The heads of the London Stock Exchange Group and Deutsche Börse went to Brussels at the start of February on the verge of clearing a major obstacle for their historic €29bn merger. Xavier Rolet and Carsten Kengeter thought EU regulators were set to bless the deal they had been working on for more than a year. But midway through the meeting, Mr Kengeter stepped out to take an emergency […]
HARARE Zimbabwe has appealed for international help for victims of floods that have left 246 people dead and displaced hundreds since December when torrential rains started pounding a country emerging from severe drought. An El Nino-induced drought last year scorched crops in the southern African country, leaving more than 4 million in need of food aid, but Zimbabweans are now having to contend with floods after receiving […]
Core inflation has returned to Japan for the first time since 2015, with consumer prices excluding fresh food rising by 0.1 per cent in January over the same month a year earlier. The return to positive territory was driven by energy — petrol prices jumped 9.2 per cent year-on-year after big drops in 2016 — but the rise will be welcome news for the Bank of Japan. […]
Doha, Qatar; March 2, 2017 The third edition of Qumra, the industry initiative by the Doha Film Institute that aims to mentor and nurture next generation filmmakers, has received tremendous support from Qatar’s government entities, industry leaders, educational & cultural organisations and a wide spectrum of global film bodies. To be held from March 3 to 8 at Souq Al Waqif and the Museum of Islamic Art, […]
Software-defined storage (SDS) startup Hedvig has closed $21.5 million in a Series C round of funding, bringing the total amount raised by the Santa Clara, California-based startup to $52 million. Investors in the round include Singapore-based EDBI and Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s (HPE) VC arm Hewlett Packard Pathfinder, Atlantic Bridge Ventures, Oman Technology Fund, True Ventures, and Vertex Ventures. Launched in 2015, Hedvig provides SDS for enterprises building […]
By Lauren Hirsch | NEW YORK NEW YORK Snap Inc’s (SNAP.N) shares continued to defy doubts about the company’s early-stage business model and slowing user growth, jumping nearly 50 percent in their first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The owner of the Snapchat messaging app raised $3.4 billion in its initial public offering on Wednesday night, more than the $3 billion Facebook (FB.O) […]
Middle East fund managers have turned more bullish towards Saudi Arabian equities on hopes that corporate earnings may finally have bottomed out after a slide due to low oil prices, a monthly Reuters poll found. The poll of 13 leading fund managers, conducted over the past week, also found they had become very bearish on Qatari and Egyptian shares. The poll found 62 percent of managers expect […]
CK Chow struck a cautious note at the start of the week when revealing the Hong Kong Exchange’s annual results. With average daily turnover down 37 per cent, the exchange chairman’s wariness was understandable as he talked of a “challenging” outlook and volatile markets. Yet such caution is out of step with the mood in the market. Hong Kong’s blue-chip Hang Seng index and the Hang Seng […]
Education, rather than exposure to immigrants, is emerging as the clearest nationwide indicator of the likelihood of Dutch voters supporting Geert Wilders’ anti-immigration Party for Freedom, according to an extensive Financial Times survey of demographic and voting data from the most recent general election. Mr Wilders’ Party for Freedom (PVV) looks on course to win the most seats in the upcoming election on March 15, but is […]
Spotify appears to be testing a new subscription tier that offers Hi-Fi lossless CD-quality audio playback for an added price on top of the regular monthly subscription fee. Spotify Is Testing A New Lossless Audio Streaming Plan A tweet on Wednesday showcased the Spotify page showing the potential option, called “Spotify Hi-Fi,” which apart from streaming high-quality audio also includes limited edition vinyl discounts, with a free vinyl […]
BOSTON An investor committee that advises the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will next week review if Snap Inc’s decision to deny shareholders voting rights might also reduce the social media company’s public disclosures on executive pay and other governance matters, the head of that committee told Reuters on Wednesday. Snap, the parent of the popular messaging app Snapchat, priced its eagerly awaited initial public offering at […]
The Trump administration is preparing to ignore any rulings by the World Trade Organisation that it sees as an affront to US sovereignty, according to a leaked report prepared by officials. The move would be a departure from US practice and a blow to the international watchdog’s credibility. The hard-hitting report, which was sent to Congress on Wednesday and obtained by the Financial Times, marks the first time the […]
