Investors’ positions fluctuated wildly this year after unexpected election results in the UK and US upended markets, ultimately propelling a global stock rally and selling of government bonds as portfolio managers readied for the arrival of fiscal stimulus and inflation. A $66bn rotation into US stocks over the past eight weeks reflects expectations for faster global growth and inflation in the wake of Donald Trump’s surprise US […]
Oil prices were on track for their biggest annual gain since 2009 after the OPEC grouping and other major producers agreed to cut crude output to reduce a global supply overhang that has depressed prices for two years. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures slipped 12 cents to $53.62 a barrel by 1400 GMT on Friday, while Brent front-month March crude futures were down 19 […]
RIO DE JANEIRO Rio de Janeiro investigators suspect that Greece’s ambassador to Brazil was murdered at the behest of his wife and a police officer with whom she was romantically involved, Globo TV reported on Friday, citing police sources. Greek Ambassador Kyriakos Amiridis, 59, had been missing since Monday night. His Brazilian wife, Françoise, reported him missing to police on Wednesday. The pair have a 10-year-old daughter. […]
A year ago the coffers at Argentina’s central bank were empty as the country teetered on the brink of a currency crisis. Now banks are scrambling to fly dollars back to the US as their vaults fill to bursting with piles of cash. That would sound like good news for Alfonso Prat-Gay, who as finance minister this week boasted that his tax amnesty had already repatriated $90bn hidden […]
Photo Ruined buildings in Douma, Syria, a rebel-held area near Damascus, on Friday. Credit Bassam Khabieh/Reuters BEIRUT, Lebanon — A cease-fire between the Syrian government and rebel groups tentatively took hold across the country on Friday, with only scattered reports of clashes, shelling and airstrikes. The truce, brokered primarily by Russia and Turkey, who pledged to guarantee the compliance of the government and the opposition, was announced […]
Hindsight Capital beats the market, and all competition, every year. But how would it do over a decade? For the uninitiated, Hindsight Capital is an imaginary hedge fund that is blessed with perfect foresight, which features at this time of year in the Long View column. As real fund managers deploying real money have to hedge their bets, it always does far better than any of them […]
By Selam Gebrekidan | TOREKOV, Sweden TOREKOV, Sweden For more than a year, Girmay Mehari dreaded his 18th birthday next February. The teenager escaped from an Eritrean jail two years ago after he was sentenced to an indefinite term for evading national service or plotting to escape the country. The police never spelled out the charges. With money his brothers raised in New York and Israel, Girmay […]
By Yashaswini Swamynathan Wall Street aimed to end 2016 on a positive note, setting up the Dow for its best annual performance since 2013 amid increasing optimism about the outlook for the economy. The markets have shown surprising resilience to major political events, such as Britain’s vote in June to leave the European Union and the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president in November. U.S. stocks, […]
As we live through it, every year seems packed with significant events and key players who, for better or worse, seize our attention on the world stage. But as 2016 draws to a close and the white noise of 24-hour news cycles and transient Twitter storms fades into the background, it is already clear that history will remember only a handful of those people, each of whom […]
Financial markets in 2016 endured an escalation of negative interest rates, the collapse and subsequent rebound in commodity prices and fluctuating stock market valuations. The test for investors began in week one, as fears of a China slowdown roiled stock indices weeks after the Federal Reserve began to normalise policy. Over the ensuing months, the Brexit vote and US election would prove significant mile markers, shift thinking […]
By Stephen Kalin | NEAR MOSUL, Iraq NEAR MOSUL, Iraq Iraqi forces faced car bombs and fierce resistance from Islamic State militants in southern Mosul on Friday, the second day of a renewed push to take back the city after fighting stalled for several weeks. An officer in the federal police forces, which joined the battle on Thursday, said there were heavy clashes in the southeastern Palestine […]
Mayor Mohamad Exchan Limbona of Pantar, Lanao del Norte was killed while his two police escorts were wounded after they were ambushed by a group of unidentified gunmen in a suburban village in Iligan City on Thursday night. The mayor’s wife Geneva and daughter Aiza who were with him on board a black Ford Everest were unhurt when the gunmen attacked them about 9:45 p.m. in Sitio […]
