24 August 2019
Question: According to MSN: Money, how much is a starter home in North Carolina?
Greenlanders reject sale to US but urge investment – Pg. 3
- US president Donald Trump’s sudden interest in buying Greenland and his angry cancellation of a state visit to Denmark over its refusal to sell it to him has put the spotlight on this self-governing country of just 56,000
- Greenland’s positon at the heart of an Arctic region that is being reshaped by climate change has put it in the crosshairs of large powers such as the US, China and Russia
- Already home to a US air base in the north of the island that lies relatively close to some of Russia’s new military installations in the Arctic, Greenland is waking up to its own strategic importance and considering how to use it to its advantage
India unveils measures to combat slowdown – Pg. 4
- India is rolling back a tax increase on foreign investors, speeding up tax refunds to small businesses and embarking on a car-buying spree in an attempt to revive economic growth
- India has suffered four consecutive quarters of economic deceleration, with GDP growth falling to 5.8% in January to March quarter, down from 6.6% in the final quarter of 2018
- Businesses are bitter about how long it has taken to receive refunds owed to them under the goods and services tax introduced two years ago. The delays have increased working capital requirements and created other hardships
Women traders rue rigid hours and wide disparities in pay – Pg. 11
- Many women working in front-office roles still leave before reaching the most senior ranks, either because of pay or due to a lack of flexibility around working hours (Prof Note: I am 100.0% in support of equal pay for equal work. However, having been a trader, I do not see how these hours, in this particular job, can be flexible. Put simply, in my opinion, you need to be there!)
- In the UK, new rules on pay disclosure last year revealed gaps between men and women of “40% to over 60%” in top insurance, accountancy, banking and asset management firms,…
- Hiding pregnancies or returning soon after childbirth is a regular occurrence on trading floors, ….
Fall in share buybacks by corporate America poses threat to Wall St highs – Pg. 11
- Big companies across America spent less on their own shares for a second quarter in a row, threatening a key pillar of support for the stock market that has helped to push indices to record highs
- US-listed groups spent $166bn on stock buybacks in the second quarter, down from $205bn in the first quarter and $190bn for the same period a year earlier, …
- The tapering of buybacks comes as management teams grow more anxious about the outlook for growth and as investors show new wariness towards risky assets such as stocks
- The renewed one-upmanship between the US and China over tariffs, along with weaker economic data around the world, have nudged investors into safer assets such as government bonds
- Stock buybacks are neutral, in theory, for a company’s value – every dollar handed back to shareholders is a dollar less in equity – but a reduction in the number of a company’s shares outstanding increases earnings per share and boosts pay for managers with EPS-linked plans
Answer: $90,300