MUMBAI/HONG KONG Wal-Mart Stores Inc is in talks to buy a minority stake in India’s largest e-commerce firm Flipkart, two people familiar with the matter said, as the world’s biggest retailer aims to break into a fast growing but highly competitive online retail market. One of the sources said the U.S. retailer was looking to invest between $750 million and $1 billion in Flipkart, but the final […]
UAE. A new report by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) reveals that, when it comes to its current-level Sustainable Economic Development Assessment (SEDA) scores, the UAE outperforms the GCC and the rest of the world in most dimensions—including income, employment, education, infrastructure, civil society, governance, and environment. Across these dimensions, the UAE topped the average scores of both the GCC and the rest of the world. The […]
UAE. Mobile phones are the most commonly used device among consumers in the UAE and more than half of all consumers (59%) prefer using their smartphones over any other device to make payments, the new Mastercard Impact of Innovation Study reveals. The study surveyed 23,000 consumers in 23 different countries across the Middle East, Africa and Europe about their attitudes to digital technology. It found that while […]
The European Union’s law enforcement agency, Europol, issued a warning today regarding the cybercrime threat landscape, particularly threats emanating from the so-called “Darknet.” Produced by Europol, the “2016 Internet Organized Crime Threat Assessment” report, outlines the biggest threats online. The annual report concluded that techniques that have normally been associated with cybercrime are now extending into other crime and threat areas, said Rob Wainwright, director of Europol. […]
Fourteen months after Microsoft released Windows 10, its “last” Windows version ever, the company said the new operating system is now running on more than 400 million devices around the world. That’s an increase of more than 50 million since Microsoft last updated its usage figures earlier this year. Calling the OS “the most secure Windows,” Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Windows and Devices Group, […]
|By Matein Khalid| The Federal Reserve did not disappoint the financial markets after Janet Yellen’s FOMC conference on Wednesday. The US central bank did not raise the overnight borrowing (or Fed Funds rate) to 0.5% on the eve of the November election. This triggered a wild rally in the US stock market with the Dow Jones up 163 points, gold up to $1342 and oil to $46 […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has witnessed a 210.8% growth in the use of Chinese currency for payments in the last two years, data released by SWIFT has shown. More than 80% of the direct payments made between the UAE and China and Hong Kong in August 2016 were in CNY, representing one of the highest increases worldwide. Data also shows that the EMEA […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Dubai is seeking $2.5 billion in loans to finance a 15-kilometer extension of its metro line to the World Expo site, Bloomberg reported quoting unnamed sources. The news agency said banks have submitted various proposals, including a $1.34 billion facility backed by European export credit agencies. Lenders also bid for a $1.12 billion unsecured, commercial facility that is guaranteed by the Dubai government, […]
|By Matein Khalid| When Ben Bernanke uttered the word “taper” in May 2013, he triggered a bloodbath in emerging markets and a free fall in “fragile five” currencies that included the Indian rupee and the Indonesian rupiah. However, Asian equities markets, while not immune to a Fed rate hike, are far better positioned for higher US dollar interest rates than in 2013, let alone 2007 or 1998. […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|Up to AED 7 billion in outstanding loans were restructured by UAE banks through negotiations with over 1700 small and medium enterprises in distress, the UAE Banks Federation has revealed. The restructuring was done under an initiative of the Federation named “Modus Operandi”. The initiative was launched by the Federation earlier in the year under which lenders to SMEs experiencing repayment difficulties agree to […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Dubai-based Shaikhani Group announced a major foray in Dubai’s property market with 11 real estate projects with a collective value exceeding Dh3.5 billion (US$950 million) that are in various stages of development. Shaikhani Group’s 11 projects will deliver 2,100 residential and commercial units in Dubai Sports City, Jumeirah Village Circle and Dubai Silicon Oasis. Of these, the company is at an advanced stage of […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| The generations of Millennials, meaning people between the ages of 19 and 35, as well as Centennials, denoting young people aged up to 18, will most probably end up poorer than their parents and grand parents, a Bank of America-Merrill Lynch report titled Thematic Investing: The New Kids on the Block has predicted. Gen Y (“Millennials”, 19-35Y) and Gen Z (“Centennials”, 0-18Y) are […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Switching from conventional ‘Western’ financial practices to Islamic banking gives distinct advantages to banks, with the change improving the liquidity and value of stocks, a study of the merger between a Bahrian Islamic bank and a conventional bank revealed. Researchers at the Universities of Birmingham and Brighton studied a merger that took place in Bahrain, between an Islamic bank and a conventional bank […]
