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Mickelson applauds Woods joining PGA Tour Policy Board

ALTHOUGH he jumped ship to LIV Golf, Phil Mickelson was still happy to see Tiger Woods join the PGA Tour Policy Board as a player- director.

“This is great to see,” Mr. Mickelson tweeted on Tuesday. “Players having equal representation on the board, Tiger getting more involved, and accountability across the board. Awesome news.”

As a player director, Mr. Woods has the authority to approve or decline any potential changes to the Tour. His appointment to the board comes in the wake of a wave of disappointment from multiple members of the Tour who are upset with PGA commissioner Jay Monahan and the proposed LIV-PGA merger.

“I am honored to represent the players of the PGA Tour,” Mr. Woods said in a press release from the PGA Tour. “This is a critical point for the Tour, and the players will do their best to make certain that any changes that are made in Tour operations are in the best interest of all TOUR stakeholders, including fans, sponsors and players. — Reuters

Unbeatable Aces

Can anybody stop the Aces? That’s the question Women’s National Basketball Association fans have been asking for a while now. It isn’t simply that the defending champions have won eight straight contests and sport a stellar 24-2 slate matched only by the 1998 Comets since the league set up shop 27 years ago. It’s that they’re running roughshod over their supposed competition in so doing; they’re first on offense and a smidge below the top on defense, resulting in a plus-15.5 points differential — two and a half times more than the second-running Liberty. Little wonder, then, that they’ve already clinched a playoff berth, never mind that they still have 14 regular season games to navigate.

To be sure, there were indications from the outset that the Aces would be among the handful of bona fide contenders for the crown. After all, they didn’t just bring back essentially the same roster that won them the hardware last year; they augmented it, most prominently taking in former Most Valuable Player awardee Candace Parker to underscore their talent advantage. And, don’t forget, their brain trust is led by reigning Coach of the Year Becky Hammon, set to be enshrined in Springfield next weekend. In short, it would take a superteam to even come close to challenging them.

Significantly, that credible opposition was supposed to have been formed by the Liberty in the off-season. Following a successful recruiting binge that netted them heavyweights Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones, and Courtney Vandersloot, initial prognoses had them sharing the marquee with the Aces. From the get-go, however, it was clear that they, too, could be playing catch-up ball. As good as they have been, with a 20-6 record that is by far the best in the history of the pioneer franchise, they remain more like a collection of great talents on a squad than a great squad of collected talents.

Unless and until the Liberty are able to find the cohesiveness that marks collective success, they will find their ceiling to be much lower than that of the Aces. For all their obvious firepower, they suffer from occasional lapses in concentration. It’s not that they lack effort, even on defense; it’s that they are not able to translate it to wire-to-wire ascendancy. It’s why they’ve had difficulty putting supposed patsies away, and why they either get to squander big leads or need to climb back from big deficits much too often for comfort. They’re getting better, but, with the postseason drawing near, it’s fair to ponder if they still have enough time to sharpen their weapons to the degree they need.

So, yes, the Aces are headed for a repeat, and, yes, they’re focused on their ultimate objective. They realize they have to keep putting in the work, and are acting accordingly. And if the rewards keep coming, it’s because they deserve them.

 

Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and human resources management, corporate communications, and business development.

Fitch downgrade highlights investors’, analysts’ concerns about US fiscal picture, dollar

FITCH’S downgrade of the US credit rating is likely to exacerbate unease about the country’s debt position, political polarization and the global standing of the US dollar, investors and analysts said.

Wall Street’s three major indexes ended lower on Wednesday, a day after Fitch unexpectedly stripped the US of its top credit rating, with the ratings agency saying expected fiscal deterioration over the next three years and repeated debt ceiling disputes threaten the government’s ability to pay its bills.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note, which moves inversely to prices, gained and at one point reached its highest point since November.

The ratings agency on Wednesday evening also downgraded US mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Long-Term Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) and senior unsecured debt ratings to ‘AA+’ from ‘AAA.’

