U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal he would keep intact sanctions against Russia “at least for a period of time,” and also said he wouldn’t commit to the “one China” policy until he sees progress from Beijing in its currency and trade practices. In excerpts from an hourlong interview published by the Journal on Friday, Trump said: “If you get […]
By David Brunnstrom and Matt Spetalnick | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON The incoming U.S. administration’s tough talk against China has set the stage for showdowns on everything from security to trade and cyberspace, but contradictory signals are sowing uncertainty over how far President-elect Donald Trump is prepared to go in confronting Beijing. Highlighting the contested South China Sea as a potential flashpoint, Trump’s Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson […]
The United States Mint has unveiled a $100 gold coin featuring an African-American woman as the face of Lady Liberty for the first time in the history of U.S. currency. The 24-karat gold coin, which marks the Mint’s 225th anniversary, was debuted on Thursday in the Department of the Treasury’s Cash Room in Washington, D.C. It is the first in a series of gold coins featuring Lady […]
Theresa May, the UK prime minister, bookended a volatile week for sterling, prompting a sharp rise in the cost of hedging against falls in the pound as she prepares to set out more information about her Brexit negotiating strategy. The pound rallied against the dollar on Friday, at one stage rising 0.6 per cent to regain the $1.22 mark. But traders are positioned for sterling to fall, […]
Fragile market conditions, poorly controlled algorithms and inexperienced staff all contributed to last October’s flash crash in sterling, global policymakers have concluded, with the Bank for International Settlements urging banks and other market participants to learn from their mistakes. The BIS — the central bank for central banks — said on Friday that no single event was responsible for the extraordinary 9 per cent plunge in the […]
By Jamie McGeever | LONDON LONDON European and U.S. stocks looked to end a sluggish week on a high note on Friday, while the dollar was on track for its biggest weekly fall in two months and U.S. bond yields eyed their longest run of weekly declines since July. Investors largely shrugged off figures that showed Chinese exports fell the most last year since 2009, and will […]
Friday 04:50 GMT Overview Asian stocks were mixed in the wake of a retreat by US stocks and the dollar as investors continued to assess the fallout from Donald Trump’s combative press conference on Wednesday. What to watch Shares in Nintendo were down 2 per cent after the company announced details about its new Switch video game console, including price and technical specifications. The device, a hybrid […]
The British pound fell to a record 31-year low against the dollar on Wednesday, leading to a sharp increase in remittances from UAE expatriates to the UK. Sterling fell to $1.20 before rebounding to just above $1.21 by Wednesday evening – reaching its lowest level excluding the flash crash on October 7 last year. Dutch Rabobank said the economic policies of US President-elect Donald Trump have boosted […]
Oil continued its see-saw start to the new year, registering its biggest advance in six weeks on Thursday after Opec’s biggest producer said that it had slashed output to the lowest level in almost two years. Brent, the global oil market, rose as much as $1.24 to $56.43 a barrel after Saudi Arabia’s energy minister Khalid al-Falih said that the kingdom had cut production to less than […]
A classic distinction in markets exists between bulls and bears, the snorting herd of enthusiasts and the pessimists who roar at them from caves, waiting for a panicked stampede. Yet a sign of the uncertain outlook, with the consequences of the incoming Trump administration unknown, elections due in Europe and Brexit still to begin, may be how those labels don’t fit quite as easily as before. For […]
BEIJING A factory in eastern China is racing to keep up with demand for its new clutch – giant inflatable rooster balloons that bear what some say is an uncanny resemblance to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. The Zhejiang-based factory has already produced 30 of the inflatables, some of which are up to 20 meters (65.6 feet) in height, and all sporting puffed-up combs of gold. Li Haiyan, […]
Wikimedia Commons IBM has announced a new partnership with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in a study designed to determine whether blockchain technology can be used to keep medical data transfers safe from theft or exploit. The tech giant announced the collaboration between IBM Watson Health and the FDA on January 11. The research initiative is a two-year agreement between the FDA and IBM which […]
