With US stock markets hitting record highs last week, the question has to be asked. Has the Trump reflation trade — long in equities, short in bonds — run its course? In the equity market it has been a crowded trade for quite some time. On the bond side, futures market data are telling us that there are exceptionally large speculative bear positions in the market. This […]
WASHINGTON President Donald Trump acknowledged his immigration goals may not have been communicated effectively, saying “maybe it’s my fault,” and may use his speech to Congress on Tuesday to address the poor messaging in his month-old administration. The Republican Trump, a blustery newcomer to politics before winning the 2016 presidential election, gave himself a “C or a C+” on communication in an interview with “Fox & Friends” […]
WASHINGTON Feb 28 U.S. economic growth slowed in the fourth quarter as previously reported, with robust consumer spending offset by downward revisions to business and government investment. Gross domestic product increased at a 1.9 percent annual rate, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday in its second estimate for the fourth quarter, confirming the estimate published last month. Output increased at a 3.5 percent rate in the third […]
By Tom Miles and John Irish | GENEVA GENEVA Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said on Tuesday that a U.N. Security Council resolution put forward by Western powers to punish Syria’s government over its alleged use of chemical weapons would harm peace talks in Geneva. The resolution, which comes amid U.N.-led peace talks between the warring Syrian parties, seeks to ban the supply of helicopters to […]
By Thomas Escritt | AMSTERDAM AMSTERDAM Since the evening in 2004 when policemen arrived unannounced to escort him and his wife to safety, Geert Wilders has lived in safe houses under 24-hour guard to protect him from Islamist militants who threatened to kill him. Film-maker Theo van Gogh had been shot, stabbed and nearly beheaded by a militant Islamist earlier that day, and Wilders, another prominent critic […]
Courts usually do not give verdicts against the family, says PPP chairman KARACHI: The nation is waiting with bated breath for a Supreme Court verdict in the Panamagate case. Imran Khan’s PTI, the main petitioner in the case, has high hopes, but the PPP chairman believes the judgment might not be unsettling for the ruling Sharif family. On Thursday, a five-judge larger bench of the apex court reserved […]
On the verge of Donald Trump’s address to Congress, investors have sent the benchmark S&P 500 to record highs. Money managers awaiting word from the new US president on how he will accelerate growth are looking for a reason to maintain their enthusiasm, and for good reason — by a variety of metrics, US share prices are in rare territory. Here are five charts that make bulls […]
Shortly after breaking the Panama Papers, an international exclusive that shed light on illegal offshore banking around the globe, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists should have been riding high. Instead, the scrappy cross-border investigative team was facing the dreary prospect of laying staffers off due to a financial squeeze at its parent organization, the Center for Public Integrity. “I did feel a little deflated,” said Gerard […]
BANGKOK A top official in Thailand’s palace has been fired for “extremely evil” misconduct and political interests which threatened national security, the government said on Tuesday. Police General Jumpol Manmai, who had served as intelligence chief under ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, had until recently been one of the most senior figures in new King Maha Vajiralongkorn’s household. The government said in a statement Jumpol had […]
Pro-government lawmakers accused Mr. Sadat of leaking drafts of the law to foreign embassies, and of faking the signatures of 16 fellow lawmakers on another proposed law that he had drafted. Mr. Sadat denied the accusations, saying he had circulated his criticism only in a news release via email and his website. Continue reading the main story Mr. Sadat’s expulsion highlighted the lopsided balance of parliamentary power […]
Cairo, Egypt 27 February 2017 An academic study today revealed that Uber provides Egyptians with new economic opportunities against the current and anticipated economic challenges, especially the rising unemployment of the youth and the educated. The study, entitled A Glimpse into the Sharing Economy: An Analysis of Uber Driver-Partners in Egypt, by Dr. Nagla Rizk, professor of economics & founding director of the Access to Knowledge for Development […]
By Caroline Valetkevitch | NEW YORK NEW YORK U.S. stocks ended slightly higher on Monday and the Dow closed at a record high for a 12th straight session, as President Donald Trump said he would make a “big” infrastructure statement on Tuesday. The Dow’s streak of record-high closes matches a 12-day run in 1987, with Boeing (BA.N) and UnitedHealth (UNH.N) among the biggest boosts for the Dow […]
