Jumat, 11 Oktober 2019

Renault Fires Its C.E.O., as the Post-Ghosn Shake-Up Continues - The New York Times

Renault’s board on Friday fired its chief executive, Thierry Bolloré, just days after Nissan shook up its leadership, as the two automakers in a much-vaunted alliance struggled to regain their footing nearly a year after the ouster of their former chairman, Carlos Ghosn.

The French automaker named its chief financial officer, Clotilde Delbos, as the interim chief executive. Mr. Bolloré, a former executive who served under Mr. Ghosn, became chief executive after Mr. Ghosn’s arrest on charges of financial wrongdoing last year.

Renault and Nissan are attempting to turn a page on the Ghosn era by shedding executives who have complicated efforts to reboot the world’s largest auto alliance since his arrest.

On Tuesday, Nissan appointed a new leader following the ouster of longtime chief executive Hiroto Saikawa, a protégé of Mr. Ghosn’s.

Friday’s surprise maneuver paves the way for Renault to look for a new chief to work closely with Nissan and Renault’s chairman, Jean-Dominique Senard, who took the helm of the French automaker in January.

In a Thursday interview with a French financial newspaper, Les Échos, Mr. Bolloré said he was the target of a “very disturbing coup” and that the only thing he had done wrong was to be promoted by Mr. Ghosn, who resigned under pressure from Renault. The French carmaker has also alerted prosecutors in France to investigate possible irregularities with the funding of Mr. Ghosn’s wedding at Versailles in 2016.

New leadership at the head of both auto giants could open a new chapter in the partnership, which has been plagued by festering relations, governance problems, corporate intrigue and an increasingly flagging financial performance since Mr. Ghosn was toppled last November as head of the alliance, which also includes Mitsubishi Motors of Japan.

Nissan declined to comment on the changes at Renault.

Ben Dooley contributed reporting.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/11/business/renault-ceo-bollore.html

2019-10-11 09:51:00Z
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With U.S. tariffs looming, China drums up hope for a partial trade deal - Reuters

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese state newspaper said on Friday that a “partial” trade deal would benefit China and the United States, and Washington should take the offer on the table, reflecting Beijing’s aim of cooling the row before more U.S. tariffs kick in.

Both sides have slapped duties on hundreds of billions of dollars of goods during the 15-month trade dispute, which has shaken financial markets and uprooted global supply chains as companies move production elsewhere.

As top U.S. and Chinese negotiators wrapped up a first day of trade talks in more than two months on Thursday, business groups expressed optimism the two sides might be able to ease the conflict and delay a U.S. tariff hike scheduled for next week.

China’s top trade negotiator, Vice Premier Liu He, said on Thursday that China is willing to reach agreement with the United States on matters that both sides care about so as to prevent friction from leading to any further escalation.

He stressed that “the Chinese side came with great sincerity”.

Adding to that, the official China Daily newspaper said in an editorial in English: “A partial deal is a more feasible objective”.

“Not only would it be of tangible benefit by breaking the impasse, but it would also create badly needed breathing space for both sides to reflect on the bigger picture,” the paper said.

Hours ahead of an expected meeting between China’s Liu and U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House, China’s securities regulator unveiled a firm timetable for scrapping foreign ownership limits in futures, securities and mutual fund companies for the first time.

China previously said it would further open up its financial sector on its own terms and at its own pace, but the timing of Friday’s announcement suggests Beijing is keen to show progress in its plan to increase foreigners’ access to the sector, which is among a host of demands from Washington in the trade talks.

Chinese officials are offering to increase annual purchases of U.S. agricultural products as the two countries seek to resolve their trade dispute, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday, citing unidentified sources.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Thursday confirmed net sales of 142,172 tonnes of U.S. pork to China in the week ended Oct. 3, the largest weekly sale to the world’s top pork market on record.

A U.S.-China currency agreement is also being floated as a symbol of progress in talks between the world’s two largest economies, although that would largely repeat past pledges by China, currency experts say, and will not change the dollar-yuan relationship that has been a thorn in the side of Trump.

PESSIMISM ‘STILL JUSTIFIED’

Analysts have noted China sent a larger-than-normal delegation of senior Chinese officials to Washington, with commerce minister Zhong Shan and deputy ministers on agriculture and technology also present.

