SYDNEY Asian shares hustled to one-month highs on Thursday after Wall Street strode to another record, while bonds rallied on wagers the European Central Bank would extend its stimulus campaign at a policy meeting later in the session. Risk appetite got an extra boost when China reported upbeat trade figures with exports and imports both beating forecasts. Resource imports were very strong, a major reason prices for […]
Britain plans to deepen security cooperation with Gulf Arab countries and work with them to counter Iranian actions in the region, Prime Minister Theresa May said on Wednesday. Addressing a meeting on the sidelines of the Gulf Cooperation Summit in Bahrain, May said Britain would invest more than 3 billion pounds in defence spending in the region over the next decade. “Gulf security is our security,” May […]
Thursday 02.10 GMT Overview Major bourses across Asia latched on to record closes for key Wall Street indices as US stock markets continued to rally one month on from the presidential election. But investors were also turning their attention to the European Central Bank and whether it will at its policy meeting later on Thursday extend the deadline for its asset stimulus programme. Hot topic On Wednesday […]
Blackrock’s chief multi-asset strategist summed up tomorrow’s anxiously awaited ECB meeting best by noting that “what’s priced into markets is a fully fledged extension of the [bond-buying] program,” but warns that, thanks to a muted reaction to the Italy vote and recent encouraging data, “there’s a significant chance the ECB disappoints markets.” As bond traders bet on a six-month QE extension, Citi warns, anything less will be […]
News stories are released on weekdays. 2 hours ago Vatican confirms ban on homosexual candidates for priesthood The Vatican has confirmed that homosexual men should not be ordained to the priesthood. In a new instruction for the training of seminarians, entitled The Gift of the Priestly Vocation, the Congregation for the Clergy says that the Church “cannot admit to the seminary or to holy orders those […]
By Lisa Barrington and Tom Perry | BEIRUT BEIRUT Syrian rebels in besieged eastern Aleppo called on Wednesday for an immediate five-day ceasefire and the evacuation of civilians and wounded, but gave no indication they were ready to withdraw as demanded by Damascus and Moscow. The Syrian army and allied forces have made rapid gains against insurgents in the past two weeks and look closer than ever […]
German and French stocks are closing in on a 20 per cent gain from their post-Brexit low, as a weaker euro and a thawing in sentiment towards banks raise the prospect that markets which disappointed investors for much of 2016 end it in positive territory. While the rebounds of the the two largest equity markets on the continent have been overshadowed by the run of new record […]
By Lewis Krauskopf and Bill Berkrot | NEW YORK NEW YORK President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday took aim at drugmakers, promising in a magazine interview that “I’m going to bring down drug prices,” and shares of U.S. pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies fell. In a cover story for Time magazine, which named him its Person of the Year, Trump said that “I don’t like what has happened with […]
DUBAI: Britain will help Gulf states “push back” against aggressive regional actions by Iran, Prime Minister Theresa May told the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Bahrain on Wednesday in a televised address.“We must… continue to confront state actors whose influence fuels instability in the region,” May told Gulf leaders at their annual summit.“So I want to assure you that I am clear-eyed about the threat that Iran […]
The European Central Bank should retool its asset-purchase programme to fund a wave of new infrastructure spending across the continent, according to one of the world’s most powerful bond managers. Rick Rieder, global chief investment officer of BlackRock’s $1.6tn fixed income business, says the ECB should avoid a “false choice” between continuing on its present course or tapering its existing programme, when it meets to decide monetary […]
BERLIN Germany urged Israel in unusually strong language on Wednesday to scrap legislation that would legalise Israeli settlement homes built on private Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank, saying this would break international law. Germany tends to be more reserved than other European nations in its criticism of Israel due to the legacy of the Nazi Holocaust, but it has objected in the past few years […]
By Francesca Piscioneri and Steve Scherer | ROME ROME Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi will hand in his resignation on Friday, a parliamentary source said, as President Sergio Mattarella seeks to slow the pace of an unfolding political crisis. Renzi vowed to resign in the early hours of Monday after a bruising referendum loss, but Mattarella, whose powers include naming prime ministers and dissolving parliament, asked him […]
