With US stocks in record territory and the S&P 500 index the most richly valued in more than a decade, some investors see dark clouds gathering on the horizon. The S&P 500, a broad measure of the stock prices of America’s largest companies, ended last week at a record high and has risen almost 10 per cent since the election of Donald Trump as president in November. […]
The Panama Papers scandal is the mother of all corruption cases which continues to haunt Joseph Muscat’s Government till this day, Beppe Fenech Adami told the PANA committee today. The PANA committee is in Malta to investigate the Panama Papers scandal, which brought to light the fact that Minister Konrad Mizzi and OPM chief of staff opened companies in Panama. The full declaration of […]
By Jeff Mason and Roberta Rampton | WEST PALM BEACH, Fla./BRUSSELS WEST PALM BEACH, Fla./BRUSSELS U.S. President Donald Trump considered his options for a new national security adviser on Monday as his vice president, Mike Pence, said he had been disappointed by the actions of the man ousted from the job and supported his dismissal. Trump asked for Michael Flynn’s resignation on Feb. 13 after reports emerged […]
LONDON The head of Britain’s biggest trade union Unite is likely to meet the CEO of Peugeot (PEUP.PA) on Friday in London to discuss the potential takeover of General Motors’ (GM.N) European operations, a trade union source told Reuters. “It looks like it is happening on Friday morning,” the source said of the meeting between Unite General Secretary Len McCluskey and Peugeot Chief Executive Carlos Tavares. There […]
Here we go again. The premium investors are demanding to hold French over German 10-year debt has hit a fresh post-eurozone crisis high today – exceeding 0.81 percentage points for the first time since August 2012. The yield gap has swollen to its highest in over four years this month, reflecting investor jitters about France’s upcoming and unpredictable presidential elections in three months’ time. France’s 10-year bond […]
The European Parliament’s Committee of Inquiry into Money Laundering, Tax Avoidance and Tax Evasion, known as PANA, is holding a string of meetings in Malta today to interview, among others, No Portfolio Minister Konrad Mizzi following revelations that he had secretly opened a company in Panama. Dr Mizzi was the only serving minister in the European Union to be named in the Panama Papers, 11.5 million documents […]
BRUSSELS U.S. Vice President Mike Pence told senior European Union officials in Brussels on Monday that the Trump administration was looking at ways to “deepen our relationship” with the EU. President Donald Trump alarmed EU leaders by endorsing Britain’s decision to leave the bloc and by suggesting last month that other states might follow. Pence spent the weekend in Germany seeking to reassure Europeans that Trump was […]
Photo Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, left, with Col. Terry L. Anderson, the military attaché, in Munich on Thursday. Credit Sven Hoppe/DPA, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images BAGHDAD — Defense Secretary Jim Mattis arrived in Baghdad on Monday, promising that, despite what President Trump said last month, the administration would not try to seize Iraq’s oil. Nor, he said, would the administration repay Iraqis who have worked […]
SYDNEY Asian share markets were mixed on Monday as political uncertainty globally kept the mood cautious, while the U.S. dollar dithered in a tight range ahead of a busy week for Federal Reserve events. Turnover was light with U.S. markets closed for the Presidents Day holiday. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS edged up 0.1 percent and back toward a 19-month peak reached last […]
Under Manfred Galdes’ stewardship, the FIAU had started an investigation into the Panama Papers scandal The European Parliament’s Panama Papers committee has formally invited the former chief of the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit to meet its MEPs in Malta next Monday. Under the stewardship of Manfred Galdes, the FIAU had investigated the Panama Papers scandal – which revealed that minister Konrad Mizzi and the Prime Minister’s chief […]
President Donald Trump sought to refocus on governing on Sunday by interviewing a shortlist of candidates to be his national security adviser having continued to blame media bias for portrayals of chaos in his administration. Following last week’s firing of Michael Flynn amid controversy over his Russia ties, Mr Trump was due to speak to four candidates to replace him in the post — the most crucial […]
By Carl O’Donnell | NEW YORK NEW YORK U.S. food company Kraft Heinz Co (KHC.O) withdrew its proposal for a $143-billion merger with larger rival Unilever Plc (ULVR.L), the companies said on Sunday, raising questions about whether Kraft could turn its focus to another target. Kraft had made a surprise offer for Unilever to build a global consumer goods behemoth that was flatly rejected on Friday by […]
