Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 07 January 2019

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 07 January 2019

 


 

 


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*  Zambia Vedanta unit halts operations at underground mine on tax concerns

*  Zambia says audit shows mining firms in arrears to government

*  Ex-Credit Suisse bankers arrested on U.S. charges over Mozambique loans

*  Decline in South Africa's private sector eases, fanning recovery hopes
-PMI

*  Congo slashes cobalt output estimate for Jan-Sept 2018

*  Kenyan shilling steady, draws support from remittances

*  South Africa's rand falls to 3-month low in global selloff

*  South Africa's rand up 1 percent on U.S. rate cut bets

*  US-China officials to begin trade war talks in Beijing

*  The tech boss who smashed through barriers

*  'No' Jerome Powell will not resign

*  China's economic slowdown: How worried should we be?

*  US jobs growth jumps in December

*  Ryanair named 'worst short-haul airline'

 

 


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Zambia Vedanta unit halts operations at underground mine on tax concerns

LUSAKA (Reuters) - Zambia’s Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), majority owned by
Vedanta Resources, suspended operations at its Nchanga mine following the
introduction of an import duty on copper concentrates, the company said.

 

Zambia, Africa’s No.2 copper producer, introduced new mining duties,
increased royalties and plans to replace Value Added Tax (VAT) with a sales
tax by April to help bring down mounting debt.

 

KCM said in a note to employees, seen by Reuters, that operations at the
mine would be suspended from Jan. 4 due to low availability of acid as a
result of rationalised operations at its Nchanga smelter.

 

Operations at the smelter were downsized due to low availability of
concentrates after the government introduced an import duty on concentrates,
KCM said.

 

“The introduction of 5 percent import duty on concentrates has made the
smelting of imported concentrates commercially unviable,” the company said.

 

KCM said it needed to import concentrates in order to meet smelter capacity
and blending requirements.

 

The Chamber of Mines said last month mining companies may lay off over
21,000 workers due to reduced capital expenditure over the next three years
due to the changes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 


 

Zambia says audit shows mining firms in arrears to government

LUSAKA (Reuters) - The Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) said on Friday an
audit shows mining companies owe the government more than the state is due
to pay them in tax refunds.

 

Mining companies have been demanding Zambia pay the $550-$600 million due to
them in Value Added Tax (VAT) refunds.

 

“When we put together what we owe the mining companies compared with what
they are owing, you find that on the balance of numbers they are actually
owing more,” ZRA Commissioner-General Kingsley Chanda said at a media
briefing.

 

Chanda did not say how much mining companies owed the state but said it
included penalties and interest. Mining companies pay government royalties
and tax.

 

 

 

Ex-Credit Suisse bankers arrested on U.S. charges over Mozambique loans

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Three former Credit Suisse Group AG bankers were
arrested in London on Thursday on U.S. charges of involvement in a fraud
involving $2 billion in loans to state-owned companies in Mozambique, U.S.
prosecutors said.

 

Andrew Pearse, 49, Surjan Singh, 44, and Detelina Subeva, 37, were charged
in a federal court in Brooklyn, New York, with conspiring to violate U.S.
anti-bribery law and to commit money laundering and securities fraud. They
have been released on bail in London while the United States seeks
extradition.

 

Former Mozambique finance minister Manuel Chang, 63, was arrested in South
Africa this week as part of the same case.

 

A fifth man, Jean Boustani, was arrested on Wednesday at New York’s John F.
Kennedy Airport. Boustani is a Lebanese citizen who worked for an Abu
Dhabi-based contractor to the Mozambican companies, according to the
indictment.

 

Lawyers for the defendants could not be reached for comment.

 

“The indictment alleges that the former employees worked to defeat the
bank’s internal controls, acted out of a motive of personal profit, and
sought to hide these activities from the bank,” Credit Suisse said in a
statement, adding that the bank would continue to cooperate with
authorities.

 

$2 BILLION IN LOANS

According to the indictment, between 2013 and 2016 three Mozambican
state-owned companies borrowed more than $2 billion through loans guaranteed
by the government and arranged by Credit Suisse and another investment bank,
which was not named in the document.

