If this week’s speech by Theresa May on her Brexit plans was designed to reassure the City of London and stop banks from shifting jobs out of the UK, early indications are that it appears to have failed. The prime minister is scheduled to address business leaders at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos Thursday morning, but in the meantime a flurry of senior financiers popped […]
This love is precisely what is required of an American president in dealings affecting Israel. In such circumstances, and contrary to the adage that applies in most ordinary circumstances of life, that law says that demonstrations of love count for less, paradoxically, than love itself. It says, to be precise, that gestures of friendship, when they do not come from the bottom of the heart and are […]
Chairman and director of Xero Chris Liddell will step down from his responsibilities at the New Zealand-based cloud accounting firm on Friday, as he prepares for his new role of Assistant to United States President-elect Donald Trump. In a statement made on Thursday, Xero CEO and founder Rod Drury congratulated Liddell on his new role and thanked him for his contribution and leadership during his tenure at […]
Several advocacy organizations are making tips, hotlines and resources available to journalists to help protect them while covering Donald Trump’s inauguration this week. Below, you’ll find them gathered them here in one place, separated by topic. Know your rights As it did during coverage of Ferguson, the National Press Photographers Association published tips reminding journalists of their rights while reporting in public places. Those tips, from NPPA […]
WASHINGTON U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will name former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue as his nominee for secretary of agriculture on Thursday, a senior transition official said on Wednesday. Perdue, 70, served on Trump’s agricultural advisory committee during his presidential campaign. His nomination, which must be confirmed by the Republican-led Senate, will complete Trump’s proposed cabinet just before he is sworn in as president on Friday. By nominating […]
Thursday 02.10 GMT Overview Asian equities regained upward momentum after comments from Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen gave wings to a broad recovery for the dollar, weakening regional currencies. Hot topic The dollar index, which measures the US currency against a basket of peers, was up 0.4 per cent after the Fed chair warned that if the US waited too long to continue raising rates, it risked […]
While ECB President Mario Draghi may sound slightly hawkish at tomorrow’s press conference after an unexpectedly strong acceleration in CPI in December and European economic growth modestly picking up, the ECB is set to argue on Thursday that its extra-easy policy stance is still needed to keep the recovery on course. As a result, it is all but certain to leave current monetary policy in place and […]
BEIJING China and the United States can resolve any trade disputes through talks, the government said on Thursday, as a Chinese newspaper warned U.S. business could be targets for retaliation in any trade war ushered in by President-elect Donald Trump. Trump, who is sworn into office on Friday, has criticized China’s trade practices and threatened to impose punitive tariffs on Chinese imports. Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross, Trump’s […]
The Freedom of Information process begins with a letter, right? Why does it become necessary to sue? We bring a lawsuit either when it takes too long for a government agency to respond to our request, or when they do respond but withhold records that we believe should be disclosed. Why has the Center pursued FOIA suits so vigorously? How does the Center differ from other organizations […]
WASHINGTON: In the first visit of its kind since 2012, US Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard has traveled to Syria on a trip that has taken her so far to Aleppo and Damascus.The move, according to Syrian-conflict watchers, indicates that President Bashar Assad “is no longer beyond the pale in US politics and policymaking.”Gabbard, who made news in November with her meeting with President-elect Donald Trump, and was […]
China cut its holdings of US Treasuries by $66bn in November, reducing its position in the safe-haven debt to the lowest level since 2010 as the country battles to stabilise its currency. The acceleration in sales — the largest monthly decline since December 2011 — threatens a rise in US interest rates if it continues and follows an unwinding in October that saw China cede its position […]
The artist behind the iconic “Hope” poster of Barack Obama that became synonymous with his successful presidential campaign has released a new set of images, just in time for Trump’s inauguration and the subsequent Women’s March. Artist Shepard Fairey, who created the original in 2008 as well as a less flattering Donald Trump print complete with the caption “Demagogue,” has shifted his focus this time round. Now […]
