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Industries doing well in this downturn.

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As health care markets are slowing in western countries and price pressures are increasing Phillips is moving aggressively in emerging market countries like Brazil and India. It s market share in emerging market countries is 18.5% and it wants to push this upto 25%. And health care is becoming more important to Phillips as it scales back from consumer electronics. To understand and meet the different needs of these countries Phillips is acquiring local companies and redesigning its products so that they meet basic functions at a much lower price than the same product sold in western countries.

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Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata says JRD Tata who ran the company for most of the modern period would be overjoyed if he were alive today to learn about the return of Air India to the Tata Group. Under a deal with the Indian government Tata will pay $2.4 billion to cover one fourth of Air India's debt. The government will give up ownership in the airline. AIr India started as Tata AIr in 1932 flying mail and passengers from Karachi to Bombay during the British period. JRD Tata himself flew the maiden flight which is why Ratan Tata sees the return of the airline to the Tata Group with much optimism. Air India has 120 aircraft, 4400 domestic and 1800 international landing and parking slots. Problems at the airline led to losses of $3 million a day. It was nationalized in the 1950's. The Tata Group is India's largest steel producer, a major auto producer. It is India's largest conglomerate with $100 billion in sales, and employs 800,000 people in 100 countries.  ...

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France's foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, has sounded a warning about a nuclear agreement with Iran in the past. In 2013 he warned the West not to get drawn into a "fools game." In an intervew with the WSJ on May 31, 2015, he says without proper verification which includes military sites a nuclear agreement with Iran is meaningless. He points to the dangers of other countries in the region saying the agreement lacks clout and opting for developing nuclear weapons.

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INS Vikrant, India's new aircraft carrier reflects the move to build in India, under Atman Nirbhar Bharat. It is Indian designed and made from Indian steel and technology. Indian Navy's ensign is only now being changed from the St. George's Cross to the seal of Shivaji, who fought invasions of the British and from Afghanistan. Shivaji built the Indian fleet to protect the coastline of western India from the British and from Afghan origin navies in the region. Vikrant aircraft carrier now joins US, Japanese and Australian ships that are part of the Quad and the Indo-Pacific group of nations working to keep the seas open and uphold the rule of international law in navigation. China's coastline of 14,000 kms is not facing the key sea lanes and compares with the following for the Indo-Pacific group - India with 7500 kms, Japan with 30,000 kms, Australia with 25,000 kms, US with 20,000 kms. Indonesia which works with Quad is right on the sea lanes near Singapore with 54,000 kms coastline. With the coastline of New Zealand alone larger than that of China there is a coastline of over 150,000 kilometres or about 100,000 miles for the US, Australian, Japanese and Indian navies to protect. The US has 7 aircraft carriers in its Pacific Fleet to do this- they are the Nimitz, Carl Vinson, Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, John Stennis, Ronald Reagan. ...

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The pound falls in value to $1.30 as Mr. Boris Johnson rejects the requirement stated by Mr. Macron of France that Britain must follow EU rules. Mr. Johnson says Britain  will choose sovereignty over anything else, creating the possibility of a hard Brexit. He says the UK should not be expected to follow EU rules, anymore than the EU should be expected to follow UK rules. Business leaders hope these are opening statements only. 

Mr. Johnson want a Canada style agreement or failing this an Australia style agreement, and failing this he would stay with the existing Withdrawal Agreement with the EU he negotiated earlier. The UK wants to complete negotiations for a deal by December 31, 2020.

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Differences over Gaza policy in the ruling coalition in Israel lead to the reisignation of the defense minister Mr. Lieberman. The result could be early elections which Mr. Netanyahu called "irresponsible" considering the situation in Gaza and Israeli security.

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Unemployment reaches 6.2% in Oct. 2014, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, and the Australian economy faces the risk of a recession in 2015.

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Toyota reported a 77% drop in earnings in the first quarter of 2011, with a large loss in the Japanese operations. The strong yen trading at 81 yen to the dollar is a significant factor. And for the first time Toyota's CFO Satoshi Ozawa said "we have reached the limits of profitable Japan based production at 80 yen to the dollar." Japanese operatios lost $2.4 billion. Honda reported a 38% drop in earnings for the 1st quarter.

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Dan Maffei won his Congressional seat from an incumbent Republican from Syracuse. Others of the 35 first term Congressmen represent a rural, small town and suburban areas like Maffei. And they are not about to lose their seats after tough congressional campaigns, they say, by voting the wrong way on health care reform. As one from Maryland put it he is not willing to foloow the lead just to follow the lead. These are the Congressmen that Steny Hoyer, Rep. from Maryland, who leads the Democrats in the House, wants to give more time as this is what they wanted. And these Congressmen are making themselves heard and making changes in the health care legislation where they disagreed.

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Spain's foreign minister Alfonso Dastis says Spanish authorites may have not realized the extent to which the situation in Catalonia would get out of control with the actions by separatists towards fragmentation. He admitted Spain's government may have been naive in tackling the situation and anticipating the response. Reports of excessive use of force by Spanish police may have exacerbated the situation. Spain may not have realized separatists would declare independence.

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Misgivings among Egyptians not connected with the Muslim Brotherhood about the coup in Egypt. Tamer El-Ghobashy covers this part of Egyptian opinion which sees the best approach to poor performance by Morsi would be to vote him out of office or hold a referendum.