Major brokerages said they did not expect sustained turbulence, especially since strong US economic data has calmed fears of a recession.

Yet some market participants also said the ratings cut was a reminder that the country’s fiscal picture is becoming increasingly precarious, which could heighten worries for everyone from asset managers to global central banks and others holding massive amounts of US government debt.

Fitch’s call will “cause people to stop and ask questions,” said Robert Tipp, PGIM Fixed Income’s chief investment strategist and head of global bonds. “The fiscal framework of the 1990s is gone, as is the budget surplus, replaced by alarmingly large deficits, along with more frequent threats of government closure, and default.”

Mr. Tipp pointed at the country’s soaring debt to GDP ratio, which stood at around 100% at the end of 2022. Just a decade ago, that level would have been considered a “danger zone” for sovereign credits, he said.

Strategists at Macquarie led by Thierry Wizman said the downgrade could lend ammunition to countries calling for alternatives to the UAS dollar’s decades-long reign as the world’s premier reserve currency.

Fitch’s downgrade will likely be used at a summit of leaders from the BRICs trade bloc including Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa this month as a public relations ploy to help tout a new currency, they wrote in a Wednesday report.

“If that matters in shaping sentiment toward the USD in the “court of global public opinion then the status of the USD just took another notch downward,” he said.

The dollar share of official FX reserves fell to a 20-year low of 58% in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to International Monetary Fund data. Still, few believe the U.S. currency’s dominance will be challenged anytime soon.

Strategists at the BlackRock Investment Institute wrote that while Fitch’s action is unlikely to be a market driver, it “reinforces our view that rising inflation and debt burdens will prompt investors, over time, to demand more … compensation for the risk of holding long-term government debt.”

“We see that causing DM (developed market) bond yield curves to steepen over time as long-term yields rise,” they added.

For now, however, many investors focused on the near term outlook for the US economy, as the country looks increasingly likely to avoid a recession that had been widely expected early this year.

Josh Frost, the US Treasury’s assistant secretary for financial markets, said he did not expect Fitch’s announcement to hurt demand for Treasury debt.

“Treasuries remain the safest and most liquid assets in the world and we continue to see strong demand from our broad and diverse investor base,” he said.

Data released last week showed the US economy grew faster than expected in the second quarter as a resilient labor market supported consumer spending, with markets now pricing in a soft-landing scenario for the economy despite rapid interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.

Gennadiy Goldberg, head of US rates strategy at TD Securities, said the downgrade “could make investors a bit more nervous in the near-term, but the lasting impact will be minimal.”

Steven Zeng, strategist at Deutsche Bank, said Friday’s US employment report could trump the downgrade news for markets.

“Investors have lived through the S&P downgrade in 2011 and remember coming away unscathed,” he said. Also, people may have “gotten used to an elevated level of deficit spending,” he said. — Reuters

Global firms warn of slow China sales

PEOPLE walk past a Prada luxury fashion boutique in Beijing, China, Oct. 15, 2018. — REUTERS

GLOBAL firms from consumer goods giant Unilever to automaker Nissan and machinery maker Caterpillar have warned of slowing earnings in China as the world’s second-largest economy loses its post-pandemic bounce.

The rebound has been limited to a handful of sectors such as travel, dining and luxury goods, driving double-digit China sales growth for the likes of Starbucks, LVMH and Hugo Boss. But many of those bellwethers have stopped short of raising their China outlook, wary of lackluster economic figures.

Consumer goods firms such as Procter & Gamble, L’Oreal and Coca-Cola have taken a cautious stance.

“What we’re seeing is a very cautious consumer in China, a declining property market and reduced export demand,” Unilever finance chief Graeme Pitkethly told an April-June earnings call last week.

“There is high unemployment in China, particularly youth unemployment … As much as we can tell, we’re at the historical low point in terms of Chinese consumer confidence.”