DUBAI // The first day’s play at the Omega Dubai Ladies Masters was called off on Wednesday following the death of a player’s caddie. The Ladies European Tour (LET) initially suspended play at the Majlis at Emirates Golf Club at 10.30am, after a caddie collapsed on the par-5 13th. He was attended to by medical staff and then taken by ambulance to Rashid Hospital. His death was […]
New Articles Watch a video that shows Dubai Opera’s stage being transformed into an ice rink, ready for Nutcracker on Ice Set against a backdrop of colourful scenes and projections, opulent costumes, magic tricks and special effects, the cast of World, European and National Championship level skaters dance to Tchaikovsky’s glorious score. Breath-taking high speed leaps, heart stopping throws and awe-inspiring acrobatics combine with sublime ice dance […]
Submitted by Daniel Cloud “Donald Trump is either too incompetent to understand that his foolish phone call threatens our national security, or he’s doing it deliberately because he reportedly wants to build hotels in Taiwan to pad his own pockets.” – (Democratic National Committee Spokesperson) Is that true? Did “incompetent” President-Elect Donald Trump’s “foolish” telephone conversation with Taiwan’s President Cai Yingwen actually “threaten American’s […]
Wednesday 06:00 GMT Overview Bourses across Asia were higher, taking their cue from Wall Street’s return to near record highs and rally in Europe led by Italian banks. European bourses are expected to open firmer, with spreadbetters predicting the UK’s FTSE 100 will add 30 points to 6,810 and Germany’s Dax to gain 60 points to 10,835. US index futures suggest the S&P 500 will shed 1 […]
Abu Dhabi // Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid led the UAE delegation to the two-day GCC Summit on Tuesday, which is also being attended by UK prime minister Theresa May as she looks to expand trade ties ahead of Britain’s exit from the European Union. The 37th annual talks among the six Gulf member states in Manama were expected to focus on security within the GCC, economic integration […]
December 6, 2016 by: Mark Wiedman and Richie Prager This is part of a series on the global rise of exchange traded funds How do you buy or sell bonds if the middleman is not there any more? As any bond investor will tell you, buying or selling bonds is harder and more costly than in long memory. Since the crisis, regulators have squeezed the investment bank […]
One of the key strengths of cloud computing is its inherent resilience and ubiquity: get the architecture right, and you can be assured that your data resides in multiple locations, providing both data resilience and the ability to serve data to partners, customers and employees wherever they happen to be. However, EU legislation demands that some types of data must remain in the same country as the […]
Your daily guide to community and cultural activities across the Emirates for December 7, 2016, including performances, festivals, art exhibitions, film screenings, health and fitness events, talks, classes, workshops and family fun. newslide Abu Dhabi Festive market Head to the annual Swiss Christmas Market and experience a traditional European festive event featuring 44 wooden chalets selling an array of seasonal gifts and decorations. Try Swiss culinary favourites […]
By Patricia Zengerle | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON The U.S. failure to retaliate strongly for the 2014 cyber attack against Sony Pictures may have helped inspire Russian hackers who sought to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election, a senior congressional Democrat said on Tuesday. “Russia may have concluded that they could hack American institutions and there’d be no price to pay,” Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the […]
By Crispian Balmer | ROME ROME When former Italian president Giorgio Napolitano tapped Matteo Renzi as prime minister in February 2014, he urged his younger colleague to change the constitution in order to make it easier to govern Italy. Early this year, Napolitano fretted that Renzi was taking the wrong approach in doing so. A referendum on the constitutional changes had been called. But instead of focusing […]
Several European companies in China have been unable to remit dividends abroad following new exchange controls, in the first confirmation that a complicated approval process for making payments out of China is having a wider impact than first indicated. The EU Chamber of Commerce in Beijing said the payment difficulties experienced by EU companies were “disruptive to business operations”. The measures, introduced on November 28, appear designed […]
If you set out to make a positive investment case for Italy 20 years ago, the best hope was to play down the myriad structural inefficiencies that blighted the corporate sector and argue that this was a good economy burdened by an unworkable state. Now, after years of no growth accompanied by stubbornly high public debt, a positive case looks even harder to make, especially after the […]
