Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 05 September 2020

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 05 September 2020

 


 

 


 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 


 

 


 

 

ü  Ex-World Bank head Robert Zoellick: ‘The world could look like 1900
again’

ü  US unemployment rate falls below 10% as firms rehire staff

ü  Virgin Atlantic to cut 1,150 more jobs

ü  Brexit: UK 'sleepwalking into disaster' over border plans, hauliers warn

ü  £14k alligator bag destroyed over missing import permit

ü  HS2 rail project work begins with pledge of 22,000 jobs

ü  Etsy gets into S&P 500, Tesla does not

ü  Japan's Suga signals focus on protecting jobs, rules out sales tax cut

ü  Argentina's GDP to fall 12% in 2020 due to COVID-19, central bank poll
says

ü  Trump lauds economic steps between Serbia and Kosovo

ü  Wall Street ends lower as Nasdaq rout persists

ü  Buffett's Berkshire slashes Wells Fargo stake

ü  Competition Tribunal approves acquisition of Link SA by JSE

ü  New proposals to re-open the events industry in South Africa

ü  Personal information of South Africans posted online after major data
breach – here’s what leaked

 

 

 


 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 


 

Ex-World Bank head Robert Zoellick: ‘The world could look like 1900 again’

The former head of the World Bank has warned the world could look like it
did in 1900 if countries don’t work together to tackle the current crisis.

 

Robert Zoellick pointed to the rift between the US and China as a serious
threat to the global economic recovery.

 

Mr Zoellick, one of America’s most senior public officials, has advised six
US presidents during his career.

 

He told the BBC co-operation was “the only way the global economy will
emerge from the recession”.

 

Mr Zoellick, who was also the US deputy secretary of state, said his biggest
concern was the escalating tensions between the US and China.

 

“I think [the relationship] is in freefall today and I don’t think we know
where the bottom is, and that is a very dangerous situation," he told the
BBC’s Asia Business Report.

 

Mr Zoellick warned that “the world could look more like the world of 1900
when the great powers were in competition” if countries start to pull back
from globalisation and pursue nationalist interests.

 

Financial crisis

Mr Zoellick served as the president of the World Bank between 2007 to 2012,
the years that encompassed the global financial crisis.

 

As the head of the organisation he worked closely with the International
Monetary Fund and world governments to tackle the financial meltdown.

 

“The 2008-09 financial crisis was a very serious event but we had the G20,
[and] central banks co-operating. President Bush and then President Obama
were part of international efforts with [then UK prime minister] Gordon
Brown," he said.

 

“Frankly, even China had a very strong stimulus programme and also
co-operated in various ways. We don’t have that sense of co-operation
today.”

 

Mr Zoellick called for the US to work closely with China in finding a
solution to the pandemic, rather than "indicting them for it”.

 

Trump 'flawed'

The person he blames for causing much of the damage is US President Donald
Trump.

 

Mr Zoellick served under previous Republican Presidents George W Bush and
George H W Bush. But he is clear about his dislike for the current
Republican in office.

 

“I’ve been opposed to Trump from the start... not only because of his policy
positions but also because of what I think are flaws in his character.

 

“I was worried about what he would do with institutions and the constitution
and we’re seeing that borne out, and in the pandemic, we’re seeing another
dimension, which is a question of competence.”

 

He believes that President Trump’s scepticism about US alliances and
protectionism has added to Asian anxieties at a time when China’s power is
starting to overshadow the region.

 

It is a topic he explores in his new book America in the World: A History of
US Diplomacy and Foreign Policy.--BBC

 

 

 

 

US unemployment rate falls below 10% as firms rehire staff

The US unemployment rate fell sharply in August, as some firms began to hire
new staff again and temporary hiring for the US census boosted job numbers.

 

Firms added 1.4 million new jobs and unemployment fell below 10% for the
first time since the pandemic began.

 

It is the fourth month in a row that America's jobs picture has improved, as
the economy begins to rebound from the depths of the coronavirus recession.

 

However, the unemployment rate is still much higher than it was in February.

 

In April, when many US states issued stay at home orders, the unemployment
rate peaked at 14.7%.

 

However, there are fears that the recovery in the labour market is not
sustainable.

 

The pace of jobs growth is slowing. Stimulus payments and help for small
businesses have been exhausted. And negotiations between the White House and
Congress over more stimulus remain stalled.

 

Neil Williams, senior economic adviser at Federated Hermes, said the
unemployment figures were becoming '"less awful" as furloughed workers
return.

 

"But, even if jobs continue to be clawed back at this pace, it would take
another nine months for the 12 million workers displaced since February to
return.

