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Sixteen nations met recently at a trade summit in Bangkok, Thailand, hoping to iron out the terms of a regional trade deal covering nearly half the world’s population. Then India, after seven years of negotiations, decided to pull out.The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) included all 10 countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations as well six other partner countries: China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India.

As India’s economy continues to slow, regional integration held the promise of a new source of growth. India now faces a stark choice – either strengthen domestic economic reforms or risk being left behind as trade migrates to lower-tariff trade zones throughout Asia.Real reforms will not be easy, despite Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) winning national elections in May. The economy has not been the focus since Modi’s re-election. Instead, nationalistic and sectarian politics have defined the first six months of Modi’s new term and a strong coalition government has still not been formed.While political issues remain unresolved, India’s economy continues to slow. Growth fell to 7 per cent last year from a decade high of 8.5 per cent in 2010. While that is still among the fastest in the world, trend lines are not promising and this year does not look much better. Debt rating agency Moody’s has just downgraded its outlook on India to “negative” while maintaining a Baa2 bond rating. That is just two places above speculative, non-investment grade. Industrial production has fallen for two months running, to levels last seen in 2011.

• Such firms have outperformed peers by 3.6 per cent in annual growth rate of share prices since 2010
• Women currently account for 17 per cent of management teams on average globally, up from 14 per cent in 2016

Companies with more women executives tend to perform better in the stock market, according to a Credit Suisse study of more than 3,000 firms listed across the world.

Companies with women in at least 20 per cent of their executive management positions have outperformed those without by 3.6 per cent in the annual growth rate of share prices since 2010, according to “Gender 3000: The changing face of companies”, a report released by the Swiss investment bank recently.

Even though Credit Suisse refrained from establishing cause and effect, the study provided striking statistical evidence of the link between gender diversity in decision-making roles and companies’ share price performance.

“When we look at the nature of business models of companies, what we found is their returns on capital are more stable, with less volatility, among the more diverse companies. That rationalises what you are looking at,” said Richard Kersley, managing director and head of global thematic research at the bank.

“You still could come back to the idea of whether it is that good-quality companies tend to be diverse by definition, rather than diverse companies make them good quality. But the numbers are numbers,” he said.

The study reiterated research carried out by universities and financial institutions around the world. For instance, this year, researchers at Stanford University found – through the analysis of about 60 diversity announcements by listed companies in the technology and finance sectors – investors pushed share prices higher when companies revealed more gender diversity.

Research conducted by graduate business school INSEAD, however, found one additional woman on a board of directors resulted in a 2.3 per cent decrease in a company’s market value on average. For the report released last month, the researchers analysed 14 years of data on listed companies in the United States.

The Credit Suisse study showed that companies with higher representation of women in their management teams tend to have healthier financial characteristics, including stronger cash-flow returns, higher margins and better credit ratings.

• Expectations have so much influence over investors that a slower contraction than anticipated has boosted markets
• They’ve gotten ahead of themselves: there’s little about global conditions to indicate the economy has hit bottom

In financial markets, expectations are crucial. Bad economic news can be treated as good news if the data comes in better than expected.

Last week, the publication of an index of global manufacturing activity, produced jointly by JPMorgan and IHS Markit, showed that output in October contracted for the sixth straight month as the trade war continued to take its toll on the world economy.

However, investors seized on the slower pace of contraction, with the index rising for the third consecutive month, suggesting that the manufacturing downturn may have bottomed out during the summer.Even if the uptick proves to be a false dawn, most investors are now convinced that their fears of a global recession earlier this year were overdone.

The facts speak for themselves. Since October 8, the yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury bond has surged 37 basis points to 1.89 per cent, its highest level since early August. More tellingly, the global stock of negative-yielding government and corporate debt, which had ballooned to a record high of US$17 trillion in August, has plunged to US$12.5 trillion. Even Japan’s 10-year bond yield is threatening to turn positive.

Both of these factors have been feeding off each other over the past several weeks, so much so that the “fear of missing out” – known in markets by its acronym “FOMO” – on a powerful rally has taken over as the main driver of sentiment. Never mind that the economic data, particularly in Europe, remains bleak, or that the prospect of a meaningful and durable easing of trade tensions is remote, investors’ belief that the outlook for the global economy has improved has created its own reality.

