1 Global stocks rise on hopes of Trump policy, EU
growth (San Francisco Chronicle) Global stocks rose Monday after President
Donald Trump promised tax cuts for companies and appeared to steady relations
with key Asian trading partners Japan and China. Upbeat economic forecasts from
the European Union also helped buoy sentiment.
Investors pushed US indexes to a record on Friday,
encouraged by strong company earnings and optimism over the Trump
administration's promises of tax cuts and less government regulation. Trump
also appeared to back away from promises to declare Beijing and Tokyo
manipulate their currencies and said he had a "very warm" phone
conversation with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.
Trump said Washington would honor its "one
China" policy, which had been in question since he spoke to the leader of
Taiwan after his election. Trump also met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe and announced discussions of a possible bilateral trade deal.
The Trump-Abe meeting and Trump's "One
China" commitment "could allay some of the trade concerns in Asia and
set free into the market more bullish bets," Jingyi Pan of IG said in a
report. "While it remains to be hashed out, President Donald Trump's
mention of a 'level playing field' on currency valuation also appears to reflect
an amicable turn after the US president accused his visitors of currency
manipulation."
2 Ten Indian cities among 20 with worst air (The
Guardian) Billions of people in cities around the world are exposed to
dangerous air, but pollution levels vary widely – and the fast-growing cities
of Asia and Africa are the worst affected.
We’ve broken down data from the World Health
Organization on ultra-fine particles of less than 2.5 microns (PM2.5s) region
by region. Paris’s air may have almost twice as many PM2.5s as WHO recommended
levels (18 micrograms per cubic metre compared with 10µg/m³) – but Delhi’s air
contains 122µg/m³, while Zabol, Iran, is the worst at 217µg/m³.
Tetovo in Macedonia – a city of 50,000 near the
Kosovo border – has the worst PM2.5 air pollution in Europe, according to the
WHO data. There are 10 Indian cities in the list of top 20 with the worst air.
3 Smartwatch no threat to the traditional (Manoj
Nair in Gulf News) The time hasn’t come for a smartwatch revolution to take
hold, and traditional luxury watchmakers are just fine with that.
“I think of them as a smart instrument like your
phone or computer and helps you keep in touch,”
said Raynald Aeschlimann,
President and CEO of Omega. “It was an interesting way of thinking of carrying
information and how you can get at it. “But a [luxury] watch is a totally
different thing — it’s the spirit people
are buying into. It’s not a storage place for information… but more like the
ring you bought or some pens. They are full of emotions.”
Nearly two years from the launch of the Apple Watch
— which was supposed to be the moment when smartwatches were to upend the
traditional watch business — things haven’t actually panned out that way. For
the tech giants, smartwatches still represent a niche with their sales
universe. And during this period, they have not turned out to be the must have
lifestyle-work accessory everyone needed to have.
But there have been other threats the Swiss watch
industry has had to confront during this period. China’s crackdown on
corruption meant sales of luxury timepieces was ticking along slowly, while
another constant worry was the strength of the Swiss franc.
There are shifts that Omega — one of the crown
jewels in the Swatch Group portfolio — is bringing on. Last month, it sold out
a Limited Edition Speedmaster — all 2,012 pieces — in just over four hours
exclusively through its online channels.
Selling online is not the only way Omega wants to
connect with a younger buyer base — it can always call in star power to impress
them. There’s the brand’s association with the James Bond movies, and George
Clooney is always on hand to light up billboards with an Omega in hand. And for
the younger set, Omega’s got Eddie Redmayne, the 35-year old with an best actor
Oscar on his resume.
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