 

"The 'under-employment' rate, which includes those not searching, but
wanting to work or work more, still over 14%, may be even slower to fall.
And as we know from 2007-09, rapid job losses do not guarantee the sharpest
recoveries.," he added.

 

Worse to come?

The figures from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday also showed
average hourly earnings increased 0.4%, also ahead of expectations.

 

However, Ian Shepherdson the chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics,
says the August data may be skewed by government hiring of temporary census
workers and "the worst may come in September".

 

"Private sector job growth in August was the slowest since the recovery
began in May.

 

"At the August pace, it would take 10 months for private sector employment
just to return to its February level," Mr Shepherdson said.--BBC

 

 

 

 

Virgin Atlantic to cut 1,150 more jobs

Virgin Atlantic is to cut 1,150 more jobs after completing a £1.2bn rescue
plan that will secure its future for at least 18 months.

 

The airline had already cut more than 3,500 jobs out of the 10,000 employees
it had at the beginning of the year.

 

The airline said it had to cut costs in order to survive.

 

"Until travel returns in greater numbers, survival is predicated on reducing
costs further and continuing to preserve cash," it said.

 

"The outlook for transatlantic flying, which is core to Virgin Atlantic's
business, remains uncertain with US-UK travel curtailed," the airline said.

 

It said the past six months had been "the most challenging in Virgin
Atlantic's history", and that "regrettably the airline must go further one
last time with changes at scale, to ensure it emerges from this crisis".

 

The carrier added that a 45-day consultation period would begin on Friday
with unions.

 

To try to cut down on crew redundancies, it said it would introduce a
voluntary, company-financed furlough scheme for 600 crew members when the
government-backed scheme ends in October.

 

'A tragedy'

Pilots union Balpa said that it hoped to avoid pilot redundancies.

 

"Every single job lost to this crisis is a tragedy and we are doing
everything we can to mitigate job losses across the board," said Balpa
general secretary Brian Strutton.

 

"Despite no help from government, their financing is now secure," he added.

 

The Covid-19 pandemic has taken a dreadful toll on employment in the
aviation industry.

 

Airlines around the world have been haemorrhaging jobs, as they face a
future in which fewer people travel, and fewer planes are able to fly.

 

And it isn't just airlines. Aerospace firms, airports and groundhandling
companies are also being forced to cut back.

 

Virgin finds itself more exposed than many of its rivals, because it relies
heavily on transatlantic traffic - and restrictions on travel to the US
remain in force.

 

The company is hoping its £1.2bn rescue plan will enable it to ride out the
storm. But to succeed, it still needs to turn itself into a much smaller
business than it was just a few months ago.

 

US carrier Delta Air Lines, which owns 49% of Virgin Atlantic, said the
rescue plan was "an important part of protecting Delta's position in the UK,
particularly in the critical London Heathrow market," as it vies against
American Airlines and British Airways.

 

The pandemic has had a severe impact on the aviation industry as lockdowns
and quarantines hit air travel. Airlines, airports and tour firms have
collectively shed thousands of jobs.

 

Virgin gained approval for its rescue plan from UK and US courts this week.

 

The £1.2bn deal involves £400m in new cash, half of which will come from its
main shareholder, Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group.

 

Virgin Atlantic chief executive Shai Weiss said: "Together, we have achieved
what many thought impossible and that is down to the efforts and sacrifices
of so many across the company."

 

He called for "urgent government action" to introduce passenger testing to
help remove travel restrictions.

 

Since the 16 March it has not been possible for many travellers from the UK
to get into the US if they do not have US citizenship and if they have been
in the UK, Ireland, the Schengen zone, Iran, Brazil, or China within the
past two weeks.---BBC

 

 

 

 

Brexit: UK 'sleepwalking into disaster' over border plans, hauliers warn

The UK is "sleepwalking into a disaster" over its border plans for the end
of the Brexit transition period on 31 December, road hauliers have warned.

 

Groups representing truckers have written to ministers warning of "severe"
disruption to supply chains.

 

Rod McKenzie, from the Road Haulage Association, said the government should
"act now before it's too late".

 

But Boris Johnson said the UK was "ready for any eventuality" after the
transition period.

 

The government has also given itself powers to build temporary lorry parks
in England without local approval.

 

However, Mr McKenzie told BBC News: "It is a real case of the government
sleepwalking to a disaster with the border preparations that we have,
whether it is a deal or no-deal Brexit at the end of December.

 

"The supply chain on which we are all dependent to get the things we need
could be disrupted and there is a lack of government focus and action on
this."