Pres. Obama tells White House press corps: “America needs you. Our democracy needs you.” https://t.co/H9n7JKbYS7 pic.twitter.com/zCQpyfx2Mi — CBS News (@CBSNews) January 18, 2017 President Obama praised the press as central to democracy Wednesday in a final “farewell” that was part ironic homage to the media and part admonition to the incoming Trump administration. Democracy “doesn’t work if we don’t have a well-informed citizenship…America needs you, and democracy […]
New Zealand is pressing to finalise a stalled free trade deal with the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) that includes two of the Middle East’s largest economies, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Trade Minister Todd McClay visited the UAE and Kuwait this week in an effort to promote the deal with the GCC, his country’s sixth largest trading partner. The GCC comprises Saudi Arabia, the […]
WASHINGTON The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to recommend President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of Defense, retired Marine General James Mattis. The committee voted 26-1 to back Mattis’ nomination when it is received by the full Senate from Trump after he is sworn in as president. As a result, Mattis’ nomination will be sent directly to the Senate for a vote without […]
Via ConvergEx’s Nicholas Colas, Want to know why US stocks feel so fragile? Perhaps we can blame Wall Street analysts. Even after two months of market buzz about lower taxes, infrastructure spending and less regulation juicing investor expectations for better earnings growth, they refuse to bump their revenue or earnings estimates for 2017. Our monthly look at revenue expectations for the companies of the Dow […]
The sole Republican commissioner at the main US derivatives regulator has thrown his hat in the ring to be appointed the next chairman, even as he embraced aspects of financial reforms that Donald Trump’s team wants dismantled. Christopher Giancarlo, of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, is set to assume the job of acting chairman after Mr Trump’s presidential inauguration on Friday, replacing Tim Massad, the sitting Democratic […]
Janet Yellen, the Fed chair, has warned that the US risks a “nasty surprise” if it waits too long to continue raising interest rates, adding that she expects the US central bank to tighten monetary policy a few times a year until 2019. But on the cusp of Donald Trump’s inauguration as an economy-focused president, she also said slow productivity growth meant the US’s “usual” rate of […]
WASHINGTON U.S. President-elect Donald Trump scrapped a proposal to move news briefings out of the White House, but said he wants his team to choose who gets into the press room. Trump, who will be sworn in on Friday as the 45th U.S. president, has had a contentious relationship with some prominent U.S. news organizations he refers to derisively as the “mainstream media.” The Republican businessman banned […]
WASHINGTON It would be better for the United States to carefully review the 2015 Iran nuclear deal rather than unilaterally withdraw from it, Nikki Haley, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for ambassador to the United Nations, said on Wednesday. “I think what would be more beneficial at this point is that we look at all the details of the Iran deal, we see if they (the Iranians) […]
US financial stocks have come under pressure since the start the year, denting a sharp rise that began after the election, in the latest sign that the Trump trade has begun to run out of steam. The S&P 500 financial sector has fallen 1.1 per cent since the end of 2016, bucking the broader index that has risen by 1.4 per cent. While the financial index was […]
There has been a lot of discussion about Twitter lately, most of it negative—it can’t make money on advertising, growth is down, and online bullies remain a problem. Meanwhile, Donald Trump tweets daily; more every day since the election. This alone, you’d think, would draw more attention to Twitter and make it more popular. Twitter actually does over $2.5 billion in revenue, but tech companies […]
Senior British ministers struck a combative note on Brexit negotiations a day after Theresa May’s speech on the UK’s objectives, with Boris Johnson likening François Hollande to a world war two prison guard. The foreign secretary was responding to comments by an adviser to the French president that Britain could not have a better deal outside the EU than it currently enjoys. “If Mr Hollande wants to […]
Bloomberg’s Anne Swardson, Zoe Schneeweiss, and Andre Tartar perfectly summed up the state of play right now during their discussion of the World Economic Forum’s annual get-together: “Never before has the gap between Davos Man and the real world yawned so widely.” As the world’s top executives, financiers, academics, and politicians make their way to Switzerland, Trump – who won’t have an official representative there – has […]
