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The Morning Ledger: China Agrees to Reduce Tariffs on U.S. Autos |
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China Vice Premier Liu He informed U.S. administration officials of a reduction in China’s auto tariff in a phone call Monday evening. PHOTO: MARK SCHIEFELBEIN/ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Good day. China agreed to reduce tariffs on U.S. autos to 15%, down from 40% currently, during a phone call with U.S. officials that opened the latest round of talks aimed at settling the trade dispute between the world's largest economies, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Tit-for-tat: It wasn’t clear when the change would take effect, but Washington is pushing Beijing to make concessions as soon as possible. President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping earlier this month agreed to a 90-day truce to negotiate a settlement to the trade frictions.
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Asking for a friend: An easing of tariffs on U.S.-made cars would help German auto makers. Daimler AG and BMW AG build cars and sport-utility vehicles in the U.S. and export them to China. They were hit hard by China’s move to levy a 40% border tax on U.S.-built cars and weighed moving some production out of the U.S. to China to meet local demand there and avoid the tariffs.
Masterplan: As part of the trade truce reached between Mr. Xi and Mr. Trump, Chinese officials are also considering making changes to the "Made in China 2025" plan, a state-led industrial policy aimed at enabling Chinese companies to dominate a number of industries such as artificial intelligence and robotics, said people familiar with the matter.
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British Prime Minister Theresa May is set to face a vote of confidence in her leadership Wednesday after lawmakers from her Conservative Party triggered a vote that could further destabilize the Brexit process and prolong the uncertainty for corporate decision makers.
Nordson Corp., Oxford Industries Inc. and Tailored Brands Inc. are among the companies slated to report earnings Wednesday.
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Vail Expansion Plan Goes Aggressive and Wipes Out |
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Vail Mountain Resort in Colorado. Investors weren’t prepared for weaker revenue despite healthy sales of season passes for winter. PHOTO: BLOOMBERG NEWS
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Vail Resorts Inc., which has been rapidly expanding to become one of the world’s largest owners of mountain resorts, started the new ski season with a crash. The company on Friday posted a bigger-than-expected quarterly loss, sending its share price plunging 17.9% to $223.25 during the trading session. It was the company’s biggest single-day drop since going public in 1997.
While Vail usually reports soft numbers during the off-season, investors weren’t prepared for weaker revenue despite healthy sales of season passes for the winter season. The stock rebounded about 5% on Monday, and some analysts suggest that Vail’s recent acquisition binge and long-term strategy of geographical diversification will ultimately succeed.
The season-by-season swings in snowfall coupled with a warming climate trend could make conditions more unpredictable for U.S. ski resorts in the years ahead. Vail’s approach has been relatively straightforward. The company has spent about $1.4 billion in recent years in an effort to insulate the operator from too little snow in any one of its markets.
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Bottles of Chivas Regal blended Scotch whisky, produced by Pernod Ricard, are displayed in France in August. PHOTO: BENOIT TESSIER/REUTERS
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Activist hedge fund Elliott Management Corp. has built a stake in Pernod Ricard SA, calling on the owner of Chivas Regal whisky and Absolut vodka to improve management and make changes to jump-start growth and lagging profit margins.
McDonald’s Corp. plans to reduce the use of antibiotics in its global beef supply in the next few years, a tougher task than removing their use from other types of meat.
Tencent Music Entertainment Group priced its IPO at the low end of expectations, capping a rocky process of going public but still marking one of the biggest U.S.-listed debuts in recent years.
Dell Technologies Inc. is set to return to public markets later this month, after the PC maker and data-storage company recut a deal that garnered sufficient shareholder support.
Verizon Communications Inc. is booking a $4.5 billion accounting charge related to its Oath media business, with the carrier conceding that its bet on high-profile internet properties and content several years ago hasn’t worked out as expected.
Credit Suisse Group AG on Wednesday launched a share buyback of up to 3 billion Swiss francs ($3 billion) over the next two years, as the Swiss banking giant confronts a steep drop in its share price.