Beijing has rolled out a series of policy measures in recent weeks to shore up the flagging economy, but weak manufacturing data for July on Tuesday shows it is still far from turning a corner.

That is a particular blow for major European exporters to China, which are already struggling with persistent global price pressures and rising borrowing costs.

Ireland-based Kerry Group, which supplies ingredients to companies like McDonald’s, said its volumes had increased in China since COVID restrictions ended. But chief executive Edmond Scanlon cautioned on Wednesday that business would not get back to normal there until 2024.

“Any (stimulus) announcements out of China are more likely to put a floor under growth rather than restimulate growth,” said Jack Janasiewicz, portfolio manager at Natixis in Boston. “It is not overly surprising that you’re starting to see some of that filter into the earnings backdrop.”

Global automakers are having to contend with increased competition from rivals in China, which for the first time took a more than 50% share of the Chinese market in the first half of 2023. Volkswagen cut its full-year sales target last week after sales dipped in China, its top market.

“Unfortunately, our (China) sales outlook is now falling far below our production capacity,” Nissan Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Makoto Uchida said last week. Earnings recovery in the world’s biggest auto market is likely to take time, he said.

Expectations for second-quarter earnings are already low due in part to China’s weakness. Refinitiv data show US and European companies are expected to report their worst quarterly results in years. The short-lived bounce in economic activity after China lifted its long COVID lockdowns also highlights poor global demand, DHL Group, one of the world’s biggest shippers, said on Tuesday.

The company saw drops of 16% and 7.1% respectively in air and ocean freight volumes in the first half, particularly on routes between China and its two biggest trading partners, the United States and Europe.

Chipmakers such as Samsung and SK Hynix said China’s reopening had failed to spark a revival in the smartphone market, and that they were extending production cuts of NAND memory chips used in handsets to store data.

Even Apple, the world’s most valuable company, is likely to post flat iPhone sales in its third-largest market when it reports results Thursday. Still, that would be an improvement from the 2.1% contraction researcher IDC estimated for China’s overall smartphone market in April-June. Top miners and heavy machinery makers have also taken a hit from a prolonged property sector slump.

“We expected sales in China to be below the typical 5% to 10% of our enterprise sales. We now expect further weakness as the 10-ton-and-above excavator industry has declined even more than we anticipated,” Caterpillar CEO Jim Umpleby told an earnings call on Tuesday.

Rio Tinto, the world’s biggest iron ore producer, is cautiously optimistic on China as the government has pledged more policies to boost growth.

“Our experience with China is that if things are going less well, then the Chinese have a quite impressive ability to also manage the economy,” Rio Tinto CEO Jacob Stausholm said after reporting earnings last week.

BRIGHT SPOTS
Eateries, hotels, and luxury goods makers have been among few bright spots as Chinese consumers splurge following the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions on movement.

Starbucks reported a 46% surge in comparable China sales last quarter. “We’d say we expect our recovery to sustain in China,” Starbucks CFO Rachel Ruggeri told investors on Tuesday.

Yum China, owner of the KFC and Pizza Hut chains in mainland China, reported a 25% rise in quarterly revenue, but said spending per person had decreased as consumers become more “rational” in their outlay.

Hotel operators Hilton and Marriott both saw a rebound, with Marriott saying Tuesday that quarterly room revenue in China rose 125% from a year ago. “The recovery in China has come faster than we expected,” Marriott CFO Kathleen Oberg told investors.

LVMH, whose 75 brands include Louis Vuitton and US jeweller Tiffany, reported a better-than-expected 17% rise in global second-quarter sales due to rebound in China, but refrained from giving an outlook for the rest of the year.

“The global mood is not one of ‘revenge buying’ like we saw in 2021 and 2022,” LVMH finance chief Jean-Jacques Guiony said last week. “We have no visibility, (but) we are not pessimistic and don’t have a reason to be (pessimistic) in China.” — Reuters

Canada PM Trudeau and wife Sophie separate after 18 years of marriage

PRIME MINISTER JUSTIN TRUDEAU — REUTERS

OTTAWA — Canadian Prime Minister (PM) Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie said on Wednesday they were separating in an unexpected announcement that appeared to mark the end of the couple’s 18-year high-profile marriage.

