Sweden’s Riksbank is debating whether to become the first significant central bank to issue a digital currency as it responds to an increasing move away from cash in the Scandinavian country. The world’s oldest central bank — it was the first to issue paper banknotes in the 1660s — is launching a project to examine what a central bank-backed digital currency would look like and what challenges […]
Average annual staff turnover in the Middle East hospitality sector is running at 16 percent, with most hotels’ salary grading systems in need of a review, according to leading HR practitioners. The second annual Hotelier Middle East Human Capital Report found that 94 percent of local hospitality organisations followed a strict salary structure, defined by grade and spanning departments, and 61 percent operated a minimum wage system. […]
By Corina Pons and Eyanir Chinea | CARACAS CARACAS Multinational companies are selling their Venezuelan operations at hefty discounts – or even giving them away – as they to seek to escape the OPEC nation’s soaring inflation and chronic supply shortages. Six firms, including General Mills and oil producer Harvest Natural Resources, have sold operations for as little as half their assessed value on the companies’ books, […]
There are few things like a bull market to turn an investor’s head. Just look at China. Having slumped almost 50 per cent from its peak last June to a low in early January, the benchmark CSI 300 Index is now up 20 per cent. The memory-erasing qualities of this year’s rally in Shanghai will soon be given a real test as a trading link between Hong […]
November 15, 2016 by: Peter Wells in Hong Kong Tuesday 03.35 GMT. The US dollar has retreated from recent highs, leaving counterparts across the Asia-Pacific region firmer. US Treasuries are eyeing their first rise in more than a week, while stocks across Asia have followed on from a muted lead on Wall Street. The US dollar index, a measure of the US currency against a basket of […]
After months of sending government troops to battle militants blowing up oil pipelines in the Niger Delta, Muhammadu Buhari tried a different tack. The Nigerian president invited the region’s community leaders and traditional rulers to his villa this month for talks — a step energy sector executives hoped could halt a wave of sabotage since January that has cost the country billions of dollars in damages and […]
Brent crude oil dropped below $44 a barrel on Monday to hit its lowest level for three months, as a strengthening US dollar and doubts over Opec’s ability to agree supply curbs when it meets this month led to funds selling out of the market. Hedge funds and other large speculators have been paring their bets on higher oil prices for the past month, with the latest […]
By Elias Glenn and Kevin Yao | BEIJING BEIJING China’s economy largely showed further signs of steadying in October as expected, but disappointing retail sales growth and fears of U.S. trade frictions under incoming President Donald Trump are increasingly clouding the outlook. Fixed-asset investment quickened slightly and beat expectations in January-October as the government stepped up infrastructure spending to support growth, official data showed on Monday. But […]
November 14, 2016 by: Michael Hunter in London and Peter Wells in Hong Kong Monday 10.50 GMT. A conviction that a Donald Trump presidency will deliver higher inflation is dominating market sentiment, lifting world equity markets, energising the dollar and drawing investors out of government bond markets. Yields on Treasuries shot higher in Asian trading, a move that has been sustained in early London trading on Monday […]
The Bank of Japan faces a defining stress-test of its “yield curve control” policy in coming days as the benchmark Japanese government bond yield nears zero and currency markets recalibrate themselves for a Donald Trump US presidency. With post-election yen volatility already making a mark on Japanese equities, traders in Tokyo said the focus would this week turn on JGB markets and the BoJ’s resolve. After wrestling […]
Currency dealers in search of the next great trade love a compelling trend, and after looking all year they seem to have found one in the last place expected — the US, where Donald Trump is president-elect. Before the election predictions were tentative, safe bets assumed only modest shifts in the foreign exchange status quo. Yet Mr Trump’s victory, and Republican success in capturing Congress, have prompted […]
Monday 02.10 GMT. The post-US election rally appears to have subsided, with Asian equities benchmarks having a mixed morning with the exception of Japan, which has been propped up by a weaker yen. Wall Street finished a strong week on a mixed note on Friday, as the S&P 500 slipped but the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a record high. The action on Monday is in […]
