Fewer romantic relationships will be forged at the water cooler. That is a shameEditor’s note: Some of our covid-19 coverage is free for readers of The Economist Today, our daily newsletter. For more stories and our pandemic tracker, see our hubTHEIR EYES met across the office photocopier. At long last, each of them had found…
Posts published in “Commodities”
In its first six months as a public company it has shown unrivalled strength—and unusual weaknessIN DECEMBER, WHEN Saudi Aramco listed 1.5% of its shares on the Riyadh stock exchange, it became the world’s most valuable listed company, with a market capitalisation of $1.9trn or so. The state-backed oil behemoth’s bosses assured investors that low…
Reliance Industries buys Future Group, its closest competitor in bricks-and-mortar retailA FEW YEARS ago Future Group was seen as, well, the future of Indian retail. From humble beginnings making trousers in the 1980s, Kishore Biyani, its founder, built 2,000 shops in 400 cities across India, selling all manner of consumer goods. That is second only…
A secretive software-maker says hello to the stockmarket—and goodbye to Silicon Valley“ONE NEVER really knows who one’s enemy is.” The words of Jürgen Habermas, a noted Frankfurt School philosopher, are a good point of departure for understanding Palantir Technologies. On August 25th the controversial software firm, named after a magical orb in J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord…
The small Croatian firm’s low volumes belie its ambitionsTHE BUSHY beard sported by Mate Rimac, the 32-year-old founder of a Croatian electric-car-technology firm named after him, long predates lockdown affectation. He is said to have grown it to conceal youthful features that might put off potential customers and partners among the world’s big carmakers, who…
In a few months the Chinese telecoms giant will run out of chips—and optionsTHANKS TO ITS high quality and low prices, Huawei’s telecoms gear is popular around the world. Not in America, where the Chinese giant is banished over (unsubstantiated) fears that it could be used by spies in Beijing to eavesdrop on Americans. But…
Washington is increasingly hostile to Chinese firms. Not Wall StreetCHINESE FIRMS get a frosty reception in America these days. President Donald Trump is a relentless China-basher. His administration has tried to crush Huawei, a telecoms giant, ban TikTok and WeChat, two popular Chinese-owned apps, and expel Chinese companies listed on American stock exchanges. No wonder…
A grand settlement looks unlikely in the short term“IN THE SHADOW of their own profound failures, DoJ and DEA now seek to retroactively impose…requirements that are not found in any law.” Unusually strong words to hurl at America’s Department of Justice and its Drug Enforcement Administration. They come from an unusual lawsuit filed by Walmart…
The clean-energy utility has surpassed ExxonMobil in market capitalisaion—and shows no signs of slowingTO MANY INVESTORS, backing an American oil company looks only slightly shrewder than stuffing cash in a blender. Facing covid-19 and old concerns over low returns, the industry is scrambling to boost efficiency. On October 19th ConocoPhillips said it would pay $9.7bn…
A Italian staple is a pandemic favouriteSUPERMARKET SHELVES stripped bare by stockpilers were familiar scenes as anxious shoppers loaded up with toilet rolls and pasta when lockdowns were first imposed. The taste for long-lasting dried food has been a boon for Italy, a country in deep recession. Although Italians remain the biggest eaters of pasta…