BEIJING China’s Ministry of Agriculture said on Friday the recent outbreaks of bird flu have been handled in a “timely and effective” manner without spreading and have not affected chicken products or prices. In an emailed statement to Reuters, the government department said the situation in the world’s second-largest poultry consumer was “stable”. The comments come as South Korea and neighbouring countries battle outbreaks of various strains […]
The government of the United States has formally accused Russia of interfering with the 2016 presidential election through a series of hacking attacks. The outgoing Obama administration has issued sanctions for the alleged interference, moves that has prompted the Russian government to promise a retaliation. FBI, DHS Publish Joint Report On Russian Hacking The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security published a joint […]
Italy’s antitrust chief has called for EU member states to set up a network of public agencies to combat fake news. Giovanni Pitruzzella said the regulation of false information on the internet was best done by the state rather than by social media companies such as Facebook. In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Pitruzzella, head of the Italian competition body since 2011, said EU countries […]
Photo John Kerry speaking at the State Department on Wednesday. Credit Zach Gibson/Getty Images In a speech this week laying out the Obama administration’s parameters for a final peace agreement between Israel and Palestine, Secretary of State John Kerry stated what has been obvious to most observers for many years: that Israel’s construction of Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian land has all but destroyed the two-state solution. […]
The number of new mutual funds launched in the US fell sharply in 2016, reflecting the crisis of confidence in active management and the shift by investors into exchange traded funds. The number of mutual funds shutting down has also jumped to levels not seen since the financial crisis, according to the latest figures from the research group Morningstar. The result is that the total number of […]
Since the economic crisis of 2008, Spain has seen a steady trend of increasingly fewer births. In the first half of 2016, 12,998 more people died than were born in Spain and the number of newborns fell by 4.6%. Put simply, as El Pais reports, Spain’s population is shrinking at a rate of 72 people per day, essentially due to a historically low birthrate, according to a […]
Swimming upstream Even before Trump, reform advocates like the Chamber were up against a rising tide of skepticism regarding reform. Congress grew cold after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and conservative talk radio and TV programs began a drumbeat of attacks against legalizing immigrants; TV personalities such as Lou Dobbs spread outlandish claims about Mexican plots to “take over” the American Southwest. Ironically, Mexican President Vicente Fox — […]
WASHINGTON: Almost six months since their summer meeting to achieve closer ties, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan took another step toward that goal by brokering a new cease-fire deal in Syria, to be followed by political talks to try to resolve the six-year-long conflict.The deal — announced simultaneously by the governments of Turkey, Syria and Russia — is a seven-point package […]
Days after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi unleashed chaos in the country by announcing the immediate withdrawal of the country’s largest notes, he made an emotional plea to his countrymen to give him 50 days. Before the end of the year, Mr. Modi said in a Nov. 14 speech, the benefits of ridding India of cash would be visible. That deadline expires today. Since then, images of […]
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; December 30, 2017 As the 10th anniversary year of Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company, draws to a close, industry watchers can reflect on 12 months that have marked a historic milestone for the company and a pivotal moment for the renewable energy sector as a whole. During the decade since Masdar was established, the UAE has cemented a global reputation for […]
Pirates have leaked ‘Pokémon Prism,’ the fan-made project that was shut down by Nintendo. The game, which is a ROM hack for ‘Pokémon Crystal,’ allows players to explore the region of Naljo and encounter both familiar and new Pokémon. ( ‘Pokémon Prism’ | Reddit ) Last week, Nintendo shut down fan-made video game Pokémon Prism just days before it was supposed to launch by sending a cease-and-desist letter to […]
In August, US group ValueAct announced a $1.1bn stake in Morgan Stanley. Yet the notorious boardroom activist had no plans to shake up management, no beef with strategy at the investment bank. The stock, it said, was simply cheap. Mere months later an investment that had seemed brave at the time is worth $1.8bn. ValueAct’s gain is just one of the more striking examples of an extreme […]