The couple had talked frankly in the past about difficulties in their relationship and in recent years were seen less often together in public.

Mr. Trudeau, 51, and Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, 48, were married in May 2005 and have three children, aged 15, 14 and nine. On their anniversary in 2020, he described her as “my rock, my partner, and my best friend.”

For Mr. Trudeau, there are also painful historical parallels. His father, former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, separated from his wife, Margaret, in 1977, when he was in office.

The development is one of the biggest personal crises for Mr. Trudeau since he became prime minister in 2015, especially since he often stresses the importance of family life.

The couple made the announcement a week after Mr. Trudeau unveiled a massive cabinet shuffle in a bid to boost the fortunes of his Liberal Party, which is trailing in the polls. Aides said he was determined to lead the Liberals into the next election, which must be held by October 2025.

“Sophie and I would like to share the fact that after many meaningful and difficult conversations, we have made the decision to separate,” Mr. Trudeau said on Instagram. Gregoire Trudeau posted an almost identical message on her own Instagram account.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. (CBC) said Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, one of Mr. Trudeau’s closest allies, would brief members of the cabinet later on Wednesday.

The CBC also said Mr. Trudeau was likely to speak publicly about the separation this week.

Trudeau’s office said the two had signed a legal agreement, stressing that the couple would focus on raising their children. The family will go on vacation together next week.

Gregoire Trudeau will be moving into separate accommodation in Ottawa but plans to spend plenty of time with the children in Rideau Cottage, the prime minister’s official residence, to ensure they have as normal an upbringing as possible, said a source familiar with the situation.

The source, who requested anonymity because of the extreme sensitivity of the situation, said the couple would have joint custody of the children.

MEDIA DARLINGS
Gregoire Trudeau, an advocate for gender equality who studied commerce at university, was working as a reporter when she met Mr. Trudeau in 2003. They married two years later.

Mr. Trudeau was only 43 when he became prime minister in late 2015 and the sharply-dressed couple quickly captured the attention of the world media.

In October 2015, the New York Post dubbed her “the hottest first lady in the world.”

Vogue magazine ran a glowing profile of the two in its January 2016 issue, complete with photos of them embracing. A long piece in the magazine about Mr. Trudeau said he “shocks some with his public displays of affection toward his wife”.

In the early years after Mr. Trudeau took office, Sophie and he were often seen together at social functions and on foreign trips. In February 2018, during a visit to India, the two of them dressed in colorful costumes most days, prompting derisive comments back home.

Mr. Trudeau, though, made clear even before he became prime minister that the two had faced challenges, writing in his autobiography Common Ground in 2014 that “our marriage isn’t perfect, and we have had difficult ups and downs.”

In recent years, Gregoire Trudeau has curtailed joint appearances with her husband and signs of stress were clear.

On their wedding anniversary last year, she said in a social media post that “we have navigated through sunny days, heavy storms, and everything in between and it ain’t over.”

She went on: “long-term relationships are challenging in so many ways”.

The two of them did travel to London in May for the coronation of King Charles and were together when US President Joseph R. Biden visited in late March.

As recently as Monday, Mr. Trudeau was still wearing his wedding ring. — Reuters

US raises concerns over China’s counter-espionage push

STOCK PHOTO | Image from Pixabay

WASHINGTON — The United States on Wednesday raised concerns over a Chinese call to encourage its citizens to join counter-espionage work and said it has been closely monitoring the implementation of Beijing’s expanded anti-spying law.

China’s Ministry of State Security on Tuesday said China should encourage its citizens to join counter-espionage work, including creating channels for individuals to report suspicious activity and rewarding them for doing do.