 

Apart from Credit Suisse, the Russian lender VTB also arranged financing for
Mozambique’s state-owned companies. Both Credit Suisse and VTB also arranged
a eurobond for Mozambique’s government, which is earmarked for
restructuring.

 

VTB and the Mozambican government did not immediately respond to a request
for comment.

 

Mozambique - one of the most indebted countries in the world - admitted in
2016 to undisclosed lending, prompting the International Monetary Fund and
foreign donors to cut off support, triggering a currency collapse and a
default on its sovereign debt. It is still struggling to overcome the
resulting debt crisis.

 

According to the indictment, the three state-owned companies were created to
undertake maritime projects, but were really “fronts” for Chang, Boustani
and the three bankers to enrich themselves.

 

Prosecutors said at least $200 million was diverted to the defendants and
other Mozambican government officials. They said the defendants concealed
the misuse of the funds and misled investors in the United States and
elsewhere about Mozambique’s creditworthiness.

 

U.S. TAKES THE LEAD

The companies missed more than $700 million in loan payments after
defaulting in 2016 and 2017, the indictment said.

 

Debt cancellation activists welcomed the arrests, but criticised British
authorities for not taking a leading role.

 

“It is scandalous that it has required action from the U.S. authorities for
this investigation and arrests to be made in London,” said Tim Jones, a
policy officer at the British-based Jubilee Debt Campaign.

 

“It was the London branches of Credit Suisse and VTB which lent the $2
billion, yet there has been a shocking lack of action taken by UK
authorities in holding them to account.”

 

Britain’s finance industry watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA),
started looking at Credit Suisse’s involvement in Mozambique in 2016. The
FCA declined to comment on the latest events.

 

Jones also urged Credit Suisse to face up to its own responsibility.

 

According to the indictment, Pearse was the head of Credit Suisse’s Global
Financing Group until around September 2013, but had started working for the
shipbuilding firm Privinvest Group around April that year. Subsidiaries of
Privinvest have been named as primary suppliers to the Mozambican firms.

 

Singh worked for Credit Suisse as a managing director in the Global
Financing Group until February 2017, while Subeva was a vice president in
the same department until August 2013.

 

 

Decline in South Africa's private sector eases, fanning recovery hopes -PMI

(Reuters) - South Africa’s private sector activity contracted for the sixth
month in a row in December as both output and new orders fell further while
purchases also dropped, though the overall rate of decline eased, a survey
showed on Friday.

 

The Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), compiled by IHS Markit, rose to 49.0
from 48.2 in November, still below the 50 mark separating expansion from
contraction that was last reached in June.

 

Three of the five sub-indices were contracted, but all showed slower rates
of decline, signalling a recovery from October’s four-year low.

 

“Reports of a turnaround in the economy helped ease the decline,” said IHS
Markit economist David Owen.

 

“The headline PMI was at its highest since July when conditions first
deteriorated. Firms reported movement in a number of sectors, with the jobs
market also elevated into expansionary territory,” Owen said.

 

Africa’s most industrialised economy went into recession in the first half
of 2018 but grew by an unexpected 2.2 percent in the third as manufacturing
and agricultural production accelerated.

 

South Africa’s growth outlook however remains uncertain, with a widening
budget deficit and ballooning debt as well as trade wrangles between China
and the United States posing big risks to an already modest growth forecast
of 1.7 percent for 2019.

 

Detailed PMI data are only available under licence from

 

IHS Markit and customers need to apply for a licence. To subscribe to the
full data, click on the link below: here

 

For further information, please phone IHS Markit on +8006275 4800 or email
economics at ihsmarkit.com

 

 

 

Congo slashes cobalt output estimate for Jan-Sept 2018

DAKAR (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo revised down its estimate of
cobalt production for the first nine months of 2018, to 81,292 tonnes from
an earlier estimate of 115,116 tonnes, central bank data showed on Friday.

 

The revision means that output of cobalt, an important component of electric
car batteries, rose 35.9 percent compared to the same period in 2017, rather
than 92.5 percent as the bank said previously.

 

The bank also revised up its estimate for copper output in the first nine
months of 2018 to 911,505 tonnes from a previous estimate of 908,695 tonnes.

