By Jeffrey Dastin | SAN FRANCISCO SAN FRANCISCO Amazon.com Inc’s ventures far beyond online retail, from cloud computing to movie making, are raising questions among corporate strategy experts about its focus. The Seattle-based company wowed Wall Street again this week with a 23 percent jump in sales, pushing its shares to an all-time high. But there are concerns that if blockbuster growth stops, investors may come to […]
When the Nasdaq Composite index first spent two days above the 5,000 mark, it signalled the last gasp of a spectacular bull market. Confidence in internet companies’ power to change the world and mint fortunes was about to collapse. Seventeen years later the market has hit a milestone of 6,000, part of a run of record highs for global equity markets. While stocks have again been rising […]
Nobody should ever attempt to judge an investment over a period of just 100 days. It is far too short a time to assess the quality of performance and far too prone to random effects. And in any case, most of us need results over very much more than 100 days. It is therefore a little random to be judging the Trump presidency’s impact on investors after […]
Our latest tale of corruption takes us to South Asia, where the Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has just escaped an attempt to unseat him. His opponents had pressed the country’s supreme court to investigate him, and although Mr Sharif will retain power, the investigation is far from over. The scandal in Pakistan dates back to April last year, and the release of the Panama Papers. In […]
28 April 2017 Beirut, April 27, 2017 US$ 43.9 billion of assets US$ 36.0 billion of customers’ deposits US$ 17.0 billion of loans to customers Advertisement US$ 3.8 billion of shareholders’ equity US$ 110 million of net profits in the first quarter of 2017, of which 23% from Odea Bank and 10% from Bank Audi Egypt, raising the contribution of entities abroad to consolidated net profits to […]
After a dismal fourth quarter, it seems that Europe’s investment banks have got some of their swagger back. Switzerland’s UBS grew investment bank profits by more than 50 per cent in the first quarter, even though it is hard to imagine a recovery less well-suited to the Swiss bank which is short on the US exposure and the markets businesses that have driven the strong results of peers. Credit Suisse […]
Our round-up of the best comment and analysis from the Financial Times during the week focuses on US corporate earnings, eurozone interest rates and the future of US economic reforms. The selection is taken from our Markets Insight and Smart Money columns, written by industry contributors and FT commentators. The FT’s John Authers says US corporate earnings have reached a turning point — the earnings recession that […]
The US economy expanded at its weakest pace in three years during the opening months of the year, underlining the daunting task facing Donald Trump’s administration as it seeks to attain ambitious growth targets. Gross domestic product grew at a 0.7 per cent annual rate in the first three months of 2017, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, a sharp drop from 2.1 per cent at […]
Sheikh Mubarak Al Sabah Hailed Industry Pioneer at Arabian Hotel Investment Conference April 28 2017, Dubai UAE: His Excellency Sheikh Mubarak A M Al Sabah, founder and chairman of Action Hotels has been acknowledged by the region’s hospitality sector after receiving the signature Industry Pioneer award presented by His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum at the Arabian Hotel Investment Conference (AHIC 2017) in Dubai (yesterday, […]
Violence erupted in Macedonia’s parliament as tensions between ethnic Albanian minorities and nationalists boiled over, prompting sharp rebukes from Western governments. Protesters supportive of the nationalist VMRO-DPMNE party, as well as individuals clad in identity-concealing hoods, stormed parliament on Thursday night local time, violently accosting at least lawmakers and journalists. Police say the violence left 102 inside and outside parliament injured. Parliament had just managed to break […]
Dubai-based business tycoon Mohamed Alabbar is weighing buying in to venture capital firms in the Middle East to help kick start his $1 billion technology fund, according to people familiar with the matter. Representatives for Alabbar held talks with several regional companies, including Middle East Venture Partners and BECO Capital, about either buying them entirely, joining as a co-investor or making a significant investment in the firms, […]
By Lucia Mutikani | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON The U.S. economy likely hit a soft patch in the first quarter as an unseasonably warm winter and rising inflation weighed on consumer spending, in a potential setback to President Donald Trump’s promise to boost growth. Reduced business investment in inventories and government spending cuts also crimped gross domestic product growth. A Reuters survey of economists conducted last week forecast GDP […]
