Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2019-10-07)

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BloombergBusinessweek October7, 2019

JINPING:

MARK

SCHIEFELBEIN/AP

PHOTO. THIAM: STEFAN WERMUTH/BLOOMBERG. BOUEE: COURTESY SIX. GRASSLEY: ANDREW HARRER/BLOOMBERG

 IN BRIEF

By Benedikt Kammel

○ In the largest such

judgment in its history, the

World Trade Organization

allowed the U.S. to impose

tariffs on as much as

$7.5b

of European annual

exports—of everything

from plane parts to wine to

leather goods—in retaliation

for illegal subsidies to

Airbus, the main rival of

America’s Boeing.

○ Escalating a Wall

Street price war, Charles

Schwab said it will

eliminate commissions on

trades for all U.S. stocks,

ETFs, and options. The

announcement—which was

quickly matched by rival

TD Ameritrade—intensifies

pressure on BlackRock,

E*Trade, Fidelity, and other

rivals. Schwab’s share price

tumbled almost 10%.

○ Norway said it had dipped

into its $1 trillion piggy bank

in August, taking almost

$400m

out of its sovereign wealth

fund. It’s a rare withdrawal

for the oil-rich country,

which has used its natural

resources to build the

world’s single biggest

financial reservoir.

○ Credit Suisse CEO

Tidjane Thiam lost

a key ally when

Chief Operating

Officer Pierre Olivier Bouee

resigned after a spying

scandal. Bouee took the

fall for the surveillance

of a former

executive, which

Credit Suisse said

caused severe reputational

damage to the bank.

○ A key measure of U.S.

manufacturing, the Institute

for Supply Management’s

factory index, slipped to

47.8. That’s its weakest

reading since the end of the

Great Recession. A global

economic slowdown and

the U.S.-China trade war

are increasingly depressing

the sector.

○ Ecuador announced

it will depart from the

14-member OPEC

in January, so it can

boost output beyond

the prescribed limit.

The country, one of the

smallest members of

OPEC, produces about

530k

barrels a day.

○ Harvard

defeated a lawsuit

that sought to

stop it from using

race as a factor

in admissions.

○ Rudy Giuliani,

Donald Trump’s

personal lawyer,

was subpoenaed

by three House

committees.

○ A massive military parade marked the 70th anniversary of the founding of the

People’s Republic of China. President Xi Jinping declared that no force could stop

the country’s rise. Meanwhile, violent protests continued in Hong Kong.

The suit, brought by an anti-affirmative

action group, alleged that the school

artificially limited Asian Americans’

numbers and favored black, Latino,

and white applicants. The decision

will be appealed.

Congress wants records of his

dealings with Ukraine on the

president’s behalf, part of the

impeachment inquiry probing possible

foreign interference in the 2020

elections. Giuliani has until Oct. 15

to turn over the documents.  40

○ “Complaints based on

secondhand information

should not berejectedoutof

hand, but theyd

additional legwo

Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, a vocal

defender of whistleblowers, came outin

support of the practice after PresidentTru

sought to discredit the informant at the

heart of the impeachment inquiry as

inaccurate and fraudulent.  38

dorequire

ork.”

ump

○ Eike Batista, once Brazil’s richest man, serving 30 years for bribery, was sentenced to 81/2 more years for insider trading.

○ U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders had two stents inserted to relieve an arterial blockage.

○ Renowned American opera singer Jessye Norman died at 74 of complications from a 2015 spinal cord injury.

○ Hurricane Lorenzo, the largest storm ever to roam the eastern Atlantic, was forecast to strike Ireland’s west coast.