Wednesday 16:30 GMT Overview Wall Street surged to another record as comments from Federal Reserve officials caused traders to boost their bets for an increase in US interest rates this month and investors celebrated a more upbeat tone from Donald Trump in his first address to Congress. In keeping with he risk-on mood that washed across financial markets around the globe, the dollar also rose and gold […]
The high profile event will showcase a wide range of real estate opportunities with Al Bandary Real Estate and Ezdan Real Estate amongst the top local companies exhibiting Doha, Qatar: March 01, 2017 Cityscape Qatar 2017, the largest real estate development and investment exhibition in the State of Qatar, welcomes this year a large number of leading local and international exhibitors to participate in its sixth edition, […]
The US dollar and global bond yields rose on Wednesday as investors focused on expectations that the Federal Reserve wants to raise interest rates this month, in the absence of specific policy details from Donald Trump’s first speech to Congress. The dollar index — a measure of the reserve currency against its main peers — rose 0.5 per cent to its highest level in more than a […]
This was originally published in our weekly newsletter, Local Edition, which is a product of the Knight-Lenfest Newsroom Initiative. Subscribe here. Have you ever had a party and looked around the room at some point and thought, Wow, there are a lot of cool people here? Well, that’s how my inbox felt this week. Thanks to everyone who contributed last week by answering our first question in […]
UK government The UK government has outlined plans for a post-Brexit digital strategy to move technology to the heart of the country. On Wednesday, the government announced the launch of the Digital Strategy, which promises to place “skills, infrastructure and innovation” at the forefront to support “Britain’s world-leading digital economy.” The government claims over four million free digital skills training courses will be created through the scheme. […]
Snap Inc, owner of popular messaging app Snapchat, will price its initial public offering after the U.S. stock market closes on Wednesday in the most eagerly awaited technology IPO since Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba went public in 2014. The pricing will be the first test of investor appetite for a social-media app beloved by teenagers and 20-somethings but which has yet to turn a profit. The company’s […]
Image by Arafat Uddin (Creative Commons) The financial services industry is undergoing digital disruption and change. Insurance, as part of that industry, also faces new opportunities and challenges. To explore these issues, I spoke with the CIO for Information at Swiss reinsurance giant, Swiss Re. Rainer Baumann handles the data and tools that experts inside the company use to understand and evaluate a broad range of insurance […]
Barely a year ago, Vale, the Brazilian mining company, was reeling. Prices of iron ore, its principal export, were at an all-time low, investors were ditching its shares and China — the market on which it most depends — looked as if it was heading for a rapid and uncontrolled slowdown. Fast forward 13 months and iron ore is back in fashion. Vale is producing record amounts […]
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 […]
This example of a 3-D ladar point cloud shows a fully foliated field site. Color indicates elevation above the ground, with red tones indicating a higher elevation value (for example, tree tops and vegetation) and blue tones indicating lower elevation value (ground-level vegetation and the ground itself). Credit: Massachusetts Institute of Technology The United States shares 5,525 miles of land border with Canada and 1,989 miles with […]
There is good news that an economical manufacturing method for producing low-cost solar cells is coming up. This follows researchers making strides in overcoming the hurdle of the temperature gradient in developing a low-temperature production process. Thanks to researchers at the University of Toronto, the making of perovskite solar cells is looking easy in sharp contrast to the costly development of silicon solar cells. Hairen Tan of the […]
The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) will continue to be funded as the peak body representing telecommunications consumers, following a review of section 593 of the Telecommunications Act 1997. In October 2016, the Department of Communications said it would be looking into the “effectiveness” of section 593 of the Act, pointing to “dramatic changes” that have occurred in the Australian telecommunications landscape over the last 20 […]
