Here is a selection of five charts that FT Markets believes are important signals for investors as the second quarter begins. 1. US equities How expensive does the US equity market look? This is perhaps the biggest question facing money managers. The answer is “very”, based on the S&P 500’s 12-month forward price-to-earnings ratio, divided by the current low level of Vix, or implied volatility, as the […]
BAGHDAD: US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner visited Iraq on Monday with the top US military officer to meet Iraqi leaders and review the fight against Daesh, officials said.The visit comes as Iraqi forces battle to retake Mosul from Daesh with support from US-led air strikes that have recently been criticized for causing civilian deaths in the city’s west.Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the joint chiefs […]
That big hug was just what Mr. Sisi’s government sought, said Eric Trager, a scholar on Egypt at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “It wants to see the White House legitimate it, and set it on a new course.” Continue reading the main story The scene provided a powerful counterpoint to Mr. Sisi’s many critics, in Egypt and abroad, for whom he is known as […]
The annual Cesco Week gathering for the global copper industry starts Monday in Santiago. For the first time in five years, attendees arriving in the Chilean capital can reflect on a copper price that is higher than at the previous year’s event. However, optimism that 2017 represents a turning point in the market should be tempered by the realisation that any sustained recovery in the copper price […]
Investors face a test of nerve as the second quarter beckons. The rally in US stocks and the dollar sparked by the election of Donald Trump is looking stretched, amid doubts about the president’s ability to deliver fiscal stimulus for the economy that can justify lofty equity valuations. The shifting mood has spurred money into emerging markets and European stocks, with EM currencies enjoying a stellar March […]
With so many respected newsrooms still adjusting to having the president call them “enemy of the American people,” next week’s announcement of the 2017 Pulitzer Prizes feels like a showdown. What will the winning journalism say about the press’ value to the public? We’re about to find out. Pulitzer selections reflect a closed-door, two-step process at New York’s Columbia University, which administers the prizes. Jurors from around […]
Here are the main questions facing markets as a new trading week and the start of the second quarter beckons. What are the likely drivers?A host of market-moving events confront investors as the calendar flips over to April. These include France’s presidential elections and the opening salvos of the UK’s divorce from the EU. But there is also the prospect of a sustained recovery in global activity, […]
After slamming NBC’s coverage of the “Fake Trump/Russia story”, congratulating the NYTimes for “finally getting it” on Obamacare, Trump on Saturday commented on the previously discussed Fox News story about a “very senior, very well known” U.S. intelligence official who was allegedly involved in unmasking the names of Trump associates, and who had reprotedly surveilled Trump before the nomination. “Wow, @FoxNews just reporting big news. Source: ‘Official […]
Once upon a time Washington was simple: on one hand you had Republican interests, on the other: Democrats, and inbetween them perhaps, the occasional independent or “green.” Now… it’s less simple. At last check, DC currently boasts at least nine different parties, groups, factions or ideologies. Which is why keeping track of who wants what, and how the various groups allign, in US politics has become quite […]
Those risks have been amplified by President Trump, whose administration has said it is “putting Iran on notice.” The tough talk from Washington has given early movers like Total pause, raising concerns as to whether long-awaited opportunities will materialize, or if the Trump administration will take a harder line and tighten already-complex rules on doing business with Tehran. Continue reading the main story Some major global companies […]
Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner have a combined wealth estimated in the nine-figures, while Ms Trump remains a stakeholder in Washington’s Trump International Hotel, according to new financial disclosures released by the White House on Friday evening. The wealth amassed by Mr Trump’s White House inner circle before he became president is exposed by a series of filings covering around 180 top administration […]
By Roberta Rampton and Ayesha Rascoe | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON President Donald Trump on Friday released details of the personal finances of his staffers late on Friday, including his son-in-law Jared Kushner and daughter Ivanka, confirming that he has surrounded himself with some very affluent advisers. White House ethics officials said the legally required disclosure documents provided a snapshot of assets and positions held by personnel when they […]