 

He added: "When we are trying to emerge from the crisis of Covid, if we then
plunge straight into a Brexit-related crisis, that will be a really
difficult moment and we need real pace.

 

"The difference here is between a disaster area and a disaster area with
rocket boosters on."

 

Labour's shadow cabinet office minister, Rachel Reeves, said the government
"must urgently come forward with a plan to put workable solutions in place".

 

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Mr Johnson said: "We must make sure that
people understand at the end of the year, whatever happens, we're leaving
the EU, leaving the transition period.

 

"That's why it is vital that people who have questions about what they need
to do get onto our government websites 
 look at what they need to do to
prepare, and certainly, we will help them.

 

"But we will get through this."

 

The UK left the European Union on 31 January, but a transition period -
where the UK continues to follow some of the bloc's rules - remains in place
until 31 December while the two sides negotiate a trade agreement.

 

However, trade talks have been taking place since March and both sides have
complained of little progress being made.

 

If a deal is not agreed and ratified by parliaments by the end of the year,
the UK will go into 2021 trading with the bloc on World Trade Organization
rules, which critics fear cause issues at the border.

 

In a letter to the Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove, seen by Bloomberg,
eight logistics organisations - including the Road Haulage Association -
raised concerns over IT systems, the funding to train up customs agents and
the pace of physical infrastructure being built.

 

They asked for an "urgent roundtable meeting" with Mr Gove, Chancellor Rishi
Sunak and Transport Secretary Grants Shapps, saying supply chain must be
protected ahead of a potential second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

 

Mr Shapps said he regularly met the Road Haulage Association and wanted to
reassure them "planning for the end of the transition period hasn't stopped"
during the coronavirus outbreak.

 

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he "could not pre-empt the outcome" of
trade talks with the EU, which he conceded created "some uncertainty".

 

But, he said the government had kept supply changes going throughout the
pandemic and "we are absolutely confident we will do that again in the
future".

 

On 1 January 2021, the way that UK businesses trade with the EU will
fundamentally change.

 

It'll mean new hurdles for traders to clear, including the need to fill in
customs declarations - forms with detailed information on goods being
imported and exported.

 

For the first six months of this new era - and whatever the outcome of the
negotiations between the UK and the EU - goods entering the UK will not have
to complete these processes, as they normally would, at the border.

 

Instead, the government is giving businesses time to file their paperwork
and pay the duties they owe after the goods have entered the UK.

 

This exceptional measure is designed to mitigate the risk of delays for
goods coming into the UK.

 

However, for goods being exported the concern is greater. The EU has said it
will impose its normal controls. And on the UK side, key systems to manage
the flow of lorries at the UK border and make sure consignments are cleared
to proceed to the EU are not up and running.

 

The concern among the industry is that this could lead to lorries being
refused entry onto ferries headed for the EU, long tail-backs at the ports
through which much of the UK's trade with the EU flows and slow down and
disrupt the supply chains between UK and EU businesses.

 

In short, it becomes hard to conduct business as usual if you can't get your
goods to the customer.

 

Shane Brennan, chief executive of the Cold Chain Federation - another of the
groups who wrote the letter - acknowledged the government was carrying out
work on the necessary systems now.

 

But he said there was "no time to get these systems in place to actually do
the job effectively".

 

He told BBC News: "The supply chain leaders will try to do everything they
can to avoid shortages on the shelves, but at its worst, at the extreme,
these sorts of situations will lead to food shortages."

 

Earlier this week, the EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, said the UK
was risking leaving the transition period without a deal unless it began to
compromise.

 

He said he was "worried and disappointed" about the lack of concessions from
his British counterpart, David Frost, after a trade deal meeting on Tuesday.

 

No 10 said it was "clear" that a deal "will not be easy to achieve".

 

The logistics industry letter came as the government gave itself powers to
grant emergency planning permission for it to build temporary lorry parks
and inspection posts in 29 councils areas across England, without the need
for local approval.

 

The government said the lorry parks, which can stay in place until the end
of 2025, would contribute to "an orderly transition to the new system of
controls to secure the border" and would help to address the impact
coronavirus may have had on port operators' ability to provide the necessary
infrastructure themselves, in time for the end of the transition period.

 

Areas affected by the law change - brought about through a statutory
instrument - include Cheshire, Lincolnshire, Liverpool, Devon, East
Sussex.--BBC

 

 

 

£14k alligator bag destroyed over missing import permit

An alligator-skin handbag worth A$26,000 (£14,000; $19,000) is to be
destroyed after a woman imported it into Australia without a permit.

 

The luxury bag, from a Saint Laurent boutique in France, was seized by the
Australian Border Force in Perth.