 

Congo is the world’s leading miner of cobalt and Africa’s top copper
producer.

 

 

 

Kenyan shilling steady, draws support from remittances

NAIROBI (Reuters) - The Kenyan shilling was stable against the dollar on
Friday, supported by hard currency inflows from Diaspora remittances,
traders said.

 

At 0735 GMT commercial banks quoted the shilling at 102.10/30 per dollar,
the same level as Thursday’s close.

 

 

South Africa's rand falls to 3-month low in global selloff

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa’s rand tumbled to its weakest in three
months on Thursday as emerging market currencies were hit by a wave of risk
aversion as fears about global growth intensified.

 

At 0650 GMT the rand was 0.6 percent weaker at 14.5550 per dollar,
recovering slightly after sliding to 14.8975 in the overnight session, its
weakest since October 9.

 

The rand was on the backfoot following weak factory data from China on
Wednesday and saw losses deepen in tandem with a majority of global
currencies after Apple said sales in China and other emerging markets fell
last quarter.

 

The news helped trigger a ‘flash crash’ in currency markets, stoking
nervousness about global growth already dampened by the ongoing trade
wrangle between the United States and China.

 

Traders said light volumes in a holiday-shortened week had exacerbated the
currency slide with stop-losses triggered by the breach of key technical
milestones and increased volatility.

 

Bonds were steady in early trade with the yield on the benchmark 2026 paper
at 8.935 percent after climbing 4.5 basis points in the previous session.

 

Stocks were set to open lower with the Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s Top-40
futures index down 0.3 percent, mirroring the sour start in Asian equities.

 

 

South Africa's rand up 1 percent on U.S. rate cut bets

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa’s rand firmed to a two-week best on
Friday as emerging markets were boosted by increased expectations of the
United States central bank cutting lending rates this year.

 

At 0810 GMT the rand was 1.1 percent firmer at 14.1500 after an overnight
close of 14.3075.

 

With little on the local data front in the first week of the new year, the
rand looked to offshore events for direction, and has seen volatile trade
with swings in the dollar setting the tone.

 

Survey data on Thursday showed U.S. factory activity slowed more than
expected, the latest sign the world’s largest economy was losing steam,
igniting bets the Federal Reserve could switch from raising to cutting rates
before the end of the year.

 

That aided the rand recovery from Wednesday’s “flash crash” that saw the
unit plunge to a three-month low in a global selloff.

 

Progress in trade talks between Washington and Beijing also soothed
sentiment. The two superpowers are due to hold trade talks in China next
week.

 

Bonds opened firmer, with yield on the benchmark paper due in 2026 down 5.5
basis points to 8.795 percent, its lowest since mid-August.

 

Stocks edged up, with the Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s Top-40 index up 0.24
percent at 45,734 points.

 

 

 

US-China officials to begin trade war talks in Beijing

US and Chinese officials will begin talks on Monday aimed at resolving their
damaging trade dispute.

 

Last year, both countries imposed billions of dollars of tariffs on one
another's goods.

 

The two-day talks mark the first formal meeting since the pair agreed to
refrain from any further tariffs for 90 days.

 

The meeting comes amid rising concern about the impact of trade tensions on
the global economy.

 

The US delegation will be led by Deputy US Trade Representative Jeffrey
Gerrish.

 

Ahead of the meeting in Beijing, US President Donald Trump said negotiations
between the two sides were going "very well".

 

"I think China wants to get it resolved. Their economy's not doing very
well," he told reporters on Sunday.

 

"I think that gives them a great incentive to negotiate."

 

Trade war truce: A win for the US or China?

How worrying is China's slowdown?

US and China agree to suspend new tariffs

US-China trade row: What has happened so far?

What's on the agenda?

Officials from China and the US were expected to cover a range of thorny
issues.

 

The White House said in December the two sides would negotiate "structural
changes with respect to forced technology transfer, intellectual property
protection, non-tariff barriers, cyber intrusions and cyber theft."

 

The US says China's "unfair" trade practices have contributed to a lofty
trade deficit and accuses China of intellectual property theft.

 

Like other countries in the West, it is also concerned about the risks that
Chinese companies pose to their national security.

