Here are the big questions for investors and markets this week. Will investors like what they hear from President Trump? Mr Trump will address a joint session of Congress on Tuesday (it’s not officially a State of the Union) and with US equities in record territory, investors are very much focused on tax reform and other fiscal measures. Here’s where the Trump trade — based on the […]
Top executives at some of the world’s biggest banks and insurers will have to vouch for their companies’ resilience to cyber attacks, under tough rules laid down by New York’s state regulator. A new regulation, which takes effect on March 1, requires companies supervised by New York’s Department of Financial Services to establish and maintain a cyber security programme that can protect consumers’ private data and “ensure […]
French authorities have made yet another monumental error in judgment after arresting Marine Le Pen’s chief of staff and bodyguard for questioning over alleged misuse of public funds to pay parliamentary assistants – the equivalent of a jaywalking ticket in terms of public opinion. By making le mountain out of le molehill, this latest debacle by French authorities is the most recent in a long list of backfired attempts to […]
North Korea is evading international sanctions with a sophisticated network of overseas companies, enabled partly by its continued access to the international banking system, says a forthcoming United Nations report seen by Reuters. North Korea is under heavy U.N. sanctions and a strict arms embargo designed to impede the development of its banned nuclear and missile programmes. The U.N. panel of experts, which produced the 100-page draft […]
Sign up to receive Authers’ Note daily by email here Despite appearances to the contrary, the Trump trade may be moving into reverse as the president’s maiden State of the Union address approaches. The overall level of the stock market is, of course, at fresh records. But the pattern within it is shifting again. The end of the week saw sharp falls for almost all equity markets […]
By Frank Jack Daniel | MEXICO CITY MEXICO CITY An emboldened Mexico hardened its opposition to President Donald Trump on Friday by saying it would retaliate if the United States imposed a border tax and that it can afford to lose financial aid that might be pulled to pay for a border wall. Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said Mexico could respond to any tax the United States […]
Two years after Donald Trump was booed at an influential conservative event, the US president returned to the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday for a victory lap. But his rambling address, at an event that was more campaign rally than detailed presentation of policy, struck a jarring note at the end of a week that saw a semblance of orthodoxy from the new administration. While his […]
By Emily Stephenson and Steve Holland | NATIONAL HARBOR, Md./WASHINGTON NATIONAL HARBOR, Md./WASHINGTON President Donald Trump said he would make a massive budget request for one of the “greatest military buildups in American history” on Friday in a feisty, campaign-style speech extolling robust nationalism to eager conservative activists. Trump used remarks to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), an organization that gave him one of his first […]
If you’ve read the latest headlines about Britain’s tech industry, you’d think the country hadn’t be rocked by the greatest political and economic uncertainty since the Second World War. Not only are UK startups raising record amounts of funding year on year, but tech giants like Amazon are investing and doubling down on the UK economy, as if the mood music was taken straight from a dance scene […]
Battery-operated medical devices implanted in human bodies have saved countless lives. A common implant, the cardioverter defibrillator, sends a jolt of electricity to the heart when needed, preventing a heart attack or heart failure. While patients’ lives are improved by this technology, if the device causes an infection or the battery needs to be replaced, more invasive procedures are necessary. Mehdi Kiani is seeking a better solution. […]
Stock photo SoftBank, Sprint, and TBCASoft have revealed plans to create new solutions which introduce blockchain technology into the telecommunications industry. On Friday, the companies announced their intentions to “aim” for a technology partnership which will jointly develop blockchain technology for telecommunication carriers. In a press release, the firms explained that the heart of the research and development of a new blockchain solution relies on TBCASoft, which […]
TOKYO Asian shares took a breather on Friday, slipping from 1-1/2-year highs as material shares were hit by sudden falls in copper and other commodity prices while investors assessed Washington’s stance on tax and currency policies. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was down 0.5 percent, giving back part of this week’s gains, though it is likely to log its fifth straight weekly advance. […]