 

Alligator-skin products are allowed to be imported into Australia, but
shoppers must obtain an A$70 permit.

 

Australia’s environment minister called it a “costly reminder” to apply for
the correct paperwork.

 

While the woman is out of pocket A$26,313, the Department of Agriculture,
Water and the Environment said it decided to take no further action.

 

The maximum penalty for wildlife trade offences in Australia is 10 years in
prison and a A$222,000 fine.

 

While products made from alligator are allowed into Australia they are
strictly regulated through its Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

 

“We all need to be aware of what we’re purchasing online as restricting the
trade of animal products is crucial to the long-term survival of endangered
species,” said Sussan Ley, the country’s Minister for the Environment.

 

She said the government "closely monitors what comes in and out of Australia
to stop and deter the illegal wildlife trade".

 

 

The handbag shopper had arranged a CITES export permit from France, but
didn’t make an application for an import permit from the Australian CITES
Management Authority.

 

Governments across the world have been clamping down on the trade of
over-exploited species such as alligators, with critics say are fuelled by
the fashion industry.

 

The Australian government added that it works hard to “detect cases of
illegally imported exotic wildlife products at the border, including fashion
accessories, tourist trinkets, furs, taxidermy animals and ivory”.--BBC

 

 

 

HS2 rail project work begins with pledge of 22,000 jobs

Construction work on HS2 officially begins on Friday, with companies behind
the controversial high-speed rail project expecting to create 22,000 jobs in
the next few years.

 

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said HS2 would "fire up economic growth and
help to rebalance opportunity".

 

He endorsed the rail link in February, with formal government approval
granted in April despite lockdown.

 

But critics said HS2 will also cost jobs, and vowed to continue protesting.

 

HS2 is set to link London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds. It is hoped the
20-year project will reduce passenger overcrowding and help rebalance the
UK's economy through investment in transport links outside London.

 

HS2 Ltd chief executive Mark Thurston said the reality of high-speed
journeys between Britain's biggest cities had moved a step closer.

 

When the project was mooted in 2009, it was expected to cost an estimated
£37.5bn and when the official price tag was set out in the 2015 Budget it
came in at just under £56bn.

 

But an official government report has since warned that it could cost more
than £100bn and be up to five years behind schedule.

 

Some critics of HS2 describe it as a "vanity project" and say the money
would be better spent on better connections between different parts of
northern England. Others, such as the Stop HS2 pressure group, say it will
cause considerable environmental damage.

 

When will HS2 open and how much will it cost?

The prime minister said HS2 was at the heart of government plans to "build
back better" and would form "the spine of our country's transport network".

 

"But HS2's transformational potential goes even further," he added. "By
creating hundreds of apprenticeships and thousands of skilled jobs, HS2 will
fire up economic growth and help to rebalance opportunity across this
country for years to come."

 

HS2's main works contractor for the West Midlands, the Balfour Beatty Vinci
Joint Venture, has said it expects to be one of the biggest recruiters in
the West Midlands over the next two years.

 

Up to 7,000 skilled jobs would be required to complete its section of the
HS2 route, it said, with women and under-25s the core focus for recruitment
and skills investment.

 

Other firms hiring include:

 

·         Another joint venture partner, EKFB, said it would recruit more
than 4,000 people over the next two years for its section from Long
Itchington Wood site in Warwickshire south to the Chiltern tunnel portals

·         Skanska Costain Strabag, Balfour Beatty Vinci Systra, Align JV and
Mace Dragados JV, based in Greater London, will collectively recruit more
than 10,000

·         HS2 Ltd itself is already directly recruiting for 500 new roles
over the next three months, with the majority based in Birmingham.

HS2 Ltd's Mr Thurston said the railway would be "transformative" for the UK.

 

"With the start of construction, the reality of high speed journeys joining
up Britain's biggest cities in the North and Midlands and using that
connectivity to help level up the country has just moved a step closer," he
added.

 

Campaign group Stop HS2 said Boris Johnson and others who hail the creation
of 22,000 jobs are "rather less keen to mention that HS2 is projected to
permanently displace almost that many jobs".

 

Stop HS2 campaign manager Joe Rukin said: "Trying to spin HS2 as a job
creation scheme is beyond desperate. Creating 22,000 jobs works out at
almost £2m just to create a single job."

 

But speaking on the BBC's Breakfast programme, Transport Secretary Grant
Shapps disputed those figures.

 

"I can't see how there's an argument that making it easier to get about this
country is somehow going to destroy jobs, quite the opposite in fact. It's
clearly going to make the economy level up", he said.

