Oil prices were under intensifying pressure on Thursday, with the US West Texas Intermediate benchmark dipping below $49 a barrel for the first time since late November. The falls came after oil prices fell the most in more than a year over the previous session when US crude inventories climbed for a ninth straight week to a record high. Renewed concerns about a supply glut sent ripples […]
By Toby Sterling | AMSTERDAM AMSTERDAM Dutch paints and coatings maker Akzo Nobel NV (AKZO.AS) rejected a 21 billion euro ($22 billion) bid from larger U.S. rival PPG Industries Inc (PPG.N) on Thursday, saying instead it wanted to “unlock value” by spinning off its chemicals business. PPG’s unsolicited offer comes just days before an election where the vulnerability of the biggest Dutch companies to foreign takeover has […]
The tour to the city included a special preview on the first ever complete model of the Sustainable City to be showcased at the Future Cities Show 2017 Dubai, 9 March 2017: The UAE Minister of Infrastructure Development, His Excellency Dr. Abdullah bin Mohammed Belhaif Al Nuaimi visited ‘The Sustainable City’ – the region’s first sustainable and integrated project and the first residential project in Dubai that produces clean energy, […]
European leaders moved on Thursday to isolate Poland as prime minister Beata Szydlo insisted she would press ahead with her campaign to oust Donald Tusk, the country’s former premier, as head of the European Council. Government leaders from across the EU lined up in support of Mr Tusk as they arrived for a Brussels summit at which they will press to give the European Council president a […]
Thursday 14:30 GMT Overview The euro is firmer and Bund yields are trundling higher with Treasuries after the European Central Bank stood pat on interest rates and indicated it was not looking to ease policy further. Oil prices tried to rally but have resumed their sell-off, putting energy stocks under pressure and weighing on equity benchmarks. Hot topic (1) After a period when politicians seemed to rule […]
By Jibran Ahmad | Peshawar, Pakistan Peshawar, Pakistan Pakistan has indefinitely closed two border crossings with Afghanistan after opening them for two days to let through Afghans with visas, officials said on Thursday. The official border crossings were abruptly ordered closed last month after a series of attacks Pakistan blames on militants sheltered in Afghanistan, heightening tension between the neighbours. But Pakistan temporarily reopened the crossings on […]
By Jessica DiNapoli and Makiko Yamazaki | NEW YORK/TOKYO NEW YORK/TOKYO U.S. nuclear firm Westinghouse Electric Co LLC has hired bankruptcy attorneys, in a sign that owner Toshiba Corp (6502.T) is more seriously weighing a Chapter 11 filing as an option to help it rein in a multibillion dollar financial maelstrom. People familiar with the matter said the nuclear engineering company had brought in law firm Weil […]
On Tuesday Republicans initialized the first step in rolling back the Federal Communications Commission’s internet privacy rules, with 25 U.S. senators introducing a new resolution that would cause their reversal, and even forbid the commission from passing anything similar in the future. Introduced last year, the privacy rules were an addendum to the net neutrality order, which required the FCC to handle enforcement of privacy protection form […]
Oil prices were back under pressure on Thursday, with the West Texas Intermediate benchmark falling under $50 for the first time since December. The falls came after oil prices fell the most in more than a year over the previous session when US crude inventories climbed for the ninth straight week to a record high. Renewed concerns about a supply glut sent ripples through the currency market […]
A new urgency is gripping financial markets. Talk of a Federal Reserve rate increase next week is no longer the main conversation, with interest rate futures now pricing it as a near certainty. How quickly the Fed moves after March is now the hot topic. US jobs growth has been the catalyst. A survey by ADP revealed on Wednesday that 298,000 private sector jobs were created in […]
By Adam Jourdan and Eric Walsh | SHANGHAI/WASHINGTON SHANGHAI/WASHINGTON China has granted preliminary approval for 38 trademarks linked to Donald Trump, documents on China’s state trademark office show, giving the U.S. President and his family protection were they to develop the “Trump” brand in the market. The trademarks – which in theory cover a wide sweep of businesses from hotels to mobile libraries and escorts – underline […]
|By Matein Khalid| Janet Yellen confirmed the Wall Street consensus that the Federal Reserve will raise its overnight borrowing (Fed Funds) rate at the March FOMC. Wage growth, inflation, crude oil, asset prices, economic data momentum and Trump’s fiscal stimulus all reinforce the dual mandate logic of a rate hike. Only a really awful February non-farm payroll shock (consensus is 200,000 jobs) will avert a rate hike […]
