The battle for eastern Aleppo will be over soon, but tens of thousands of Syrians there will find little peace. The victory for the government of President Bashar al-Assad will open another violent, disorienting chapter in their lives, and a dangerous one for the opposition. Soon, civilians and rebel fighters alike will either be punished or have to flee the city and join the many thousands of […]
Algebris Investments, a London-based asset manager, is seeking to raise €1bn for a second fund aimed at Italy’s non-performing loans as investors’ interest in what’s been the Achilles heel of the country’s banking sector intensifies. The launch by Algebris, which has $6bn in assets under management, comes amid increased focus by foreign investors on the potential of Italy’s pile of €360bn of problem loans, of which €200bn […]
By the late 1970s, a decade after horrific riots, the Pistons had fallen on hard competitive times, along with the city, and out they went to a charmless football dome in distant Pontiac, Mich., and later to the basketball-specific Palace of Auburn Hills. A team in a sport played increasingly by young black men fled the city while hockey’s white-as-ice Red Wings stored their gloves and sticks […]
After eight years in which interest rates in rich countries have kept close to all-time lows, a change of weather is in the air. Donald Trump’s election as US president and widespread expectations that the Federal Reserve will nudge rates higher this week have made their mark on the markets. The big question is whether short-term pressures for higher US interest rates are strong enough to overturn […]
International heads of state named on the rolls of clandestine companies in tax havens. Canada’s big banks facilitating tax avoidance through thousands of offshore enterprises. Strawmen fronting businesses to mask the identities of the real owners. After a year-long investigation into 11.5 million leaked tax haven documents, the Panama Papers were finally made public last April — and they landed like a bomb. […]
Tuesday 02:10 GMT Overview Stocks around Asia were on the back foot after Wall Street fell back from record highs while the dollar softened and oil prices struggled to extend gains. Hot topic China has popped back on to investor radars, with mainland stocks falling on Monday by the most in months in the wake of authorities ramping up efforts to crack down on risky equities investments. […]
The top Republican in the US Senate has backed an investigation into allegations that the Kremlin engaged in a hacking campaign to influence November’s presidential election. It is the most serious break yet between President-elect Donald Trump and his party’s traditional leaders in Washington. Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, said that Congress would probe the allegations following the disclosure of a Central Intelligence Agency report which […]
Trading volumes across markets have soared following the US presidential election, a boon to Wall Street investment banks as money managers prepare for a new environment under the future Trump administration. Since the November election result, there have been seven days when more than $20bn of investment grade debt has traded hands — a level that had previously only been breached 18 times since data has been […]
“It was horrible.” For New York City commercial litigator Donald J. Tobias, those three words have been the bane of his existence. Some time earlier this year, a Google user named “Mia Arce” posted those words as a review of his boutique legal practice in Manhattan. The three-word review accompanies a one-star rating that Google users can find just by searching Mr. Tobias’s name. The lawyer says […]
Following Friday’s report by RCB’s Charlie McElligott which sought to answer “THE” question every investor is asking, namely “what could derail this rally“, today’s the cross-asset strategist has released a follow up analysis in which he warns that even though the bond battering continues – and is likely to continue for a while – the market is now being set up for a “massive mean-reversion” counter-trend rally […]
MIAMI – The government of Panama, anxious to show the financial world that it is engaged in meaningful reform, has announced that it is adopting the recommendations of the controversial independent committee that was hastily formed as a counter to the national reputational damage inflicted by the Panama Papers documents leak. However, the two non-Panamanian members of the committee resigned, charging that the project was flawed from […]
ALEPPO, SYRIA: The Syrian army recaptured a major district of Aleppo on Monday, leaving opposition fighters cornered in a small pocket as the battle for the city entered its “final phase.”President Bashar Assad’s forces held more than 90 percent of the onetime opposition stronghold of east Aleppo, a monitor and military official said, and appeared on the verge of retaking the entire city.A Syrian military official in […]