Gold’s almost 10 per cent advance this year will be in jeopardy should US president Donald Trump’s key address to Congress on Tuesday reignite the dollar rally and prospect for higher interest rates. The yellow metal has been one of the chief beneficiaries of the cooling this year of the so-called “Trumpflation” trade, which sent the dollar to a 13-year high in early January and helped buoy […]
BANJUL Gambian President Adama Barrow replaced the heads of the army and the prisons system, both considered pillars of his predecessor’s repressive government, officials said on Monday. The moves were the latest in a series of personnel changes by Barrow, who is seeking to assert his control following the end of Yahya Jammeh’s 22-year rule. Jammeh fled into exile last month after refusing to accept his election […]
And so it has happened. Less than 100 days into his presidency, Donald Trump is being cited by a corrupt and despotic regime to justify new restrictions on rights and freedoms. On Saturday, Cambodia’s council of ministers spokesman Phay Siphan vowed to “crush” media entities that endanger the “peace and security” of the kingdom, calling on all “foreign agents” to self-censor or be shut down. He justified […]
U.S. Circuit Court Judge Laurence Silberman has a message for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and FBI Director James Comey: You’re out of order! In a strongly worded Wall Street Journal op-ed published over the weekend, the D.C. Circuit senior judge declares both of them guilty of opining out of line. “The 2016 election campaign was […] (via WSJ)
By Yara Abi Nader and John Irish | GENEVA GENEVA The main opposition group at Syrian peace talks in Geneva wants to meet Russian envoys to discuss what it says are Moscow’s broken ceasefire promises, a move diplomats say aims to put pressure on the Russian-backed Syrian government delegation. Russia has sought to revive diplomacy since its air force helped the Syrian army and allied militias defeat […]
French government debt has capped its best run since the aftermath of Britain’s vote for Brexit, underlining the rapid shift in investor sentiment towards the country’s presidential election which now looms over financial markets. The yield on the 10-year French bond dropped to its lowest in a month, as money managers and traders continued to take succour after centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron received the backing of potential […]
WASHINGTON The chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives intelligence committee said on Monday he has seen no evidence of contact between Donald Trump’s campaign and the Russian government during the 2016 presidential election. Representative Devin Nunes, head of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said the panel is expanding an ongoing investigation into Russian activities to include Moscow’s efforts targeting the U.S. election. Nunes said […]
By Sam Forgione | NEW YORK NEW YORK Warren Buffett, chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N), told CNBC on Monday that his conglomerate had purchased about 120 million shares of Apple Inc. (AAPL.O) in 2017 and that U.S. stocks were not in “bubble territory.” “Apple strikes me as having quite a sticky product,” Buffett said. He said Berkshire’s Apple stake, at 133 million shares, […]
In recent weeks, Mauricio Macri, Argentina’s president, has faced a storm of criticism. After failing to condemn an official who offended many when he played down the gravity of Argentina’s military dictatorship, he is now accused of favouritism towards his father’s company in negotiations over the repayment of a $300m debt to the state after a botched privatisation of the post office in the 1990s. But however politically tone […]
On Tuesday evening, Donald Trump will head to Capitol Hill to deliver an address to both houses of Congress. Such speeches have provided the US president’s predecessors with the opportunity to convey three main messages: their assessment of the country’s overall situation, the domestic legislative programme they hope Congress will pass in coming months and the main areas of global focus — all this in the context […]
By Jonathan Allen | NEW YORK NEW YORK Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump are holding rallies in towns and cities across the country on Monday, partly as a rebuttal to waves of anti-Trump protests that have taken place since the Republican’s election last November. Trump is not scheduled to appear at any of this week’s rallies, which are being held in cities small and large, from […]
Senate President Pro Tempore Franklin Drilon. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE On Senator Manny Pacquiao’s motions, Liberal Party (LP) senators on Monday were stripped of their positions and committee chairmanships. Pacquiao immediately moved to declare Senate President Pro Tempore Franklin Drilon’s position vacant as soon as the session opened around 3:30 p.m. Drilon himself seconded the motion. It was also Pacquiao, who moved to elect Senator Ralph […]
