Gold has suffered its worst month since mid-2013, as the election of Donald Trump, the rising dollar and increased expectations of a US rate rise combined to send prices down 8.1 per cent in November. The fall to $1,173.20 per troy ounce marked the steepest monthly sell-off since June 2013, when the precious metal lost 11 per cent in the wake of the so-called taper tantrum. November’s […]
By Saikat Chatterjee | HONG KONG HONG KONG China’s factories notched their strongest growth in activity in two years and Japanese firms’ order books rose in November, masking concern about the protectionist leanings of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and an OPEC-induced oil price rally. Factory surveys produced stronger purchasing manager index (PMI) numbers in China, Taiwan and Vietnam, and while activity in Japan’s factories was still growing […]
Saudi Arabia is boosting the firepower of its sovereign wealth fund to accelerate deal-making and lessen the country’s dependence on oil. The Public Investment Fund is receiving a 100 billion-riyal ($27 billion) transfer from official reserves, according to a statement Wednesday on the SPA official news agency, increasing its existing assets by about 17 percent. The injection will help the fund diversify investments and revenues, it said. The […]
By Michelle Nichols | UNITED NATIONS UNITED NATIONS The U.N. Security Council imposed new sanctions on North Korea on Wednesday aimed at cutting the Asian country’s annual export revenue by a quarter in response to Pyongyang’s fifth and largest nuclear test in September. The 15-member council unanimously adopted a resolution to slash North Korea’s biggest export, coal, by about 60 percent with an annual sales cap of […]
NEW DELHI—India released economic data on Wednesday that confirmed its place as an outlier in a low-growth world, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised further steps to encourage investment and modernize bureaucracy. But with his latest step, Mr. Modi has left India’s star looking a lot dimmer, at least for the time being. Three weeks after his government abruptly canceled India’s largest bank notes to drill […]
The Bank of England said its supplier of currency, Innovia, is working toward removing the use of animal fat in the production of its new plastic five pound note after objection raised by thousands of vegetarians. The bank said it did not know about traces of tallow, which contains animal fats, in the production of the currency when it signed the contract with Innovia. “We are aware […]
BAKU Azerbaijan’s parliament on Wednesday made online defamation of the president a criminal offence punishable by imprisonment. With almost all traditional media strictly controlled by the government, social media networks have become outlets for people to voice criticism in a country where the economy has suffered from the global slump in oil prices and a depreciating currency. Azerbaijan criminalised defamation over the internet three years ago, meaning […]
Just as horror movies can spook fright nerds more than they expect, so political risk is sparking heightened levels of anxiety among seasoned investors. Investors caught out by Brexit and Donald Trump are making better preparations for political risk in Europe, plotting a route to the exit door if the unfolding story of French, German and Dutch elections poses a serious test for markets. One key measure […]
WASHINGTON President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for U.S. Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, said on Wednesday the administration would target tax reform and trade pact overhauls as top priorities as they seek to achieve 3 percent to 4 percent economic growth. Mnuchin and Wilbur Ross, Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary, outlined their agenda, including what Mnuchin called the largest tax overhaul since the Ronald Reagan administration, in an interview […]
LONDON Britain’s new plastic five-pound notes, bearing the portrait of wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill, have fallen foul of thousands of people who object to the use of animal fats in their manufacture. An online petition against the notes, started by campaigner Doug Maw, was signed by more than 13,000 supporters in less than 24 hours. “This is unacceptable to millions of vegans and vegetarians in the […]
This Christmas, tuck into the turkey but go easy on the pudding. Britons are facing a jump in prices for traditional pudding ingredients as the Brexit vote has sharply weakened the pound. However, the cost of Christmas dinners is almost unchanged from a year ago despite a rise in pork and vegetables. The slumping pound has helped push up the cost of key ingredients for Christmas pudding […]
Tullett Prebon will formally separate the 1,500 voice brokers it is buying from ICAP on January 1, setting what were once two long-time rivals in the over-the-counter markets on radically different paths. Last Thursday Tullett received approval for the deal from German regulators, the final significant hurdle of more than 30 regulatory permissions it needed, according to three people familiar with the process. The sign-off was important as […]
