In a centrally planned economy decisions on what to produce, how to produce and for whom are taken primarily by the government. The term is usually associated with communist economies. However, since US President Franklin D. Roosevelt implemented a robust range of government policies in the 1930s to counter the effects of the Great Depression, using principles that would be popularized by UK economist John Maynard Keynes, […]
A judge ruled that a Georgia woman didn’t have “any legal duty” to pay for her daughter’s college tuition bill before declaring bankruptcy, deepening the fracture between judges on whether financially struggling parents can help their children pay for college. In a Jan. 31 opinion, Judge Edward Coleman III ruled that Skidmore College could keep […] (via WSJ)
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Up to 40,000 people were caught in severe flooding following days of torrential rain in central Indonesia, where the death toll from landslides on Bali resort island rose to 13, officials said Saturday. Indonesia’s Disaster Mitigation Agency said that incessant rains in the past five days caused rivers on Sumbawa Island to break their banks and inundate seven sub-districts in West Nusa Tenggara province. […]
February 11, 2017 by: John Reed — Jerusalem The US administration of Donald Trump has blocked the appointment of Salam Fayyad, the former Palestinian prime minister, to a senior United Nations post in a decision Palestinian officials said was based solely on his nationality. Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, announced the decision on Friday, saying that Washington was disappointed by a letter written by […]
The four main US stock barometers all logged record closing highs on Friday, marking the first grand slam in two months as small capitalisation stocks have caught up to their larger brethren. The S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite were already trading at all-time peaks before Friday, propelled higher by the relatively strong performance of large capitalisation stocks, leaving the Russell 2000 index lagging […]
Thieves who want to rob banks often have to come up with elaborate schemes to steal money. Robbing banks may also involve working with a group of armed robbers with get-away vehicles who do thorough planning to commit the crime. A bank teller in Texas, however, did not have to resort to using guns and wearing mask to steal money from the bank where she used to work. […]
European equity markets are warning of greater volatility in coming months, as the European Central Bank prepares to cut its stimulus programme and anxiety grows ahead of upcoming elections. Futures contracts in the Vstoxx — a measure of implied volatility for the benchmark Euro Stoxx 50 index — reflect expectations of a blip as after the ECB cuts its monthly bond purchases at the end of March […]
Far from the palm-fringed beaches of the usual offshore tax havens, Canada has quietly become a go-to destination for international tax cheats eager to exploit the country’s twin benefits of a sterling reputation and rules that allow private companies to keep their ownership secret. A joint investigation by CBC/Radio-Canada and the Toronto Star has found dozens of cases where tax advisers around the world are touting shell companies […]
“The danger is that this is the first stage in an escalation that could culminate in a military confrontation between Iran and the United States, or Iran and Israel,” said Karim Sadjadpour of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “The entire eight years of the Obama administration was an example of unprecedented but largely unreciprocated overtures for cooperation with Iran in the Middle East. The Iranians weren’t […]
A day of market gyrations and pressure for higher interest rates has forced the Bank of Japan to tip its hand by intervening to keep 10-year yields below 0.11 per cent. It is the first time the BoJ has turned last September’s “around zero per cent” cap on the 10-year yield into explicit action, with the central bank offering to buy an unlimited number of government bonds at […]
By Chuck Mikolajczak | NEW YORK NEW YORK U.S. stocks climbed on Friday, with the S&P 500 closing just short of a record high, boosted by gains in financial shares as President Donald Trump moved ahead with deregulation action and by a strong payrolls report. The S&P financial sector .SPSY jumped 2 percent to score its best day since mid-November after Trump signed an executive order to […]
The $16tn US retirement savings industry faces renewed uncertainty after the Trump administration said it would review a “fiduciary rule” that forces retail brokers to put their clients’ interests first. The decision prompted dismay from backers of the rule, including Jack Bogle, the founder of Vanguard, who criticised the administration for having Gary Cohn, the former Goldman Sachs president, front the rollout of the new policy. It […]
