Readings & Viewings: February 2, 2018

Welcome to this week's Readings & Viewings, a collection of news, analysis and other interesting snippets we've spotted from around the world during the latest week for your reading pleasure.

Firstly, let's start with private equity firm Blackstone, which is challenging Bloomberg's control over Wall Street's financial information industry after acquiring the majority stake in Thomson Reuters' Financial and Risk business.

Interestingly, it's been a busy month in the takeover market, with a global value of $US273 billion the busiest January for mergers and acquisitions since the dotcom boom in 2000.

And more deals are in store. US health care could be in for shake-up for sure, with Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett and Jamie Dimon teaming up for a joint venture.

On the earnings front, toymaker Mattel has tumbled down after postings its latest result to Wall Street, which was materially impacted by the bankruptcy of its biggest retailer, Toys 'R' Us. Now, the company is banking on Barbie to save the day.

Across the border in Canada, two provinces are trading barbs over a bitumen pipeline. Alberta's Premier threatened to boycott British Columbia's hydroelectricity or toll their natural gas if not enough bitumen flowed through the pipe. This comes just days after another province ended a ban on Alberta license plates.

Global demand for cobalt is booming, as it's a key ingredient in all the batteries electric vehicles will need. So this company decided to turn a silver mine in a town called Cobalt into, surprise, a cobalt mine. 

Royal Dutch Shell has struck it rich in the Gulf of Mexico but fellow oil giant BP sees gas becoming the world's primary energy source in the next 30 years.

Is it a bird? Is it (allowed on) a plane? United Airlines doesn't think so. United's share price opened up 2.8 per cent higher the day after.

Plane manufacturer Boeing had a much better week than that peacock. Scoring billions in Pentagon contracts and reaching record highs on Wall Street has made Boeing the best performer on the Dow Jones during Trump's presidency. Boeing's soaring share price and the worst stock on the Dow this year are keeping in symmetrical, if not numerical, touch.

Source: MarketWatch

How many plumbers does it take to change a light bulb? Fix a toilet? A Norwegian Airlines flight from Oslo to Munich had 85 plumbers on board, but none could fix the plane's malfunctioning toilets. The plane returned to Oslo where the issue was solved on the ground, by airline staff.

Tech giant Samsung announced eye-watering profits this week. News the South Korean company is manufacturing cryptocurrency mining chips also surfaced. Is that where the profits came from?

It's becoming clear you need plenty of money in the bank if you want to get really rich from cryptocurrencies right now, but one company steering clear of the virtual currencies is Facebook. Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, who already has enough money, is happy to report people spend less time on his site now.

People with that level of wealth wouldn't be afraid to 'ping pool' some of it. More reports are surfacing about VIP lounges for 'dark' trading that are responsible for driving share markets, to some extent. Dark pools apparently currently account for about 15 per cent of US stock market trading, while ping pools handle less than 2.5 percent.

It's vroom vroom, full steam ahead for the rich and powerful of the world, but not so much for old Harley Davidson. The company reported a fall in sales, and a very steep fall in profits, to announce plans to close manufacturing plants. But there's always environmentally friendly news on the horizon. An electric bike looks set to arrive in the next two years.

There's a Chinese competitor emerging in the battery-powered car market, with enough funding and muscle to surpass Tesla's production. But who has the hottest product on the market right now? It's Tesla boss Elon Musk.

Hola, Ola. The Indian ride-hail player Ola is racing ahead and planning to challenge Uber on a global scale, starting with Australia. 

In the latest flare-up of the sibling rivalry between Australia and New Zealand, Kiwi wine label Montana Wines has ditched Marlborough grapes for cheaper Australian ones. But just how proud should we be that our grapes are cheap enough to keep a bottle of sauvignon blanc under $NZ10?

Things can't be that good across the ditch, with shortages of bread looming as bakers threaten strike action over $1 loaves. Lucky the shelves weren't empty last weekend, or the Westpac-sponsored Katikati Avocado Food & Wine Festival on the North Island would have struggled without something to spread smashed avo on top of.

And Japanese residents looking for work have the best odds of finding a job in 44 years, with 150 positions available for every 100 job seekers.