MANAMA, Bahrain — The political shock waves from the American presidential election are being felt here in the Persian Gulf, where diplomats, military commanders and other senior leaders say they are both fearful and excited about which Donald J. Trump shows up after he is sworn in as president on Jan. 20. Will it be, they ask, the President Trump who has vowed to cut off American […]
By Patricia Zengerle | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON President Barack Obama’s administration has decided to include a massive report on the CIA’s use of waterboarding and other “enhanced interrogation techniques” in his presidential papers, meaning it may eventually be declassified. The White House wrote to Senators Richard Burr and Dianne Feinstein, the Republican chairman and ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, on Dec. 9 informing them of its […]
By Alwyn Scott | SEATTLE SEATTLE Donald Trump on Monday widened his attack on defence contractors, slamming Lockheed Martin Corp’s (LMT.N) F-35 fighter jet program as too expensive as aides to the president-elect said he intends to keep pushing to cut the costs of military hardware. Trump’s latest Twitter broadside sent defence shares tumbling and fanned concerns that the incoming administration will reduce defence contractors’ profit margins […]
Donald Trump has named Goldman Sachs president Gary Cohn to head the White House National Economic Council, marking his third top appointment from the ranks of the bank despite his pledge to sever links between Wall Street and Washington. The appointment of Mr Cohn, who serves as chief operating officer, leaves Goldman nursing another big departure from its leadership team just weeks after the news that the […]
WASHINGTON The chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee said on Monday his committee has been conducting “vigorous oversight” of the investigations into election-related cyber attacks and he did not see any benefit in opening more probes. “At this time I do not see any benefit in opening further investigations, which would duplicate current committee oversight efforts and Intelligence Community inquiries,” Representative Devin Nunes said […]
WASHINGTON U.S. Senator John McCain said on Monday that he personally backs Washington’s decades-old “one China” policy and that no one should “leap to conclusions” that President-elect Donald Trump would abandon it. “I do not respond to every comment by the president-elect because it may be reversed the next day,” McCain told Reuters when asked about Trump’s statement over the weekend that the United States did not […]
By Toni Clarke Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a partner at one of the world’s largest venture capital funds and a former deputy commissioner at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is being considered by President-elect Donald Trump to run the agency, according to sources close to the transition team. Gottlieb, 44, a venture partner at New Enterprise Associates and resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative […]
WASHINGTON Donald Trump on Monday criticized Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jet program as too expensive, the latest attack by the U.S. President-elect on large defense contractors. Lockheed shares dropped 5.1 percent and shares of several other defense contractors also tumbled. “The F-35 program and cost is out of control,” Trump said on Twitter, echoing campaign promises to cut waste in federal spending. “Billions of dollars can and […]
Prosecutors have declined to pursue charges against a lawyer for the city of Philadelphia suspected of helping to vandalize a grocery store with anti-Trump graffiti. The assistant city solicitor investigated in connection with the Nov. 25 incident agreed to perform community service and will keep his job, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer: Duncan Lloyd, 32, was identified in surveillance footage that captured Lloyd and a second man walking […]
Crude oil surged to the highest in 17 months amid efforts to cut production, pushing up the outlook for global inflation and sending 10-year Treasury yields above 2.5 percent for the first time since October 2014. Chinese equities tumbled. Oil jumped more than 4 percent in New York and London after Saudi Arabia signaled it will cut output by more than previously agreed amid a weekend deal to […]
By J.R. Wu | TAIPEI TAIPEI U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s declaration that the United States could link its policy on Taiwan to trade negotiations with China prompted concerns on the island that it may become a pawn in wider superpower discussions. “Trump’s comments regularly mention Taiwan. What advantage is this giving Taiwan? This is something we must consider,” Johnny Chiang, an opposition Nationalist lawmaker, told reporters. “Otherwise, […]
The prospect of a more aggressive Federal Reserve and a surge in the oil price hit global bonds on Monday, sending the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note above 2.5 per cent for the first time since 2014. Treasuries have led a sharp sell-off in sovereign bonds since Donald Trump’s victory in last month’s US election, raising the prospect that Fed officials will have to raise […]
