If protectionism is about to be unleashed by Donald Trump on America’s closest trading partners, foreign exchange traders are acknowledging the threat in a funny old way. On Wednesday, when Mr Trump issued an executive order to build a wall on the Mexican border, the peso rallied more than 2 per cent. Since slumping to a record low of 22.03 pesos two weeks ago, the currency has […]
January 26, 2017 by: Peter Wells in Hong Kong Thursday 05.15 GMT Overview Market spirits are buoyant in Asia after the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose above 20,000 points for the first time. Hot topic The Dow Jones on Wednesday traded and closed above 20,000 points for the first time. A generally supportive earnings season has allowed Wall Street to continue its “Trump trade”, which began in […]
Wednesday 14:35 GMT Overview Major global stock markets are rallying as the Dow Jones Industrial Average breaches 20,000 amid revived hopes for faster US growth. Benchmark sovereign bonds yields are rising, but oil and gold prices are moving lower despite a weaker dollar. Hot topic The “Trump trade” is back on and it has the Dow through 20,000 for the first time? The average, though a price-weighted […]
LAGOS General Electric Co (GE.N) has proposed investing in Nigeria’s oil refineries, potentially convening a consortium of companies to improve capacity at the run-down facilities. GE’s plan and similar promises from companies like Italy’s Eni (ENI.MI) to work with Nigeria to rehabilitate the country’s three oil refineries could help the government as it tries to reduce costly imported oil products. The work was raised during a meeting […]
Wednesday 05:05 GMT Overview Major stock markets across Asia were mostly positive, buoyed by a record high for the S&P 500 in the US and by stronger prices for base metals supporting materials stocks. Hot topic The Australian dollar was the big loser among Asian currencies, down 0.5 per cent at $0.7541 against its US counterpart after inflation data for the December quarter fell short of economists’ […]
Of the many quandaries investors must grapple with this year, high on their list is Donald Trump’s relationship with Vladimir Putin. Not far behind is this — should they throw off their instinctive caution about Russia and its president, and push the rouble a lot higher? The turnround in the Russian rouble’s fortunes largely reflects the recovery in the price of oil, the country’s biggest export. That […]
Johnson & Johnson, the world’s largest healthcare company, blamed a stronger dollar as it forecast that 2017 profits and sales would fall below Wall Street expectations, sending the group’s shares down by more than 2 per cent. Dominic Caruso, chief financial officer, said it appeared that many Wall Street analysts had not updated their models to account “for the negative impacts of currency movement” as J&J became […]
SYDNEY The dollar was under pressure in Asia on Tuesday as U.S. President Donald Trump’s focus on trade protectionism fueled suspicions his administration might seek a competitive advantage through a weaker currency. The talk of trade wars favored safe-haven Treasuries and the Japanese yen while leaving equities mixed. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.1 percent but Tokyo’s Nikkei slipped 0.3 percent. Sentiment […]
PayTM, the Alibaba-backed Indian smartphone payments platform, plans to enter the asset management market a month before it begins banking operations in the country. The group, which has attracted more than 170m users since it started seven years ago, told the FT that its aggressive strategy to disrupt traditional finance will soon extend to loans, wealth management and mutual fund products. The move could give PayTM an even […]
Here are the market-related questions FT reporters will be examining this week, the first in which a Nato-ambivalent son of a New York property baron will command the world’s most powerful political office. Will the Trump-trades persist with the president in power? The post-election story in markets has largely been about what campaign promises turned into reality could do to a US economy already several years into […]
When it comes to the future of bitcoin, the “holy grail” has emerged as becoming the first to have a bitcoin ETF approved by the SEC. Over three years ago, in 2013, the company of the Winklevoss twins, Cameron and Tyler, Winklevoss Capital Management LLC, launched the first proposed bitcoin ETF, the Winklevoss Investment Trust, looking to trade on the HFT-dominated BATS exchange. The SEC is expected […]
