Saudi Arabia is a historically entrepreneurial country. Jeddah has been a mercantile centre for centuries. Even Riyadh and the Holy Cities of Makkah and Madinah began as trading stations on the spice and silk trails. What has changed since the rise of the oil industry? Not the entrepreneurial spirit of the country but the institutional environment for entrepreneurship to flourish. As we contemplate the country’s future as […]
By Christine Murray | SAN LUIS POTOSI, Mexico SAN LUIS POTOSI, Mexico Ford Motor Co’s (F.N) abrupt move to scrap a planned $1.6 billion car plant in central Mexico has spooked a network of suppliers who bet on a growing customer base and dramatized the risk that Donald Trump’s agenda poses to the country’s broader economy. Many auto parts makers had started to expand in anticipation of […]
Teva Pharmaceuticals, the world’s largest maker of generic drugs, has cut its sales and profit expectations for 2017 as it braces for more pricing and competition pressure on its best-selling drug — the multiple sclerosis treatment Copaxone. The Israeli group said net revenue for full-year 2017 would now be $23.8bn-$24.5bn, compared with the $25.2bn-$26.2bn range it gave in July. Expectations for earnings per share have also been […]
A round-up of major happenings in Pakistan in the last week. Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Credit: PTI Panama Papers investigation After weeks of acrimony, the first day in office for new Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar was an unusually harmonious one, with all parties hailing the constitution of a new bench for the Panama Papers hearings that will resume on January 4. Nisar excluded himself from […]
Nobody likes to admit going along with the consensus. It sounds better to be contrarian, and in markets there is far more money to be made when you latch on to an unpopular notion that turns out to be correct. That is how you get to buy things cheap. But sometimes the herd gets it right, even if it gets overexcited and “overshoots” its target. On balance, […]
By Yashaswini Swamynathan U.S. stocks edged lower on Friday after data showed employment in December rose less than expected but a rebound in wages suggested sustained growth in the labor market. The public and private sectors together added 156,000 jobs last month, a U.S. Labor Department report showed, compared with 204,000 jobs added in November. Average hourly earnings increased 10 cents, or 0.4 percent, after slipping 0.1 […]
By Richard Balmforth | PARIS PARIS France’s far-right leader fired broadsides at the European Union and the euro currency on Friday, marking out Europe as a major plank in her programme as the battle lines took shape in the campaign for the presidential election in spring. Marine Le Pen, head of the anti-EU, anti-immigrant National Front (FN) and seen by pollsters as highly likely to make a […]
Dubai Financial Market (DFM) saw its capitalisation rise by more than 12 percent during 2016 to AED337.6 billion ($91.9 billion), it has been announced. DFM’s General Index increased 12.1 percent to 3,531 points at the end of 2016 compared to 3,151 points at the end of 2015. Indices of eight out of the nine sectors featured on the DFM ended the year in the green, with the […]
After a near double-digit rally in US stocks since Donald Trump’s election victory, the question for investors is whether the outlook for corporate profits can begin to justify investors’ newfound optimism. Much of the rally has been underpinned by hopes that a Trump administration will boost corporate profits through lower corporate taxes, a more accommodative regulatory regime and a more confident US consumer. Corporate chief executives will […]
Thursday 15:20 GMT Overview A surge in the Chinese renminbi is contributing to selling of the US dollar, its retreat from 14-year highs rattling the broader market and boosting the price of gold. US and European equities are becalmed following a mixed Asian session, while Treasury yields dip from recent peaks despite what many analysts consider were a relatively hawkish set of minutes from the Federal Reserve. […]
By Yashaswini Swamynathan U.S. stocks were little changed on Thursday as a drop in banks and discretionary stocks were offset by gains in technology names. Investors are also assessing a host of economic data including the ADP payrolls report, which showed that 153,000 jobs were added in the private sector in December compared with economists’ expectation of 170,000. The report sets a precedent to Friday’s nonfarm payrolls […]
Shenzhen and Hong Kong will partner on constructing a technology park in Lok Ma Chau Loop on their border after city authorities signed a memorandum of understanding for its development on Tuesday. The Hong Kong/Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park, which will be around 1.2 million square metres in size, will enable companies to develop the fields of robotics, biomedicine, financial technology, and smart cities. It is being […]