SYDNEY The U.S. dollar touched a nine-month peak in Asia on Monday as the risk of faster domestic inflation and wider budget deficits sent Treasury yields ever higher, a painful mix for assets in many emerging market countries. The dollar bounded above 107 yen in brisk morning trade to hit 107.37 JPY=, while the euro touched its lowest since January around $1.0773 EUR=. It also made a […]
Financial professionals arriving at their desks on Monday morning will have no shortage of views to digest on what the shock election of Donald Trump means for global markets. Having had a few days to consider the implications, economists, market strategists and analysts have penned thousands of words for clients in recent days that attempt to set out what the future holds. As Jan Loeys and his […]
Indian government’s surprise move to ban high-denomination banknotes on Nov. 8 has seen lenders lure 2 trillion rupees ($29.8 billion), as customers across the nation queue for hours to deposit the old bills. The decision has also put tremendous pressure on the banking system to replenish the funds, as the banned bills accounted for 86 percent of money in circulation. More than 70 million transactions were recorded […]
Peter Thiel, the billionaire who became Donald Trump’s most prominent backer in Silicon Valley, made a critical distinction last week. He complained that the media tended to take the man literally, but not seriously. Now that Mr Trump is the president-elect of the US, everyone takes him seriously. And hence it becomes vital to work out whether we should take what he has been saying literally. After […]
Here are the key questions we are asking at FT Markets ahead of the first full week’s trading after the US election — with the overarching theme being the repositioning across portfolios for president-elect Donald Trump’s transition into power. Emerging markets — remission, or further pain? The prospect of a faster-growing US economy is usually good news for emerging markets. When it comes with the risk of […]
Photo An Egyptian street vendor in Cairo on Friday. The country is struggling with soaring inflation and shortages of staple foods. Credit Amr Nabil/Associated Press CAIRO — The International Monetary Fund approved a $12 billion loan for Egypt on Friday, in a move intended to stave off economic collapse in the Arab world’s most populous nation as it grapples with a plunging currency, soaring inflation and shortages […]
Friday 19:30 GMT. US and European stocks gave back some of their post-US election gains, the dollar continued to rally and commodity prices were in retreat as participants looked back over a truly remarkable week for global markets. A rapid flight to safety followed the shock news that Donald Trump would be the next president of the US, with S&P 500 futures and Asian stock market indices […]
The post-election rally that has reshaped global financial markets cooled off Friday, at the end of a week in which investors quickly adjusted to a president-elect who has promised to step up government spending and slash business regulation. The S&P 500 dipped 0.1 per cent on Friday in New York, while the Eurofirst 300 fell 0.6 per cent, paring back this week’s gains. The rapid change in […]
The International Monetary Fund approved a $12 billion loan program for Egypt to restore investor confidence and help revive an economy battered by years of political turmoil. The Washington-based lender’s executive board approved the three-year loan on Friday. Approval of the IMF loan program, the largest of its kind on record in the Middle East, comes a week after Egypt floated its currency to end a crippling […]
As he ran for India’s highest office, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wooed voters with a promise to crack down on those who had accumulated troves of “black money” — cash earned through illegal means or corruption, or simply never declared to tax authorities. Mr Modi made good on his pledge on Tuesday with a shock declaration that so-called “high value currency notes” — denominations of Rs500 and […]
SHARJAH // At Sharjah’s annual stamp exhibition, hobbyists and traders gather to show off their collections, but it is not just stamps on show – old coins and notes also change hands. The 6th annual exhibition is in full swing at Sharjah Mega Mall, where more than 240 stamp lovers, or philatelists, are displaying their collections. They gave come from across the country, the GCC and from […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|Bank of America-Merrill Lynch has made moderate downward adjustments to its near-term growth forecasts in the light of the election of Trump as the next US President. “Given the high level of uncertainty about the exact policy changes at this stage, we are assuming that trade tensions and fiscal stimulus have offsetting impacts on growth in the medium term,” it said. While a wide […]