|Arabian Post Research|The Middle East geopolitics is set to enter a new flashpoint over the US legislation that will ultimately allow families of the victims of 9/11 to sue Saudi Arabian for responsibility for the terrorist attack. Both the US House of Representatives and Senate have passed a bill to this effect unopposed, but President Barack Obama is expected to veto the legislation, although Congress could override […]
|By Matein Khalid|I had written a column two weeks ago outlining my view that US equities faced a dangerous autumn and the S&P 500 index was set for a fall of 150 points. However, even I did not expect the S&P500 index to fall 52 points on Friday (the Dow dropped 394 points and NASDAQ 133 points), its worst performance since the Brexit shock. It was even […]
|By Luzi-Ann Javier| Central bankers are putting gold investors and traders on the defensive. More than 2,500 lots exchanged hands Friday for a put option giving owners the right to sell October futures at $1,300 an ounce, making it the most-traded option for the second straight day. The most active contract on the Comex slipped as much as 0.6 percent to $1,334.10. Holdings in exchange-traded funds backed by […]
|By Steve Austin| At first sight it appears that low oil prices are good for society. A low oil price helps us save dollars at the pump, acts as an economic catalyst making exchanges cheaper and thereby stimulating the economy. However, there are downsides as well, often out-of-sight-out-of-mind and we will address these today. Change in economic model For the first time we have entered an era […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| There is a growing digital divide between those wealth managers who offer engaging and client-friendly websites that are continually updated and improved, and those who are lacking in a number of key areas. The quality of the websites of the latter group is, at best, stagnating, and mobile websites in particular remain a weakness. These are the key findings of the new report […]
/By Matein Khalid/The oil market has been a rollercoaster in 2016. A global financial panic triggered by China’s yuan depreciation caused Brent crude to fall below $30 a barrel in late January. I was amazed at the sheer scale of the speculative short positions accumulated by oil traders and hedge funds in both West Texas and Brent futures markets, the highest since the oil crash of 2008. The […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|Nearly half of the travellers believe losing money is one of the top-three threats they may face abroad, and credit card compromise is considered to be a top-three threat by 35% of users, according to research by Kaspersky Lab. The research also highlighted that there is a real danger when it comes to losing money when traveling: 22% of respondents have experienced such a […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|The new bankruptcy law of the UAE envisages the setting up of a regulatory body called the Committee for Financial Restructuring to administer the law and its procedures. The Committee will be in charge of: overseeing the procedures of financial restructuring outside the scope of the court and will appoint experts in the field of financial restructuring, establish an electronic record of individuals against […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|The DIFC Wills & Probate Registry (W&PR) has announced the launch of an online facility that provides eligible resident and non-resident property owners with a simple, cost-effective way to pass on their assets. This new facility has been made available on The Registry’s website www.difcprobate.ae from 6th September 2016. Property owners can complete a template will online that is specifically limited to real estate. […]
SAUDI ARABIA. Saudi Arabia’s non-oil private sector continued on its upward trajectory in August, with business conditions improving to the greatest extent in a year. Output and new business remained the key growth drivers – both rose sharply and more quickly than in July. Employment and input stocks also increased, with a number of companies looking to expand capacity in line with rising workloads. Meanwhile, price pressures […]