The sudden optimism about a potential de-escalation is in stark contrast to much more gloomy predictions in business circles just days ago on the heels of a series of threatened crackdowns on China by the Trump administration.

On Tuesday, the U.S. government widened its trade blacklist to include Chinese public security bureaus and some of China’s top artificial intelligence startups, punishing Beijing for its treatment of Muslim minorities.

Surprised by the move, Chinese government officials told Reuters on the eve of talks that they had lowered expectations for significant progress.

Friday’s China Daily editorial also warned that “pessimism is still justified”, noting that the talks would finish just three days before Washington is due to raise tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese imports.

The negotiations were the “only window” to end deteriorating relations, it added.

Trump, said on Thursday that the talks had so far gone very well. But he has previously insisted he would not be satisfied with a partial deal to resolve his two-year effort to change China’s trade, intellectual property and industrial policy practices, which he argues cost millions of U.S. jobs.

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin (R) and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer welcome China's Vice Premier Liu He before the two countries' trade negotiations in Washington, U.S., October 10, 2019. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File Photo

There have also been reports that the Trump administration is readying additional measures aimed at China, with unknown consequences for trade negotiations.

Such wildly shifting expectations have been a persistent feature of the trade war, and observers remained cautious over what might emerge from this week’s talks.

“China wants peace, but I don’t think China will give more,” one Chinese trade expert said on condition of anonymity.

Reporting by Yawen Chen and Michael Martina; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore & Kim Coghill

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-china/with-us-tariffs-looming-china-drums-up-hope-for-a-partial-trade-deal-idUSKBN1WQ10X

2019-10-11 08:50:00Z
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Trump says US-China trade talks are 'going very well' - Fox Business

ICON Advisers founder and president Craig Callahan discusses why the market is priced at about 20 percent below his estimate of fair value.

The latest round of trade talks between the U.S. and China will conclude with President Trump meeting at the White House on Friday with the leader of the Chinese negotiating team.

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Chinese Vice Premier Liu He is leading the delegation in the 13th round of negotiations with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

Trump offered an upbeat assessment of the latest round of talks.

Expectations were low that the negotiations would do much to resolve a 15-month trade battle that is weighing on the global economy.

But as the first of an expected two days of talks wrapped up Thursday, Trump told reporters at the White House, "We're doing very well ... We're going to see them tomorrow, right here, and it's going very well."

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The world's two biggest economies are deadlocked over U.S. allegations that China steals technology and pressures foreign companies to hand over trade secrets as part of a sharp-elbowed drive to become a world leader in advanced industries such as robotics and self-driving cars.

Under Trump, the United States has slapped tariffs on more than $360 billion worth of Chinese imports and is planning to hit another $160 billion Dec. 15. That would extend import taxes to virtually everything China ships to the United States. China has hit back by targeting about $120 billion in U.S. goods, focusing on farm products.

The high cost of the tariffs and uncertainty over when and how the trade war will end have taken an economic toll, especially on manufacturing companies. A private survey last week found that U.S. factory output had dropped to its lowest level since 2009, when the economy was in the grips of a deep recession.

Liu met Thursday with leaders of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the U.S.-China Business Council. Liu told them the Chinese negotiators "come with great sincerity" and were ready to discuss the trade balance, market access and investor protection, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

The report made no mention of willingness to discuss Chinese industrial and technology policy, a major irritant that sparked the tariff war.

There are hopes a productive meeting would persuade the Trump administration to call off or postpone plans next Tuesday to raise tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese imports from 25 percent to 30 percent.

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Still, Beijing has been reluctant to make the kind of substantive policy reforms that would satisfy Washington. Doing so likely would require scaling back the Chinese leaders' aspirations to technological competitiveness they see as crucial to their country's future prosperity.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

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https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/trump-says-us-china-trade-talks-are-going-very-well

2019-10-11 06:03:46Z
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Computer crash caused Confederation LRT chaos - CTV News


CTVNewsOttawa.ca Staff
Published Thursday, October 10, 2019 7:43AM EDT
Last Updated Thursday, October 10, 2019 6:58PM EDT

OTTAWA — It was a computer malfunction-not a jammed door- which caused a third day of LRT chaos on the Confederation Line LRT.

The  City of Ottawa's transit boss John Manconi says a train was taken out of services and stuck on the tracks at Bayview Station when the 'Train Control Management System' indicated a problem.