LONDON Asset management giant PIMCO said on Thursday it thought there was a chance China could freely float its currency, the yuan, this year. The firm’s head of Asian portfolios, Luke Spajic, said in a note Beijing was finding it impossible achieve three goals simultaneously: a stable or fixed foreign exchange rate, free capital movement and an independent monetary policy. Combining tighter financial conditions with this policy trilemma […]
Thursday 08:40 GMT Overview The dollar, Treasury yields and equities are lower — with pharmaceutical groups in the firing line — as traders question the “Trumpflation trade” following the US president-elect’s fractious press conference on Wednesday. The yen is stronger, signalling waning risk appetite among traders, while gold is back above $1,200, a seven-week high. Hot topic Investors are reassessing the implications of a Trump presidency. Markets […]
MEXICO CITY Mexico’s government said on Wednesday it would throw its relationship with the United States wide open when it sits down for talks with the incoming U.S. administration, putting security, migration and trade on the table in search of a deal. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to tear up a trade agreement that underpins Mexico’s economic model if he cannot renegotiate its terms in his […]
By Emily Chow | SUNGKAI, Malaysia SUNGKAI, Malaysia The Malaysian plantation district of Sungkai has become an initial – and unlikely – battleground for an election that embattled Prime Minister Najib Razak is expected to call this year. Sungkai is home to ethnic Malays who work for the national palm plantation operator, Federal Land Development Authority (Felda). Known as “Felda settlers”, they have long been among the […]
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s attempt to take control of all levers of power and a mounting terrorist threat has begun to alarm investors, sending the Turkish lira down 4 per cent to an all-time low on Wednesday. The lira traded at 3.93 to the dollar, down 12 per cent since the beginning of January, clocking its worst performance since a failed coup in July which prompted […]
Turkey’s lira cemented its reputation as the most fragile of emerging market currencies on Wednesday, falling 4 per cent against the dollar to a fresh record low after the country’s current account deficit took a turn for the worse. Turkey’s currency has plunged 11.5 per cent so far this year and depreciated nearly 30 per cent in the last three months. The lira’s travails eclipse the South […]
After the Indian government’s demonetization announcement late last year, the country has been wrapped in problems arising out of a cash crunch. But there is one place where you can see some new notes. The newly issued 2,000-rupee ($29) notes have now found their way into fabric design. The bright pink design has been printed 504 times on a sari selling in Surat in the state of […]
In order to survive, the Syrian regime has had to rely to an extraordinary degree on Russian and Iranian forces, and their proxies, like Hezbollah. It really wasn’t the Syrian Arab Army that retook Aleppo. Indeed, the Syrian military is stretched so thin by geography and attrition that last month it lost most of the city of Palmyra (again) to the Islamic State while pro-government forces were […]
On Wall Street, Donald Trump’s election win spelt pain for the dollar and stock markets right up until the moment he began his acceptance speech in the early hours of November 9 at the New York Hilton. Then the dollar began a trough-to-peak surge that would leave it up almost 3 per cent, a performance only bettered in 2016 on the day after the Brexit vote. S&P […]
Wednesday 08:30 GMT Overview European stocks and US index futures are lacking momentum, while government bond yields see minimal moves, as traders appear wary of making bold bets ahead of a press conference later in the day from US president-elect Donald Trump. The dollar is steady against the euro but the Turkish lira has hit another record low. Industrial commodity prices mostly are holding recent gains. Hot […]
By Linda Sieg | TOKYO TOKYO A South Korean political vacuum and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s concerns about his conservative political base have rekindled a feud over wartime history, just as tension over North Korea makes cooperation between the U.S. allies as vital as ever. The row over “comfort women”, as those forced to work in Japanese wartime military brothels are known, coincides with uncertainty over […]
By Engen Tham and Samuel Shen | SHANGHAI SHANGHAI China’s forex regulator is telling banks to keep its instructions about curbing capital outflows secret and to ensure that research analysts keep any negative views about the yuan’s prospects to themselves, several bankers said. Both demands are seen as an attempt by the authorities to prevent alarm that could trigger further declines in the yuan, the bankers from […]