Taken together, the moves reinforce the message that Mr. Trump plans to make security cooperation the cornerstone of the American approach to the region, without human rights becoming an obstacle, unlike President George W. Bush, who also emphasized the development of democracy, or Mr. Obama, who pressed autocratic states to ease repression. Continue reading the main story “A blank check from President Trump on human rights concerns […]
President Donald Trump said immunity should be offered to former national security adviser Michael Flynn in exchange for his congressional testimony in to Russian interference in the US election, an inquiry both men dismissed as a “witch hunt”. Mr Flynn’s lawyer on Thursday said the former general had offered to testify in the House and Senate intelligence committees’ hearings on Russia, only if he had reasonable assurances […]
They don’t go in for pomp and ceremony at the US Federal Reserve. The retirement of Daniel Tarullo next Wednesday will be marked by coffee and doughnuts, according to a person familiar with the send-off. That’s a pity, in a way, as the departure of the 64-year-old member of the board of governors — and the world’s most fearsome bank regulator — marks a seminal moment on […]
With Adam Rawnsley Looking for a deal. Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, has offered to be interviewed by the FBI and House and Senate investigators examining the Trump campaign’s potential ties to Russia, in exchange for immunity from prosecution, “but has so far found no takers,” according to the Wall Street Journal. In a statement on Thursday evening, Flynn’s lawyer Robert Kelner, […]
President Trump’s Air Force Secretary nominee, Heather Wilson, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 30 that she had consulted honorably for four U.S. nuclear weapons laboratories years ago, even though she never produced a detailed written accounting of how she had spent her time while earning $20,000 a month. Wilson, a former Air Force pilot and House lawmaker who now runs the South Dakota School […]
BEIRUT/ANKARA: More than 5 million Syrians are now refugees, the UN said Thursday, as aid groups urged the international community to end the country’s six-year war and provide more assistance.The new figures mean around a quarter of Syria’s population has fled since the March 2011 start of a conflict that has killed over 320,000 people.The UN refugee agency UNHCR urged more international assistance, with spokeswoman Cecile Pouilly […]
But it was not immediately clear whether the approval of the new settlement was meant to be a provocative move to scuttle the prospect of a revival of peace talks. Mr. Netanyahu said he was following through on a pledge he made a few weeks ago to 40 settler families who were evacuated from the illegal Amona outpost in the West Bank. That outpost was removed by […]
Elevate, one of the biggest subprime lenders in the US, is reviving plans to go public, seeking to cash in on a big lift in sentiment since the election victory of Donald Trump. Financial stocks have rallied hard since November 8, with big banks such as Bank of America rising as much as 50 per cent on hopes of fatter lending margins, lower taxes and lighter regulation. […]
In one of the letters to the Senate Armed Services Committee, POGO Executive Director Danielle Brian questioned whether Wilson could objectively oversee the massive amount of work Lockheed Martin does for the Air Force, considering her past work for the company’s subsidiary at Sandia. Lockheed holds more contracts than any other Air Force contractor. Brian also urged leaders of the committee to seek assurances from Wilson that […]
Europe became the main target for cross-border dealmaking in the first quarter of 2017, as US companies rode a Donald Trump-fuelled equity rally to hunt for bargains across the Atlantic. Mergers and acquisitions in Europe hit $215.3bn in the quarter, up 16 per cent compared to the same period a year ago. That marks the strongest start to the year for deals in the region since 2008, […]
“We recognized the nature of the fight was going to change and that we had to ensure that authorities were down to the right level and that we empowered the on-scene commander,” General Votel said. He was speaking specifically about discussions that he said began in November about how the fights in Syria and Iraq against the Islamic State were reaching critical phases in Mosul and Raqqa. […]
Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.com, The general public truly lives in two separate worlds. We have the world of the mainstream media, popular culture and political rhetoric; a world which constantly and desperately seeks to twist or destroy any legitimate measure of reality, leading people into a frenzied fog. Then, we have the world of concrete facts; an ugly, brutal world that upsets many people […]
