Voices Abroad
“I feel very good now and will let all of you know if my health situation changes. Importantly, there is no evidence of cancer elsewhere in my body.” Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase & Co,
saying in a memo to the bank’s employees and shareholders that he has been diagnosed with throat cancer but that the ailment is curable and he plans to remain actively involved in the largest US bank’s business, according to a Reuters report. The news of Dimon’s ailment is an unexpected blow for JP Morgan. Dimon, who has been chief executive of the bank for the past eight years, was credited for steering the company successfully through the financial crisis. In recent years, however, the bank has run into headwinds. In 2012, the bank lost $6.2 billion from risky derivatives bets that came to be known as the “London Whale” trades.
“We come away from these reports with a higher level of conviction that the US economic recovery is strengthening.” Millan Mulraine, deputy chief economist at TD Securities in New York,
indicating that the latest US manufacturing activity and automobile sales data painted an upbeat picture for the second quarter and underscored the strength in the economy heading into the last half of the year, Reuters reported. The Institute for Supply Management said its index of national factory activity for June was at 55.3, little changed from May’s 55.4 reading. A figure above 50 indicates expansion. Notably, a gauge of new orders hit a six-month high in a good omen for business capital spending, which appeared to struggle during the first half of the year. In a separate report Autodata Corp said auto sales increased 1.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 16.98 million units last month, the highest rate since July 2006.
“We believe it is all about price. That is the only conclusion we can come to.” Dave Forsey, CEO of UK’s Sports Direct,
slamming German sportswear maker adidas as anti-competitive in an interview with The Telegraph, according to Reuters. Forsey told the paper that the company was “active with the authorities” in an escalating row with adidas over the supply of replica football shirts and World Cup merchandise. Adidas had not supplied the UK retailer with replica shirts for the teams it sponsors at the World Cup, including Argentina, Germany, Spain and Columbia. The daily quoted Forsey as claiming that adidas’ only concern was the discounts his company offered shoppers.