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India closes state borders and stems the flow of migrants as it tackles the spread of coronavirus. The Home Ministry ordered states to effectively seal their borders. The whole country is in a lockdown and prime minister Modi says this is the only way to tackle coronavirus spread.

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The Japanese yen surged in value following the 2008 financial crisis as it was seen as a safe haven. As a result the Korean won declined by 42% against the Japanese yen. This continued till 2012. Japanese companies had to compete overseas at 80 yen to the dollar and shifted operations overseas. Now with the policy of monetary expansion of the Japanese central bank the situation is reversed in December 2014. The Korean won is up 40% against the Japanese yen since 2012. The Japanese yen is now down to 118 to the dollar in Dec. 2014. Abenomics gets a new mandate with the snap election in Dec. 2014. Aaron Back says Samsung may have gained ground in televisions and smartphones but other areas in electronics such as chips, displays and image sensors remain competitive and responsive to price. In autos Hyundai market share has declined to 4.4% by Dec. 2014 from 5.1% in 2011, according to MotorIntelligence.com. So far Japanese companies have used the currency advantage to improve profits and come up with better products. By using profits to invest in new technology and productivity Japanese companies can provide more features at the same price points to gain market share without having to cut price. After years of declining margins in electronics, autos and other markets this appears to be the current strategy. Another reason for this is that Japanese companies have already shifted production overseas, the shift being higher for Honda than for Toyota. Technological improvements from investments in R&D in Japan can be transferred to manufacturing operations overseas just as Apple is doing with smartphones manufacturing in China. The currency shift also improves Japan's position relative to American and European competitors in international markets....

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Prime Minister Trudeau suffers a dent in its open, decency image after the scandal involving closing an investigation of a Quebec engineering company SNC-Lavalin. There was increasing pressure on a minister to close an investigation and demotion to a lower position of the minister who did not close the investigation.

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Britain's prime minister Boris Johnson lays out the rules for reopening in a 50 page document. It says people should use masks in public transport and outside. It also recommends people not use the subways at this time but use cars, bicycles or walking to work as better alternatives. Subway stations such as Waterloo were relatively quiet as people practiced guidelines and acted cautiously. The rules were seen as confusing but the prime minister says the reopening is much more complex than the closing which simply said "stay at home."

People were advised to work from home when possible and gave people in construction the ability to get back to work. Restaurants, hair salons, shops remain closed till a later stage. There is concern that cases could spike again and the prime minister clearly stated this would mean putting the brakes again. Britain is the second highest in deaths after the U.S. 

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Barney Frank, of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, is interviewed by the New York Times one year after the passage of the legislation. He says we did not punt anything, it was because the legislators couldn't get everything right that they set up the provision for extensive rule making. He would rather forget financial matters as they are not his strong point, he has learnt more about repos and derivatives than he ever wanted. Critics have pointed to the extensive rule making delegated to regulators in Dodd Frank as a major weakness. It makes Dodd-Frank as effective as the regulators want it to be, something that goes back to an earlier period before 2008 when lack of regulatory discipline led to the financial crisis. He gives the regulatory agencies CFTC and the S.E.C. good grades for writing some of the rules because of the difficult conditions they face. His main fear is the stalling by Republicans in Congress and efforts to weaken the law by crimping resources for the agencies. And he fears the Republicans with support from the banking industry see the 2012 presidential elections as an opportunity to reverse the legislation....

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Shell's 25% premium over BP is largely a result of the Gulf Oil Spill and the effects of the disputes with partners in Russia. The largest part of the difference stems from the oil spill. Shell trades at 7.1 times forward earnings, compared to 5.3 for BP.

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The G-20 statement for the meeting in Washington D.C. in April 2013, says: "Japan's recent policy actions are intended to stop deflation and support domestic demand." Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda's response was that this will help the BOJ implement its monetary expansion program in an orderly way. Kuroda said: "Now that we have obtained the support of the international community, we will be able to implement our program with confidence." These moves come with a call for Europe to proceed with banking union and giving more time for austerity programs to reduce the slowdown in Europe. This happens as fears emerged of a global slowdown in April 2013.

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Exxon's Darren Woods was shown in WSJ yesterday battling it out with Rockefeller foundation family interests as they fervently opposed his aggressive push for fossil fuel supplies. This WSJ report looks at another side of Darren Woods as he breaks up a potential merger between Hess and Chevron that would give Chevron access to the Stabroek oil block off Guyana's coast for about 1.2 million barrels a day. There is a shrinking pool of investment for fossil fuels during the energy transition away from fossil fuels. There is also a period of 5-10 years that the world economies have to weather through by accessing US+ oil supplies to support easing household spiralling energy costs when Russian oil supplies are no longer accessible. This is leading to a higher value being placed on existing oil blocks such as the Stabroek oil block near the coast of Guyana that Exxon and Hess have developed. Crucial work was done by Hess engineers for the find when Exxon had given up. WSJ looks at the fight between CEO's Wirth of Chevron and Hess of Hess Oil against Darren Woods of Exxon that is shaking up Houston and the banking+ legal advisors involved in the potential merger of Hess and Chevron that Woods has succeeded in ending. ...