Submitted by Daniel Mitchell via The Foundation for Economic Education, Early last month, in a column on my hopes and fears for 2017, I fretted about fiscal chaos in Italy leading to default and bailouts. Simply stated, I fear that Italy, along with certain other “Club Med” nations, has passed the point of no return in terms of big government, demographic decline, and societal dependency. And this […]
Friday 05.00 GMT Overview Asian stocks looked set to end a solid week on a down note, taking their cue from a subdued session on Wall Street as investors looked past some optimistic comments on US tax cuts and failed to catch a boost from higher oil prices. Hot topic Steve Mnuchin, the US Treasury Secretary, said the White House wanted to pass “very significant” tax reform […]
US and European authorities eased enforcement of new derivatives rules on Thursday less than a week before the standards come into effect, allowing small financial institutions more time to prepare for the wide-ranging reforms. In a series of statements hours apart, supervisory watchdogs bowed to growing concerns of a potential dislocation in the swaps market and hundreds of unprepared pension funds, asset managers and credit institutions likely […]
Selling pressure on French bonds ebbed on Thursday, pushing the yield on the 10-year bond back below 1 per cent, as the prospect of a centrist alliance in the country’s presidential election eased anxiety that far-right candidate Marine Le Pen will win. The decision on Wednesday by independent candidate François Bayrou not to stand in the country’s elections, and instead throw his support behind fellow centrist Emmanuel […]
By Brian Love and Michel Rose | PARIS PARIS France’s presidential race took a new turn on Thursday as opinion polls began to show centrist Emmanuel Macron benefiting from an alliance with a veteran politician that could help him beat the far-right’s Marine Le Pen and win power at the age of 39. Macron, a fresh-faced ex-investment banker who has never held elected office, met his new […]
“What’s up with the dollar?” has been the recurring question for investors lately as the reserve currency has slipped from a 14-year high set at the start of January. The answer may lie in the link between the dollar and real yields, a proxy for how investors in the bond market view prospects for stronger economic growth and the normalisation of interest rates. Whereas nominal yields give […]
For footloose international money, the safest place to hide in the European financial system may be two-year German debt. The government of Europe’s largest economy not meeting such obligations in euros is as close to inconceivable as things get. The debt is also easy and cheap to trade, which means it can be a market signal of investor angst. The price of such safety set a record […]
Thursday 05:25 GMT Overview Asian stocks fell, following their US counterparts lower as investors digested the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s January policy meeting. Hot topic The Fed’s minutes showed that “many” policymakers thought it would be appropriate to raise short-term US interest rates again “fairly soon”, even given potential uncertainty around the new Trump administration’s economic policies and possible tax cuts. The market view on rates […]
By Brenda Goh | DANDONG, China DANDONG, China As Beijing tightens its grip on trade with North Korea, the economies of Chinese towns along the 1,400-km border the two countries share are floundering. On Saturday, China said it would ban all coal imports from North Korea, the latest move to enforce United Nations sanctions aimed at depriving Pyongyang of hard currency for its nuclear weapons and ballistic […]
By Nichola Saminather | SINGAPORE SINGAPORE Asian stocks pulled back from a 19-month high on Thursday, while the dollar tried to steady from losses suffered in the wake of the U.S. Federal Reserve minutes indicating a cautious approach to more interest rate increases. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was fractionally lower. Japan’s Nikkei slid 0.1 percent, while Australian shares retreated 0.3 percent. Overnight on […]
The first exhibition to be hosted at Dubai’s Etihad Museum will feature the country’s postal history from 1909 until its unification. Organisers pledge that it will be a virtual tour back in time, as each stamp marks a key event. Visitors under the age of 15 have a lot of questions about the first item at an exhibition dedicated to the history of Emirates Post. Although it […]
When Ford borrowed a €750m bond in euros at the start of the year, the US carmaker was following a path that has become familiar to corporate America. The deal was an example of so-called “reverse Yankee” issuance, where US companies sell bonds in euros, tapping demand from eurozone investors. Ford added to the more than €100bn of debt sold in the eurozone over the past two […]
