03/20/19

The world this week Business

Carlos Ghosn was released from detention in Tokyo after posting bail of ￥1bn ($9m). The sacked chairman of Nissan, Mitsubishi and Renault had been held in custody since mid-November on charges of financial wrongdoing at Nissan, which he denies.

Under strict bail conditions, Mr Ghosn will stay at a house under 24-hour camera surveillance. He is not allowed to communicate with people over the internet.

In an announcement that took Washington by surprise, Scott Gottlieb said he would resign as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. Mr Gottlieb had worked to speed up the approval of new drugs,

but he was greatly disliked by the tobacco industry for his forceful attempt to halt the epidemic of teen vaping and proposal to ban menthol cigarettes. Before his resignation, conservative groups had been trying to halt his efforts to crack down on the vaping industry.

Biotech stocks sank on the news, whereas tobacco stocks rose. The chief executive of Vale stepped down.

Prosecutors had asked for his "temporary" suspension after the collapse of a dam in Brazil that held waste from one of Vale's iron-ore mines, killing at least 186 people. Scores are still missing.

Chevron and ExxonMobil significantly increased their production targets for shale oil in the Permian Basin, underlining how bigger oil companies are putting pressure on smaller independent firms that operate in the region.

Chevron's boss remarked that "the shale game has become a scale game." The American economy grew by 2.9% in 2018, its best performance in three years.

The surge in growth in the middle of the year, thanks in part to tax cuts, was offset by decelerating consumer spending towards the end of the year. A slowdown in the fourth quarter hit South Africa's economy,