The health of the U.S. economy and the extraordinary and controversial measures the Federal Reserve has taken to support it will top the agenda on Tuesday when Janet Yellen testifies to lawmakers for the first time as head of the Federal Reserve. Yellen, in just her second week on the job since succeeding Ben Bernanke earlier this month, will want to reinforce the central bank’s determination to […]
The price of the digital currency bitcoin slid to its lowest level in nearly two months on Monday after bitcoin digital marketplace Mt. Gox said a halt on withdrawals it announced on Friday would continue indefinitely after it detected “unusual activity.” The bitcoin price varied dramatically from one exchange to another, with Tokyo-based Mt. Gox, the best known operator of a bitcoin digital marketplace, recording one of […]
Crucial factors such as banking secrecy, diverse investment products and services have contributed to Switzerland remaining a premier offshore haven for the Middle Eastern investors, according to a leading Swiss-based asset manager specializing in the Middle Eastern region. William Spencer, at WT Capital Management S.A, says there is an increase in demand for wealth management solutions from Middle East region, with a surge in requests for custodian […]
Gold rose to a two-week high, set for the longest rally since October, as U.S. jobs data missed estimates and Chinese buyers returned after the Lunar New Year break. Silver headed for the longest winning run since August. Bullion for immediate delivery rose as much as 0.7 percent to $1,276.03 an ounce, the highest level since Jan. 27 and surpassing its 100-day moving average of $1,267.43, before […]
Smarting from growing losses, Taiwanese phone maker HTC Corp says it will expand its range of cheaper products as it fixes off-target marketing for its premium smartphones. The company that has long prided itself as a purveyor of upscale, feature-loaded products says it needs to sell more mid-tier and affordable smartphones after losing out in 2013. Muscled off-track by fast-growing Chinese rivals like Xiaomi Inc as well […]
Emerging Asia will become the world’s primary weak spot in 2014, but we have reached the beginning of the end of this crisis, according to Saxo Bank’s investment outlook for the first quarter of 2014 Global overview Having maintained world growth at acceptable levels throughout the current crisis, emerging Asia will become the world’s primary weak spot in 2014. Investment in that region has reached a staggering […]
|By Pankaj Mishra| There is a great, virtual storm blowing through India today, and the most frantic people in the country seem to be those trimming their sails to it. I refer to the shrewdly concerted campaign to make Narendra Modi seem like India’s natural and inevitable leader — a veritable miracle worker who, emerging triumphant in elections due by May, will raise despondently low growth rates […]
Most Asian markets made guarded gains on Monday, encouraged that Wall Street was able to weather a seemingly disappointing U.S. jobs report, though there was more than enough event risk ahead to keep investors cautious. Crucially, the new head of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen, delivers her first testimony to the House on Tuesday and the Senate on Thursday, and markets will be hoping for reassurance that […]
The regulator of Dubai’s tax-free financial centre said on Sunday that Deutsche Bank had been found to be in “material non-compliance” with orders to provide information as part of an investigation into alleged rule breaches. The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) had in November last year sued the lender, after almost one year of investigations into the bank’s wealth management division. An out-of-court agreement between the bank […]
A number of new openings will come up this week when local companies from different sectors hold walk-in interviews. Among the companies holding open days for jobs include Dubai Refreshments, Dubai Islamic Bank, Crown Plaza Hotel, Gulf Medical University and an IT company. Dubai Refreshments, the sole franchisee and distributor for Pepsi Co. in the UAE, is recruiting Warehouse Supervisor, Store and Spare Parts Supervisors, QA/QC Chemist, […]
Dubai’s biggest equities brokerage plans to expand into Germany by July to tap growing investor appetite for UAE equities, its chief executive officer said. Mena Corp Financial Services, which traded the most shares on the Dubai Financial Market among the 48 brokerages tracked by the exchange last year, plans to open a representative office in Frankfurt in the second half, Fathi Ben Grira, group chief executive, said […]
Asian shares regained a measure of stability on Friday, stepping further away from five-month lows after a strong rally on Wall Street and hopeful signs the upcoming U.S. payroll report could put some global growth concerns to rest. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS rose 0.8 percent, a day after the index posted its biggest gains in over two months. The index bounced 2.2 […]
