The Twitter logo is shown at its corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California April 28, 2015. Twitter Inc. cut its full-year revenue forecast due to weak demand for its direct response products, sending its shares down as much as 24 percent on Tuesday.Twitter said it… Reuters/Robert Galbraith SAN FRANCISCO Twitter Inc rolled out its much-anticipated “Project Lightning” on Tuesday, a feature that shows users the site’s best […]
IMF PROJECTS FURTHER GLOBAL SLOWDOWN AND INSTABILITY By S. Sethuraman By mid-year, India realises its economy is grossly under-performing, well…
UAE. Across the GCC, public pension funds amount to US$397 billion, representing nearly a quarter of GDP and US$15,000 per national. This is according to EY’s GCC Wealth and Asset Management 2015 report – “Fast growth, divergent paths”, launched at the FundForum Middle East 2015. GCC Governments are relooking at existing models of both public and international pension funds to ensure they are sustainable. George Triplow, MENA […]
SAUDI ARABIA. JLL, the world’s leading real estate investment and advisory firm, today released its third quarter (Q3 2015) Riyadh and Jeddah Real Estate Market Overview reports that asses the latest trends in the office, residential, retail and hotel sectors. Mr Jamil Ghaznawi, National Director and Country Head of JLL KSA, commented: “The Riyadh real estate market has maintained a steady performance this quarter. The office sector […]
Letters spell the word ”Alphabet” as they are seen on a computer screen with a Google search page in this photo illustration taken in Paris, France, August 11, 2015. Reuters/Pascal Rossignol Google, which has now morphed into holding company Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O), is in talks with messaging startup Symphony Communication Services LLC for a round of fundraising, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. Symphony’s chat […]
SAUDI ARABIA. Saudi Arabia is leveraging low oil prices to accelerate development of its downstream petrochemical derivatives sector, and will add over 30 million tonnes of production capacity by 2020, raising production to 126 million tonnes from 2014 levels of 94.6 million tonnes, the latest edition of The Oil & Gas Year (TOGY) revealed. Capital expenditure in the petrochemical sector as well is set to further […]
UAE. In times of economic uncertainty, cold-hearted international investors seek more diversification of their property portfolios; as London provides opportunity for property capital appreciation with prices continuously on the rise in the last five years, reasonable prices and growing yields in Dubai market make an equally attractive income generating opportunity. Mutual InterestFor Middle Eastern investors, London has always been regarded as a strong investment complementary to their […]
Saudi Arabia is expected to cut the prices of crude it sells to Asia in November after the Dubai benchmark weakened last month, in a move that will help the OPEC kingpin retain its market share in the region amid a global oversupply, traders said. Prices, however, are likely to be lowered less than what is indicated by a formula, given the top oil exporter tempered gains […]
ABU DHABI // Hundreds of pedestrians are risking their lives every day as they use a gap in a median fence to illegally cross one of the city’s busiest roads. On a recent afternoon, a group of men dashed across three lanes of traffic to the central reservation on Muroor Road, between Electra and Hamdan streets. As cars zoomed by, the men waited for a break in […]
Boxes move on a conveyor belt at a Wal-Mart Stores Inc company distribution center in Bentonville, Arkansas June 6, 2013. Reuters/Rick Wilking/Files ATLANTA Wal-Mart Stores’ expanding network of large distribution centers will allow it to deliver packages throughout the United States in two days, setting it up to compete more efficiently in online holiday sales, a senior executive said on Thursday. Competition with online rivals including Amazon.com, […]
UAE. Lifting of Iran sanctions in the future will significantly boost its economy and positively affect the neighbouring GCC economies, especially the UAE. According to speakers at a panel discussion organised by ICAEW’s Corporate Finance Faculty in the UAE, this is due to its solid trading infrastructure. ICAEW members and guests gathered at Jumeirah Emirates Towers in Dubai recently to discuss the impact of lifting Iran’s sanctions. […]
UAE. A recent report surveying 150 financial advisors in the UAE – part of a larger Natixis global study of 2,400 advisers in 14 countries across the globe – has revealed that investors making emotional investment decisions in turbulent markets is the top mistake advisors see among individual investors. Advisers are concerned that individual investors tend to be too focused on short-term market events, leading them to […]
