A truck carrying a container drives past cranes at the Yangshan Deep Water Port in Shanghai, China, Oct. 23, 2013.
Good morning. Company executives concerned about escalating tensions between the U.S. and China might breathe a sigh of relief, report the WSJ’s Lingling Wei and Bob Davis. The two governments have quietly started to negotiate better U.S. access to Chinese markets, potentially avoiding a trade war.
The talks come after the Trump administration last week set out specific requests that include lower Chinese tariffs on U.S. cars, higher orders for U.S. semiconductors from China and greater access to China’s financial sector for American firms.
President Trump on Thursday threatened to impose tariffs on as much as $60 billion of Chinese imports, while China on Friday rolled out penalties against $3 billion in U.S. goods as Washington’s levies on imported steel and aluminum took effect.
Business leaders over the weekend warned about additional punitive trade measures. Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook urged the U.S. to embrace open trade, while Larry Fink, chief executive of investment firm BlackRock Inc., said the U.S. and China should not fight a trade war.
Meanwhile, governments across the globe scrambled to lessen the impact of the steel and aluminum tariffs on their industries. The WSJ’s William Mauldin and Rhiannon Hole explain how some countries managed to get temporary exemptions.
Fed’s Dudley speaks in Washington. Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William Dudley will discuss financial regulation and the economy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, days after the U.S. central bank decided to raise its benchmark interest rate and signaled it could move faster on rate increases in the years ahead.
U.S. GDP, Japanese unemployment, Chinese factory output. On Wednesday, the U.S. Commerce Department releases its third estimate of fourth-quarter gross domestic product and corporate profits, followed by data on U.S. personal income and consumer sentiment (Thursday), Japanese unemployment (Friday) and China’s factory activity (Friday night EDT).
New York Auto Show puts spotlight on Cadillac, Lincoln. This week’s New York Auto Show -- commencing Friday -- presents a chance for General Motors Co.’s Cadillac and Ford Motor Co.’s Lincoln to play catch up to foreign competitors.
Statoil to shed finance jobs. Norwegian oil giant Statoil ASA will slash the number of workers in its finance department as part of a wider push to automate tasks, according to the company’s finance chief.
Statoil last year launched its first robot, named “Roberta,” to automate tasks in the treasury department, such as sending payment reminders. Since then, around 10 different robots have joined her in the finance department, including one called Rob, said Chief Financial Officer Hans Jakob Hegge. The robots reconcile accounts, collect data and document payments made by the company to its suppliers, among other tasks.
The company had 897 finance employees at the end of 2017, down from 1400 at the end of 2013, Mr. Hegge said.
A SoftBank store in Tokyo, Japan, Feb. 22, 2018.
SoftBank probes shareholder campaign. The board of Japanese tech firm SoftBank Group Corp. is investigating a shareholder campaign that sought to remove two of its executives, people familiar with the matter said. Meanwhile, the company is looking to invest $1 billion in a truck-hailing company backed by Tencent Holdings Ltd.
Facebook tries to calm advertisers. A handful of marketers suspended advertising on Facebook Inc. as the company rushed to allay concerns about its platform. This comes in the wake of revelations that an outside company improperly handled data on tens of millions of its users.
Waymo chief trusts own self-driving technology. The head of Alphabet Inc.’s self-driving car unit said he is confident its technology would be able to detect someone crossing the street, avoiding an accident such as the one in which an Uber Technologies Inc. self-driving car killed a pedestrian in Arizona.
Uber sells Southeast Asia business. Uber said Monday it would no longer compete with Grab Inc. by selling its local operations in exchange for a minority stake in the Singapore-based company. Uber has left other markets where it was struggling against local rivals, for example Russia and China, reports the BBC.
Citigroup focuses on purely digital services. After years of shrinking its retail banking unit, Citigroup Inc. is aiming to become a national player once again -- through an expanded mobile app.
Qualcomm directors get less than 50% re-election vote. Six of Qualcomm Inc.’s directors failed to win support from a majority of the company’s shares Friday, a protest vote that signals investor discontent after the chip-making giant rebuffed a hostile takeover from Broadcom Ltd.
Glaxo CEO dispenses bitter pill. Emma Walmsley is making sweeping changes at GlaxoSmithKline PLC, replacing nearly half the company’s top 125 executives and shutting down two dozen clinical trials.
Smurfit Kappa rejects revised bid. Smurfit Kappa Group PLC has rejected another bid from International Paper Co. which offered shareholders a total of €37.54 ($46.37) a share. The packaging-and-paper company said it received a revised offer from the U.S. company on March 22, after it had rejected an unsolicited offer on March 6, reports MarketWatch.
Volvo to build Chinese SUVs in Europe. Zhejiang Geely Group Co.’s Volvo Cars confirmed on Monday that starting next year it would produce Lynk & Co.’s sport-utility vehicle in Ghent, Belgium, marking the first production of a Chinese automotive brand in Europe.
Remington seeks bankruptcy protection. Firearms maker Remington Outdoor Co. filed for chapter 11 protection, with plans to hand over control of the company to its creditors in exchange for wiping much of its debt from its balance sheet, reports Bloomberg.
New tax on overseas earnings hits unintended targets. A new tax aimed at overseas income earned by U.S. technology and pharmaceutical firms is hitting unexpected places, including Kansas City Southern, a U.S. railroad company.
Auto dealers worry about rising prices. Car dealers across the U.S. worry that higher prices will put off potential buyers. Consumers on average paid around $32,200 through February, about $500 more than last year.
A Toshiba logo is seen on a printed circuit board, July 31, 2012.
Toshiba awaits approval for chip deal. Toshiba Corp. said Monday it has yet to gain approval from Chinese authorities for the $19 billion sale of its chip unit, putting pressure on the company ahead of a March 31 deadline to close the deal.
New FCC rule could curb U.S. sales of Chinese equipment makers. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission is considering a new rule to further limit the U.S. business of Huawei Technologies Co., raising the bar for small and rural carriers to buy equipment from Chinese companies.
Wells Fargo overhauls risk management as probes continue. Wells Fargo & Co. is overhauling its risk management amid ongoing regulatory scrutiny of the U.S. bank by the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
China to name reformer as party secretary of PBoC. China has picked Guo Shuqing, a reform-oriented regulator, to be the party secretary of the central bank, a move that could bolster momentum for financial overhauls.
China’s oil futures surge on debut. China’s yuan-denominated crude-oil futures jumped on their first day of trading on Monday, indicating positive sentiment toward the new market, which Beijing hopes will give the country an oil benchmark to rival those in the U.S. and Europe.
Foreign trade houses dominate U.S. crude exports. A handful of foreign commodity trading firms are dominating the buying and selling of U.S. crude exports, two years after Washington lifted its ban on sending oil abroad.