European stocks rose for a second day as investors awaited the European Central Bank’s rate decision and weighed company earnings. Asian shares and U.S. stock-index futures also advanced. Daimler AG gained 3.4 percent after posting a 45 percent surge in quarterly profit. Volvo (VOLVB)AB climbed 4.8 percent after reporting operating profit that beat projections and saying it will cut 4,400 jobs. Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN) fell 1.1 percent after posting […]
Pumping his fist into the Paris air, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, an Abu Dhabi royal, celebrated the award of the 2020 World Expo to Dubai. A Dubai counterpart returned the favor three weeks later, hailing Abu Dhabi’s role in securing the event. The backslapping late last year signaled the ever-closer relationship between the sheikhdoms at the core of the seven-member United Arab Emirates, one a […]
Investment bankers in Europe are off to the leanest start to a year in a decade as dwindling income from deal-making and trading presses firms to reduce costs. Revenue from arranging mergers, loans and stock and bond offerings for clients in Europe, the Middle East and Africa fell 22 percent to $1.58 billion last month from the year-earlier period, according to data compiled by New York-based research […]
Abu Dhabi and Dubai completed due diligence on a potential merger of the two bourses in the United Arab Emirates, bringing the combination a step closer, according to two people familiar with the matter. Valuation and structuring work was completed in December, with the deal now requiring approval from the governments of the two emirates before proceeding further, the people said, asking not to be identified as […]
ING Group NV, the Dutch financial services conglomerate, said on Monday it was closing its Middle East asset management operation, based in Dubai, after the team there resigned. The closure is in line with ING’s restructuring drive, which involves only maintaining asset management operations in countries where it has a strong insurance presence, Karl Hanuska, a spokesman for ING Investment Management in the Netherlands, said by telephone. […]
Asian shares skidded on Tuesday while the dollar struggled to keep its footing, after disappointing data cast doubt on the strength of the U.S. economy and gave investors little reason to hope for stability in emerging markets after their recent rout. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell about 1.4 percent, touching its lowest level since early September at one point. The gloom was likely […]
Commodities moved lower during the course of the week as the diverging outlook between emerging and developed economies continued to raise uncertainty about the demand outlook for commodities. The weakness was primarily driven by losses in both metal sectors with industrial metals being hurt by weak China manufacturing data together with a slowdown in activity ahead of the Lunar New Year shutdown in several Asian markets. Precious […]
Dubai-based construction firm Arabtec said it would build 37 major buildings worth 22.44 billion dirhams ($6.1 billion) for Abu Dhabi state fund Aabar in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, in a fresh sign of the dramatic recovery of local estate markets. Confirming a Reuters story on Saturday, Arabtec said the deal was one of the largest ever in the region’s real estate sector and Arabtec’s biggest by value. […]
U.S. stocks fell for a third week, the longest slump since 2012 for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index , after the Federal Reserve cut stimulus even as a rout in emerging markets spurred concern about the global economy. The S&P 500 slipped 0.4 percent to 1,782.59 in the week and reached the lowest level since November on Jan. 29. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 180.26 […]
The U.K. has chosen HSBC Holdings to arrange and advise on its debut Islamic bond planned for as early as this year in an effort to become the first non-Muslim nation to sell the debt, a Treasury official said. Other banks will be mandated closer to the time of the sale, the official said yesterday, asking not to be named because the information isn’t public. Linklaters LLP […]
The Federal Reserve’s decision to keep trimming its economic stimulus drew fire on Friday as India’s central bank chief said Americans should be more attuned to the global impact of their policies, and the IMF called for vigilance given strains in financial markets. The push-back came on Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s last day on the job and two days after the U.S. central bank reduced the pace […]
India pledged on Thursday to take all necessary steps to ensure stability in financial markets as it tried to calm jitters over the U.S. Federal Reserve’s decision to scale down its economic stimulus. The U.S. central bank said on Wednesday it would buy $65 billion in bonds per month starting in February, down from $75 billion now. It shaved its purchases of U.S. Treasuries and mortgage bonds […]
