Wednesday 14:30 GMT Overview Global equities were on track to close at all-time highs as Wall Street hovers near record levels in the wake of comments from Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen. And Ms Yellen’s more hawkish than forecast rhetoric has been backed up on Wednesday by stronger than expected US retail sales and inflation data that are pushing up the dollar and bond yields, while leaving […]
BEIRUT Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said his country sought good relations with its Gulf Arab neighbours as he began a one-day trip to Oman and Kuwait on Wednesday, his first since taking power in 2013. Relations between predominantly Shi’ite Iran and the mainly Sunni Arab countries of the Gulf, particularly Saudi Arabia, remain strained over their support for opposing sides in the conflicts in Syria and Yemen. […]
Submitted by Don Quijones via WolfStreet.com, Spain’s three biggest banks, Banco Santander, BBVA and Caixa Bank, have got off to a flying start this year having issued €8.6 billion in new debt, seven times the amount they sold during the same period of last year. The last time they rolled out so much debt so quickly was in 2007, the year that Spain’s spectacular real estate bubble […]
The big publishing story this week is about a Palestinian-American author who has sold her debut novel to Harper for a sizeable fee. Etaf Rum’s The Place an Arrow Shoots From sounds great: publisher Erin Wicks calls it “the story of three generations of Palestinian-American women living in Brooklyn as they struggle to reconcile their individual desires with the demands of their Arab-Muslim culture”. Their identities come […]
By Robin Emmott and Kylie MacLellan | BRUSSELS/LONDON BRUSSELS/LONDON NATO’s European allies and Canada increased defence spending by 3.8 percent last year, or $10 billion more than 2015, the alliance’s head said on Tuesday, but a report said Britain missed a key NATO goal. Russia’s annexation of Crimea has given the alliance new momentum after years of cuts, but the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a global […]
Huawei’s next flagship smartwatch is now believed to be unveiled at this year’s Mobile World Congress, as informed by a recent Weibo post by Huawei’s CEO. The device in question will reportedly feature calling, texting, and more, without a smartphone. ( Vivien Killilea | Getty Images ) Huawei looks seemingly set to unveil its next flagship smartwatch, the Huawei Watch 2, at this year’s Mobile World Congress in […]
Dubai-UAE: 13 February, 2017 The UAE imports 85 percent of its food at the cost of 15 percent of its GDP. Though this might be a scary thought, it is also an opportunity for this generation to make a real impact, said Caleb Harper on the second day of the World Government Summit 2017 in Dubai. Harper is the Principal Investigator and Director of the Open Agriculture […]
Your daily guide to community and cultural activities across the Emirates for February 14, 2017, including performances, festivals, art exhibitions, film screenings, health and fitness events, talks, classes, workshops and family fun. Ellen Fortini rounds up 10 things to do today in the UAE. Want to see your event listed here? Email us with the details and contact information at [email protected] newslide Abu Dhabi Art exhibition Grace: […]
Excerpted from today’s Blain’s Morning Porridge by Bill Blain of Mint Partners Over weekend drinks, dinners, very good lunches and rugby banter I was repeatedly told by my chums with real jobs in Industry, Services and Government how terrible this Trump fellow is turning out. It’s terribly liberal of us all to be illiberal about him. A couple of times I tried to respond in rational terms […]
February 13, 2017 by: Anjli Raval, Oil and Gas Correspondent Steep Opec production cuts could ease an oil market surplus quicker than expected in 2017, the oil cartel signalled in its first output assessment since a deal to curb supplies and bolster prices came into effect. After more than two years of allowing market forces to balance supply and demand, Opec in November agreed to again influence […]
Markets have started this week feeling much relieved, notes Bloomberg’s Richard Breslow, as the understandable fears that U.S.-Asia strategy might continue their lurch toward direct economic confrontation were given a respite. The phone call with Chinese President Xi went better than feared. And once the picture of the Japanese Prime Minister and American President high-fiving on the golf course was passed around, the sighs of relief were […]
‘Governor Moonbeam’ In the 1970s, Jerry Brown cemented his place in the national imagination as “Governor Moonbeam,” a liberal dreamer who embodied California cool — or California kook, depending on where one stood. He drove a Plymouth Satellite, spurned the governor’s mansion for a mattress on an apartment floor and dated singer Linda Ronstadt. But beneath that caricature lay a policy wonk who embraced the environmental movement […]