 

Many increasingly see the trade war as a battle for global leadership
between the world's two largest economies.

 

The stakes are high - failure to achieve a deal could see both countries
resume taxing one another's goods.

 

President Trump has said he is ready to impose tariffs on the remaining
$267bn (£209bn) of annual Chinese exports to the US if the two sides fail to
agree on a deal within the 90-day truce period.--BBC

 

 

The tech boss who smashed through barriers

The BBC's weekly The Boss series profiles a different business leader from
around the world. This week we speak to Therese Tucker, founder and chief
executive of US financial software business BlackLine.

 

To set up and grow BlackLine Therese Tucker spent her retirement savings,
maxed out her credit cards, and took out a second mortgage on her home.

 

Meanwhile, two friends loaned her money so that she could pay her staff's
wages during the leanest months. That risk - to Ms Tucker and her friends -
paid off.

 

BlackLine, which was launched in 2001, is today worth more than $2bn
(£1.6bn). And Ms Tucker's personal fortune is estimated at $380m.

 

This makes her one of the richest self-made women in the US, according to
Forbes magazine.

 

Because Los Angeles-based BlackLine doesn't sell any consumer products, it
is not a company many people will have heard of. It is, however, used by
more than 2,200 firms around the world, which it provides with cloud-based
accounting software.

 

With annual revenues of $177m in 2017, and 800 employees, its clients
include Coca-Cola, eBay, Philips and Under Armour.

 

With pink hair and a gregarious laugh, Ms Tucker - who is in her mid-50s -
says that being an entrepreneur is in her DNA, and that she is comfortable
taking risks.

 

Yet when she started BlackLine she says that she didn't even consider trying
to find a venture capital fund to invest in her business.

 

"Back in those days I wouldn't have known how to have gotten outside
capital," she says. "And frankly I doubt that anybody would have actually
put money in."

 

Ms Tucker adds that because she had tried and failed at a few start-ups in
the past, she believed that no investors would back her at the beginning,
because she didn't have "any other successful start-up under my belt".

 

So instead she had to rely on her own means of raising funds, and the two
friends.

 

Even if Ms Tucker had looked for formal investment when she started
BlackLine in 2001, the odds would have been stacked against her for the
simple reason that she is a woman.

 

Despite the amount of time, money, and lip service spent recently in trying
to diversify the technology industry, only 15% of all US venture capital
dollars invested in the sector in 2017 went to firms with a female founder.

 

That is according to All Raise, a pressure group dedicated to seeing more
women in senior roles in the industry.

 

Brought up on a farm in the Midwest, Ms Tucker got a degree in computer
science and mathematics from the University of Illinois.

 

Her first job was working for Hughes Aircraft in southern California, and
then she became a freelance software programmer.

 

Prior to launching BlackLine she was the chief technology officer at
software firm SunGard, a job she had resigned from to spend more time with
her two young children.

 

It was a meeting with her personal finance manager that inspired her to
launch BlackLine.

 

Ms Tucker noticed that the tax software the company was using was cumbersome
and inefficient. She knew she could build something better, and so she did.

 

While BlackLine was initially self-financed, it did ultimately secure £200m
of investment in 2013 from private equity firm Silver Lake Partners. It then
floated on the New York Stock Exchange in 2016.

 

"In the tech world these floats are few and far between, and the fact that
she was able to do that after bootstrapping this - it's a real testament to
Therese," says Christie Pitts, general partner of Backstage Capital, an
investment fund that backs women, people from an ethnic minority, and the
LGBT community.

 

Ms Pitts adds that Ms Tucker stands out in the tech world for building such
a successful company as a woman over 40, as a "counter-narrative to the
usual tech story".

 

In a world with much handwringing about the lack of female tech founders,
it's surprising that Ms Tucker isn't a household name.

 

She recognises that the tech industry should do more to attract and retain
women, but is relieved that she didn't know that when she was starting out.

 

Ms Tucker says she was instead too busy building her company to be
discouraged or distracted by gender disparity.

 

She does, however, recognise that sexual harassment used to be part of
everyday life in the corporate world.