5836 25 by Shannon K. O’Neil November 11, 2016 A man displays a new 2000 Indian rupee banknote after withdrawing from a bank (Reuters/Mukesh Gupta). France’s Anticorruption ReformsAfter years of criticism for failing to prosecute foreign bribery, France adopted a new anticorruption law that will force companies doing business on its soil to take more aggressive preventative measures, and also gives the government stronger tools to fight […]
Tuesday 15:15 GMT Overview The dollar and Treasury yields are steadying, but US equities are edging lower, as stronger-than expected US GDP data raise concerns that the Federal Reserve may quicken the pace of interest rate rises. The firmer buck is adding to pressure on commodity prices, with gold selling off and oil prices sliding on scepticism over an Opec deal to curb output. Hot topic It […]
With the dollar’s rally easing up, China’s central bank has set the trading band for its currency stronger for a second straight day. The People’s Bank of China set the midpoint of the renminbi’s 4 per cent trading band against the dollar at Rmb6.88890 on Tuesday, stronger by 0.22 per cent from Monday. That brings the fix 0.4 per cent firmer from the last time it weakened […]
But the changes were not enough. Alexandrians dug deeper into provincialism and their faith. In a city once famed for its European-style liberalism, the Muslim Brotherhood became a powerful force. The ultraconservative Salafi movement built its base. And on New Year’s Day in 2011, the city became the scene of some of Egypt’s worst sectarian violence between Muslims and Christians in modern history. The seeds of the […]
Customer relationship management (CRM) software helps you gather current and historical information about all your customer interactions, including not just past purchases, but also interests, a roadmap of the customer’s eventual product needs, negotiation details from previous deals, and even customer service or helpdesk issues. All that combines to build what amounts to customer dossiers full of up-to-the-minute interaction records and demographic data that you can leverage […]
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has championed his government’s decision to replace high-denomination rupee notes earlier this month as a move to cut corruption and tax avoidance and push more people into the banking system. While Mr. Modi’s supporters have said the short-term pain of having to change money and wait in ATM queues is worth it, those opposed to it say the step was poorly planned […]
By Joseph Sipalan | KUALA LUMPUR KUALA LUMPUR Malaysia’s prime minister has expressed support for strict Islamic laws as he seeks to consolidate support of ethnic Malay Muslims at a party meeting this week, as frustration over graft and the economy cloud prospects for the next election. Prime Minister Najib Razak has battled calls to resign over the last 18 months, as a scandal at his pet […]
Tuesday 06:00 GMT Overview Markets across Asia were trading cautiously as Wall Street and the US dollar weakened overnight and the price of oil has pulled back. European bourses are expected to open a touch weaker, with spreadbetters predicting the UK’s FTSE 100 will slip about 10 points to 6,790 and Germany’s Dax to drop 20 points to 10,562. US index futures suggest the S&P 500 will […]
The persistent notion that Mr. Castro’s fastball had made him a potential big league prospect has long been debunked by historians. By many accounts, his primary sport as a schoolboy was basketball. He was tall, at 6-foot-2 or 6-foot-3, and he told the biographer Tad Szulc that the anticipation, speed and dexterity required for basketball most approximated the skills needed for revolution. Yet it was primarily baseball, […]
By Sue-Lin Wong | DANDONG, China DANDONG, China A labour agent sat in his bus on a recent frigid morning, waiting to cross the “Friendship Bridge” at China’s main border post with North Korea. He had come to pick up migrant workers and take them to jobs in factories and restaurants in China. The single-lane bridge in the border city of Dandong is the main gateway for international trade […]
CARACAS Venezuela’s bolivar currency has depreciated an unprecedented 60 percent in a month against the U.S. dollar on the black market to trade at nearly 3,500 on Monday, according to the widely-tracked web site DolarToday. That makes the largest-denomination note of 100 bolivars now worth less than 3 U.S. cents in the crisis-hit OPEC nation. Such is the currency chaos that Venezuelans often carry rucksacks full of […]
Monday 12:00 GMT. Overview Stock markets in Europe are slipping back, led by losses for embattled Italian financials, on concern about potential contagion spreading from the sector into the eurozone financial system after Italy’s reform referendum. Meanwhile the dollar is cooling after its sustained run higher, with the index tracking the world’s reserve currency against six of its rivals down 0.1 per cent, although it is holding […]
