical rare-earth metals. In fact, 96% of global mining output for rare-earth metals comes from within China’s borders, and the country gained control of the remaining 4% in 2017 by acquiring the Molycorp rare-earth mine in Mountain Pass, Calif., near the Nevada border.

U.S. Moves to Accelerate 5G Rollout in Race With China

Date: 13-04-2019
Source: The Wall Street Journal

Trump pushes back against critics who say the U.S. is falling behind by relying on businesses to take the lead

WASHINGTON—President Trump touted U.S. progress in the race to next-generation 5G wireless infrastructure Friday—pushing back against critics who contend China is inching ahead—as his administration unveiled initiatives designed to advance the networks’ rollout.

Joined at the White House by hard-hat tower climbers, farmers and ranchers—representing groups that could benefit from 5G’s rollout in the U.S.—Mr. Trump said the emerging technology presents “astonishing and really thrilling opportunities.”

“The race to 5G is a race America must win,” he said, adding “it’s a race we will win.”

The Small Band of Skeptics That Helped Snarl Brexit

Date: 11-04-2019
Source: The Wall Street Journal

The European Research Group has no website, no office, and only around 15 lawmakers as full members, yet it wields outsize influence

LONDON—Hours after British Prime Minister Theresa May offered to quit to save her ill-starred Brexit deal late last month, dozens of pro-Brexit lawmakers gathered in the iconic Victorian building that contains both Houses of Parliament.

One spoke in Latin, quoting Tacitus on Britain’s valiant if unsuccessful effort to fight off invasion by the Romans. Another declared, near tears, “What is liberty if not to govern ourselves?”

Several lawmakers in the wood-paneled room insisted the U.K. should leave the European Union in days, without any deal, rather than accept the package Mrs. May negotiated with Brussels to smooth its exit.

Italy Warns of Bigger Budget Deficit

Did anybody expect something different? Except the EU Commission! (hfk)

Date: 10-04-2019
Source: The Wall Street Journal

Finance Ministry forecasts a 2.4% gap, wider than the 2% agreed upon with the European Union in December

ROME—Italy’s populist government conceded it won’t hit the budget-deficit target agreed on with European Union authorities, setting the stage for renewed tensions with Brussels.

Italy’s finance ministry on Tuesday said this year’s deficit will be 2.4% of gross domestic product, rather than 2% as agreed with the EU in December after tense negotiations that rattled financial markets.

The Italian government also cut its 2019 economic-growth forecast to 0.2%, including a boost from its latest fiscal proposals, compared with an earlier forecast of 1%.

Some private-sector economists have predicted an even worse year. Italy’s economy has been in recession since late 2018, because of the combined effects of Europe’s growth slowdown, global trade tensions and Italy’s financial tensions.