The Chinese government has warned Donald Trump that the two countries will have “nothing to discuss” if the US president-elect’s incoming administration decides to discard the four-decade old “One China” policy. “Adherence to the One China policy is the political bedrock for development of [bilateral] relations,” Geng Shuang, a foreign ministry spokesman, said on Monday. “If compromised, there will be nothing to discuss on co-operation in major fields.” […]
BEIJING China said on Monday that it was extremely concerned about U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s comments that the United States did not necessarily have to stick to its long-standing position that Taiwan is part of “one China”. Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a regular news briefing that the “one China” policy is the basis for China-U.S. relations and urged the incoming U.S. administration to understand the […]
The recent deal to keep Carrier jobs in the United States is not at all unusual. It only received so much press because Trump made it a campaign issue and saw an opportunity to record a big early PR victory before he even took office. Government and corporations cooperate, negotiate deals, scratch each others backs, kickback ill-gotten gains, and function as a career advancement funnel for corrupt […]
This is part of a series on the global rise of exchange traded funds Each day, the investing public hears news of the latest developments in exchange traded index funds (ETFs). But rare is the mention of traditional index funds, which I call Tifs, although the acronym has yet to gain acceptance. In 1976, I created the first Tif. It was named First Index Investment Trust (now […]
By Howard Schneider | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON The Federal Reserve inaugurates the Trump era this week with a near-certain interest rate increase and new economic forecasts providing a first glimpse into whether the U.S. election has reshaped the central bank’s growth and inflation outlook. Fed fund futures show a 97 percent probability that the Fed will lift rates by a quarter of a percentage point at the end […]
By Laila Bassam and Tom Perry | ALEPPO, Syria/BEIRUT ALEPPO, Syria/BEIRUT Syrian rebels have received a U.S.-backed proposal to leave Aleppo along with civilians under safe passage guaranteed by Russia, rebel officials said as government forces closed in on Sunday, but Moscow denied a deal had been reached. If the proposal were to be taken up by all sides, it would end four years of fighting in […]
Monday 02.15 GMT Overview Markets around Asia were mostly higher, buoyed by a surge in oil prices and following on from another set of records for Wall Street on Friday. Hot topic Ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting on Wednesday, government bond yields are hovering at their highest levels in months. Of note, the yield (which moves inversely to price) on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury […]
Boeing officials, already dismayed by Mr. Trump’s attack last week over the costs of a new Air Force One, acknowledged that the Iran jet deal still faced contingencies — a polite way of saying they were deeply worried about whether Mr. Trump and the Republican-led Congress would support it. Continue reading the main story Beyond that deal, Boeing and other companies that export jet engines, high-tech products […]
First it was the Fed, then the ECB (which last week tapered when it reduced the monthly amount of bond purchases under its QE program). Now attention shifts to the Bank of Japan, because as the WSJ writes, one of central banking’s most aggressive easers – Kuroda’s Bank of Japan – may soon have to think about tightening for the first time since 2007. While it has […]
By Laila Bassam and Suleiman Al-Khalidi | ALEPPO, Syria/AMMAN ALEPPO, Syria/AMMAN The Syrian army and its allies made new gains in Aleppo on Sunday, forcing rebels back into an ever shrinking pocket crammed with civilians, but lost control of the desert city of Palmyra to a swift Islamic State attack. Final victory in Aleppo, Syria’s biggest city before the civil war, would constitute the biggest triumph yet […]
By Caren Bohan | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S. President-elect Donald Trump questioned whether the United States had to be bound by its long-standing position that Taiwan is part of “one China” and brushed aside Beijing’s concerns about his decision to accept a phone call from Taiwan’s president. “I fully understand the ‘one China’ policy, but I don’t know why we have to be bound by a ‘one China’ […]
During the gradual rapprochement between the US and Muammer Gaddafi’s Libya in February 2007, Rex Tillerson visited the country and met its leader in his traditional tent. As chief executive of ExxonMobil, the world’s largest listed oil company, Mr Tillerson had an interest in opening up access to Libya’s vast reserves, but his visit was also a milestone in the progress towards normal relations with the US. […]