Last week, as delegations from the new US administration, Russia, China and the EU gathered at the Munich Security Conference to discuss the strategic challenges facing the international community, a very different international assembly was taking place at the Abu Dhabi headquarters of the UAE’s Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development. As ministers in Germany prepared to debate matters diplomats define as “hard power” – military and […]
The EU’s Brexit negotiators expect to spend until Christmas solely discussing Britain’s divorce from the bloc, denying London any trade talks until progress is made on a €60bn exit bill and the rights of expatriate citizens. A narrow divorce-first approach favoured by Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, would represent a big setback for Britain’s aim for a fast-track EU trade deal, completed by the end of […]
By Erik Kirschbaum | BERLIN BERLIN Germany’s centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) have moved ahead of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) in an opinion poll by the Emnid institute for the first time since 2006, Bild am Sonntag newspaper said. The SPD’s unexpected surge of some 12 points in the last month has caught Merkel and her conservatives off guard, analysts said, just seven months before […]
Manfred Galdes Manfred Galdes, former director of the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit, has been invited to give evidence before the European Parliament’s committee of inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (PANA) on Monday. Dr Galdes controversially stepped down at the height of the Panama Papers scandal. The committee agreed to invite him to give evidence at the request of Nationalist MEP David Casa. “I’m satisfied […]
FRANKFURT PSA Group (PEUP.PA) has pledged to the German government to continue operating all four of Opel’s German production sites as part of the French carmaker’s planned takeover of General Motors’ (GM.N) European arm, German Sunday paper Bild am Sonntag reported. The planned sale was confirmed by both companies on Tuesday, raising the specter of cutbacks in the wake of a deal because Europe’s car industry has […]
Theresa May has ordered her top officials to examine Kraft Heinz’s proposed takeover of Unilever to see if it raises concerns for the wider British economy and merits government intervention. The $143bn takeover approach is a big test for Mrs May’s industrial policy: last year she criticised Kraft’s 2010 takeover of the British chocolate maker Cadbury — the US company reneged on a promise to retain factories […]
Here are the questions the FT Markets team will be pondering this week: What do retail flows mean? Money flows are widely watched but, like anything in markets, there is signal and then there is noise. Investors poured money into global stock funds last week, one when US stock markets set fresh records, and US long-only equity funds received the first net inflow of cash ($0.5bn) in […]
February 18, 2017 by: Kathrin Hille in Moscow Russia has moved to recognise documents issued in separatist-controlled areas of eastern Ukraine, a step which could heighten tension with Kiev just as efforts are underway to reinforce a shaky ceasefire in the region. According to an order by president Vladimir Putin published by the Kremlin on Saturday, Moscow will temporarily recognise identification documents, education and qualification documents, birth, […]
By Jonathan Landay | MUNICH MUNICH Russia has shown no change in behaviour or policies to embrace U.S. President Donald Trump’s offer of better relations or cooperation in fighting Islamist militants, U.S. officials and lawmakers say. Trump’s latest overture was delivered by Vice President Mike Pence on Saturday to a security conference in Germany held amid European worries over U.S. commitment to the continent’s security and […]
Finnish Prime Minister Sauli Niinistö made it clear to CNBC last week that while Russia’s actions involving Crimea must come to a peaceful resolution, the most important issues facing Europe right now are terrorism and migration. Despite Finland pledging $55 Million Euros to NATO, Niinistö also made it clear that European nations need to ultimately be responsible for their own security. I think that Europeans start to understand […]
Emerging market equity funds attracted the most money from investors in six months, as resilience in commodity prices and signs of improvement across the world’s major economies sharpened investors’ appetite. The EM funds secured $2.7bn this week, with exchange traded funds pulling in $1.8bn of the total, according to data from EPFR. Interest in EM equities was mirrored by bond investors, who handed EM debt funds $1.3bn. […]
By Laurence Frost and David Milliken | PARIS/LONDON PARIS/LONDON The chief executive of Peugeot manufacturer PSA Group (PEUP.PA) will meet British Prime Minister Theresa May to discuss his firm’s planned acquisition of General Motors’ (GM.N) Opel and Vauxhall operations, a government spokesman said on Saturday. Both Britain and Germany fear PSA will cut jobs if the takeover goes ahead, and British politicians are particularly concerned that the […]