In a memo to City Council released Thursday afternoon, Manconi indicated the computer reset took longer than expected.

"The TCMS experienced a fault at Bayview Station and had to be reset. Similar to a personal computer, this reset process involved rebooting the system and engaging technical support staff. Normally, this is a relatively quick reset and we are investigating why there was a delay in the process", stated Manconi in the memo..

Mayor Jim Watson said the problem today was not door-related.

Manconi also says work continues to improve passenger flows at Tunney's and Bair stations.

Here's some of the action items from his memo:

  • At both stations:
    • Staging additional buses for the morning and afternoon peak periods to ensure service reliability from stations is maintained;
    • Staging tow trucks to ensure a quick removal of any buses, which keeps traffic moving within the station; and,
    • Additional operations supervisors, special constables, and customer support staff in red vests have been assigned to the stations to keep buses flowing well, to keep customers safe, and to answer questions from customers.
    • We are working on a plan to install strap hangers in trains.

R1 bus service was implemented for eastbound commuters between Tunney’s Pasture and Rideau Stations and was ended just before 9:00 a.m., with an apology from the transit service.


Delays on Tuesday and Wednesday were caused by door jams.

Manconi says the city along with train maker Alston is reviewing all door issues.

The doors have so far operated automatically, but they do have buttons for times when manual use is necessary. According to OCTranspo.com, when there are too few passengers or when the weather is cold, the button will need to be used to open the doors:

To open the doors manually:

An audio message will let you know the train has arrived. The button on the door will turn green. Simply press it to open.

Avoid holding the train doors open. Holding or blocking the doors will delay the train for everyone. Just wait for the next one. It will arrive every five minutes or less during peak periods.

When boarding, make sure your items (such as backpacks) are fully inside the train to allow the train doors to close. If your item is preventing the doors from shutting, the train will not be able to depart.

When the doors are closing:

Red light indicating door is about to close. The light above the door will turn red. The button on the door will turn red. A sound will chime.

The delays had frustrated riders taking to social media once again to post photos of large crowds at station platforms and wonder how the system will operate once the weather turns cold.


The main selling point of the Confederation Line was the downtown tunnel, meant to get buses out of the core, but the replacement bus service has seen those buses return.

Transit Commission Chair Coun. Allan Hubley says technicians are working along the line to ensure faulty systems can be reset. He says door holding times have been extended at some stations and new protocols are in place to try and get trains back in service as soon as possible when there’s a door fault.

OC Transpo tweeted an apology just before 9:00 a.m., when replacement bus service ended.



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October 10, 2019 at 06:43PM
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Drivers without B.C. licences face big ICBC hikes - Vancouver Sun

B.C. motorists with out-of-province driver's licences are seeing big increases to their auto insurance rates because of ICBC changes.

VICTORIA — B.C. motorists with out-of-province driver’s licences are facing big increases to insurance rates because their driving history from elsewhere in Canada no longer counts for a discount.

The rate changes, which came into effect Sept. 1, mean a person who insures a vehicle in B.C. but has a driver’s licence from another province is ineligible for a safe driver discount.

Previously, the Insurance Corp. of B.C. would credit a person for a clean driving record accumulated elsewhere in Canada.

“The data from ICBC shows that people who are new drivers to B.C. have more collisions, and the whole rate design piece is around reflecting driver risk,” Attorney General David Eby said. “So if you are driving on another province’s driver licence, people tend to have more collisions. As a result, their rates are higher.”

Drivers can still get an insurance discount for their safe driving record from another province, but to do so they will have to surrender their out-of-province driver’s licence and apply for a B.C. licence.

Once they do so, ICBC will consider up to 15 years of their non-B.C. driving experience for a discount — an increase from eight years before the changes. However, those savings will offset for the first three years with a “new resident” surcharge of 15 per cent on the first year lowering to five per cent in the third year.

“Crash data shows that new residents represent a higher risk for the first three years of driving in B.C.” ICBC said in a statement. “To account for this, the model applies a risk premium in their first three years of driving in B.C.”

Critics say it is overkill.

“From the speculation tax to now this, it’s one more nail in the coffin for British Columbia attracting visitors and investors in this province,” said Liberal critic Jas Johal. “These folks may be here for three or five months but they spend money in our province.”