ABU DHABI // More than 1,000 abandoned vehicles were seized last year as part of campaigns to improve the city’s appearance. Abu Dhabi Municipality said that 1,233 abandoned vehicles were seized and 4,929 warnings were given to owners, while more than 100 received fines for leaving their vehicles in public places. The campaigns targeted areas including Abu Dhabi city, Baniyas West and East, Shakhboot City, Shamkha, Shawamekh, […]
After seven years of stock markets climbing ever upwards, investors found a new reason to buy in November: the shock election of Donald Trump. One oft-repeated anecdote is how the billionaire investor Carl Icahn left Mr Trump’s victory party to buy US stocks. A few days later Stanley Druckenmiller, who earlier in the year told a conference for fellow hedge fund managers to “get out of the […]
Osterhout Design Group recently raised $58 million with a plan to expand its smart glasses and augmented reality footprint from government and enterprise customers to consumers. At the Consumer Electronics Show, ODG made good on its expansion plans as it unveiled its R-8 and R-9 smart glasses. At CES 2017, ODG highlighted how its new smart glasses are designed to complement existing devices, provide augmented reality experiences […]
ABU DHABI // Jail terms and heavy fines for people convicted of animal abuse are a welcome sign of the Government’s commitment to animal welfare, activists said. Individuals who are found guilty of abusing or the illegal hunting, buying or selling of animals face a heavier fine of Dh200,000 (up from Dh5,000) and a one-year prison term under Federal Law 18, which was issued late last year. […]
Banks and commodity companies set the pace as the FTSE 100 extended its run into record territory on Tuesday, taking the gains for the blue-chip index to 13 per cent since the UK voted for Brexit. Sentiment towards the FTSE 100 has brightened on optimism over bank earnings as bond yields rise, and on the support a stronger oil price is giving the commodities sector. “The FTSE […]
|By Matein Khalid|“Few individuals alter the course of history. Fewer still change the map of the world. Hardly anyone creates a nation state. Mohammed Ali Jinnah did all three”. Dr. Stanley Wolpert’s words still give me goose pimples two decades after I first read his book. Mr. Jinnah founded Pakistan and was also my ancestral kinsman. I too was born in Karachi, the city by the sea, […]
Despite the weakness in ‘hard’ industrial production data, US Manufacturing ‘soft’ survey data from ISM and Markit surged in November and December. PMI rose to 54.3 final for December – a 21-month high – with employment rising and inventory-building. However, stagflation concerns continue to build as new orders declined and input price inflation accelerated. ISM rose to its highest since Dec 2014 with prices paid soaring to […]
Abu Dhabi Gas Liquefaction Company Limited confers certificate of excellence to TÜV Rheinland Middle East for asset integrity services provided in 2015 TÜV Rheinland provides ADGAS continuous engineering support for oil and gas projects at Das Island 03 January 2017 A client’s award – TÜV Rheinland Middle East recently received a certificate of recognition for their consistent engineering support and excellent customer service during 2015. ADGAS […]
Saudi Arabia’s Yamama Cement Company has secured 1 billion riyals ($266.6 million) in Islamic financing to partially fund the building of a new factory, it said on Monday. The three-year financing includes 750 million riyals from National Commercial Bank and 250 million riyals from Samba Financial Group, it said in the statement. The company signed a 4.2 billion riyal contract with Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions in November […]
By Alonso Soto | BRASILIA BRASILIA Around 60 people have been killed in a bloody prison riot sparked by a war between rival drug gangs in the Amazon jungle city of Manaus, officials said on Monday, in some of the worst violence in years in Brazil’s overcrowded penitentiary system. The head of security for Amazonas state, Sergio Fontes, told a news conference that the death toll could […]
Welcome to a new year and the pressing market issues facing investors as they look to put money to work and navigate 2017. Geopolitical surprises upended expectations last year and few predicted that 2016 would end with a global bull market in equities, while bond yields remain relatively low. Will strategists be any better at forecasting this time around? Here are the big questions that will preoccupy […]
Chinese companies invested a record $45.6bn in the US in 2016 despite a US presidential campaign heavy on China bashing, but Donald Trump’s imminent arrival in Washington is among factors making the feat unlikely to be matched this year, according to a new report. The surge in Chinese foreign direct investment into the US documented by Rhodium Group, a research firm, led the annual flow of corporate […]
