A one-two punch of a surging US dollar and rising interest rates sent the price of gold tumbling to its lowest level since February on Thursday, hurting the shares of miners and spurring hefty liquidations of exchange traded funds that track the metal. The price of gold in New York fell as much as 1.8 per cent to $1,122 an ounce, as the dollar rose across the […]
Doha, Qatar December 15, 2016 Muntajat (Qatar Chemical and Petrochemical Marketing and Distribution Company Q.J.S.C.) signed its first international agency marketing agreement with Total. The signing ceremony took place at the K Trade Fair 2016 in Dusseldorf, Germany and was attended by senior representatives from Muntajat and Total. Total produces a range of polymers including polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene. With Polymers business unit offices based in Brussels, […]
What’s the story behind your business? Our story is a typical start-up story. We began 15 years ago with six people, and at the time we operated out of our chairman’s extra bedroom in Jumeirah. We started the agency with the philosophy of changing the rules of advertising across the region. At the time, people thought we were a bit crazy – they said everything had already […]
US intelligence officials have acknowledged that Russia worked to influence the outcome of the US election, and the New York Times has an excellent rundown of what occurred. It’s a fascinating look at what might be a blueprint for future electoral meddling. But perhaps the most startling fact is that something as large, complex, and arcane as an American election was attacked without touching a single voting […]
WASHINGTON/BEIJING China’s plan to punish a U.S. automaker accused of price-fixing is a sign of how Beijing could retaliate if President-elect Donald Trump upends decades of relations between the two nations. Trump’s assertion that the United States need not be bound by the policy that Taiwan is part of “one China” would erode a bedrock of U.S.-China ties that has underpinned the vast increase in trade and […]
The US dollar marched higher on Thursday, reaching its strongest level against the euro for more than a decade, after the US Federal Reserve signalled a more aggressive outlook for interest rate policy. Europe’s single currency was among the hardest hit, falling through the $1.04 level to trade at its lowest level since early 2003. Driving the dollar’s strength is a growing divergence between benchmark interest rates […]
“If they’ve managed to sleep through the night, bonds traders in the US will have quite a shock when they check their screens in the morning,” Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser at Allianz, tweeted early on Thursday. Wall Street bond traders and investors will have turned in on Wednesday night already jolted by the Federal Reserve, which under Janet Yellen’s leadership has become synonymous with caution on […]
The indulgent experience took to new heights as people thronged to complete their Christmas shopping December 15, 2016; Dubai, UAE With the air thick with anticipation, pre-Christmas shoppers streamed into the Concept Big Brand Carnival as the event opened to public today. The shopping extravaganza was kick started by popular Bollywood singer Mika Singh in the presence of numerous fans, who lent further glamour and oomph to […]
By Natalie Schachar | MEXICO CITY MEXICO CITY Some Mexican banks are lowering credit card spending limits and raising consumer lending standards in the face of an economic slowdown, rising interest rates and the U.S. election victory of Donald Trump. After a period of robust overall credit growth, Mexican banks are cutting credit card exposure to counter a potential rise in consumer defaults and the risks of […]
Theresa May on Thursday embarked on a Brexit charm offensive in Brussels, amid warnings from a senior diplomat that a final exit deal could take a decade to complete. Mrs May will tell an EU summit that Britain will play a full role in tackling migrant flows from north Africa to Europe, even after Brexit. She will also reassure fellow leaders from Latvia and Lithuania that Britain […]
Thursday 11:00 GMT Overview Stock markets are trading cautiously as Treasury yields hit fresh highs after the Federal Reserve’s decision to raise interest rates for only the second time since the financial crisis. The prospect of the US central bank perhaps having to tighten policy faster than expected to reflect any additional boost to growth from president-elect Trump’s fiscal plans is lifting the dollar to a 14-year […]
By Howard Schneider and Lindsay Dunsmuir | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON The U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates on Wednesday and signaled a faster pace of increases in 2017 as central bankers adapted to the incoming Trump administration’s promises of tax cuts, spending and deregulation. The increase in the federal funds rate to a range of between 0.50 percent and 0.75 percent was widely expected. But the prospect of […]