 

"Find those left behind areas, that have found themselves too disconnected
before and join it together."

 

Stop HS2 chairwoman Penny Gaines called the project "environmentally
destructive" to wildlife: "This is why there are currently hundreds of
activists camped out along the HS2 route. We don't expect them to go away
any time soon."

 

However, the Northern Powerhouse Partnership (NPP), which fights for
investment in the regional economy, said such major infrastructure projects
are transformative and called for the planned extensions of HS2 to be
started as soon as possible.

 

"Increasing capacity on the North's rail network and better connecting our
towns and cities will be vital in the economic regeneration of the Northern
Powerhouse - both now and long in the future," said Henri Murison, director
of the NPP.

 

Same dispute, new arguments

This is an important symbolic move for HS2, but in the real world it changes
very little.

 

Work preparing for the new line - demolishing buildings and clearing sites
for example - has already been going on for the past three years. And in
some areas, construction work has also begun.

 

But the arguments over whether or not the railway should actually be built
are continuing to rage.

 

The government has long insisted that it will help re-balance the country's
economy, by promoting investment outside London. It now says the jobs
created by the scheme will support the post-Covid recovery.

 

But opponents claim that lockdown has undermined the case for HS2 - by
showing how easily people can work remotely, and how little business travel
is really needed.

 

Same dispute, new arguments. But now shovels are - officially - in the
ground.

 

The government has also defended itself against criticism that the new line
will no longer be needed, as people travel less as a result of the
coronavirus pandemic.

 

Mr Shapps acknowledged more people are working at home, but said the
government was looking at the country's long term transport needs:

 

"We're not building this for what happens over the next couple of years or
even the next 10 years, whilst we're building it. We're building this, as
with the west coast and the east coast main lines, for 150 years and still
going strong.

 

"I think it actually shows a lot of faith in the future of this country," he
added.--BBC

 

 

 

Etsy gets into S&P 500, Tesla does not

(Reuters) - Shares of Tesla (TSLA.O) tumbled 7% in extended trade on Friday
after the electric car maker was excluded from a group of companies being
added to the S&P 500, among them Etsy, whose stock market value is less than
a 20th of Tesla’s.

 

The decision by S&P Dow Jones Indices is a blow to Tesla investors who
widely expected the company to join the benchmark stock index after a
blockbuster quarterly report in July cleared a major hurdle for its
potential inclusion.

 

S&P Dow Jones Indices said in a statement it was adding online craft seller
Etsy (ETSY.O), semiconductor equipment maker Teradyne (TER.O) and
pharmaceutical technology company Catalent (CTLT.N) to the S&P 500,
effective Sept. 21, and removing H&R Block (HRB.N), Coty (COTY.N) and Kohls
(KSS.N).

 

Shares of Etsy jumped 6% in extended trade, Teradyne rose 2%, and Catalent
added 2%.

 

S&P Dow Jones Indices senior index analyst Howard Silverblatt declined to
say why Tesla was not added to the S&P 500, which is tracked by index funds
with at least $4.4 trillion in assets.

 

“The market is continuously changing, and we need to reflect that in our
indices,” Silverblatt said.

 

With a market capitalization over $370 billion, Tesla is one of the most
valuable companies on Wall Street. Even after a 16% drop in its share price
from record highs this week, Tesla remains more valuable than 95% of the S&P
500’s existing components, including Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) and Procter &
Gamble (PG.N).

 

Etsy, Teradyne and Catalent have a combined stock market value of about $40
billion.

 

Tesla, which is up nearly 400% so far in 2020, is among the most loved - and
hated - stocks on Wall Street. It is the U.S. stock market’s highest-profile
bet on the rise of renewable energy and the decline of fossil fuels, and
Tesla’s Model 3 sedan has made major inroads among consumers.

 

Its recent stock gains have been driven by Tesla’s unexpectedly strong
quarterly results released in July, as well as by bets that it would be
added to the S&P 500, which would trigger massive demand for its shares from
index funds that track the benchmark.

 

Tesla bears point to looming competition from Porsche (PSHG_p.DE), General
Motors (GM.N) and other longer-established rivals. They are also skeptical
of Tesla’s corporate governance under Chief Executive Elon Musk, who in 2018
agreed to pay $20 million and step down as chairman to settle fraud charges.

 

Short sellers are betting $24 billion that Tesla’s shares will fall, among
the largest short levels on record for a U.S. company, in dollars, according
to S3 Partners.

 

 

 

Japan's Suga signals focus on protecting jobs, rules out sales tax cut

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said on
Saturday the new prime minister must continue to protect companies and jobs,
mainly through pay-outs and loans, to cushion the economic blow from the
coronavirus pandemic.

