Richard Baum Quotations

Beijing is just testing its wings as a global player. This agreement is a major sign of China having achieved that stature.

Last year, they did this in conjunction with the Super Bowl, and the main target was the U.S.. This year's target was Europe. It's probably as big a deal in Europe as last year's was here.

Mike was a prime mover in the contemporary China field -- in some respects, the prime mover -- for much of the past three decades,

So they're going to downplay Taiwan, they're going to downplay human rights.

It's very mixed. When you get into an environment like this, the extremes get magnified -- the good do better and the struggling do worse. It's like quicksand.

We think there's very few of them that can be long-term buys because of the fashion aspect of it, ... In Gap's case, what's happened here is that they've acknowledged that they have missed fashion but, in terms of their inventory management, they'll be delivering more frequently to the stores with less inventory commitment to each delivery. That should minimize their markdowns and improve their gross margins.

Gap is experiencing weakness across all its brands, with its merchandise problems exacerbated by its aggressive square footage growth,

Zhao Ziyang, on the other hand, was very much at the centre of that particular storm, and thus will be harder to rehabilitate.

It was a little bit slower than it has been, but consumer electronics and home furnishings are still very, very strong, ... If we were truly in a secular slowdown, we would see slowdowns in all categories.

Companies (retailers) are being very cautious about their guidance for the second quarter, so we're not completely taking it to heart that these (strong sales) results will carry through,