Steve Garey, who retired from the Anacortes refinery in 2015 after almost 25 years and served as president of the United Steelworkers local, said that while some positive changes were made after the 2010 accident, upper management at Tesoro remains “contemptuous” of its work force and is “hiding behind incredibly permissive process safety regulations.” Those regulations grew out of a string of catastrophic events in the 1980s, […]
The offshore renminbi exchange rate grew stronger than its onshore counterpart on Thursday after a closely-watched borrowing rate in Hong Kong for loans denominated in China’s currency broke back into the double digits for only the fourth time in 2016. The Hong Kong interbank borrowing rate for offshore renminbi (CNH) overnight loans (CNH Hibor) rose another 4.4 percentage points to 11.8 per cent today, taking the overnight […]
Long-term borrowing costs for lower-quality US investment-grade companies are nearing 5 per cent — the highest level in nine months — as investors anticipate rising inflation and higher growth, reversing from the six-decade low touched earlier this year. The average yield on the closely followed Moody’s Baa index has climbed to 4.9 per cent, the highest since March when the US credit market slowly recovered from a […]
MARTIN VAN BEYNEN Last updated 17:36, December 14 2016 A Russian investor has been allowed to purchase a luxury New Zealand property after explaining his connection with the Panama Papers. Leonid Kiryakov, who owns a heating and air conditioning firm in Russia, has bought a $5m property with its own beach in Matakana, a wealthy seaside settlement north of Auckland. The transaction required approval by the Overseas Investment Office […]
We’ve all been warned that it is coming, but as SHTFPlan.com’s Mac Slavo notes, what is disturbing is that while technology surrounds us and *some* have concerns about privacy, most shrug at the massive amounts of data they are collecting about our lives, and the incredible level of control the system now has over each individual. This bill passed, clinging to the broadest base of “good intentions” […]
By Julia Love and Ginger Gibson | SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON Alphabet’s Google is racing to hire more conservatives for its lobbying and policy arm, trying to get a foothold in President-elect Donald Trump’s Washington after enjoying a uniquely close relationship with the administration of President Barack Obama. In the weeks since the Nov. 8 election, Google has ramped up efforts to hire Republican lobbying firms and […]
A spate of accidents were reported in Dubai this morning. TrafficDXB tweeted at-least six accidents during a 45-minute period in the emirate. One occurred on Sheikh Zayed Road after Oasis Mall heading towards Abu Dhabi, while another was on the E66 near Nad Al Sheba going towards Dubai. Other accidents took place on Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road intersection at E66 going towards Dubai, on Beirut Street […]
When the bill was considered by the full committee in December 2012, Schumer, who eventually voted in favor of the bill, nevertheless echoed concerns of the tech companies, saying it “still needs a lot of work to assuage the concerns of tech innovators.” Sen. Grassley, who also voted for the measure, said he had the same worries, saying the bill needed to address industry concerns that it […]
By Matt Spetalnick and Timothy Gardner | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON President Barack Obama will make his case directly to President-elect Donald Trump not to derail the recent U.S.-Cuba detente, the White House said on Tuesday, insisting that “turning back the clock” would be damaging to American interests and the Cuban people. Ben Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national security adviser, said the outgoing administration hopes to persuade the incoming Trump […]
Investors are making a record bet on global bank shares following the US election, according to a new survey of institutional money managers that also highlights the risks to the sector if Donald Trump fails to deliver faster economic growth. The allocation that investors made to bank stocks this month climbed to a weighting of 31 per cent above their benchmarks, up from 25 per cent in […]
By Steve Holland | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON President-elect Donald Trump named the head of Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N), Rex Tillerson, as his choice for U.S. secretary of state on Tuesday and won backing from some Republican foreign policy figures ahead of a possible Senate fight over the oilman’s ties to Russia. The Exxon CEO potentially faces difficulties getting confirmed in the Republican-controlled Senate. Some lawmakers worry about his […]
Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and a number of other prominent figures among the world’s richest people are pledging a $1 billion investment fund for clean energy efforts. The new investment fund aims to help advance clean energy production, which in turn would help fight climate change and the negative impact it has on the environment. Breakthrough Energy Innovations The effort is a multiyear fund called Breakthrough Energy Ventures, which […]