As JPMorgan rightly observed in a note published earlier this month, asset prices reflect market expectations of a turning point in growth. The issue is “whether markets [are] front-load[ing] the next business cycle to an extreme degree”.

Whether the bulls are jumping the gun will only become clear in the coming months, when the headwinds from the trade war will have either abated or intensified, and when the economic data will either validate or negate the recent improvement in sentiment.

运营日本搜索服务“YAHOO”的Z HOLDINGS（HD）和LINE在进行合并业务的最终协调，将成立旗下纳入2家企业业务的新企业，设为软银的合并子公司。软银集团会长兼社长孙正义的“全面获取日本互联网市场”的豪赌，正在打造1亿人利用的平台提供商。

“将会反思，但不会萎缩”，孙正义在11月6日的财报发布会上如此表示，显示出不变的扩张姿态。软银集团由于旗下的10万亿日元基金“愿景基金”的出资对象——美国共享办公室巨头“WeWork”的运营公司经营不善等原因，2019年7～9月出现了创出历史新高的7千亿日元合并最终亏损。在集中投资有潜力的海外人工智能（AI）企业的战略面临逆风的背景下，浮出水面的是通过Z HOLDINGS与LINE合并，全面赢得日本国内市场的一手。

据称孙正义一直对于在日本国内聊天应用领域拥有稳固客户基础的LINE很感兴趣。相关人士表示，“可能一直在寻找展开资本合作的可能性”。据称此次的合并谈判也是由Z HOLDINGS方面向LINE母公司韩国NAVER主动提出。

“孙先生试图以YAHOO（Z HOLDINGS）为核心，在日本国内打造一个‘阿里巴巴’”，软银集团的一名高管如此表示。中国的阿里巴巴集团是软银集团的最大投资对象，在孙正义多年的投资之中，被认为是最大的成功案例。阿里巴巴以用户人数在全世界达到约12亿的结算服务作为入口，将用户引导到电子商务（EC）等与中国民众生活密切相关的所有服务上。在中国成为压倒性的平台提供商。

阿里巴巴的做法无疑触动了孙正义。为了在日本的互联网市场打造平台，今年6月将日本YAHOO（Z HOLDINGS）组入日本国内手机运营商的软银。在日本国内的手机市场接近饱和的背景下，启动了将2家企业的合作定为国内增长火车头的战略。通过集团全体出动的投资培育了2018年10月推出的结算服务“PayPay”。

Z HOLDINGS于9月决定收购运营服装电商网站“ZOZOTOWN(走走城)”的ZOZO。随着此次与LINE的合并，在日本国内的互联网市场的存在感将迅速提高。将拥有在日本电商业务上领先的亚马逊日本和乐天表现薄弱的聊天应用，还能加强属于增长领域的结算服务。

LINE的聊天应用的用户约为8000万人，日本YAHOO的服务约为5000万人。如果合并成功实现，将诞生同时涉足金融和零售的1亿人规模利用的服务平台。

在结算服务领域，LINE的“LINE Pay”的注册人数约为3700万人，PayPay为1900万人。合计超过NTT docomo的“d支付”的5倍，在这个领域掌握压倒性优势。

在银行和证券领域的乘积效应也很巨大。Z HOLDINGS拥有日本网络银行，10月宣布与SBI Holdings就金融业务展开一揽子合作。LINE携手野村证券，成立了“LINE证券”，计划与瑞穗金融集团于2020年度开设新银行。在新闻搜索服务和电商网站等领域也有望展开合作。

2家企业还具有用户层的互补关系。在电商网站等领域，Z HOLDINGS服务的用户多为40多岁，另一方面，LINE的应用程序则是大量10～20多岁年轻人利用。对Z HOLDINGS来说，争取到LINE拥有的年轻用户，对于争取用户长久利用其服务来说具有吸引力。

但也存在课题。即使借助2家企业的力量在日本国内市场打造平台，但在研发费用等方面，中美的大型IT（信息技术）企业仍有压倒性规模。为了展开对抗，通过软银集团推进的AI投资获得的技术和经验的投入是不可或缺的。