 

Suga, a frontrunner to succeed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in a leadership
race later this month, repeated his caution over the idea, floated by some
lawmakers, to cut the sales tax from the current 10% to mitigate households’
pain from the pandemic.

 

“The sales tax is a necessary source of revenue to pay for Japan’s social
welfare ... I think the rate should be kept as it is,” Suga told a
television programme.

 

The pandemic has deepened recession in Japan, triggering the worst postwar
economic slump in the second quarter as collapsing global and domestic
demand hurt exports and corporate profits.

 

“What’s important now is to protect jobs and help companies continue with
their businesses, mainly through pay-outs and loans,” Suga said.

 

Suga is widely expected to win the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP)
leadership election on Sept. 14, which was set after Abe’s decision last
week to step down. The winner is virtually assured of becoming prime
minister because of the LDP’s parliamentary majority.

 

Markets have been rife with speculation that Suga, upon becoming prime
minister, may call a snap election in coming months to solidify his
political grip.

 

“What people want most from the government is to deal with the pandemic and
create a safe environment to live,” Suga said, when asked whether he would
call an early snap election if he becomes Japan’s new leader.

 

 

 

Argentina's GDP to fall 12% in 2020 due to COVID-19, central bank poll says

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina’s economy is likely to contract 12% in
2020 due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, a central bank survey of
economists showed on Friday, a slightly more positive outlook than a month
earlier.

 

The forecast compares to the 12.5% estimated the previous month in a survey
of specialists published on Friday by the Argentine central bank (BCRA).

 

The economists saw the economy contracting 16.6% in the second quarter, from
the 17% previously calculated, while in the third quarter they saw it
growing 8.7%, compared to a previously anticipated 8%.

 

“The growth expectation for the remaining quarters of 2020 suggests that the
effect of the coronavirus pandemic is perceived as transitory,” the bank
said of the survey.

 

As of Friday, Argentina had registered 451,198 cases of coronavirus and
9,468 deaths. The second largest economy in South America has a population
of about 45 million inhabitants.

 

The economists polled by the central bank saw inflation for 2020 at 37.8%,
and inflation in August at 2.7%.

 

They saw the average nominal exchange rate in Argentina reaching 84.3 pesos
to the dollar in December 2020 and 122 pesos in the same month of 2021.

 

The survey was carried out among consulting firms, research centers,
financial entities and analysts between Aug. 27 and 31.

 

 

 

Trump lauds economic steps between Serbia and Kosovo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An agreement between Serbia and Kosovo to work on
economic ties, hailed by U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday as a “major
breakthrough,” reaffirmed pledges to establish highway and railway links but
left movement on political normalization on hold.

 

Both countries - part of the former Yugoslavia - agreed, for a year, to
freeze campaigns advocating for and against normalizing political ties, said
U.S. officials, who nevertheless lauded a handful of economic measures as
significant progress in the relationship between the two sides.

 

Speaking in the Oval Office flanked by the two countries’ leaders, Trump
said Serbia had also committed to moving its embassy to Jerusalem, and
Kosovo and Israel had agreed to normalize ties and establish diplomatic
relations.

 

Serbian President Aleksander Vucic told reporters there were still many
differences between Serbia and its former province, which declared
independence in 2008, but said Friday’s agreement marked a huge step
forward.

 

He later told Serbian media that Serbia’s agreement was with the United
States, not Kosovo.

 

Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti also welcomed the measures, and said
they should lead to mutual recognition between the two countries, the key
issue dividing them.

 

“Serbia and Kosovo have each committed to economic normalization,” Trump
said. “By focusing on job creation and economic growth, the two countries
were able to reach a major breakthrough.”

 

Political analysts called the agreement underwhelming and hazy, however.

 

“In my mind this is more of a resumption of dialogue between the two sides.
That’s good for the region. But it’s not like some massive, massive
breakthrough,” said Jasmin Mujanovic, a political scientist who specializes
in Eastern Europe.

 

“It’s mostly vague. It’s not even clear on the economic stuff,” said Edward
Joseph, a senior fellow with Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced
International Study.

 

DEAL-MAKER

 

The Republican Trump, who is running for re-election in November, is seeking
to play up his deal-making skills on the international stage and recently
announced a pact to normalize ties between Israel and the United Arab
Emirates.

 

Trump is trailing his Democratic rival Joe Biden, who served as vice
president under then-President Barack Obama, in national opinion polls.

