Global Agenda articles from February 2005

Global Agenda archives from February 2005

The end of the affair? The Buttonwood column; Emerging markets: the end of the affair?
February 1, 2005... Emerging-market debt has been a sweetheart deal over the past three years. It is almost time to move on BUTTONWOOD having sensibly decided to go off and earn some real money, the search for his successor was long and arduous. The gene pool...

Visible hands; OPEC, the Fed and the G7; three decidedly visible hands.(Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, United States Federal Reserve Board and Group of 7)
February 1, 2005... Three of the most important prices in the world economy are set by means other than markets. At the weekend, OPEC declared itself happy with the price of oil. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve will probably raise American interest rates. And on...

Sins of commission.(Eliot Spitzer and his cases)
February 1, 2005... In a landmark deal with Eliot Spitzer, New York's attorney-general, Marsh & McLennan, the world's largest insurance broker, has paid $850m to settle civil charges of bid rigging and alleged wrongdoing. Who's next? ELIOT SPITZER, New York's...

Billion Dollar Babies.(acquisitions and mergers lifts stock markets )
February 3, 2005... A flurry of big acquisitions and better-than-expected corporate profits has heartened a dubious stockmarket recently. Don't break out the champagne yet BUTTONWOOD is beginning to feel like a time traveller. When she last shook the dust of...

Five million reasons to worry.(Germany's unemployment analysis)
February 3, 2005... Over 5m Germans were without a job last month, more than at any time since the Great Depression. The government cannot solve the unemployment problem without first making it worse SOME economic numbers are as resonant as they are...

Chaos on the roof of the world; Nepal's emergency threatens South Asia; The madness of King Gyanendra.
February 4, 2005... Nepal's king has seized power from his government, detained leading politicians and cut off communications with the outside world. Though the Himalayan country is a small, faraway place, its slide towards becoming a failed state threatens to...

Volcker's awkward questions.(Paul Volcker report on oil-for-food)
February 7, 2005... The Volcker committee investigating the scandal surrounding the UN's oil-for-food programme has issued a critical report. The programme's director, Benon Sevan, comes in for especially tough judgment. But the questions left unanswered have made...

Hard talking, hard decisions; The Middle East peace summit; Hard talking, hard decisions for Sharon and Abbas.
February 7, 2005... Condoleezza Rice has visited the Israeli and Palestinian leaders, Ariel Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas, ahead of their summit, urging both men to take the "hard decisions" and "difficult choices" needed for lasting peace. The question of Palestinians...

Holding the line?(George W. Bush's government spending policy)
February 8, 2005... George Bush has submitted a budget that is tough on discretionary spending for this coming year. But Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as proposed changes to Social Security and the tax code, still leave black clouds on the fiscal horizon ...

A chronology of the Middle East conflict.(Chronology)
February 9, 2005... Many peace plans, little peace 1917: In the Balfour Declaration, Britain expresses its support for "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people", though without prejudicing its non-Jewish communities. 1920:...

Cell chips with everything; A new chip that could threaten Intel's dominance; A microprocessor for all seasons.
February 9, 2005... IBM, Sony and Toshiba have unveiled a new sort of microprocessor. Will the "Cell" chip cement Sony's dominance of the computer-games market? And can it eventually challenge Intel's dominance of chips that run PCs, as well as finding a home in a...

Let's be friends; Transatlantic relations; We're making up, so please don't mention Iran, China, Sudan, Airbus...(United States foreign relations with Europe)
February 11, 2005... Relations between America and Europe, frosty since the Iraq war, thawed a bit this week with Condoleezza Rice's trip to the old world. But they are unlikely to get too warm THERE has been no hiding the strains between America and Europe...

The day that peace broke out?(Middle East)
February 11, 2005... Ariel Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas have declared an end to all hostilities after their first summit, in Sharm el-Sheikh. So, after four years of bloodshed, is the Palestinian uprising over? There is cause for optimism, though we have been here...

GM pays to walk away.(General Motors Corp., Fiat S.p.A., acquisition)
February 15, 2005... General Motors has paid Fiat [euro]1.55 billion to get out of an option that would have forced it to acquire the Italian carmaker outright. This solves a small problem for GM but leaves Fiat with little time to tackle its big troubles THE...

Hariri's killing shatters Lebanon's calm; Assassination in Lebanon; Hariri's killing shatters the calm.(Rafik Hariri)
February 15, 2005... A car-bombing in Beirut has murdered Rafik Hariri, who had quit as Lebanon's prime minister last October, calling on Syria to take its troops out of his country. Was it Syrian revenge, internal Lebanese score-settling or an effort to...

Cinderella markets.(stock market growth)
February 15, 2005... If ever there was a time to shun glamour and look for inner beauty, this is it WHEN Buttonwood went through outstandingly plain phases as a youthette, her mother--now, alas, of sainted memory--used to raise the quotient of references to...

Europe's shrinking giants; European economies; Shrinking giants.
February 15, 2005... The economies of Germany and Italy both shrank in the past quarter. But Germany's prospects look less grim than those of its southern neighbour EUROPE'S biggest economy got a little smaller last quarter. Germany's GDP shrank at an...

Germany and Japan--shrinking giants; Gloom over the Japanese and German economies; Shrinking giants.
February 16, 2005... Exports have traditionally rescued the mighty Japanese and German economies from downturns. But new figures show both countries' economies shrank in the last quarter, despite strong world trade. What has gone wrong? THE world's second and...