领导Z HOLDINGS和LINE这2家公司的新企业将成为软银的合并子公司，但NAVER也是向新企业出资50％的大股东。在推进业务运营方面，今后预计需要协调。此前在集团内部就能确定的决策有可能发生混乱。

虽然在日本国内有很多消费者利用，但另一方面，也存在反对数据垄断的声音集中出现的风险。

在美国，对于美国谷歌和亚马逊等“GAFA”收集消费者信息的反对正在加强。认为GAFA的强大有可能阻碍竞争，“分拆言论”也浮出水面。美国司法部、50个州和地区的司法长官启动了对IT大型企业的调查。

在日本， “公正取引委员会”（公平交易委员会）10月底发布了对巨大IT企业的调查报告。列举了巨大IT企业在法律上引发问题的行为，明确了严加管理的态度。

An internal Labour party paper reveals punishing new measures to slash road use.

They include huge hikes in fuel duty and company car tax, mandatory road pricing and charges to park your vehicle at work.

Reducing motorway speed limits so cars go slower and pollute less is also proposed and all planned road improvements will also be binned.

At the annual party conference in September Labour defied expert warnings and backed Britain to go carbon neutral by 2030.

The Tories seized on the document to insist the plans will hurt already struggling road commuters the hardest. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps warned: “Corbyn is coming for your car.”

The latest revelation comes after another difficult day for Labour.

Hard left leader Jezza joked with jostling photographers in Blackpool that “under Socialism you will co-operate”;
Mr Corbyn also hinted at a manifesto U-turn over controversial plans to abolish private schools;
As he prepared to campaign in Scotland today, Mr Corbyn was branded “toxic” by his own side;
Labour bosses ruled left-winger Ian Byrne should not be sacked as a parliament candidate despite his sexist and homophobic tirades;
Controversial activist Claudia Webbe was selected for a safe Labour seat despite defending ex-London mayor Ken Livingstone over the anti-Semitism scandal;
Shadow education secretary Angela Rayner insisted she “will cry on December 13th if we don’t get a Labour government” because so much is at stake over the NHS.
Even if Labour pushes through just one of the anti-car measures by allowing regular increases in fuel duty — frozen for the previous decade — the cost of petrol and diesel will go up by 13p plus inflation during their five years in power.

Mr Shapps added: “It is now clear that Labour have secret plans to clobber hardworking people with a barrage of tax hikes on their family car, that would leave families with less money in their pockets.

“Labour’s extreme economic policies would be a disaster for drivers. Tackling climate change is vital but independent experts and even Labour’s own unions say their promises don’t stack up.”

The report, by energy industry experts, was commissioned by Labour, published on the party website and endorsed by shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey.

‘DISASTER FOR DRIVERS’
Previous Tory PM Theresa May this year signed the UK up to going carbon neutral by 2050.

Labour insisted that the “external report” had not been endorsed “wholesale” by the party. A spokesman said: “Labour will usher in an electric car revolution.

“We will provide interest-free loans for 2.5million to upgrade their vehicles, introduce a scrappage scheme for old cars, protect the 186,000 workers in the automotive sector, kick-start a mammoth rollout of the UK’s electric vehicle charging network and set up community car sharing clubs.

“All the Tories have to offer is green number plates.” Mr Corbyn’s two-day Scotland tour takes in seven constituencies under pressure from the SNP.

KPMG faces fresh embarrassment after its former client Halfords was forced to take a £12m hit following an accounting change.

It is another blow to the reputation of the Big Four auditor, which together with partners on its audit team has been hit with £24m of fines in the past 18 months by the industry watchdog.

Halfords revealed last week that it had taken an £11.7m hit to its retained earnings and net assets after a “misapplication” of costs in its previous accounts, which were audited by KPMG.

Some costs relating to Halfords’ distribution centres were accounted for in a manner that was not in line with the company’s policy, it said.

The changes did not affect the company’s profit and loss account or cash flow statement.

KPMG audited Halfords for a decade but was replaced by BDO earlier this year following a re-tendering of the role.

