Labour

Corona Capital: Millionaire tax, Rent the Runway

18 September 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: New Jersey taxes the rich to help close a budget gap; and high fashion has trouble competing against sweats.

Corona Capital: Peloton, New York City

11 September 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Peloton is on a tear with earnings exceeding expectations but it may burn out soon; more than 150 business leaders write to Mayor Bill de Blasio over the Big Apple’s deteriorating conditions.

UK job market is heading for rude awakening

8 September 2020

Finance minister Rishi Sunak is scheduled to wind up a government furlough scheme in October. This could see unemployment nearly treble to its highest since the mid-1980s, KPMG forecasts. Grocers like Tesco are hiring, but the pay is relatively low. That will stunt recovery.

Home working will delay not kill office recovery

26 August 2020

Some big firms have declared remote working to be new normal. Such fervour is making big city property a buyers’ market, with shorter and cheaper leases and less new construction. But there are still good reasons to work in offices – more spacious ones than in pre-Covid days.

German union will get half its four-day-week wish

26 August 2020

IG Metall wants to save jobs by cutting workers’ hours, but without proportional pay cuts. Shorter workweeks make sense for employers, staff and the economy. The per-hour wage hike only suits employees. Dire growth prospects give bosses the upper hand in negotiations.

Seoul’s Green New Deal plants seeds for recovery

17 July 2020

Tackling climate change is at the centre of President Moon Jae-in's $133 bln stimulus plan. The country has a dismal environmental record, and previous green initiatives have disappointed. But the pandemic gives Moon a mandate to try again. Sceptics should give him a chance.

Corona Capital: Nursing homes, Airlines, Walgreens

9 July 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Nursing home investments will get a rethink; airline travelers get the upper hand; and Walgreens’ LBO heyday is in the past.

The looming war over working from home

24 June 2020

After decades of false starts in telecommuting, the pandemic has ushered in a real revolution. It’s great for collaborative technology developers, less so for office landlords. The next big clash between labour and capital over the fruits of productivity is also set to kick off.

HSBC CEO requires a sharper cost-cutting axe

17 June 2020

Noel Quinn is resuming plans to slash expenses - a programme that he had put on hold amid global lockdowns. With bad debt rising, he’ll need even deeper cuts than before to hit an 11% return on tangible equity target. The original plan for 35,000 job losses may not be enough.

Corona Capital: Next crisis, Overvalued markets

16 June 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Deutsche Bank analysts sound a warning about future catastrophes, while investors try to square overpriced stocks with their hopes of a recovery.

Corona Capital: ZoomInfo IPO, U.S. trade

4 June 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: ZoomInfo goes public with a big pop despite Covid-19; and America’s goods-trade deficit with Europe will test Washington’s mood.

War for Hong Kong talent is Taiwan’s to lose

3 June 2020

The island’s proximity and cultural similarity should appeal to Hong Kongers fleeing Beijing’s crackdown. For its part, the $600 bln economy needs to plug a severe labour shortage and boost investment. But warm political gestures could be offset by bad immigration policies.

Corona Capital: Tech diversity, CNN’s middle age

1 June 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: As big U.S. technology companies’ CEOs speak out about racial inequality, working from home trends could give them a chance to make a real difference; and 24/7 news network CNN feasts on Covid-19 as it turns 40.

Protests may be last straw for U.S. global stature

1 June 2020

Unrest over police brutality has spread across America, even as President Trump ditches treaties and condemns China’s crackdown in Hong Kong. Such isolationism and hypocrisy dismays allies. It will be difficult to reclaim the moral high ground, and losing it comes at a high cost.

Civil unrest puts U.S. economy in a vicious circle

29 May 2020

Violence broke out in Minnesota after an African American man died in police custody. Minorities are disproportionately represented in U.S. Covid-19 deaths, and job losses are hitting these groups hard. Unrest may make reopening tough, making the country’s wealth gaps even worse.

Stimulus blunder Down Under sends Big Data alert

25 May 2020

Australia overfunded an $85 bln wage subsidy programme due to excessively pessimistic epidemic models and data entry errors. Canberra thought 6.5 mln workers needed help, nearly twice the real number. Others will find it similarly difficult to cut through the noise.

Ugly U.S. jobs data hides as much as it reveals

8 May 2020

The awful April report brings the jobless rate to almost 15%. But just as February’s super low 3.5% was misleading, Friday’s figure leaves much out. Stimulus alters the income story, and what matters most is how and whether demand returns to the economy.

Uber, Lyft need more than cuts to fill profit tank

7 May 2020

The U.S. ride-hailing firms are slashing staff amid a drop in their core business. Uber is in better shape with more revenue streams like food delivery. But lowering expenses only goes so far. Reductions can also hurt their long-term future if autonomous-vehicle investments fall.

Critical workers hold keys to higher minimum pay

6 May 2020

U.S. ambulance drivers make under $15 per hour, EMTs under $20. And “essential” retail staff make about $13. These and others indispensable in a lockdown and at risk on the Covid-19 front line are under-rewarded. Any post-virus rethink of supply chains must also include wages.

Virus state aid needs taper to avoid tantrum

5 May 2020

As governments lift restrictions, they face tough choices about weaning companies and workers off public support. Different industries require different timetables. Withdrawals should also be phased. The state can’t help indefinitely, but a sudden break would be too big a shock.