While the White House said it had not yet taken an official position on settlement activity, its statement hinted at the kind of understandings that Israel had with President George W. Bush. Continue reading the main story In a 2004 letter to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel, Mr. Bush articulated a policy that allowed for continued Israeli building in major settlement blocs that Israel intended to […]
Investors piled into bank shares on Friday following news that Donald Trump will begin the process to undo parts of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law. The S&P 500 financials sector advanced 2 per cent and propelled it back into positive territory for the year on Friday. Within the broad group, the banks subsector gained 2.6 per cent, giving both their best day since November. Morgan Stanley shares […]
By Lucia Mutikani | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S. job growth surged more than expected in January as construction firms and retailers ramped up hiring, but wages barely rose, handing the Trump administration both a head start and a challenge as it seeks to boost the economy. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 227,000 jobs, the largest gain in four months, the Labor Department said on Friday. The unemployment rate, however, […]
Investors have warmed to Russian assets, welcoming the country in from the cold. Russian bond funds counted record inflows in the week to February 1 as higher crude prices and improving relations with the US prompted an investor rotation back into the country. Emerging markets more broadly have found renewed investor appetite as the dollar has fallen to an 11-week low. More than $1bn flowed into EM […]
By William Shaw Law360, London (January 30, 2017, 8:30 PM GMT) — A major European Parliament committee will next month investigate the role played by lawyers, accountants and bankers in the tax evasion networks revealed in last year’s Panama Papers leaks, the European Union legislative body said Monday. The Committee of Inquiry into Money Laundering, Tax Avoidance and Tax Evasion will take testimony from investigative journalists and […]
Submitted by Mike Maharrey via The Tenth Amendment Center, A bill introduced in the Utah legislature would build on the state’s Legal Tender Act, creating a foundation for further action to encourage the use of gold and silver as money, and take another step toward breaking the Federal Reserve’s monopoly on money. Rep. Ken Ivory (R-West Jordan) introduced House Bill 224 (HB224) on Jan. 27. The legislation would add […]
The White House has said that Israel’s settlement building programme “may not be helpful”, marking the Trump administration’s first public response to a construction spree on Palestinian lands announced by the government of Benjamin Netanyahu in recent days. The statement, issued two weeks before Mr Netanyahu is due to visit President Donald Trump in Washington, is a rap on the knuckles for the Israeli prime minister, who […]
Apple clinched $10bn of debt financing on Thursday as capital market activity remained robust, with Microsoft and AT&T also borrowing hefty amounts from investors this week. Apple’s latest bond sale follows a bumper start to the year for corporate and bank borrowings, with more than $185bn raised by investment-grade groups in the US, according to Dealogic. This week Microsoft borrowed $17bn in the largest bond offering of […]
By Parisa Hafezi | ANKARA ANKARA Many Iranians who dreamt of quiet, comfortable lives after a nuclear deal with world powers in 2015 are starting to worry for the first time in decades they might be bombed in their own homes. Since taking office last month, U.S. President Donald Trump has pledged to get tough with Iran, warning the Islamic Republic after its ballistic missile test on […]
The government is struggling to protect the UK from cyberattacks, say MPs. Image: iStock An inconsistent, dysfunctional and chaotic response to cybersecurity by the British government is causing concerns about its ability to protect the country from cyberattacks and hackers, MPs have warned. The damning indictment is set out in a by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report into protecting information across government, which comes as defence […]
European stocks and S&P futures rose modestly ahead of January US payrolls data, along with the dollar, while Asian shares dropped after China returned from a week-long holiday. Bonds slid, oil rose while the JGB intervened in the bond market to prevent a bond rout, in one of two major surprises during the Asian session. As reported last night, having closed at 0.109% yesterday the 10y JGB […]
Russia is to spend more than Rbs113bn ($1.9bn) during the next month in an effort to weaken the rouble, marking a reversal from the 2014 foreign exchange shock that forced it to intervene heavily to stop the currency falling too far. The country’s central bank will spend Rbs6.3bn a day on forex transactions from February 7 to March 6, the finance ministry said in a statement on […]