Deutsche Bank said on Friday that it had appointed Citigroup treasurer James von Moltke as its new chief financial officer. Germany’s biggest lender has been looking for a new finance director since it announced last month that Marcus Schenck would take on a new dual role as co-head of the investment bank and joint deputy chief executive. Citi declined to comment on the news, which was first […]
Emerging market equities have been the darling asset class de jour in 2017, mainly in Asia and Latin America, despite the March FOMC rate hike, a US Dollar Index at or above 100 and a mini-swoon in crude oil after a Saudi-Russian output cut spat. Earnings growth (India/Thailand) a stabilized currency (China), policy reforms (India, Brazil, Indonesia) local interest rate cuts (Brazil) and lower US protectionist policies […]
|By TAP Staff| Against the backdrop of OPEC’s 1H 2017 production cuts, which the organization announced in November 2016, US liquids production has started to rebound. Rystad Energy estimates that total US oil and condensate production has increased from 8.9 to 9.3 million bbl/d between November 2016 and May 2017. This represents an increase of 400 kbbl/d over the last six month, the lion’s share of which stems […]
Distribution agreement boosts Eikon’s robust research offering with economic sovereign reports London, 28 April 2017 – Users of Thomson Reuters flagship financial platform Eikon can now access Oxford Business Group’s full range of research on emerging economies, following a distribution agreement between the two firms, giving financial professionals instant access to OBG’s extensive range of reports and economic updates. OBG content is available through Eikon’s real-time and […]
FRANKFURT Deutsche Bank is expected to name James von Moltke as new finance chief, replacing Marcus Schenck who is taking on a role as co-head of the investment bank, a source close to the matter said on Friday. Deutsche Bank declined to comment. Von Moltke will join Germany’s flagship lender from Citi, where he worked as treasurer from 2015 after earlier looking after the bank’s financial planning […]
Barclays has reported a doubling of underlying quarterly profits, excluding a big hit for selling its African unit, as its chief executive sought to shift attention away from a row over his treatment of a whistleblower. Jes Staley, who is being investigated by British and American regulators for trying to discover the identity of a whistleblower, said: “We are now just two months away from completing the […]
An early player in drone-tech, 3D Robotics Inc., announced that it has raised $53 million in a Series D round of funding on Thursday, including new equity funding and conversion of debt equity. Atlantic Bridge led the round joined by Autodesk Forge Fund, True Ventures, Foundry Group, Mayfield and other undisclosed investors, according to the company statement. The company didn’t break out how much new capital it saw […]
. 240 modern gas stations across the country set for completion by 2020 · Strong support is required to encourage organized companies to step in to the service field. 26 April 2017 Riyadh – Petromin, the leading lubricants and automotive services company in Saudi Arabia, outlined plans to build 240 gas stations across the Kingdom at the 10th edition of the Saudi Travel and Tourism Investment […]
By Jennifer Ablan and Stephen Nellis | NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO Growing tensions with North Korea should worry global electronics firms such as Apple Inc as they source key parts from South Korea, but investors are brushing off such concerns and snapping up shares in key exporters, heartened by robust earnings and big investment plans. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday in an interview […]
WASHINGTON President Donald Trump complained on Thursday that the United States was being unfairly treated in the Paris Climate Agreement and told Reuters he would announce a decision in about two weeks on whether Washington would remain in the accord. The Republican Trump, elected in November, had vowed during his campaign to withdraw from the Paris accord within 100 days of becoming president, part of a broader […]
Global energy markets are heading to a rebalancing in the next years after oil prices fell to historic lows due to oversupply, Qatar’s energy minister said Thursday, praising OPEC members for their adherence to a “successful” November deal to cut production. Qatar’s Minister of Energy and Industry Mohammed Saleh Abdullah Al-Sada told the Atlantic Council summit in Istanbul that a decade of high oil prices had led […]
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a concept that has a long standing tradition in the realm of science-fiction, popularized by Hollywood movies and iconic writers such as Isaac Asimov. However, AI has also received increased attention in recent years following news of progress in the field and the prospect of new, tangible, innovation such as self-driving cars. The Internet has played an important role in these developments, particularly […]