 

Friday’s events, which came after two days of talks among the leaders and
senior Trump aides, was originally scheduled to take place in the White
House’s Roosevelt Room, with two tables set up for the leaders to sit at. It
was abruptly moved to the Oval Office, with Trump’s desk between the two
tables.

 

The Serbian and Kosovo leaders appeared to sign separate documents, not one.
Trump, meanwhile, signed letters acknowledging that the two countries would
work together.

 

Ambassador Richard Grenell, who is serving as a special envoy on the issue
but is not a U.S. government employee, said the United States was not a
signatory.

 

Serbia would be the first European country to open an embassy to Israel in
Jerusalem, and Kosovo the first with a Muslim majority. Only two countries
have done that so far: the United States and Guatemala.

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the moves.

 

Ethnic Albanian-majority Kosovo, which is predominantly Muslim, declared its
independence from Serbia in 2008 after a 1999 NATO-led bombing campaign in
which the United States took part, to curb a war ignited by years of
repressive Serbian rule and to stop ethnic cleansing by Belgrade.

 

Serbia, backed by its traditional Slavic and Orthodox Christian ally Russia,
has refused to recognize Kosovo’s independence, a precondition for
Belgrade’s membership in the European Union.

 

National security adviser Robert O’Brien told reporters that expanded
economic ties, increased border crossings and mutual recognition of
professional licenses could pave the way for political solutions in the
future.

 

He said the deal would also lead to increased U.S. investment but gave no
details.

 

 

 

 

Wall Street ends lower as Nasdaq rout persists

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Nasdaq closed lower on Friday though well above its
session low as selling eased late in the day after investors dumped
heavyweight technology stocks due to concerns about high valuations and a
patchy economic recovery.

 

 

The major indexes regained some ground in late afternoon though trading was
still volatile.

 

At its lowest point of the day the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell as much as 9.9%
from its record high reached on Wednesday and the S&P 500 dipped briefly
below its pre-crisis record, reached in February, although it too closed
well off session lows.

 

Mega-cap companies such as Apple Inc, Microsoft Inc, Amazon.com Inc and
Facebook Inc also pared losses though of that group only Apple managed a
very tiny gain for the day.

 

 

 

Buffett's Berkshire slashes Wells Fargo stake

(Reuters) - Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) said on Friday
it had cut its Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N) stake to 3.3%, further reducing what
had once been a $32 billion investment in the bank.

 

Berkshire said in a regulatory filing bit.ly/2Z9Kxml, it owned about 137.6
million shares, worth $3.4 billion, of the fourth-largest U.S. bank by
assets, down about 100 million from the end of June.

 

Buffett began investing in Wells Fargo in 1989, but has been reducing
Berkshire’s stake as the bank struggles to recover from a series of scandals
over its treatment of customers, including the opening of accounts without
their knowledge.

 

Wells Fargo’s ability to grow remains subject to a Federal Reserve limit.
Moody’s Investors Service on Wednesday lowered its rating outlook on the
bank to “negative” from “stable”, citing the bank’s slower-than-expected
ability to resolve governance and oversight issues from previous years.

 

Berkshire still owns shares of several other banks, including Bank of
America Corp (BAC.N), which became its largest common stock holding other
than iPhone-maker Apple Inc (AAPL.O).

 

Buffett’s conglomerate also owns dozens of operating businesses including
the BNSF railroad and Geico auto insurer.

 

 

 

 

Competition Tribunal approves acquisition of Link SA by JSE

The Competition Tribunal has put in an approval for the JSE to acquire a
majority stake in Link Market Services SA. The acquisition of the shares
registry will cost the JSE, R224.5 million. 

 

 

 

New proposals to re-open the events industry in South Africa

The government met with business stakeholders on Thursday (3 September) to
discuss conditions for the re-opening of the events sector in South Africa.

 

Live events have been prohibited in the country for close to seven months,
with events stopped before the country moved into a hard lockdown at the end
of March.

 

The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture – which led the discussions – said
it is aware of the frustration and challenges that are faced by
practitioners and businesses in the sector.

 

“Government is doing everything it can while ensuring relevant regulations
are adhered to. Hence there is a progressive approach of facing in the
restrictions to allow for the sector to resume its activities and for
creatives to practice their craft,” it said.

 

The department met with the South African Communication Industries
Association (SACIA), to discuss protocols to enable staff in the technical
and live-events industry to return to work safely, as well as ensure the
safety of people attending events.

 

As part of the meeting, SACIA presented the stringent safety measures and
protocols they plan have put in place to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 at
events organised by any of their affiliated member organisations.

