Barron’s (October 31)
“A U.S.-China summit in South Korea did just enough, even if it didn’t fix everything that has kept the two sides at odds.” It has “put markets at ease,” at least for a while. “The de-escalation appeared to be more a win for China than for the U.S., but also took a worst-case scenario off the table for markets.”
Tags: At ease, China, De-escalation, Fix, Fragile, Markets, South Korea, Summit, Temporary, Trade truce, U.S., Win, Worst-case scenario
Reuters (February 13)
“U.S. President Donald Trump says trade wars are easy to win. If so, his 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium imports ought to have big overseas producers like Rio Tinto begging for mercy. Yet shareholders in the $107 billion miner and rivals like BHP have already shrugged off concerns. Granted, they may be overly optimistic, or reckon the levies, set to go into effect next month, won’t be imposed. But it also could be because the duties would hurt the U.S. the most.”
Tags: 25% tariffs, Aluminium, BHP, Duties, Hurt, Imports, Miner, Overseas producers, Rio Tinto, Shareholders, Steel, Trade wars, Trump, U.S., Win
Financial Times (December 23)
In a “win for activists that signals trouble for other US companies,” the SEC “has rejected Apple’s petition to block three shareholder proposals from going to a vote at its next annual meeting…. Last month, the regulator changed its policies to make it harder for companies to win regulatory support to reject investor petitions.”
Tags: Activists, AGM, Apple, Investor, Petition, Petitions, Policies, Regulator, Reject, SEC, Shareholder proposals, Signals, Trouble, Vote, Win
New York Times (June 26)
“The ouster of the chairman, Osamu Nagayama, 74, represents a major win in a battle between Toshiba and foreign investors who have pushed the conservative company to clean up its governance. It is also a breakthrough in a broader effort to increase investor oversight of Japanese corporations, following a series of government-led changes meant to make companies more transparent and accountable.”
Tags: Battle, Breakthrough, Chairman, Clean-up, Conservative, Foreign investors, Governance, Government, Japanese corporations, Nagayama, Ouster, Oversight, Toshiba, Transparent, Win
Wall Street Journal (March 9)
“The biggest activist hedge funds are jumping on the wave of socially responsible investing.” The “latest latest trend in shareholder activism” is strategic. “Highlighting ESG could help activists win the support of the big funds that is crucial to their success—and ignoring the issues could make their backing harder to win”.
Tags: Activists, Backing, Hedge funds, Shareholders. ESG, SRI, Success, Trend, Win
Chicago Tribune (March 5)
“Win a small tariff battle, lose the trade war. That’s our Midwestern perspective on President Donald Trump’s antagonistic, suspicious approach to global trade.”
Tags: Antagonistic, Lose, Midwest, Perspective, Suspicious, Tariff battle, Trade war, Trump, Win
