By Anthony Boadle | BRASILIA BRASILIA Brazil’s Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned an injunction that ordered the indicted head of the Senate, Renan Calheiros, to step down, voting to allow him to continue in the post but not in the presidential line of succession. The 6-3 ruling defuses a clash between the top court and the Senate that threatened to derail spending cuts at the centre of […]
MOSCOW — The Russian government announced Wednesday that it will sell nearly 20 percent of its state oil company, Rosneft, to the Swiss commodity trading firm Glencore and the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar. The deal defies expectations that no investor would dare buy a share in the Russian asset, given Western sanctions against the government of President Vladimir V. Putin. But the emergence of foreign money […]
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 […]
Oil and gas major Chevron Corp (CVX.N) on Wednesday announced a $19.8 billion capital and exploratory investment program for 2017. The company said the 2017 budget represents a reduction of 42 percent from 2015 outlays and is expected to be at least 15 percent lower than projected 2016 capital investments. Chevron said in March it would slash its capital budget by as much as 36 percent in […]
In this Dec. 12, 2013 file photo, a man passes by the Samsung Electronics Co. logos at its headquarters in Seoul, South Korea. A unanimous Supreme Court on Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2016, sided with smartphone maker Samsung in its high-profile patent dispute with Apple over design of the iPhone. The justices said Samsung may not be required to pay all the profits it earned from 11 phone […]
General assembly meetings of FGB and NBAD held on December 7th Combined bank has total assets of approximately AED655 billion (US$178 billion), representing a 27% market share of UAE banking sector[1] Shareholders approve combined bank’s board of directors from effective merger date Effective date of merger towards the end of Q1 2017 as initially planned. Abu Dhabi, 7 December 2016 Shareholders in First Gulf Bank PJSC (FGB) […]
Softbank president Masayoshi Son walked out of President-Elect Trump’s office with a big grin on his face this yesterday, which can only signify one thing for me: a Sprint/T-Mobile merger is a done deal. Actual news stories don’t want to say this, because Trump and Son didn’t say it explicitly. According to the New York Times, Son “is projected” to spend half of his $100 […]
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 […]
07 December 2016 Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba), the Bahrain-based international aluminium smelter, has been performing reasonably well in light of the market conditions, according to a statement issued by the Chairman of Alba’s Board of Directors, Shaikh Daij Bin Salman Bin Daij Al Khalifa. The statement was made following the fourth quarterly meeting for the year 2016, which was held on Wednesday December 07, 2016 at Alba. […]
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 […]
There is over a month left until Trump’s inauguration, and the President-elect’s hard-hitting negotiating style may have scored yet another economic victory: according to a statement issued by Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer and a major Apple Inc supplier, the company said it was in preliminary discussions to expand its operations in the United States. “While the scope of the potential investment has not been […]
Global medical technology business, Siemens Healthineers, has partnered with Middle Eastern investors to establish its first entity in the UAE. The business said it has joined forces with Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group and Electro Mechanical Co to expand its footprint to the UAE. Siemens Healthineers offers medical imaging, laboratory diagnostics and advanced medical services, consulting and healthcare IT services in the region. The partnership comes at […]
Trafigura, one of the world’s largest commodity traders, has announced a 12 per cent decline in annual profits as challenging market conditions curbed money-making opportunities and it was forced to write down the value of port and rail assets. In the year to September, net profit was $975m, down from just over $1.1bn in 2015 which was a record year for trading the Geneva-based company. In spite […]
Expansion will help ensure Abu Dhabi’s rising demand for gas is met sustainably and economically 07 December 2016 Abu Dhabi, UAE – Plans to expand the Al Hosn Shah Gas plant’s capacity by 50 per cent have come one step closer today, with the awarding of the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) Services contract, to Britain’s Amec Foster Wheeler. One of the key players in the GCC […]
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 […]
Picture it: rumours of a renminbi devaluation keep growing. Residents rush to open accounts offshore as experts warn Beijing will get off on the wrong foot with a relatively new US administration if a big depreciation happens. Official denials are made regularly — until a devaluation of about 50 per cent follows in short order. That was China in 1994. Today the idea of a similarly brutal, […]
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 […]
Investment in Manufacturing Innovative Medicines Supports the Kingdom’s “Vision 2030” Aspirations 06 December 2016 Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD), known as Merck & Co, Inc. in the US and Canada, has today highlighted the initiation of the manufacturing investment agreement with Pharma Pharmaceutical Industries (PPI). This deal enables PPI to exclusively manufacture many of the MSD medicines approved by the Saudi Food & Drug Authority and distributed […]
Chesapeake Energy, the indebted US energy group that was among the pioneers of the country’s shale revolution, tapped debt markets for the first time in more than two years on Tuesday in a deal that underlined renewed appetite for oil and gas assets. The Oklahoma-based company, which defaulted on some of its obligations this year, secured $1bn in a larger than expected financing to repay as much […]
London’s FTSE 100 stands apart as the global laggard among major stock indices with investors giving it a wide berth almost a month since the election of Donald Trump. The performance reflects concern over Brexit negotiations hurting the shares of companies exposed to the UK economy while the pound’s recent rebound against the dollar and the euro offsets the boost for resource stocks from rising crude and […]
Wall Street climbed on Tuesday as telecom stalwarts AT&T and Verizon gained and bank shares added to their torrid post-election rally, helping the Dow set another record closing high. The S&P financial sector .SPSY rose nearly 1 percent, lifted by a 2.2 percent gain for Wells Fargo (WFC.N). The bank’s chief executive told an investor conference it will see a near-term profit hit because of the sharp […]
ABU DHABI // The UAE Space Agency issued the Arab world’s first national space policy in the capital on Tuesday – the first step to formulating laws for the industry. “The policy is just like a torch guiding us to where we have to go,” said Dr Mohammed Al Ahbabi, the agency’s director general. “Our space laws will have elements designed for tomorrow’s technologies and industries, such […]
A Turkish-Arab fund plans to spend up to about 300 million euros ($322 million) to redevelop a luxury seaside resort outside Greece’s capital Athens, bringing significant foreign investment into the cash-strapped country, the fund said on Tuesday. Greece concluded in October the sale of a 90 percent stake in the Astir Palace hotel complex to the Jermyn Street Real Estate Fund as part of a key privatisation […]