More than two million people lived in Mosul when it fell to the Islamic State on June 10, 2014. It was a conservative city where most women already covered their hair with a scarf and their arms with long sleeves. But as in other places where the militants imposed their creed, the new rules took enforced modesty to such an extreme that it riled families in Mosul, […]
Oil prices surged above $57 a barrel for the first time since July 2015 on Monday, rallying as much as 6.5 per cent after the Opec cartel clinched a long-sought supply pact with Russia and other big crude exporters. Russia led a loose coalition oil producers from outside Opec, including Oman, Mexico and Kazakhstan, in an agreement signed this weekend to reduce supply by 558,000 barrels a […]
Authorities in southern India are on alert as a cyclone moving toward the country’s southeastern coast intensifies, weather officials said. Cyclone Vardah, packing winds of up 110-120 kilometers an hour (68-74 miles per hour) is moving in from the Bay of Bengal and is expected to make landfall at Chennai in the southern state of Tamil Nadu later today, the India Meteorological Department said Monday. The cyclone, […]
The Chinese government has warned Donald Trump that the two countries will have “nothing to discuss” if the US president-elect’s incoming administration decides to discard the four-decade old “One China” policy. “Adherence to the One China policy is the political bedrock for development of [bilateral] relations,” Geng Shuang, a foreign ministry spokesman, said on Monday. “If compromised, there will be nothing to discuss on co-operation in major fields.” […]
Panama’s attempts at Panama Papers damage control fall shortCaribbean News Now (press release) (blog)MIAMI, USA — The government of Panama, anxious to show the financial world that it is engaged in meaningful reform, has announced that it is adopting the recommendations of the controversial independent committee that was hastily formed as a counter … (via Google News)
By Laila Bassam and Lisa Barrington | ALEPPO, Syria/BEIRUT ALEPPO, Syria/BEIRUT The Syrian army and its allies captured Sheikh Saeed district in Aleppo in overnight fighting, a war monitor and a Syrian official said early on Monday, amid the most intense bombardment in days, leaving insurgents in only a tiny pocket of the city. Sheikh Saeed lies in the south of the rebels’ east Aleppo enclave, which […]
This is part of a series on the global rise of exchange traded funds Each day, the investing public hears news of the latest developments in exchange traded index funds (ETFs). But rare is the mention of traditional index funds, which I call Tifs, although the acronym has yet to gain acceptance. In 1976, I created the first Tif. It was named First Index Investment Trust (now […]
By Engen Tham and Adam Jourdan | SHANGHAI SHANGHAI Ma Yiqing, 24, is typical of China’s younger generation – he uses his credit card frequently and borrows from online platforms to fund his shopping habits. In a pinch, he is happy to fall back on a lender closer to home – his mum and dad. Interviews with Ma, a single-child, his mother and grandmother, show how rapidly […]
Swiss pharmaceutical manufacturer Lonza Group AG (LONN.S) is in advanced talks to acquire Capsugel, a U.S. maker of capsule products and other drug delivery systems, for more than $5 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. The deal would come as Lonza seeks to boost its life sciences capabilities and produce a wider range of molecules used in active pharmaceutical ingredients and drug delivery. It held […]
First it was the Fed, then the ECB (which last week tapered when it reduced the monthly amount of bond purchases under its QE program). Now attention shifts to the Bank of Japan, because as the WSJ writes, one of central banking’s most aggressive easers – Kuroda’s Bank of Japan – may soon have to think about tightening for the first time since 2007. While it has […]
Even in today’s increasingly globalised, genre-melding world of music, many fans remain remarkably territorial – none more so than the stereotypically snobby classical connoisseurs. Yet different genres more in common that you might think, and a series of concerts, hosted as part of the Abu Dhabi Classics, aims to explore and expose the relationship between classical and pop music, with the help of a man who has […]
The first global crude supply pact in 15 years has underlined the growing energy alliance between Saudi Arabia and Russia, as the depth of the two-year oil slump forces co-operation between once unlikely partners. Russia led the main oil producers from outside the Opec cartel, including Mexico and Kazakhstan, in a deal signed this weekend to reduce supply by 568,000 barrels a day — with Moscow, the […]
