Breakingviews
China's economic statistics aren't fake enough
BEIJING (Reuters Breakingviews) - China's economic statistics may be damned as lies by sceptics, but they aren't fake enough for comfort.
Viewsroom: Davos goes topsy-turvy
NEW YORK (Reuters Breakingviews) - Team Trump is AWOL at the World Economic Forum's annual alpine shindig while Theresa May's Brexit plan has people on edge. That left it to China's Xi Jinping to defend globalization. Elsewhere, U.S. bank earnings disappoint. And Snapchat considers making investor rights disappear.
Student-loan case throws down regulatory gauntlet
NEW YORK (Reuters Breakingviews) - Ballooning student debt has been increasingly compared to subprime mortgages. That helps explain why the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau just ripped a page out of the crisis playbook and accused loan servicer Navient of cheating borrowers paying for college. Suing just 48 hours before Donald Trump is sworn in as the 45th American president is nevertheless a bold gambit by the same agency that nailed Wells Fargo for opening fake accounts.
Safran tries too hard to please Zodiac insiders
LONDON (Reuters Breakingviews) - The strategic appeal of French aerospace group Safran’s bid for plane-parts maker Zodiac could become the deal’s biggest obstacle. The part-stock offer, which values the target at 9.7 billion euros including debt, only flies, the bidder says, if half the target’s shareholders accept cash. Strip out the company’s controlling families, who want shares, and that half turns into 73 percent. But that may be a tough call as Safran’s superior performance, plus the prosp
Samsung leads Elliott outside its comfort zone
HONG KONG (Reuters Breakingviews) - Samsung Group is leading U.S. hedge fund Elliott away from its comfort zone. A national corruption scandal and the unclear fate of the group's de facto leader Jay Y. Lee cast uncertainty over the investor's second big showdown in South Korea and most high-profile bet in Asia.
Netflix finances keep producing stranger things
NEW YORK (Reuters Breakingviews) - Financially speaking, Netflix has come to embody the title of one of its new hit shows: "Stranger Things." The video-streaming service blew past quarterly subscriber expectations, as it celebrated a decade of being online. After burning through still more cash, its share price soared to a new high. Apparently growth can come at almost any cost.
A Trump FAQ for American business leaders in Davos
DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters Breakingviews) - What does President Donald Trump mean for the world? That's the first question out of the mouths of the 3,000-plus earnest globalists gathered in Davos, Switzerland for the annual World Economic Forum. Unfortunately for them, the principal actors in the impending regime change in Washington aren't around to answer in person. That leaves the few hundred American business leaders in attendance to field their international counterparts' queries. Herewith
Pearson chief Fallon gets an F
LONDON (Reuters Breakingviews) - Pearson boss John Fallon's latest profit warning earns him an F. It is time for him to go.
HNA buys SkyBridge to White House
BEIJING (Reuters Breakingviews) - HNA Group is hoping to buy a SkyBridge directly to the White House with its latest deal. The Chinese conglomerate is taking a stake in newly minted presidential adviser Anthony Scaramucci's hedge fund. The business fit is a stretch, but the rationale of HNA making a friend on Trump's team as it tries to expand in the United States is hard to avoid.
Trump nominee spreads insider-trading disease
WASHINGTON (Reuters Breakingviews) - One of Donald Trump's nominees is spreading the insider-trading disease. Georgia Representative Tom Price, tapped to be U.S. health and human services secretary, has raised new conflicts-of-interest concerns. He bought shares in publicly traded companies while working on bills affecting them.
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Reuters Breakingviews is the world's leading source of agenda-setting financial insight. The company was founded in 1999 as Breakingviews.com and was acquired by Thomson Reuters in 2009, becoming the Reuters brand for financial commentary. Every day, we comment on the big financial stories as they break. Our expert analysis is provided by a global team of correspondents based in New York, Washington, Chicago, London, Paris, Madrid, Hong Kong, Beijing and Singapore. For the full commentary and analysis service from breakingviews.com, including regular emails containing the latest views, contact sales@breakingviews.com. All opinions expressed are those of the authors.