Related

The changes are part of a larger rate redesign by ICBC that sets insurance rates based on driver history and not the history of the vehicle being insured. It has attracted criticism because young and inexperienced drivers are seeing major rate hikes since ICBC deems them to be a higher risk for accidents.

“The old model was a vehicle-based insurance model, meaning that you didn’t even need a B.C. driver’s licence to receive safe driving discounts — you just needed to insure a vehicle in B.C., even if you didn’t live here permanently,” ICBC said in a statement.

“Under the old model, these savings were subsidized by British Columbians who were living in and driving safely in our province, and who ended up paying more than their fair share as a result.”

Eby said the best solution for part-time B.C. drivers or those who don’t want to get a B.C. driver’s licence is to work with their insurance broker to buy short-term insurance for the months they want to drive in B.C. and then storage insurance for their time out-of-province.

Out of province drivers in B.C. only part time “are going to want to be in contact with their brokers to start and stop their insurance when they’re not in the province, because it doesn’t make sense to pay for it when they’re not here,” said Eby.

rshaw@postmedia.com

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October 11, 2019 at 05:48AM
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The close: TSX climbs on fresh hope of U.S.-China trade deal - The Globe and Mail

Stocks rose on Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would meet with China’s top trade negotiator on Friday, while oil rose as OPEC pledged a decision on supply at its December meeting.

A drop in the U.S. currency, also tied to trade talks, supported dollar-denominated commodity prices, while sterling jumped just under 2 per cent, on track for its largest gain against the dollar in seven months, after the British and Irish prime ministers said they would continue discussions to try and agree on a Brexit deal.

Markets were expected to remain volatile, with the focus on the China-U.S. trade talks, as wild overnight gyrations indicated traders were ready to chase every headline.

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Canada’s main stock index gained ground on Thursday, as a clutch of positive headlines on trade lifted sentiment.

The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index was unofficially up 42.81 points, or 0.26 per cent, at 16,422.68.

The energy sector climbed 1.1 per cent, while financial and industrial stocks rose 0.3 per cent and 0.7 per cent, respectively.

A weak spot in markets was Hexo Corp., which plummeted 23 per cent, as the cannabis producer withdrew its 2020 forecast, blaming an uncertain environment and slow store rollouts.

That pushed the healthcare sector down 6.1 per cent, and pressured other pot companies, including Aphria Inc., Aurora Cannabis Inc. and Canopy Growth Corp., which were down between 9.3 per cent and 13.6 per cent.

The euro hit its highest since Sept. 20 versus the dollar as the greenback turned weaker across the board, partly due to a Bloomberg report about a U.S.-China currency pact to stop the yuan’s devaluation. China’s offshore yuan hit its strongest levels in more than two weeks.

The risk-on environment weighed on the greenback, and even harder on Japan’s yen.

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“There is growing optimism that we could get some partial agreement on trade between the U.S. and China. I think both sides are needing to have a win,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA in New York.

“So there is less safe-haven demand for the dollar. If we get some type of trade deal or mini-agreement or mandate, you’re going to see that being supportive of European assets. We’re seeing the euro now back above $1.10, which has been the resistance,” he added.

The dollar index fell 0.42 per cent, with the euro up 0.33 per cent to $1.1005.

Sterling was last trading at $1.2434, up 1.88 per cent on the day and the safe-haven yen suffered through a risk-on session, recently down 0.42 per cent versus the greenback at 107.94 per dollar.

The Turkish lira, under pressure this week after Ankara began air attacks over northern Syria, gained 0.71 per cent versus the U.S. dollar at 5.83. It is still on track for its largest weekly drop in eight.

Trump’s tweet announcing his Friday meeting with Liu “is giving market participants a reason to believe that perhaps a trade deal or at least a partial trade deal might be announced as early as tomorrow,” said Robert Pavlik chief investment strategist at SlateStone Wealth LLC in New York.

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Separately, Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported Liu said Beijing was willing to reach an agreement with Washington to prevent any further escalation of the trade war.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 153.58 points, or 0.58 per cent, to 26,499.59, the S&P 500 gained 18.93 points, or 0.65 per cent, to 2,938.33 and the Nasdaq Composite added 47.04 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 7,950.78.

Stock futures were down over 1 per cent overnight on contradicting reports of the state of talks between China and the United States.

China is unlikely to be willing to make an easy compromise with a U.S. president who seems increasingly vulnerable to domestic political pressure as opposition Democrats seek to impeach him, analysts said.

