By Melissa Fares and David Lawder | WEST PALM BEACH, Fla./WASHINGTON WEST PALM BEACH, Fla./WASHINGTON U.S. President-elect Donald Trump plans to put his pick for Commerce Secretary, billionaire investor Wilbur Ross, in charge of his get-tough trade policy, a transition team spokesman said on Tuesday. It is a signal of how Trump, who is also interviewing candidates to be the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), plans to elevate […]
Tuesday 19:45 GMT Overview A robust session for US equities saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average climb to within a whisker of the 20,000 milestone as participants shrugged off geopolitical concerns and focused on the prospect of stronger growth under the presidency of Donald Trump. The “risk-on” mood in the markets left US Treasury prices and gold lower while the yen — viewed by many as a […]
The UAE’s Federal National Council on Tuesday endorsed the budget for 2017, set in late October by the Cabinet at AED48.7 billion ($13.3 billion), with a prime focus on education, social development and health. The budget is a marginal rise on the AED48.5 billion budget set for 2016, suggesting UAE authorities remain cautious about spending as low oil prices pressure state finances. The approval came at a […]
BERLIN A man arrested on suspicion of killing 12 people by mowing through a Berlin Christmas market in a truck has been released, the Chief Federal Prosecutor’s Office said on Tuesday. “The investigation up to now did not yield any urgent suspicion against the accused,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement. The prosecutor’s office said the suspect had made extensive statements during a police hearing, but […]
BLOOVO.COM identifies key areas of regulatory focus to help SMEs take on job creation and national economic expansion role Dubai December 20th, 2016 With the oil price slump creating a USD 275 billion export shortfall for GCC countries, regional governments are prioritising economic diversification. Accelerating SME sector growth is an integral element of this economic strategy, says a new report by WWW.BLOOVO.COM . www.BLOOVO.COM’s research shows that SMEs […]
The Dow and the Nasdaq hit record highs on Tuesday, with the blue-chip index just 13 points shy of the 20,000 mark, a level it has never scaled. Goldman Sachs (GS.N), which was up about 1 percent, gave the biggest boost to the Dow. U.S. stocks have been on a tear since the Nov. 8 presidential election, with the Dow up 9 percent and S&P more than […]
Germany was braced for a possible manhunt on Tuesday after doubts emerged as to whether the man arrested after an attack on a Christmas market in Berlin was indeed the perpetrator. Thomas de Maizière, Germany’s interior minister, said he was in “no doubt” that the attack, in which a truck was driven at speed into a crowded market in the heart of the German capital, was an […]
Turkey’s lira, the second-worst performing currency of 2016, reverted to type with a bout of volatile trading after the country’s central bank kept interest rates unchanged. After strengthening by nearly 1 per cent ahead of the meeting, the lira came back under pressure and was trading at around TL3.54 to the dollar, although another bout of volatility subsequently pushed it higher in late London trading. Concerned about […]
Law Blog rounds up the morning’s legal news: Authorities allege $1 billion fraud at Platinum Partners: Top executives at the hedge-fund firm, including founder Mark Nordlicht, were arrested and charged with defrauding investors in one of the biggest such cases since Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. [WSJ, Bloomberg] Judge Persky cleared: A California judicial disciplinary panel found no grounds to sanction Santa Clara County Judge Aaron Persky over the six-month sentence […]
It started off as one of those typical conversations you have when you’re in a foreign country and the taxi driver recognizes you to be a foreigner. “Where are you from?,” he asks, soon after I get into the bright yellow taxi cab, to which I reply “Sri Lanka.”“Beautiful country,” he responds.“Have you been there?” I ask him politely.“No, but my friend went there for a holiday. He […]
Screenshot: ZDNet Telstra customers looking to download content from certain torrent sites will be denied access after the telecommunications provider has started blocking domain names in response to a Federal Court directive. The blocked access comes after the Federal Court of Australia last week determined that piracy sites The Pirate Bay, Torrentz, TorrentHound, and isoHunt, and their related domains, will need to be blocked by internet service […]
MUMBAI Apple Inc is in talks with India’s government to explore making products locally, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, as the U.S. firm aims to make deeper inroads in the world’s second-largest mobile phone market by users. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to boost technology manufacturing in the country through his ‘Make in India’ initiative. His government in June exempted foreign retailers for three […]