KPMG’s lead partner on the audit was Peter Meehan, who was also the auditor of government outsourcer Carillion before it went bust in January 2018.

The change to the accounts is understood to relate to a policy that was in place before he became the lead partner on the Halfords account.

Mr Meehan has been suspended by the firm after regulators at the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) opened an investigation into its audit work for Carillion.

A source close to Halfords sought to play down the issue, which was first reported by the Financial Times, saying it is normal for new auditors reach different judgments on grey areas within accounting policies.

The firm has come under pressure from the crisis on the high street as customers shun bricks-and-mortar stores to shop online instead, issuing a string of profit warnings in the past 12 months.

Shares in the seller of bikes and car wipers have fallen more than a third this year. Last Thursday it revealed a drop in profits to £27.5m for the six months to September, down 2.5pc on a year earlier. Sales at stores open for more than a year fell 2.9pc to £283m.

KPMG and Halfords declined to comment. Mr Meehan did not respond to a request for comment.

The auditor has been hit with a string of fines in the past 18 months, including for its work on the accounts of BNY Mellon, Co-op Bank and Ted Baker. Six of its senior staff have also been reprimanded and fined for their work on several substandard audits.

While the firm and its partners have together been fined a total of £24m, some of the penalties were reduced because the firm admitted its failings and co-operated with the FRC investigations.

These fines are dwarfed by KPMG’s UK revenues, which stood at £2.2bn in the year to September 2018, and average partner pay which was £601,000.

KPMG is also the subject of several continuing investigations. The FRC’s annual enforcement review in July listed outstanding investigations into its work for Carillion, Rolls Royce and drinks retailer Conviviality, which collapsed after a surprise £30m tax bill.

The surge in enforcement actions has led major audit firms to jack up the price of contracts due to increased risks associated with vetting the books of the UK’s biggest companies.

Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin has slammed the “short-termism” of the UK’s corporate governance rules, which he claimed have led to the “failure or chronic underperformance” of many companies.

The pub chief’s latest outburst comes after Wetherspoons’ largest institutional shareholder, Columbia Threadneedle, failed to support the re-election of two directors at last year’s annual meeting.

Mr Martin said three-quarters of the pub operator’s non-executive directors felt compelled to offer their resignations as a result, which destabilised the company.

“There can be little doubt that the current system has directly led to the failure or chronic underperformance of many businesses, including banks, supermarkets, and pubs,” he said in a trading update for the 13 weeks to Oct 27.

Mr Martin also linked compliance with corporate governance guidelines with the collapse of companies including Carillion and Thomas Cook.

He added: “My view is the UK corporate governance system is up the spout – and is itself a threat to listed companies – and therefore to the UK economy.”

Wetherspoons said like-for-like sales rose by 5.3pc in its first quarter, while trading for the full year would be in line with expectations.

Shares in the pub chain have risen by more than a quarter so far this year, but fell 1.6pc to £15 in early trading.

“Daughter, wife, mother. There are my roles. I chose them, for better, for worse. And then you came along and exploded all of that.” So went Julia Ormond’s scene-setting monologue on Gold Digger (BBC One) – a psychosexual thriller about an age-gap romance with possible ulterior motives.

The BBC are hoping this six-parter, written by Marnie Dickens, will keep audiences glued to their sofas on autumnal nights and get tongues wagging around watercoolers. With its saucy intrigue and chic interiors, it was bidding to be an upmarket melodramain the mould of Apple Tree Yard or Doctor Foster.

We began with Julia Day (Ormond) waking up alone in an enviable Devon pile on her 60th birthday – the first since her husband of 35 years, Ted (Alex Jennings), left her for her best friend. She headed to London to celebrate with her three grown-up children but one-by-one, they blew her out. Grrr, those pesky kids.

Left at a loose end, Julia tossed her impressive curls, donned her swishiest green coat and wandered into the British Museum – where a chance encounter with flirty thirtysomething Benjamin (Ben Barnes) proved to be the beginning of a whirlwind affair.