The pan-European STOXX600 index rose 0.65 per cent and MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.55 per cent.

Emerging market stocks lost 0.09 per cent. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed 0.41 per cent lower, while Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.45 per cent.

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Treasury yields rose, also on hopes of a trade resolution between the United States and China. However, some investors highlighted the difficulty of using the rapidly shifting headlines on trade to direct investment strategy.

“A choppy overnight session driven by conflicting signals regarding trade negotiations highlights the difficulty in chasing every 5 basis point move in yields, in that the proximate justification can unwind just as quickly,” said Ian LLyngen, head of U.S. rates strategy at BMO Capital Markets.

Benchmark 10-year notes last fell 20/32 in price to yield 1.6543 per cent, from 1.587 per cent late on Wednesday.

The 2-year note last fell 3/32 in price to yield 1.5222 per cent, from 1.474 per cent late on Wednesday.

Among the widely followed emerging markets, Turkey’s government bonds saw another day of falls as investors fretted about the negative international reaction to Ankara’s military operation in northeast Syria.

Focus was also on the mood in Ecuador, as another day of fierce protests against recent fuel subsidy cuts hammered its bonds on Wednesday.

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Safe-haven gold fell; spot gold dropped 0.7 per cent to $1,494.99 an ounce.

Reuters



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October 10, 2019 at 04:38PM
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Hong Kong Is the Latest Tripwire for Tech Firms in China - WIRED

Over the past decade, China has embraced US sports and high-tech products like iPhones and Teslas, and US businesses granted access to China’s domestic market have benefited from a huge and increasingly wealthy set of consumers. For US tech companies, the ties often run deeper: They rely on China’s factories and supply chain and, increasingly, its top-class research talent, says Chris Meserole, a foreign policy fellow and technology expert at the Brookings Institution in Washington. “I don’t think the public is aware of just how fully intertwined our economies are,” he says.

Those ties are increasingly strained as political and economic tensions ratchet up amid the ongoing trade war, and in response to politically charged flashpoints like the Hong Kong protests. The way Blizzard, the NBA, and Apple have capitulated to the Chinese government reflects the economic reality of today’s relationship.

Meserole says US and Chinese companies are already looking for ways to divest themselves from the other country, by finding alternative sources of manufacturing or investment for example. He believes the trend will continue. “To me the question isn’t ‘Will we see a decoupling?’” he says. “It is ‘At what scale will we decouple?’”

Disentangling US and Chinese interests may prove painful for the businesses involved and for each country’s economy. NBA games, for example, are broadcast on Chinese state media CCTV, and the league has partnered with Chinese media company Tencent to stream its games in the country—a $1.5 billion partnership that Tencent and CCTV suspended this week, prompting fans there to seek refunds.

For US game studios, which can't operate in China without a government-granted license and often form joint ventures with Chinese companies, jeopardizing that license means jeopardizing an increasing swath of your bottom line. "More and more companies have grown dependent on China's market size, which can easily account for half your game revenue," Kern says. "That's an inordinate amount of pressure." The calculations are even more complex for Activision Blizzard: Asia accounted for 12 percent of the company’s revenue in the first half of the year; and Tencent holds a 5 percent stake in the company.

Each of this week’s disputes unfolded against the backdrop of the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. In addition to stamping out dissent, China also may want to signal its ability to hurt the US economically. “The Chinese government understands that it wields tremendous power over US businesses in exchange for access to the market,” says Samm Sacks, an expert on China’s digital economy at New America, a think tank.

With trade negotiations between the US and China resuming this week in Washington, including a scheduled meeting between President Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, such tension will make it more difficult for US companies to simply ignore politics in China. But Sacks says that with the two nations seemingly on course for greater conflict, it may be important to recognize the things they have in common. “There's a lot of nationalist rhetoric on both sides of the Pacific right now,” she says. “But the reality is that a splintering of tech and culture would be incredibly disruptive, and even dangerous.”

For US consumers like Kern, the blowback is less a matter of nationalism than of principle. Citing two NBA fans who were ejected from a game in the US for chanting "Free Hong Kong," he calls companies' need to back away from China an "unethical dilemma." "Either you start to censor your games, your players, your employees to Chinese standards," he says, "or you don't get investments, you don't get access to half the market, and you can't compete globally."

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October 11, 2019 at 05:37AM
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