Breakingviews

Who would argue with a U.S. millionaire tax hike?

By Daniel Indiviglio
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

Would anyone really argue with hiking tax rates on Americans making over $1 million a year? OK, the millionaires might. But selling out the country’s 250,000 super-rich by taxing them at Clinton-era rates might be the needed political compromise to avert the fiscal cliff – if only one of many financial sacrifices required to right Uncle Sam’s finances.

Lonmin doesn’t have to surrender to Xstrata – yet

By Kevin Allison

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

Xstrata has long been considered a private equity house in miner’s clothing. Now it’s taking on the role of activist investor, too. The miner owns 25 percent of struggling platinum producer Lonmin, and is being far from supportive in its role as a lead shareholder. Lonmin says Xstrata will back the company’s $817 million emergency rights issue but only if it gets to hand-pick a new chief executive and other top managers. Lonmin is rejecting those demands and for now, it can afford to.

Russian economy could lose in state energy grab

By Kevin Allison

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

It may be tempting to view Vladimir Putin’s drive to reassert state control over Russia’s energy sector as comeuppance for the oligarchs who benefited from the looting of the country’s natural resources in the 1990s. But restructuring the industry around two national champions, Gazprom and Rosneft, is ultimately bad for competition. International oil companies may benefit from greater opportunities to bring their expertise to Russia, but investors ogling opportunities in the shifting landscape should apply a hefty Kremlin discount.

VW relaunches mandatory convertible market

By Neil Unmack

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

Volkswagen is dusting off a sexy financing model. The German carmaker’s 2.5 billion euro mandatory convertible bond is the first from a European corporate since 2009. For issuers looking to protect their credit rating, the route could be more widely followed.

Morgan Stanley thumbs its nose at UBS approach

By Antony Currie
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

Morgan Stanley is thumbing its nose at the UBS approach. The Swiss group decided last week to close large swaths of its fixed income business, putting Wall Street rivals on the spot. Morgan Stanley also has struggled to earn a decent crust buying and selling bonds, commodities and the like. But Chief Executive James Gorman is tapping FICC boss Colm Kelleher to run the entire investment bank, suggesting he thinks he can make a serious go of the business.

HSBC still aiming at its moving targets

By Peter Thal Larsen

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

Stuart Gulliver is sticking to his targets. That makes him stick out. While many bank chiefs have scaled back their financial ambitions, HSBC’s chief executive is persisting with the goals he set for the lender 18 months ago. But if one-off charges for UK mis-selling and U.S. money-laundering keep repeating, HSBC may yet need to lower its sights.

Japan risks consumer electronics death spiral

By Peter Thal Larsen

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

“We are among the losers in consumer electronics.” That frank assessment by Panasonic president Kazuhiro Tsuga sums up the state of Japan’s once world-beating electronics industry. The economy is partly to blame for slumping demand for Japanese gadgets, but so are rivals like Apple and Samsung. The worry is that the financial squeeze undermines product development, leaving Japan ever further behind.

Apple means (almost) never having to say sorry

By Reynolds Holding
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

Being Apple means (almost) never having to say you’re sorry. The tech giant apologized to customers for releasing a flawed maps application. But it bristled at a UK court order that the company publicly admit as false its accusation that Samsung Electronics had infringed on the iPad. Now the British judges are demanding strict compliance.

Barclays needs a decisive UBS-style strategy shift

By George Hay and Dominic Elliott

The authors are Reuters Breakingviews columnists. The opinions expressed are their own.

Barclays needs a decisive, UBS-style change of direction. While rivals like Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse saw revenue in fixed income, currencies and commodities spike in the third quarter, Barclays’ normally strong FICC business underperformed. Worse, the results also included two fresh regulatory probes. It shows why new chief executive Antony Jenkins should consider changes as radical in tone as UBS’s root-and-branch restructuring.

Disney puts faith and $4 bln in power of the Force

By Antony Currie and Rob Cox
The authors are Reuters Breakingviews columnists. The opinions epxressed are their own.

Bob Iger and George Lucas are either flaunting their California roots, or they’ve got something to hide. The Walt Disney boss unveiled a $4 billion purchase of the Star Wars and Indiana Jones creator’s homegrown studio, Lucasfilm, on a day when Wall Street and stock markets were shut down by Hurricane Sandy. It’s just as well: Iger is asking his shareholders to put lots of faith in the power of the Force.