6 Most Important Things in Business Today

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Published
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6 Most Important Things in Business Today

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The European Union will tighten the screening process for foreign takeovers of companies, according to the Financial Times. Among the reasons may be a surge in China’s mergers and acquisitions, the paper reports.

Japan’s gross domestic product rose an impressive 4% in the most recent quarter. After decades of little or no growth, the data is a sign that the world’s third largest economy may be on track again.

Bitcoin prices moved above $4,000 for the first time, part of a recent surge. The value has risen by more than 20% in the last month, fueling worry about a collapse of the volatile currency.

China’s overall economic growth slowed last month. According to Blomberg:

Industrial output rose 6.4 percent from a year earlier in July, versus a median projection of 7.1 percent and June’s 7.6 percent
Retail sales expanded 10.4 percent from a year earlier, compared with a projection of 10.8 percent and 11 percent in June
Fixed-asset investment in urban areas rose 8.3 percent from a year earlier in the first seven months, versus a forecast 8.6 percent rise

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The Trump Administration starts talks about NAFTA this week. The future tariff-free trade among important and exports to and from Mexico, the United States and Canada is at stake. The president has indicated he wants to kill much of the agreement. The original deal was set in 1994.

Crocs may disappear, according to The New York Post:

Crocs are in the fight of their life.

For years the plastic clog maker has been suing rivals, including USA Dawgs, which makes a lookalike clog, claiming that Dawgs and others have been infringing on Crocs’ design patent.

But late last week the US Patent and Trademark Office rejected Crocs’ patent argument, which is a major blow to the already struggling footwear company. The decision was first reported by Footwear News.

Amid declining sales, Colorado-based Crocs is closing 160 stores over the next two years, slimming down to 400 stores.

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Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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