A system that makes it “normal” for regular people to participate in counter-espionage should be established, the ministry said.

That followed an expansion of China’s counter-espionage law that took effect in July and bans the transfer of information it sees as related to national security. It has alarmed the United States, which has warned that foreign companies in China could be punished for regular business activities.

“We do have concerns over it, certainly encouraging citizens to spy on each other is something that’s of great concern,” State Department spokesperson Matt Miller told a daily news briefing.

“We are closely monitoring the implementation of China’s new counter-espionage law as we have been, which as written greatly expands the scope of what activities are considered espionage,” he said.

In recent years, China has arrested and detained dozens of Chinese and foreign nationals on suspicion of espionage, including an executive at Japanese drugmaker Astellas Pharma in March. Australian journalist Cheng Lei, accused by China of providing state secrets to another country, has been detained since September 2020.

China’s declaration that it is under threat from spies comes as Western nations, most prominently the United States, accuse China of espionage and cyberattacks, a charge that Beijing has rejected. — Reuters

Pope says Church needs ‘humble purification’

REUTERS

LISBON — Pope Francis on Wednesday said the Catholic Church needs a “humble and ongoing purification” to deal with the “anguished cries” of victims of clerical sexual abuse, who he met privately on the first day of his visit to Portugal.

Pope Francis was speaking in Lisbon at the start of a five-day visit to the country in which he hopes to energize young Catholics during World Youth Day, the world’s largest Catholic festival.

Six months ago, a report by a Portuguese commission said at least 4,815 minors were sexually abused by clergy — mostly priests — over seven decades.

The crisis “calls us to a humble and ongoing purification, starting with the anguished cry of the victims, who must always be accepted and listened to,” Francis said in an address to bishops, priests and religious sisters at an evening vespers service in a monastery.

He spoke of today’s “growing detachment from the practice of the faith,” saying it had been accentuated by widespread disappointment and anger over the global abuse crisis and other scandals.

Francis met privately with 13 abuse victims at the Vatican embassy in Lisbon on Wednesday evening, with the Holy See saying in a statement the meeting took place in an “atmosphere of intense listening” and lasted over an hour. 

The Vatican added the victims were accompanied by some representatives of institutions of the Portuguese Church responsible for the protection of minors.

The Portuguese Bishops’ Conference said in a statement the meeting was “of the path of reconciliation that the Portuguese Church in Portugal has been following in this area, putting victims first, collaborating in their reparation and recovery, so that it is possible for them to look to the future with hope and renewed freedom”.

YOUNG CATHOLICS CONVERGE ON LISBON
The pope landed in Lisbon to a sea of young Catholics who have poured into the city from around the globe for the World Youth Day festival, held every two or three years in a different city. It is the fourth such event Francis will preside over since he became pope in 2013.

In Lisbon, young believers jumped and sang as they proudly waved their country’s flag outside the Vatican embassy, where the pope is residing. Young Catholics from nearly every country in the world have registered for the event.

World Youth Day “is a sign of faith and union in which all of us get together for a cause,” said 20-year-old Carlos Hernandez. “It’s very emotional.”

Francis has enacted numerous changes in the Church and has been pushing on with a series of reforms he hopes could leave a lasting legacy.

But he faces a delicate balance between appealing to more liberal believers and upsetting conservatives by giving women more roles and making the church more welcoming and less judgmental towards some, including LGBT people.

At the opening Mass on Tuesday before the pope arrived, Australian Andrew De Santos, 35, expressed hope the next generation would be able to move on from “errors” of the past.

Three huge billboards raising awareness of clerical sexual abuse were put up overnight in Lisbon hours before Francis’ arrival. One was later removed.

‘STIR THINGS UP’
On the plane to Portugal for the youth event, Francis vowed to “continue to stir things up,” a reference to his call during an earlier World Youth Day in Brazil to not be complacent but to make noise and instil change.

