Year of the Rat: How China’s coronavirus outbreak is spreading tremors through world markets January 28, 2020 Saturday marked the beginning of the Year of the Rat. This animal — representing the first of the 12 signs of the zodiac — is associated with wealth and prosperity in China. In other cultures, the rat is more often associated with plague and disease. It is unfortunate, then, that the dominant Chinese story this [...]
Social media lessons from TikTok, Tencent and Weibo December 2, 2019 The average consumer would be forgiven for not knowing their Tencent from their Sina Weibo. In fact, it’s unlikely that they have heard of either platform. Yet these are two of the biggest social media companies in the world, bringing in billions in revenue each year. From transferring money, playing games, and even booking doctors [...]
Ignore the parades, China has no claim to any kind of greatness October 3, 2019 Seventy years ago this week, Chairman Mao Zedong inaugurated the People’s Republic of China after his decisive victory in the Chinese Civil War over the rival Kuomintang. With the defeated Chiang Kai-shek having fled to Taiwan, the new dictator set in motion his vision of what China should look like and aspire to. Much of [...]
India: Enormous advantage for UK investors June 6, 2019 | City Talk By Rodney Hobson from interactive investor. There are lots of reasons to invest in India now. Our international columnist runs through them here. Rodney Hobson is an experienced financial writer and commentator who has held senior editorial positions on publications and websites in the UK and Asia, including Business News Editor on The Times and Editor of Shares [...]
China’s giant Belt and Road infrastructure push ‘could pump $7 trillion into global GDP’ by 2040 May 27, 2019 China’s monumental state-backed infrastructure investment scheme could inject $7.1 trillion (£5.6 trillion) a year into the global economy – or an extra 4.2 per cent of global expected GDP – by 2040, according to economists. The controversial Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which sprawls across Asia, Africa and Europe, has sparked concerns the superpower is [...]
Huawei lashes out at US as President Donald Trump declares tech emergency May 16, 2019 Chinese telecoms giant Huawei has said it is willing to work with the Trump administration after it was slapped with a ban on buying components from US firms without special approvals. Read more: Huawei snaps up top Sky News journalist as senior spin doctor US President Donald Trump yesterday also signed an executive order which [...]
Economists pour cold water on Trump’s tariff arguments May 13, 2019 Economists have said US President Donald Trump’s argument that American consumers will not face higher prices after tariff increases shows “a fundamental misunderstanding of how tariffs work”. Read more: China retaliates with tariffs on $60bn of US goods Trump tweeted today: “Their [sic] is no reason for the U.S. Consumer to pay the Tariffs, which take [...]
UK business confidence lowest since 2012 as output drops for first time in 2019, says BDO May 13, 2019 Business optimism in the UK fell to its lowest rate since 2012 in April, according to a report released today, in a sign that the Brexit extension has done little to cheer up the country’s gloomy businesses. Read more: UK economy bounces back, but is growth just a ‘flash in the pan’? UK business output [...]
US-China trade deficit falls ahead of crunch negotiations May 9, 2019 The US’s trade deficit in goods and services with China decreased in March, in news that will cheer the Trump administration as it prepares to ramp up tariffs on its largest trading partner. Read more: Global markets in tailspin after Trump threatens huge China tariff rise The country's deficit with the rest of the world [...]
Trump claims China stalled on trade deal in hopes of dealing with Democratic president May 8, 2019 US President Donald Trump has claimed that China was seeking to U-turn on the trade deal struck between the two countries in the hope that it could renegotiate with a Democratic president following the 2020 election. Read more: Global markets in tailspin after Trump threatens huge China tariff rise He also said that China's vice-premier [...]