Global investment round-up: this week’s top stories
The US tech companies have been releasing their numbers en masse this week. A trickle of UK third quarter trading updates have joined in the fun, but UK business news remains centred around the performance of the sterling in response to Brexit progress. Here are the top stories of the week.
1. ‘Industrial bellwether’ Caterpillar strugglesConsidering the terrible market conditions caused by excessive dealer destocking, slowing US investment and tariffs disrupting exports, third quarter results from Caterpillar (US: CAT) could have been worse. The company – a bellwether of global industrial health – reported an increase in retail sales in the three months to September. But with many customers reducing their inventory (after fears about the trade war prompted them to build stock in 2018), reported revenue fell 8% compared to the third quarter of last year. Management clearly don’t think that dealers are done with their mass inventory clear-out and have…