 

"That was the environment that all young women who are my age have worked
in," Ms Tucker says, adding that women learned to "laugh it off at how gross
some people were".

 

"You just dealt with it. You didn't file complaints because that would have
stalled your career."

 

Ms Tucker says that one woman she worked with in the past complained about
sexual advances from their boss, and was completely sidelined as a result.
She later hired that woman.

 

In today's workplaces, Ms Tucker says one big positive is that younger women
have learned to negotiate for better pay and working conditions.

 

"I think women of my generation have not negotiated well over time," she
says. "I've had women say, 'Oh I don't need a raise.' Right. Why would
anyone ever say that?"

 

She believes that too many women, when helping to build a business, opt to
sacrifice their own salaries for the good of the company.

 

"That's great if every single person does that," she says. But men, she goes
on, are traditionally better at asking for more money and shares in exchange
for their work.

 

For Ms Tucker, she says working on her family's Illinois farm as the
youngest of four girls prepared her for life as an entrepreneur.

 

"I think one of the coolest things about my upbringing is farmers want sons,
and my father did not have any sons."

 

The sisters were expected to do everything to help out - drive tractors, fix
cars, feed the pigs and chickens, harvest the soybeans, corn and oats.

 

"People are saying, 'Oh you've broken these barriers' and I'm like, 'What
barriers?' I didn't know they were there," she says.

 

"That was very much a part of my upbringing on a farm."--BBC

 

 

'No' Jerome Powell will not resign

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome "Jay" Powell took steps to reassure financial
markets on Friday, saying that the US central bank would be "patient" about
rate rises.

 

He also defended his independence, saying he would not resign if requested
by US President Donald Trump.

 

Stocks in the US spiked after the remarks, made at a meeting of the American
Economic Association.

 

The Dow and S&P 500 closed more than 3% higher. The Nasdaq climbed almost
4.3%.

 

The gains, also driven by strong job creation data, reversed sharp falls
from a day earlier, extending the recent rollercoaster ride in markets.

 

Investors have grown nervous in recent months, worried in part about moves
by the Federal Reserve to increase interest rates, despite signs of a global
growth slowdown.

 

 

Mr Trump has been one of the loudest critics of the rising rates, which
raise the cost of borrowing and risk dampening economic growth.

 

He has blamed the Fed for stock market declines and said he is "not even a
little bit happy" with Mr Powell, whom he named to lead the Fed in 2017.

 

At the conference on Friday, Mr Powell said he has not spoken directly to Mr
Trump and would not resign if asked. No face-to-face meetings have been
scheduled, he added.

 

'Ahead of the data'

He also defended the Fed's rate rises, pointing to strong economic data that
suggest businesses and households can handle the higher costs.

 

A new jobs report on Friday showed US employers added more than 300,000 jobs
in December - well above expectations.

 

Fed raises rates despite Trump opposition

The perils of a political Federal Reserve

Mr Powell said he thought the recent market declines reflected concerns
about slowing global growth and trade tensions - but are "well ahead of the
data".

 

The Fed is "listening sensitively" to the market signals, as well as data
showing that inflation rates remain relatively muted, he added.

 

"We will be patient as we watch to see how the economy evolves," he said.
"We are always prepared to shift the stance of policy and to shift it
significantly" if needed.

 

Mr Powell said that he did not believe the Fed's removal of stimulus by
shrinking holdings of Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities played a
major role in the recent market turmoil.

 

But, he said, "If we reached a different conclusion we wouldn't hesitate to
make a change."--BBC

 

 

 

China's economic slowdown: How worried should we be?

The cracks in China's economy appear to be widening, with signs of weakening
growth amid a background of trade tensions.

 

Adding to the worries, China's stock market was the world's worst performer
last year, ending with a loss of 28%.

 

This week Apple said slowing sales in China meant it would not meet sales
expectations, triggering sharp falls on global stock markets.

 

The tech giant isn't alone.

 

A string of other companies have issued warnings recently over China's
slowdown and the impact of the trade war with the US.

 

Among those are carmakers such as General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler.
Luxury vehicle maker Jaguar Land Rover has also warned of slowing Chinese
sales.