The 86-year-old pope, who is making his first trip since intestinal surgery in June and uses a wheelchair and cane, appeared in good form and said he hoped to return to Rome on Sunday “rejuvenated by his encounter with young people.”

In his first speech of the trip, to President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and diplomats at a cultural centre, Francis said the world was currently “sailing amid storms on the ocean of history”, including the war in Ukraine, and urged Europe to find the resolve to help end it and other conflicts.

He said Europe should divert money spent on armaments and use it to boost education and fund family-friendly legislation to help reverse a falling birth rate aggravated by prohibitive costs of housing for young couples.

He also urged Europe to rise to the challenge of “welcoming, protecting, promoting and integrating” migrants, both for humanitarian reasons and as a means of boosting dwindling populations. — Reuters

China’s energy security push drives up fossil fuel approvals – research

REUTERS

SINGAPORE — China approved more than 50 gigawatts (GW) of new coal power in the first half of 2023, research by environment group Greenpeace showed, with the world’s top carbon polluter focused on energy security rather than cutting fossil fuel consumption.

As scientists and environmentalists urge governments to make deeper emission cuts after record-breaking heatwaves across the globe, the impact of extreme weather has spurred China to build even more coal-fired plants as it tries to counter the effects of drought on hydropower production and avoid power outages.

“China’s government has put energy security and energy transition at odds with one another,” said Greenpeace’s Gao Yuhe, who led the research published on Thursday.

Beijing has promised to bring carbon emissions to a peak before 2030, but another pledge made by President Xi Jinping to start cutting coal use over the 2026-2030 period is now under threat, Gao said.

“Beijing has clearly stated that coal power will still grow at a ‘reasonable pace’ into 2030,” she said.

China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) did not immediately reply to a fax sent requesting a comment on the coal plants and their power generation policies.

Coal output in China surged 9% to 4.5 billion tons last year, more than half the world’s total, and continued to rise this year, government data showed, with coal plants under pressure to offset a 22.9% decline in hydropower generation during the first half.

The increase in China’s coal usage reflects a worldwide pattern. The International Energy Agency said last week that global coal consumption reached a record 8.3 billion tons in 2022, with strong growth in Asia offsetting declines elsewhere.

In March, the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s state economic planner, said it would “strengthen” coal’s supporting role in the overall energy mix.

China has built more than 1,000 GW of coal-fired capacity from 2000 to 2022, enough to power the entire European Union and amounting to 69% of total global additions, according to data compiled by the Global Energy Monitor think tank.

‘BUILT-IN BIAS’
Officially, many of China’s new coal-fired power plants are designed to provide back-up for clean but weather-dependent power sources like wind, solar, and hydro, especially during droughts or peak consumption periods.

But China’s “built-in bias to coal” is preventing it from investing more in critical energy storage infrastructure that could make renewable power more reliable, Gao said.

The scale of the new builds also suggests the main motivation is economic growth and the argument that they are backing renewables is becoming less convincing, said Jorrit Gosens, a climate researcher at the Australian National University.

“The story has long been that capacity does not matter so much, as long as these plants are not also run at high rates of utilisation, but you have to be quite an optimist to repeat that by now,” he said.

While coal power inches up, China’s renewable installations have also continued to soar, with capacity rising 109 GW in the first half, according to NEA data.

“The good news, as always, remains that renewables keep getting more competitive, and are being built at a record pace,” said Gosens. “That will start to eat into coal’s market share fairly soon.” — Reuters

US House panel opens probe into suspected Chinese hacking of Commerce, State emails

ADAM SZUSCIK-UNSPLASH

WASHINGTON — The United States House of Representatives Oversight Committee said on Wednesday it is opening an investigation into China’s suspected involvement in recent breaches of Commerce and State department email systems.

Representative James Comer, who chairs the committee, and the heads of two subcommittees asked Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Secretary of State Antony Blinken for staff briefings by Aug. 9.

“We are also concerned that this attack on federal agencies, including the email account of a senior U.S. government official such as yourself, reflects a new level of skill and sophistication from China’s hackers,” the lawmakers wrote Raimondo.

