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The Morning Ledger: How China Extracts Technology From U.S. Firms |
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When China set out to build the C919 jet, it made clear it would buy components only from joint ventures whose foreign partners would share technology. DING TING/XINHUA/ZUMA PRESS
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Good day. Beijing is increasingly deploying an array of tactics to pry intellectual property—sometimes coercively—from U.S. companies in a phenomenon that is central to the trade fight between the two countries, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Tool set: China’s methods include pressuring U.S. partners in joint ventures to relinquish technology, using local courts to invalidate American firms’ patents and licensing arrangements, dispatching antitrust and other investigators, and filling regulatory panels with experts who may pass trade secrets to Chinese competitors.
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Widespread issue: About one in five members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai say they have been pressured to transfer technology, according to a survey conducted in the spring. Of those companies, 44% in aerospace and 41% in chemicals report “notable pressure.” China considers both industries strategically important.
Costly brinkmanship: As Washington turns up the tariffs threats on Beijing to influence China's stance on intellectual property, the stakes are also rising for the broader economy. The U.S. economy could shrink about 2% in the first year of a trade war with the rest of the world, while China and other economies could gain, according to new research published Wednesday by the European Central Bank.
China also faces risks: The longer tariffs remain in place, the more multinationals that want to sell to the U.S. will seek alternatives to China to source production. Taiwan and Thailand are already marketing themselves as alternatives, the WSJ’s Greg Ip reports.
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Data on U.S. durable goods orders for August is due out at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists surveyed by the WSJ forecast that orders for goods designed to last at least three years rose 2.1% last month, recovering from a 1.7% decline notched in July.
U.S. pending home sales data for August is expected at 10 a.m. ET, with economists predicting a 0.4% decline.
Rite Aid Corp., Conagra Brands Inc. and Carnival Corp. are among the companies reporting earnings today.
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International companies are implementing new technologies to improve efficiency and cut costs, according to finance professionals who gathered Wednesday at EuroFinance, an industry event being held in Geneva, Switzerland.
Tools such as machine learning, robotic process automation and new forms of data visualization are finding their way into the treasury function, Victor Penna, the global head of treasury solutions at Standard Chartered PLC, told CFO Journal's Nina Trentmann.
Ride-sharing company Uber Technologies Inc., for instance, plans to automate more steps of the payment process for drivers, said David Tao, a senior manager in the company’s payments unit. “We need to be able to scale and automate the whole chain,” Mr. Tao said.
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Blue Origin conducts a BE-4 engine test in Texas. PHOTO: HANDOUT/REUTERS
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Blue Origin LLC, the space-transportation company run by Jeff Bezos, has won a contract to provide engines for a joint venture between Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. that launches U.S. military and spy satellites into orbit—vaulting Mr. Bezos into the lucrative market for Pentagon satellite launches.
McDonald’s Corp. is stripping artificial ingredients from more food to win over customers who, the burger chain believes, don’t want to eat things with names like calcium propionate and sodium benzoate.
21st Century Fox Inc. said Wednesday it would sell its 39% stake in Sky PLC worth roughly $15 billion to Comcast Corp., after losing a weekend auction for full control of the European pay-TV giant it has long coveted.
General Motors Co. is moving its Cadillac headquarters back to Detroit, nearly four years after relocating the luxury brand’s home base to New York City’s trendy SoHo neighborhood.
Merck & Co. Inc. Chief Executive Kenneth Frazier will continue leading the pharmaceutical firm after he turns 65, after the company’s board decided to no longer require the CEO to retire at that age.
The chief executive of the California Public Employees' Retirement System, America’s largest public pension fund, is dealing with a chronic shortfall and questions about her management team and educational credentials.
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Century Aluminum, the biggest aluminum producer in the U.S. expects higher alumina prices to reduce its adjusted third-quarter earnings. PHOTO: LUKE SHARRETT/THE WASHINGTON POST/GETTY IMAGES
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The Trump administration’s aluminum tariffs are aimed at boosting U.S. producers’ profits. But another move by the administration—sanctions against Russian aluminum giant United Co. Rusal and its founder Oleg Deripaska—is having the opposite effect.
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The Trump administration has started compensating U.S. farmers for damage tariffs are doing to their business. Many farmers say the payments won’t make up for lost sales to China and other foreign markets they were counting on to buy their products.
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Ride-hailing app company Uber in 2017 disclosed it paid hackers $100,000 to conceal a cybersecurity incident in November 2016. PHOTO: DAVID PAUL MORRIS/BLOOMBERG NEWS
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Uber Technologies Inc. has reached a nationwide settlement to pay a $148 million penalty to settle allegations it intentionally concealed a 2016 data breach.
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Executives from tech giants including Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google unit warned lawmakers at a congressional hearing on Wednesday that certain types of regulation could limit the services they offer to consumers.
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A lawsuit against the Federal Reserve Bank of New York could complicate the central bank’s effort to control short-term interest rates at a time when investor scrutiny of those markets is intensifying.
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Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell spoke Wednesday after the interest-rate vote. PHOTO: ANDREW HARRER/BLOOMBERG NEWS
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The Federal Reserve raised short-term interest rates by another quarter-percentage point—and officials signaled they want to continue lifting them through the next year to keep a strong economy on an even keel.
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U.S. new home sales bounced back in August— rising 3.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 629,000—following two months of declines.
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China says it will take another step to cut tariffs on imported goods, as it seeks to combat a slowing economy amid escalating trade tensions with the U.S.
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Highlights from our tax coverage |
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No refund for you, companies. Companies complain the Internal Revenue Service isn’t refunding 2017 tax overpayments, instead applying them to a one-time tax on foreign profits that is supposed to be payable over eight years.
Cut taxes, buy stock, boost earnings. Stock buybacks are booming, in part because of last year’s tax cut—and that is plumping up reported earnings for a range of large companies.
Following tax rules uncovers accounting flubs. Corporate financial restatements rose in the first six months of the year, likely in part because companies had to comb through their books to meet requirements
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TimkenSteel Corp., the Canton, Ohio steel aloy product maker, named Kristopher Westbrooks as chief financial officer, effective Sept. 24. He succeeds Christopher Holding, who left the company.
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Mr. Westbrooks most recently served as chief accounting officer and corporate controller at plastics supplier A. Schulman Inc., a role he has held since April 2015.
Mr. Westbrooks' compensation will include a base salary of $391,850 per year, and will be entitled to participate in the company's annual performance award plan and long-term incentive plan. He will also receive stock options valued at $46,676 and restricted stock units valued at $108,912, the company said in a filing.
Deutsche Bahn AG, the German railway, named Alexander Doll as chief financial officer in addition to his current role as head of the company's logistics and rail freight division, effective Jan. 1. Mr. Doll succeeds Richard Lutz who has served as CEO and CFO for nearly two years, Deutsche Bahn said in a statement. Mr. Lutz will remain CEO and focus more on the strategic development of the group, according to the statement. Compensation details were not disclosed.
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