|By Matein Khalid| The US Dollar Index has now fallen 3.5% since it peaked on January 3. Donald Trump and his White House aides broke the 20 year taboo against speaking out against the “strong dollar” policy platitudes. The Federal Reserve did not raise interest rates and signaled no rate hike is imminent at the March FOMC. It is significant that the US dollar has fallen against […]
Submitted by Nick Kaman of Letters from Norway Introduction: Norwegians are just now starting to grapple with the effects of their “single cylinder” economy, mostly dependent on oil and gas (ca. 60% of exports). Despite optimism about $50-$70/barrel oil, American crude output is surging, on track to be the highest ever, since 1970, while cracks start to form in OPEC’s latest agreement. In addition to the oil […]
By Tetsushi Kajimoto and Stanley White | TOKYO TOKYO Japan’s economy grew for a fourth straight quarter in the final three months of last year as a weaker yen supported exports, but tepid private consumption and the risks of rising U.S. protectionism cast doubts over a sustainable recovery. Data on Monday showed the world’s third-largest economy grew an annualized 1.0 percent in October-December, roughly in line with […]
China’s largest property developer Dalian Wanda Group has set its sights on banks in Europe, including Germany’s Postbank, as it diversifies away from its core real estate business. The Beijing-based group led by China’s richest man is actively looking at several European financial institutions, three people familiar with the matter said. Postbank — which has been put up for sale by Deutsche Bank — was among the […]
Monday 04:15 GMT Overview Equities climbed and the yen softened after Japan reported gross domestic product figures for the final quarter of 2016 that suggested any monetary policy settings will remain on hold for now. Hot topic Japan’s economy closed out 2016 with growth of 0.2 per cent in the fourth quarter, below estimates of 0.3 per cent despite a boost to exports from a weaker yen […]
Top White House aide and policy adviser, Stephen Miller, sidestepped repeated chances during Sunday news shows to publicly defend embattled National Security Adviser Michael Flynn following reports that he engaged in conversations with Russian diplomat(s) about U.S. sanctions before Trump’s inauguration. The uncertainty came as Trump was dealing with North Korea’s apparent first missile launch of the year and his presidency, along with visits this week from […]
MOGADISHU // Somaliland, the breakaway northern region of Somalia, on Sunday approved the establishment of a UAE naval base on the coast of the Gulf of Aden. The UAE submitted a formal application last month for permission from the Somaliland government to open the base in the port of Berbera, about 250 kilometres south across the Gulf from Aden in Yemen. Somaliland parliament’s voted overwhelmingly in favour […]
Your daily guide to community and cultural activities across the Emirates for February 12, 2017, including performances, festivals, art exhibitions, film screenings, health and fitness events, talks, classes, workshops and family fun. Ellen Fortini rounds up 10 things to do today in the UAE. Want to see your event listed here? Email us with the details and contact information at [email protected] newslide Abu Dhabi Concert Get tickets […]
Mr. Kushner, on something of a crash course in diplomacy, has been speaking with Arab leaders in recent weeks. But he is a mystery to most Middle Eastern officials. He has no experience in government or international affairs. His up-close exposure to the Arab world amounts to little more than trips to a handful of Persian Gulf countries and a star-studded jaunt to Jordan. Continue reading the […]
With the news cycle clearly far less interested in Trump’s golf game or Abe’s handicap, just before 8am local time (6pm ET), North Korea decided to provide CNN with some “exciting” news when it fired a ballistic missile into the sea off its east coast, South Korea’s military said, in what was the latest test of Trump’s resolve to retaliate to North Korean provocations. This was the […]
By Nick Tattersall and Gulsen Solaker | ISTANBUL/ANKARA ISTANBUL/ANKARA Turkey will hold a referendum on April 16 on replacing its parliamentary system with the stronger presidency long sought by incumbent Tayyip Erdogan, electoral authorities announced on Saturday. The proposed constitutional reform would mark one of the biggest changes in the European Union candidate country’s system of governance since the modern republic was founded on the ashes of […]
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, […]