Six U.S. retailers will no longer require hourly employees to check whether they are still needed for work and risk having their scheduled shifts canceled with little notice, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman will announce on Tuesday. Schneiderman and his counterparts in seven states, including California and Illinois, have sent letters to a number of companies in the last year requesting information about their scheduling practices. […]
NEW YORK A self-proclaimed white supremacist convicted on charges he planned to use a “death ray” to kill Muslims and President Barack Obama was sentenced on Monday to 30 years in prison, federal prosecutors in New York said. Glendon Scott Crawford, 52, a Navy veteran and a member of the Ku Klux Klan, was found guilty in August 2015 of conspiring with another man to build a […]
(Image: file photo) People buying new computers and devices in South Carolina would be blocked from accessing porn under a newly proposed law. A bill, pre-filed earlier this month by state lawmaker Bill Chumley, is called the Human Trafficking Prevention Act, and would require computer makers and sellers to install filters that would prevent users from accessing porn and other sexual material. The aim is to prevent […]
U.S. stocks were higher on Monday in light trading, with the three major indexes hovering near record levels, driven by a rise in technology shares. The S&P technology index .SPLRCT rose 0.94 percent, leading the 11 major sectors. Microsoft (MSFT.O), Amazon (AMZN.O) and Apple (AAPL.O) were up between 1-1.8 percent, providing the biggest boost to the Nasdaq and the S&P 500. “Traditionally, as you head into the […]
The key economic releases this week are durable goods and GDP on Thursday. Chair Yellen’s speech on the labor market on Monday afternoon is also likely to garner considerable attention. While the calendar gets quieter in the weeks ahead over the holiday season, there are a few notable macro events to keep traders occupied. This week, the Bank of Japan and Riksbank deliver their latest policy verdicts, […]
Lennar Corp (LEN.N), the No. 2 U.S. homebuilder, reported higher-than-expected quarterly profit and revenue and said the housing market continued to make a “slow and steady recovery.” An improving job market and attractive mortgage rates continue to fuel demand for housing in the United States, helping homebuilders such as Lennar and PulteGroup Inc (PHM.N). U.S. home prices are set to rise almost 5 percent next year, despite […]
By Letitia Stein | ATLANTA ATLANTA Inside a sunny classroom at a church decorated with rainbow flags, two transgender teenagers exploded into giggles during a dance break from math at Pride School Atlanta. They are among a handful of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) youth who have found a haven at the school, which opened this fall at a time when the number of discrimination complaints […]
If you are an emerging market investor, things at least look a little rosier than they did 12 months ago. Then sentiment was souring thanks to doubts about China’s economy, a slumping oil price and plenty of political upheaval. There is, of course, much to concern the EM universe going into 2017, notably a rising dollar, the prospect of higher interest rates in the US and president-elect […]
TOKYO Asian shares slipped to four-week lows on Monday as the prospect of higher U.S. interest rates and a strong dollar stemming from the incoming Trump Administration’s purported policies of cutting taxes and spending heavily threatened to suck capital out of emerging markets. European shares are seen having better luck, following recent gains in shares of banks, resource companies and some automakers. Spread-betters see a rise of […]
As Trump prepares for his presidential inauguration, the connections to Russia of people who will likely serve in his administration have come under scrutiny. In 2013, Vladimir Putin awarded Tillerson with the Order of Friendship, a state decoration for foreigners whose work improves their countries’ relations with Moscow. “I don’t know what Mr. Tillerson’s relationship with Vladimir Putin was, but I’ll tell you it is a matter of […]
Monday 02:20 GMT Overview Stocks across Asia were weaker, retreating in line with Wall Street’s slight pullback on Friday from last week’s record highs, and as the US dollar softened. What to watch Investors are turning their attention to the Bank of Japan’s policy decision on Tuesday, in the wake of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate rise last week. While the dollar’s strength over recent weeks seems […]
The evidential burden for cases brought under proposed changes to the Privacy Act — that criminalise the intentional re-identification and disclosure of de-identified Commonwealth datasets — would be reversed, such that defendants would need to prove their innocence. “The defendant entity or agency bears the evidential burden for each of these exceptions, which reverses the criminal law principle that the prosecution must prove every element of the […]