Raimondo was among a group of senior U.S. officials whose emails were hacked earlier this year by a group Microsoft said was based in China, according to a person briefed on the matter. 

The State and Commerce departments did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

Last month’s news that Chinese hackers penetrated the emails of senior State and Commerce department officials caused a stir amid high tensions between Beijing and Washington over a host of issues, from trade to Taiwan.

The full extent of the breach, which affected at least two dozen other organizations, is not clear. 

The Wall Street Journal reported last month that the hackers also accessed the email account of the U.S. ambassador to China as well as Daniel Kritenbrink, the assistant secretary of state for East Asia.

Hundreds of thousands of emails were stolen overall, the Journal said.

Raimondo said last month she still plans to visit China later this year despite the reported Chinese hacking. “We’re planning the trip now, which doesn’t mean that we excuse any kind of hacking or infringement on our security,” Raimondo told CNBC.

China’s embassy in Washington said in an earlier statement that identifying the source of cyber-attacks was complex and warned against “groundless speculations and allegations.” — Reuters

J&J talc cancer plaintiffs want 6-month ban on further bankruptcy filings

IMAGE BY MIKE MOZART/FLICKR/ CC BY 2.0

NEW YORK — Lawyers for thousands of people who claim Johnson & Johnson’s talc-based powders caused them to develop cancer on Wednesday urged a U.S. judge to temporarily block the company from seeking bankruptcy protection for a third time for its talc subsidiary.

J&J’s attempt at resolving thousands of cancer lawsuits in bankruptcy court stumbled for a second time last week, when a judge ruled that the talc subsidiary, LTL Management, was not in the kind of immediate financial distress necessary to trigger bankruptcy protection.

While J&J intends to appeal that ruling, cancer claimants and the U.S. Department of Justice’s bankruptcy watchdog asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan in Trenton, New Jersey, to block the company from filing for bankruptcy a third time for at least 180 days.

LTL’s bankruptcy proceedings have largely paused the 38,000 lawsuits against J&J, although one case was allowed to proceed to a $18.8 million verdict in July. J&J has said its talc products are safe and do not contain asbestos.

During a Wednesday court hearing, LTL attorney Greg Gordon countered that the company would “strongly resist” any request to “pre-judge” a potential future bankruptcy before it could be filed.

But David Molton, an attorney for the official committee representing cancer claimants in LTL’s bankruptcy, said that a temporary prohibition on new bankruptcy filings was appropriate, given LTL’s repeated bankruptcy filings.

Kaplan, who dismissed LTL’s second bankruptcy, said he was not inclined to block future bankruptcy filings because circumstances could change in the next six months. “I just don’t have a crystal ball,” Kaplan said.

But the judge said he was open to further written arguments on that point before issuing a formal decision closing LTL’s second bankruptcy case next week.

J&J’s first bankruptcy gambit began in 2021, when it offloaded its talc liabilities into a new company via a corporate division known as a “Texas two-step” and immediately placed the new company into bankruptcy.

LTL’s first bankruptcy was dismissed in April after a U.S. appeals court ruled that it was not in sufficient financial distress to be eligible for bankruptcy protection.

LTL’s second effort, premised on a proposed $8.9 billion settlement of current and future talc lawsuits, met the same fate after Kaplan ruled that the company was still not in the kind of “immediate” distress required by the appellate court’s ruling. — Reuters

Double-digit growth in real wages, retail sales as Russia’s unemployment hits record low

Record low unemployment in June highlighted Russia’s stark labour shortage, statistics data showed on Wednesday, even as the rebound from last year’s economic slump continued with double-digit jumps in wage growth and retail sales.

Russia was hit with a barrage of Western sanctions when it invaded Ukraine in February last year, ultimately leading to a 2.1% contraction in gross domestic product (GDP) in 2022, a better-than-expected decline touted by Moscow as evidence of its economic resilience.