UNITED NATIONS — Over the last four years, as four million Syrian refugees poured into neighboring countries and slipped inexorably into poverty, António Guterres, the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, said he had pleaded in vain with world leaders to take their plight more seriously. But suddenly, at the United Nations General Assembly this week, leaders of the world’s most powerful countries want to meet with […]
UAE The next six months may prove a pivotal turning point in the recovery of global commodities markets according to Ole Sloth Hansen, Head of Commodity Strategy at Saxo Bank, the online trading and multi-asset investment specialist. Following nine months of geo-political incidents in Europe and the Middle East, and widespread uncertainty catalysed by major economic crises in Greece, Russia and China, Hansen is optimistic the next […]
|By Matein Khalid| Even as China’s President meets the capo di tutti capi in Seattle, its manufacturing PMI falls to 47, a post Lehman low, with new export orders in a slump. I found it significant that the offshore yuan fell 200 pips to 6.4346 after the PMI. This proves my core argument, outlined a month ago. The Middle Kingdom will respond to its economic decline and […]
INTERNATIONAL. What started as a civil war in Syria nearly five years ago has now evolved into an international crisis unmatched by any other since World War II. The global community now has a solemn obligation to end this humanitarian disaster, but it cannot do so unless all the powers affected by the conflict set aside their differences in order to end the suffering of millions of […]
While Dubai continues to pump out sumptuous new apartment blocks, for a rising number of expatriates the city no longer offers the luxury lifestyle that lured many foreigners to the Gulf. A shortage of affordable homes and a reduction in overseas allowances since the financial crisis are pushing foreign staff on middle incomes out to less glamorous areas of the city far from the office, or to […]
WASHINGTON — Nearly 30,000 foreign recruits have now poured into Syria, many to join the Islamic State, a doubling of volunteers in just the past 12 months and stark evidence that an international effort to tighten borders, share intelligence and enforce antiterrorism laws is not diminishing the ranks of new militant fighters. Among those who have entered or tried to enter the conflict in Iraq or Syria […]
INTERNATIONAL. Gleaming glass skyscrapers, state-of-the-art technology, and wealthy merchant families have replaced the Gulf’s muddy towns and villages populated by traders and pearl fishers that once lacked electricity, running water or modern communications. The region’s modern day projection of a visionary cutting- edge, 21st century urban environment masks however the fact that some things have not changed. Gulf states continue to be ruled by the same families, […]
UAE. The Middle East & North Africa ranks well above North America, Europe and Latin America in terms of market growth opportunities according to the Grant Thornton Global Dynamism Index (GDI) 2015. However, the region is lagging behind on a number of other indicators including labour market and financing environment. The GDI – which combines 22 indicators across five growth areas to identify the best business growth […]
UAE. Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Sweden, the Netherlands and the United States of America are the world’s five most innovative nations, according to the Global Innovation Index 2015, while China, Malaysia, Viet Nam, India, Jordan, Kenya, and Uganda are among a group of countries outperforming their economic peers. The GII 2015 looks at “Effective Innovation Policies for Development” and shows new ways that emerging-economy policymakers can boost […]
The Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME), the premier international energy futures and commodities exchange in the Middle East, has launched ‘DME Auctions,’ a new platform that will provide a transparent spot commodity auction system for the first time in the region. It will provide commodity market participants with the flexibility to buy and sell physical energy products and other commodities in the Middle East and beyond via an […]
EDIRNE, Turkey — Doaa, a 25-year old Syrian, was lying in the shade one day last week, trying to shelter herself from the scorching sun in a makeshift camp near this northwestern border city. A pile of blankets next to her quivered, and a tiny hand emerged. Her son, Nassim, was just a week old. Doaa had walked out of a hospital in Istanbul a few days […]
LONDON — Russia’s military buildup in Syria now includes surface-to-air missiles as well as combat aircraft with air-to-air capability, deployments that raise “serious questions” about Moscow’s role in the region, Secretary of State John Kerry said Saturday. Russian officials have said that the purpose of the buildup at a base near Latakia, Syria, is to combat the Islamic State. But the deployment of air defense systems and […]