 

Some of the proposals include:

 

The prohibition of the consumption of alcohol at events with over 300
participants;

A separate safety plan for 1,000 participants (drive-ins);

In addition to the normal health and safety protocols, SACIA proposes to use
technology such as electronic capacity monitoring systems to track how many
participants are at events at any given time;

New regulations on the number of participants at events, currently set at 50
people, to take into consideration the size/area or total capacity of venues
and not the current 50 participants’ restriction, as this does not ensure
that safety protocols of social distancing are respected.

Limit of 50 people

 

 

While gatherings of more than 50 people are still prohibited by the
country’s lockdown level 2 regulations, the department expressed a need to
use percentages of capacity, rather than absolute numbers, as a measure for
limitations.

 

It further committed to using the two weeks before the 15th September as the
window of opportunity to engage and consult on the plan.

 

“It is important to mention that in engaging with the SACIA; there was a
mutual agreement that while it is important for government to open the
economy and allowing industries to begin going through a recovery process,
it is also of equal importance that the livelihoods of people are
protected,” the department said.

 

“Therefore all measures should be taken to minimise the risk of the spread
of infections and the possible surge of the second wave of Covid-19
pandemic.”

 

South Africa’s events industry has been particularly hard hit by the
coronavirus lockdown, with thousands of people unable to return to work
under the current lockdown.

 

This led to the formation of the “light SA red” campaign which was created
by members of the industry as a means of highlighting their issues. The
campaign saw national landmarks, including table mountain lit up with red
spotlights.-bsuinesstech

 

 

 

Personal information of South Africans posted online after major data breach
– here’s what leaked

South Africa’s Information Regulator says it has received information from a
whistle-blower that the personal information of South Africans exposed by
the Experian data breach has found its way to the ‘dark web’.

 

The dark web allows criminals to anonymously sell stolen personal info,
along with all sorts of other contraband, such as illicit drugs and weapons.

 

The whistle-blower said that the personal information posted includes:

 

·         Cellphone numbers;

·         Home phone numbers;

·         Work phone numbers;

·         Employment details; and

·         Identity numbers.

The personal information of companies includes:

 

·         Names of the companies;

·         Contact details;

·         VAT numbers; and

·         Banking details.

The regulator said is ‘extremely disturbed’ about the information that it
has received from the whistle-blower – especially after it was reassured by
Experian that the personal information of data subjects was appropriately
secured.

 

“The information which Experian has provided to the regulator so far raises
serious concerns, in so far as protection of personal information is
concerned,” it said.

 

“In an effort to explore a suitable solution that will ensure the
appropriate protection of personal information of data subjects, the
regulator has decided to conduct an independent review to assess the extent
of the data breach and to explore a suitable solution that will ensure that
all the personal information disseminated by Experian is appropriately
protected.”

 

As Experian’s website is hosted in Switzerland, the regulator said it will
bring the data breach to the attention of its counterpart in Switzerland,
the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner, since the breach
involves cross border flow of personal information.

 

The regulator said it received further correspondence from Experian in which
it confirmed that they have verified that the files on the internet were the
misappropriated data.

 

The files were reported to have been removed from the site and a further
investigation is being conducted by Experian.

 

Another correspondence from Experian indicated that the data was not on the
dark web but placed on a third-party data sharing site on the internet, and
that the third party has disabled the links and the data has been removed.

 

The regulator said that Experian has undertaken to cooperate with the
Regulator in the review process.

 

Experian breach

 

Experian, a consumer credit reporting company, said on 19 August that it
experienced a breach of data which has exposed some personal information of
as many as 24 million South Africans, and 793,749 business entities, to a
suspected fraudster.

 

The breach has been reported to authorities, and South African banks have
been working with Experian and South African Banking Risk Centre (Sabric) to
identify which of their customers may have been exposed to the breach and to
protect their personal information, even as the investigation unfolds.

 

While it was not specified how this information was posted on the dark web,
it is possible that this data may now be sold to illicit buyers. A 2018
report found that it costs just R14,000 to buy all your personal details
from the dark web.

 

Hacked financial details are by far the most commonly listed items, and
credit cards, in particular, are the most valuable, the report
found.-businesstech

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 


 


Invest Wisely!

Bulls n Bears 

 

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INVESTORS DIARY 2020

 


Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


Companies under Cautionary

 

 

 


 

 

 

 


Bindura Nickel Corporation

 

 

 


Padenga Holdings

 

 

 


Delta Corporation

 

 

 


Meikles Limited

 

 

 


 <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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<mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> info at bulls.co.zw Tel: +263 4 2927658 Cell: +263 77
344 1674

 


 

 

 

 

 

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