Moscow regularly cites low unemployment and other recovering indicators as a sign that its economy is on the up, but the shortage of workers, exacerbated by last September’s partial mobilisation for the conflict in Ukraine, is set to bite over the long run.

“The age pyramid, mobilisation and those who have left (the country) mean that for five years we will be trying to grow with a shrinking workforce,” veteran economist Natalia Zubarevich, a professor at Moscow State University, told a financial congress last month.

The defence sector is getting all the attention, while other areas struggle, she said.

“The worst crisis among those employed is in the industrial sector and construction,” Zubaervich said. “That’s where the trouble is and it’s not dissipating.”

Unemployment dropped to 3.1% in June, a new record low, said the statistics service, Rosstat. Retail sales jumped 10% year on year in June, having fallen by almost as much the year before. Real wages, data for which are reported with a one-month lag, climbed 13.3% in May.

Real disposable incomes in the second quarter rose 5.3% year on year, Rosstat said, having remained flat in the same period of 2022.

The statistics service revised the first-quarter rise in real disposable incomes to 4.4% from 0.1% estimated in May, without providing a reason for the significant change. Incomes fell 1.0% in 2022 as a whole. — Reuters

EV leader Audi PHL launches new 100% electric Q8 e-tron

All Audi Q8 e-tron models are provided with seamless charging solutions.

Introduction of latest models part of largest model offensive in Audi’s history

Audi Philippines introduces the flagship of the brand’s SUVs and crossovers — the 100% electric Q8 e-tron models. The launch of the latest models is in line with Audi’s global electrification strategy.

In introducing the new 100% electric Audi Q8 e-tron, Audi Philippines is holding the Audi Driving Experience from Aug. 4 to 6 at the 30th East B Open Parking in Bonifacio Global City. Lined up during the weekend program are a series of driving activities designed to showcase the capabilities and advantages offered by — as well as dispel misconceptions about — Audi’s 100% electric vehicle range.

Audi Philippines’ e-tron range currently provides the domestic market with the widest selection of 100% electric vehicles. As a result, the company has sold the most number of such models locally.

The new Audi Q8 e-tron continues Audi e-tron’s success story as the spearhead of the brand’s 100% electric models. Clearly positioned as the flagship among Audi’s extensive portfolio of electric-powered SUVs and crossovers, the new models are immediately identifiable as fully electric. Aptly serving as a symbol of this is the new two-dimensional design of Audi’s four rings logo that are fitted on these new models. Audi further highlights the vehicles’ fascia with a projection light on the Singleframe grille, as well as a new badge on the B-pillar.

Defining the new 100% electric Audi Q8 e-tron models are a refined design, and improved efficiency and driving range.

Besides receiving a more refined design, the new 100% electric Audi Q8 e-tron models boast of improved efficiency and range. Both battery capacity and charging performance have been increased, allowing for an optimal balance between energy density and charging capacity. On top of these, also improved are the vehicles’ motors, progressive steering, and chassis control systems. As a result, the models fascinate with dynamic driving characteristics that are typically Audi.

Audi’s success in the Philippines forms part of the brand’s sustained upward drive worldwide during the first half of 2023. Audi recorded a significant increase in deliveries during the period, with the biggest growth rate among the company’s product segments coming from sales of 100% electric vehicles.

In the first six months of 2023, Audi’s global deliveries of 100% electric models surged 51.2% from the same period in 2022. This performance represents 75,647 vehicles sold from January to June this year, compared to the 50,033-unit tally during the same six months last year. As a result, the share of 100% electric vehicles in the brand’s total deliveries rose to 8.2%.

The leap in deliveries of Audi’s 100% electric models proves the brand’s successful path to becoming a provider of sustainable premium mobility. Starting in 2026, Audi will only introduce 100% electric cars to the global market and will offer around 20 models by then. In 2027, the brand aims to offer one 100% electric model in each core segment.

 

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