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Huawei Technologies finance chief Meng Wanzhou, at right in green, appeared at Supreme Court in Vancouver again Tuesday for her bail hearing. PHOTO: JANE WOLSAK/ASSOCIATED PRESS
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A Canadian judge granted bail to Huawei Technologies Co. finance chief Meng Wanzhou, setting the stage for a new confrontation with China as the U.S. seeks the executive’s extradition to face charges over violating Iran sanctions.
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Organic- and natural-products maker Hain Celestial Group Inc. has settled charges brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over its revenue-recognition practices, which had led to several quarters of delayed financial reports.
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Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Alphabet Inc.'s Google, faced tough questions in a first public appearance before U.S. House lawmakers, who are increasingly skeptical of Silicon Valley giants on issues of privacy and political bias.
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MiMedx Group Inc., a maker of tissue-graft products, called on two influential U.S. lawmakers for help. Now the actions of the lawmakers could prove embarrassing for them as MiMedx faces possible collapse amid a burgeoning accounting scandal and multiple federal investigations.
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Crystallex International Corp., one of Venezuela’s creditors, has rescinded a settlement agreement with President Nicolás Maduro’s government and hired bankers to force a sale of the country’s prized U.S. crude refiner, Citgo Petroleum Corp.
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Clues Emerge on Possible SEC Easing of Quarterly Report Rules |
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The SEC plans to ask companies about the "interplay" between quarterly earnings announcements and the 10-Q quarterly filing, said William Hinman, director of the commission's corporation-finance division.
The idea would be to reduce duplication of work and narrow the time between a company's earnings release and the filing of its 10-Q, Mr. Hinman said Tuesday at an accounting conference in Washington, reports The Wall Street Journal's Michael Rapoport.
The SEC has been looking at reducing quarterly reporting obligations since President Trump urged for it in August, seeking to shift away from short-term thinking by companies. A formal request for comment from the commission is expected soon. SEC Chairman Jay Clayton said Monday the issue was on the commission’s “near, near-term agenda.”
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A June jobs fair in Florida. A tight labor market is one of the factors fueling economic anxiety. PHOTO: LYNNE SLADKY/ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Almost half of U.S. chief financial officers believe a recession will strike the U.S. economy by the end of 2019, with the tight labor market and growing trade tensions driving economic jitters among corporate America.
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U.S. soybean farmers worked for decades to make China their biggest foreign customer. Now they face a tougher challenge: weaning themselves off the market.
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Most investors won’t be surprised if the U.S. Federal Reserve raises rates next week. But some might, and that poses a risk for markets.
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French President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to defuse antigovernment protests with tax cuts risks bending European Union rules on budget discipline, threatening to anger Italy and other countries in the bloc.
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India named Shaktikanta Das, a former civil servant, as the governor of its central bank a day after his predecessor resigned following months of tensions with the government.
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Axalta Coating Systems Ltd., a Philadelphia, Pa.-based coatings company, named Sean Lannon permanent finance chief, effective Dec. 10. He had been serving in the post on an interim basis since October 2018.
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Previously, Mr. Lannon held the role of vice president, corporate finance and global controller since 2016, and was vice president and global controller from 2013 until that promotion. Compensation details were not disclosed.
Halliburton Co., the Houston-based service provider for the oil and gas industry, disclosed compensation details for its new Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Lance Loeffler. Mr. Loeffler will receive an annual base salary of $650,000, a restricted stock award and nonqualified stock options to purchase shares of Halliburton common stock, Halliburton said in a filing.
He will be eligible to participate in the company's performance pay and performance incentive plans and to receive grants of restricted stock and stock options under the company's stock and incentive plan, Halliburton said.
Salvatore Ferragamo SpA, a Florence, Italy-based luxury goods company, said Chief Financial Officer Ugo Giorcelli will leave the company to pursue a new opportunity, effective Jan.11, 2019. He became CFO in March 2017.
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