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FT ALPHAVILLE
Corporate liability, and Kiobel. Some light reading late on Wednesday: the United States Supreme Court's ruling in Kiobel v Royal Dutch Petroleum. That is Royal Dutch Shell, whom the court ultimately found for in a strong 9-0 decision (while split on the reasoning). It's quite a case. In fact it's probably the biggest, and most wide-ranging, corporate liability case you've never heard of. At the very least corporate lawyers the world over may be breathing a sigh of relief over this one. Joseph outlines the case.
Mission Impossible: ECB Governing Council minion edition: Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to collect seven briefing documents for a meeting of the ECB's Governing Council. As always, should you or any of your colleagues be caught or killed, FT Alphaville will disavow any knowledge of your actions. This blog post will destruct if our servers go down. Good luck, dear readers. (The ECB's newest game, "Top Floor", was released on Wednesday… click through for more.)
NEWS
Apple investors' nerves were rattled on Wednesday as concerns about falling earnings were compounded by poor results from a supplier and more criticism in the Chinese media. The iPhone maker is on Tuesday expected to report its first year-on-year decline in quarterly earnings for almost a decade, according to Wall Street estimates. Many analysts also forecast a drop for the financial year. (Financial Times)
The US has ousted China as the top destination for Japanese exports for the first time since 2009, as the impact of China's economic slowdown was exacerbated by the fallout from a territorial spat between Asia's two largest economies. (Financial Times)
Fears over low rates: Growing concern at the International Monetary Fund over the long-term side-effects of interest rates close to zero came as some of the leading figures in central banking conceded they were flying blind when steering their economies. Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, the former member of the European Central Bank's executive board, captured the mood at the IMF's spring meeting, saying: "We don't fully understand what is happening in advanced economies." (Financial Times)
The Brazilian central bank increased the benchmark Selic interest rate by 25 basis points to 7.50 per cent, in response to a surge in inflation through the top of the government's official target range last month. (Financial Times)
The first phase of the liability trial for damages and penalties over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster ended on Wednesday, with BP concluding its arguments that it had not acted with gross negligence in causing the disaster. A ruling on the case is still many months away, however, with more phases of the trial to come. (Financial Times)
Ebay blamed macroeconomic conditions in Europe for its slight miss on revenues for the first quarter, and lower-than-expected guidance for the second. Sales in the UK, in particular, were lower than the e-commerce platform and payments company had expected. (Financial Times)
Bank of America suffered a setback on its road to recovery as revenue in key divisions declined and earnings missed expectations, sparking a sell-off in its stock. The second-biggest US bank by assets, which is trying to escape a toxic legacy from the financial crisis of bad loans and lawsuits, reported increased net income of $2.6bn. (Financial Times)
Markets: European bourses are trying to regain their footing after recent sharp falls, but Asian shares had another poor session and commodities continue to struggle on persistent worries about global growth prospects. Adding to the cautious tone is the declining price of Apple's shares, as fretting over the erstwhile market darling's falling sales triggers a slide for technology stocks. (FT's Global Market Overview)