 

US carmakers hit by tariff disputes

This week, Robin Li, chief executive of Chinese search engine Baidu, used an
infamous phrase from Game of Thrones to warn employees that "winter is
coming" as the local economy cools.

 

However, not all Western brands are struggling in China.

 

In September, Nike said sales in Greater China shot up 24%. Lululemon,
another activewear maker, also reported strong sales growth in China last
year.

 

China's economic growth has been slowing in recent years and is now running
at 6.5% annually, still a breakneck pace compared with anything in the
developed world but about half the rate the country had been racking up for
more than 20 years.

 

And the latest batch of economic news suggest this slowdown is deepening,
not helped by the trade war with the US.

 

Data out this week showed manufacturing activity contracted for the first
time in 19 months. New orders have fallen and retail sales eased. Firms have
reported softer demand despite some discounting.

 

Louis Kuijs, head of Asia economics at Oxford Economics, sees GDP growth
"bottoming out" around the second quarter of this year, and expects an
annual growth rate of 6.1%.

 

But he does not see it deteriorating much further: "While China's economy is
slowing down, it is not tanking and Apple's profit warning is not a good
proxy for the health of the overall economy or even overall consumer
spending."

 

Long-term challenges

The Chinese economy also has deeper problems that need addressing.

 

George Magnus, research associate at Oxford University's China Centre,
points to serious and growing worries over the lack of regulation that sets
doing business in China apart from that of the rest of the world.

 

These include China's complex and shady "shadow banking" problem of
unregulated lenders, its cyber espionage activities and lax protection of
intellectual property rights.

 

The authorities are not standing idle. They are spending more on
infrastructure to spur demand and have been cutting interest rates.

 

Serious turbulence in China now would matter a great deal more than it would
have 10 or 20 years ago.

 

At the turn of the century, China accounted for about 7% of global economic
activity. This year the figure is likely to be 19%.

 

And Chinese industry is closely integrated into international supply chains.

 

The rapid growth over the past 25 years has propelled China to second place
in the league table of the world's biggest economies.

 

Mr Magnus says that China's economy is now so large it pretty much
determines the global price of a huge range of products.

 

Half of all the world's steel, copper, coal and cement goes to China, as
well as about half of the world's pork output and a third of its rice.

 

So if it isn't buying, the price is likely to fall.

 

DBS Bank strategists Taimur Baig and Nathan Chow say the key issue for the
global economy is "the depth of China's economic malaise".

 

"A steadily slowing China imparts a major drag to the world economy in any
case. Add to this fears of the decline being disorderly, all other risks
pale in comparison."

 

However, Mr Magnus says fears shouldn't be overstated: "I don't think anyone
is thinking at the moment that China's economy is about to fall off a
precipice, it's just that everything has come off considerably from elevated
levels it has been at for the last decade or more."--BBC

 

 

 

US jobs growth jumps in December

The US economy created many more jobs than expected in December, according
to the latest government data.

 

Employers added 312,000 jobs, far ahead of predictions of 177,000, the Labor
Department said.

 

The unemployment rate nudged higher to 3.9%, but is still near historic
lows. Average hourly pay increased at an annual rate of 3.2% - an
improvement on last month's 3.1%.

 

The gains sent US stocks soaring, reversing losses from Thursday.

 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended Friday almost 3.3% higher. The S&P
500 rose 3.4%, while the Nasdaq jumped more than 4.2%.

 

'Forward momentum'

Analysts said the employment surge shows the US economy remains healthy -
despite fears of a slowdown that have battered the stock market in recent
months.

 

Paul Ashworth, chief US economist at Capital Economics, said the job
increases "make a mockery of recession fears ".

 

"This employment report suggests the US economy still has considerable
forward momentum," he said.

 

Overall, payrolls rose by 2.6 million last year, compared to 2.2 million in
2017, as tax cuts and increased government spending helped to boost the
economy.

 

The robust labour market has encouraged more people to look for work - one
reason for the uptick in the unemployment rate in December.

 

After years of relatively stagnant wages, it has also started to force
employers to pay more.

 

Average hourly pay for private sector workers increased more than 3.1%
year-on-year for the last three months of 2018 - the strongest streak since
2009.

 

US President Donald Trump celebrated the news on Twitter.