All that was left to do was introduce him to her children and that’s where things became fraught, not least because the entitled brats initially mistook him for a waiter. They immediately presumed that suave young stud Benjamin was only after one thing – her money (“Mum has the house, the villa, the investments”) – so started plotting how to remove him.

There were hints of trauma in the Day family’s past, possibly involving violent abuse, so expect dark secrets to bubble to the surface. Besides, Alex Jennings is too good an actor to be wasted in a cameo role as a midlife crisis cad. Anyone who saw him play a serial killer in last year’s ITV drama Unforgotten knows how chilling he can be.

Invariably the norm on-screen is older men with younger women, so redressing the balance was welcome. It was refreshing to see an older woman taking risks, being recognised as a sexual being and feeling “seen” for the first time in decades.

Such a set-up might have been smartly compelling and precision-tooled to get viewers talking at home but sadly, the story’s execution was overwrought and soapy. Dialogue was stagey and stilted. Ormond aside, the cast didn’t convince. The tidy-bearded toy boy was smug rather than charming, while her irritatingly self-absorbed children needed a stern talking-to.

Only over-protective eldest son Patrick (Sebastian Armesto), a stressed City lawyer with his own dysfunctional marriage but determined to atone for the sins of his father, was remotely three-dimensional. He was left to do all the heavy lifting on behalf of his two sketchily drawn siblings, spoilt slacker Leo (Archie Renaux) and heartbroken lesbian Della (Jemima Rooper). That is, when Patrick wasn’t pouting sulkily, randomly punching walls or getting into moody staring contests with Benjamin.

Walgreens Boots Alliance, which owns Walgreens and Duane Reade in the US, Boots in the UK and a number of pharmaceutical manufacturing and distribution companies, operates in 25 countries and has over 415,000 employees.
Walgreens Boots Alliance, which owns Walgreens and Duane Reade in the US, Boots in the UK, operates in 25 countries and has over 415,000 employees. Photograph: John Minchillo/AP
The global drugstore chain Walgreens Boots Alliance has reportedly received a buyout offer from the private equity group KKR – if successful, the deal would be the biggest private equity transaction on record.

Shares in Walgreens Boots Alliance rose 6% on Monday after Bloomberg reported news of the deal. Its shares had fallen nearly 20% between January and the end of October, before news of a potential buyout emerged.

Walgreens Boots Alliance, which owns Walgreens and Duane Reade in the US, Boots in the UK and a number of pharmaceutical manufacturing and distribution companies, operates in 25 countries and has more than 415,000 employees.

It has struggled in recent years and is currently closing stores and cutting jobs in an attempt to save $1.8bn a year in costs by 2022. The company is facing stiff competition from online sales as consumers increasingly buy household staples online, a trend that is rapidly expanding to pharmaceuticals too. Slowing revenue from prescription drugs have also hurt the company.

Last year Amazon bought the online pharmacy PillPack in a deal widely seen as an indication of Amazon’s intent to push further into the healthcare industry.

Chairman Stefano Pessina, who owns about 16% of the company, built Walgreens Boots Alliance through a series of takeovers. KKR helped Pessina buy Boots Alliance in 2014 in what was Britain’s largest ever management buyout.

Despite the company’s size it has struggled. The company is currently reviewing its store portfolio and in May Boots said it could close up to 200 stores over the next two years, the latest in a series of high street names to announce drastic closures. In a call with analysts earlier this year the company also blamed Brexit for “challenging” conditions.

In the US Walgreens’ largest rival, CVS Health, has repositioned itself as a healthcare giant, merging with the insurer Aetna. Walgreens, in contrast, attempted to expand its portfolio with an unsuccessful takeover of rival Rite Aid and has since announced a deal to expand with other retailers, including the grocery chain Kroger.

With a market value of $56bn and $16.8bn in debt, the price to take the company private would top the largest leveraged buyout in history: the 2007 sale of utility TXU to KKR and private equity investment firm TPG, which was worth about $45bn, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Some finance chiefs are skeptical about a deal. “It might be possible. It’s a huge stretch doing things over $50bn,” Stephen Schwarzman, head of Blackstone, one of the world’s biggest buyout firms, told a Reuters Newsmaker conference last week.