GM pays to walk away.(Fiat S.p.A receives finance from General Motors Corp.)
February 17, 2005... General Motors has paid Fiat [euro]1.55 billion to get out of an option that would have forced it to acquire the Italian carmaker outright. This solves a small problem for GM but leaves Fiat with little time to tackle its big troubles THE...

A new spymaster--and a powerful one; President Bush chooses a national intelligence director; A hard man for a hard job.
February 17, 2005... President Bush has chosen John Negroponte, currently ambassador to Iraq, as America's first director of national intelligence. The choice of Mr Negroponte indicates that the newly created job will have real power JOHN NEGROPONTE is tough....

GM pays to walk away.(General Motors Corp.'s pay to Fiat S.p.A.)
February 18, 2005... General Motors has paid Fiat [euro]1.55 billion to get out of an option that would have forced it to acquire the Italian carmaker outright. This solves a small problem for GM but leaves Fiat with little time to tackle its big troubles THE...

Building the American dream...or nightmare?(Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. and Federal National Mortgage Association can put financial market at risk)
February 18, 2005... The Fed's chairman, Alan Greenspan, has urged Congress to do something to rein in America's two monster mortgage-finance agencies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, before they put the country's financial system at risk FANNIE MAE and Freddie...

Germany and Japan--shrinking giants; Gloom over the Japanese and German economies; Shrinking giants.
February 22, 2005... Exports have traditionally rescued the mighty Japanese and German economies from downturns. But new figures show both countries' economies shrank in the last quarter, despite strong world trade. What has gone wrong? THE world's second and...

Pressing Putin to mend his ways; The American and Russian presidents meet.(Vladimir Putin)
February 22, 2005... Ahead of his meeting with Vladimir Putin on Thursday, George Bush has urged Europe to join him in pressuring the Russian leader to change his authoritarian ways. But shifting the attitudes of Mr Putin and the Russian people will not be easy ...

The best medicine?(analysis of generic drug market)
February 22, 2005... Novartis has made two acquisitions that propel it to the top position among the world's generic drugmakers. Has the Swiss pharmaceutical giant found the best way to hedge against the problems that beset makers of branded drugs? Or should it...

In the eye of the investor; The Buttonwood column; Buying art: in the eye of the investor.(Column)
February 22, 2005... Efficient markets are producing boring returns these days. Is investing in one of the least efficient--art--a better bet? NOT long ago, Buttonwood dropped in on the auction rooms at Sotheby's, on London's New Bond Street. The room was full,...

Worries about weapons, contd; China, Japan and the West; Strained relations all round.
February 23, 2005... America is angry that the European Union plans to lift an embargo on sales of weaponry to China, which in turn is angry that Japan and America have identified Taiwan as a joint security concern DESPITE all the fence-mending that has taken...

Candid words on Russia's drift from democracy.(political aspects)
February 24, 2005... Vladimir Putin and George Bush have had a "candid" discussion about American fears that the Russian leader is sliding back into his country's old, authoritarian ways. Despite differences on this, the two leaders agreed on other important...

Worries about weapons, contd; China, Japan and the West; Strained relations all round.
February 24, 2005... America is angry that the European Union plans to lift an embargo on sales of weaponry to China, which in turn is angry that Japan and America have identified Taiwan as a joint security concern DESPITE all the fence-mending that has taken...

Screeching to the precipice.(economic policy of Argentina)
February 24, 2005... Argentina appears to have persuaded most of its bondholders to accept a deeply discounted debt-restructuring offer. But the country's financing problems will continue unless it can coax back capital stashed abroad by its citizens WHEN...

Worries about weapons, contd; China, Japan and the West; Strained relations all round.(military policy)
February 25, 2005... America is angry that the European Union plans to lift an embargo on sales of weaponry to China, which in turn is angry that Japan and America have identified Taiwan as a joint security concern DESPITE all the fence-mending that has taken...

Screeching to the precipice.(Argentina's economic conditions)
February 25, 2005... Argentina appears to have persuaded most of its bondholders to accept a deeply discounted debt-restructuring offer. But the country's financing problems will continue unless it can coax back capital stashed abroad by its citizens WHEN...

Collywobbles; An unsteady week for financial markets; America's vulnerabilities exposed.
February 25, 2005... This week, America's financial markets saw a few ghosts, and shivered THE markets were looking for an excuse to turn tail, and this week they got more than one. Spooked by fear of inflation, high oil prices and a revolt by Asia's central...

Screeching to the precipice.(Argentina restructuring the economy)
February 28, 2005... Argentina appears to have persuaded most of its bondholders to accept a deeply discounted debt-restructuring offer. But the country's financing problems will continue unless it can coax back capital stashed abroad by its citizens WHEN...

Mubarak calls for a less pharaonic future.(Hosni Mubarak and presidential elections in Egyptt)
February 28, 2005... Egypt's all-powerful leader, Hosni Mubarak, has announced, to general surprise, that he wants the constitution changed to allow for contested presidential elections. Is Egypt finally ready to lead the Arab world to democracy, as George Bush...

The natural-gas explosion.(Royal Dutch-Shell Group of Cos. and state of Qatar contract for gas supply)
February 28, 2005... A giant contract between Shell and the Gulf state of Qatar to supply liquefied natural gas to America and Europe is the latest in a series of deals that should lead to gas providing a far larger share of the world's energy needs. Since the...