 

Positive revisions

December's rate of hiring far exceeded the roughly 200,000 jobs the US
economy has added on average each month over 2018.

 

The gains largely occurred in fields such as health care, hospitality and
leisure, construction, manufacturing, and retail.

 

New factory jobs in December meant manufacturing ended 2018 with the most
jobs added in one year since 1997.

 

The Labor Department also revised job numbers for October and November, with
both month's showing more jobs created than previously thought.

 

US economy under Trump: Is it the best in history?

Is the US heading for a recession?

What's knocked markets off course?

Analysts said the figures may relieve pressure on the Federal Reserve, which
has come under fire from critics, including Mr Trump, over plans to raise
rates.

 

Critics say the higher borrowing costs risk denting economic growth,
pointing to warning signs such as the stock market turmoil and a slowdown in
manufacturing.

 

But the Fed has maintained that the economy has absorbed the increases so
far without difficulty.

 

Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said such a
strong employment report makes it "impossible" for the Fed to back away from
rate hikes, assuming the gains continue.

 

"Ultimately, they will do what the labour market data tells them to do," he
said.--BBC

 

 

 

Ryanair named 'worst short-haul airline'

The Irish budget carrier received low marks for seat comfort, food and
drink, boarding and its cabin environment

Ryanair has won the dubious honour of the UK's least-liked short-haul
airline for the sixth year running.

 

The results from a Which survey of airline passengers ranked Ryanair at the
bottom of 19 carriers flying from the UK.

 

The top five were Guernsey-based Aurigny Air Service, Swiss Airlines, Jet2,
Norwegian and Dutch carrier KLM.

 

A Ryanair spokesperson said the airline's success was not reflected by the
survey.

 

The UK's other large airlines, Easyjet and British Airways came in at 11th
and 15th, respectively, in the survey.

 

Easyjet beat British Airways's scores for food and drink, customer service
and value for money, but both received low ratings for seat comfort.

 

Ryanair faced strike action in 2018, cancelled flights but refused to offer
passengers compensation and introduced new baggage rules three times.

 

The airline, which predicts it will carry 141m passengers this year, also
left passengers unimpressed with its boarding processes, seat comfort, food
and drink offering, and cabin environment.

 

 

'Never again'

Which said "thousands of respondents" said they would never fly the airline
again.

 

Of those surveyed who chose an airline that they would never fly in the
future, 70% chose Ryanair.

 

However, independent aviation consultant Chris Tarry said, despite the low
satisfaction ratings, customers were still happy enough to fly with the
Irish budget carrier.

 

"Ryanair still represents great value for a huge amount of people. What they
receive is what they expect."

 

Mr Tarry said the airline had endured "a tough year" but still generates
"huge amounts of cash".

 

"Painful lessons have been learnt," Mr Tarry said.

 

A Ryanair spokesperson said: "Ryanair passenger numbers have grown by 80% in
the past six years and Ryanair.com has become the world's most visited
airline website.

 

"These facts reflect what customers want much more than an unrepresentative
survey of just 8,000 people."--BBC

 

 

 


 

 


 

INVESTORS DIARY 2019

 


Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 


 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 


 

 


DISCLAIMER: This report has been prepared by Bulls ‘n Bears, a division of
Faith Capital (Pvt) Ltd for general information purposes only and does not
constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy or
subscribe for any securities. The information contained in this report has
been compiled from sources believed to be reliable, but no representation or
warranty is made or guarantee given as to its accuracy or completeness. All
opinions expressed and recommendations made are subject to change without
notice. Securities or financial instruments mentioned herein may not be
suitable for all investors. Securities of emerging and mid-size growth
companies typically involve a higher degree of risk and more volatility than
the securities of more established companies. Neither Faith Capital nor any
other member of Bulls ‘n Bears nor any other person, accepts any liability
whatsoever for any loss howsoever arising from any use of this report or its
contents or otherwise arising in connection therewith. Recipients of this
report shall be solely responsible for making their own independent
investigation into the business, financial condition and future prospects of
any companies referred to in this report. Other  Indices quoted herein are
for guideline purposes only and sourced from third parties.

 


 

 


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