Almost 40 years ago, German audio specialist Sennheiser set its engineers an ambitious task: to create the world’s best headphones, irrespective of cost. By 1991, the task was complete and the legendary Orpheus HE90 launched for sale with a price tag of $16,000 – about $28,000 in today’s currency. Fast-forward two decades, and Sennheiser has done it again. Its updated version of the HE90, the Orpheus HE1, […]
While the year ahead could prove to be a bumpy one for global financial markets amid ongoing political and policy risks, there is reason for optimism over the outlook for stocks in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Compared to 2016, a number of structural tailwinds should give investors greater confidence in MENA’s fundamentals. The implementation of major fiscal and capital market reform throughout the […]
In 2015, Malian businessman and former interim prime minister Cheick Modibo Diarra told Arabian Business: “When it comes to investment…Africa really is the last frontier. Be it agriculture, energy production, extraction of gold and diamonds, or oil and gas, we have a lot of opportunities and a young workforce that understands how business works.” He was speaking at a time when interest in Africa among Middle East […]
By Jamie McGeever and Marc Jones | LONDON LONDON For financial markets, the Trump era begins on Monday, and if history is any guide the following month should be a rocky one for Wall Street but positive for the dollar. The S&P 500 .SPX has fallen a median 2.7 percent in the month after each new president has taken the keys to the White House since Herbert […]
Donald Trump’s November victory ignited the steepest rally from election day to inauguration for a first-term president since John F. Kennedy won the White House in 1960. The charts below tell the tale of the vigorous, and in many ways unexpected, reaction to the rise of the billionaire property developer to the pinnacle of American politics. The S&P 500 index, a broad measure of the performance of […]
Friday 21:00 GMT Overview Financial markets gave a relatively muted response to Donald Trump’s inaugural speech as US president, with US stocks edging higher, Treasuries putting in mixed performances and the dollar easing back against its main rivals. Oil prices rose sharply amid hopes that producers would show compliance to a global deal to cut output. Gold initially struggled for traction but held above the $1,200 an […]
Brexit’s impact on the UK economy weighed on sterling traders at the end of another turbulent week for the devalued currency following the publication of disappointing retail sales, sending the pound sharply lower. December’s seasonally adjusted sales, minus fuel, were 2 per cent lower than in November, the worst monthly decline in more than five years. The pound had begun the day higher, but the data reversed […]
Billionaire investor George Soros spoke to Bloomberg TV in Davos, and said the euphoria among stock investors since the victory of President-elect Donald Trump will end as uncertainty takes over. In an interview that may have been even gloomier than his last address to Davos in January 2016, when he said he was short the market, predicted a Chinese hard landing, and said the Fed’s hike was […]
Friday 05.10 GMT Overview Equities markets were mixed in Asian trading on Friday as the dollar ceded ground to regional currencies and China reported on-target economic growth ahead of the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump. Hot topic The dollar index measuring the greenback against a basket of peers fell 0.2 per cent after a two-day winning streak left it 0.8 per cent higher at Thursday’s close. […]
Submitted by Peter Schiff via Euro Pacific Capital, There is much we don’t know about how the Trump presidency will play out. Will the Wall get built? Who will pay for it? Will it have at least some fencing? Will repeal and replace happen at exactly the same time? Will Trump throw a ceremonial switch? Will there be a Trump National Golf Course in Sochi? It’s anyone’s […]
Steven Mnuchin, Donald Trump’s nominee to be Treasury secretary, clashed with Democrats over the business practices of the lender he once chaired, saying he had been wrongly accused of taking advantage of unfortunate borrowers and that he would work “tirelessly” to boost the economy and US hiring. The former banker told the Senate finance committee that he had been maligned and that OneWest, the bank, had extended 100,000 […]
January 19, 2017 by: Claire Jones in Frankfurt The European Central Bank has kept interest rates at record lows and the terms of its landmark quantitative easing package unchanged as its president prepares to field questions on an economic outlook full of threats. The bank’s governing council, meeting on Thursday in Frankfurt, left its benchmark main refinancing rate at zero. Its deposit rate, in effect a levy […]
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 […]