AIG is to set up a new base in Luxembourg after the UK leaves the EU as the likely loss of passporting rights post Brexit has forced the US insurer to look for an alternative location to London from which to service EU business. The choice of Luxembourg is a sign of a shift in attitudes in the insurance world. Immediately after the Brexit vote, there was […]
We have just lived through the most spectacular global bullmarket run for the fixed income markets. This bull market rallied the bond market tothe lowest yields ever! Over a third ofall global fixed income was trading with a negative yield. The most accommodative central bank policiesmade heroes out of bond fund managers. Bond investors that stayed fullyinvested with fingers crossed, hoping for the greater fool theory to […]
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif held talks in Qatar on Wednesday with the country’s ruler about improving relations, soured by a dispute last year between Tehran and Gulf Arab powerhouse Saudi Arabia. Tasnim news agency said Zarif also met his Qatari counterpart during the trip to Doha, his second this year. Qatar and two other Gulf Arab states recalled their envoys from Tehran in January 2016 […]
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Wednesday that he made the right decision to rekindle ties with neighboring China and expressed his gratitude toward the Chinese people. “I thank China profusely, and they have really lightened up the economic life of our country,” said Duterte in a speech delivered during the 10th Philippine Councilors League National Congress held in Pasay City. “You can really feel the sincerity […]
Highlights of the day for U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday: WIRETAPPING Two senior senators ask the FBI and Justice Department for any information they have on Trump’s unsubstantiated claim that predecessor Barack Obama wiretapped him during the presidential campaign. HEALTHCARE The top U.S. doctors’ organization and several hospital groups come out strongly against a Republican plan backed by Trump to overhaul America’s healthcare system as […]
By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss and Trevor Hunnicutt | NEW YORK NEW YORK Investors are betting market regulators will approve what would be the first U.S. exchange-traded fund to track the price of bitcoin. From investment funds to wealthy individuals and even a Las Vegas strip club, the bitcoin ETF is generating a lot of buzz for a financial product. The surge in interest in the digital currency is […]
Snap, the first big tech listing since Alibaba in 2014, has already experienced the highs and lows of the stock market in the week since its NYSE listing. Shares on Wednesday closed at $22.81, down from a high of $29.44 last week, but still above the $17 IPO price. That performance, along with doubts over corporate governance, has raised questions over if, rather than when, Snap will […]
While many have blamed today’s spike in yields for the broader underperformance of the REIT sector, which sent the Bloomberg North American REIT index down 1.4%, its biggest one-day drop since December in a widespread selloff across all property sectors with 194 of the 214 stocks in the index lower today, it’s more than just the jump in rates that is slamming the rate-sensitive sector. While longs […]
By John Walcott and Andrea Shalal | WASHINGTON/BERLIN WASHINGTON/BERLIN U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials said on Wednesday that they have been aware since the end of last year of a security breach at the CIA that led to anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks publishing agency documents on its hacking tools. The officials, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters that they believed that the documents published by […]
By Marja Novak | LJUBLJANA LJUBLJANA The Slovenian government on Wednesday agreed to raise doctors’ wages by a total of as much as 50 million euros per year, and the move prompted other public-sector trade unions to seek wage increases, as well. The move was agreed in talks with the doctors’ trade union, Fides, which followed a partial two-week strike by doctors in November. Finance Minister Mateja […]
By Yashaswini Swamynathan U.S. stocks were little changed on Wednesday as investors focused on Friday’s crucial nonfarm payrolls report after a better-than-expected private hiring report strengthened chances of a rate increase next week. Financial stocks rose after the ADP National Employment report showed that the U.S. private sector added 298,000 jobs last month, blowing past economists’ average estimate of 190,000. The S&P 500 financial index .SPSY rose […]
By Ginger Gibson and David Shepardson | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON When the bosses of some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies headed to Washington in January to meet U.S. President Donald Trump, it had all the makings of a potentially hostile meeting. Just weeks before, Trump had sent drug stock prices plummeting after accusing the companies of “getting away with murder” by charging too much for medicines. But […]
