|By Matein Khalid| Hong Kong now trades at 9.6 times earnings and 0.86 book value. Hang Seng valuations were gutted by the protest movements in Central and the Shanghai financial meltdown. The Hang Seng index is down 25% since late May and now trades at six times forward earnings, its post Lehman, post 2014 bottom. Hong Kong trades at its lowest price/book value since the Asian flu […]
UAE. With a 54% decline in the price of oil prices during the past 12 months the United Arab Emirates (UAE) real estate market is now beginning to feel the effect with property transaction levels falling across Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah, according to the latest research from international real estate consultancy, Cluttons. Cluttons’ annual 2015 UAE Property Report reveals that the direct correlation between hydrocarbon revenues […]
UAE. Management in the Gulf need to take more risks and develop staff to think creatively, according to a new global innovation survey designed to help companies stop wasting their best ideas and flushing hundreds of billions of dollars down the drain. Announced in Abu Dhabi today by PA Consulting Group, the report highlights an overwhelming view that leadership of organisations in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and […]
UAE. Today, Phidar Advisory released its Q3 mid-quarter Dubai residential research note. The report shows that residential prices in the third quarter of 2015 continue to decline, compared to the previous quarter. However, the most significant finding was in a statistical analysis of the relationship between currencies and Dubai real estate prices. “Analysis reveals a significant relationship between three key foreign currencies and Dubai real estate prices,” said […]
ABU DHABI // More than 2,000 pupils at the 21st Century Private Academy are still waiting for classes to begin while their school remains closed four days into the new academic year. On what was to be the first day of class on Sunday, several parents visited the Filipino school and were told by an assistant principal that classes were tentatively scheduled to resume in October. “We […]
A woman walks past a logo of Google at the Global Mobile Internet Conference (GMIC) 2015 in Beijing, China, April 28, 2015. Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon REUTERS – Google Inc and French drugmaker Sanofi SA said they will partner to develop tools to improve the management and treatment of diabetes. Sanofi will work with Google’s life sciences team to collect, analyze and understand information impacting diabetes, which is expected […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Lebanese demonstrators gathered by the thousands on Saturday evening to protest towering garbage piles, corruption and political dysfunction, largely avoiding the clashes with security forces that had marred earlier protests. The crowd in downtown Beirut was the biggest turnout yet, and many people arrived leery of the possibility of violence. Last weekend, security forces used water cannons, tear gas and rubber bullets as some […]
A Microsoft logo is seen at a pop-up site for the new Windows 10 operating system at Roosevelt Field in Garden City, New York July 29, 2015. Reuters/Shannon Stapleton NEW YORK Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) avoided a potentially costly setback to its mobile phone business on Friday as the U.S. International Trade Commission declined to block the import of its devices in a longstanding patent dispute. The decision […]
INTERNATIONAL. The enduring impasse between Israel and the Palestinians in the peace negotiations and their changing internal political dynamics has made it impossible for them to resolve the conflict on their own. Leaving them to their own devices is no longer a viable option as the continuation of the conflict is hazardous and potentially explosive. The resumption of bilateral peace negotiations with US mediation alone will not […]
|By Matein Khalid| A month ago, I published a column predicting history’s first Made in China global recession. Wall Street finally agreed with me last week after we witnessed the most brutal crash in global equities since October 2008. I have predicated a 20% fall in US equities several times in the last three months and the 1000 point drop in the Dow last week only reinforces […]
CAIRO — About 150 people are believed to have drowned off western Libya after a fishing boat and a smaller boat carrying migrants sank in the Mediterranean, Libyan and international relief officials said on Friday. A spokesman for the Libyan Red Crescent, Mohamed al-Misrati, put the confirmed death toll from the two vessels at 105 people and said that 30 to 40 people were still missing. He […]
A logo is pictured at Google’s European Engineering Center in Zurich April 16, 2015. Reuters/Arnd Wiegmann/Files BRUSSELS Google Inc has rejected EU antitrust charges that it abused its market power, exposing the company to the risk of a hefty fine if it does not alter its business practices. The company’s comments came after the European Commission in April accused it of distorting internet search results to favour […]
INTERNATIONAL. Market price action dictates direction – traditional support levels were broken violently. Yesterday’s market was the most energised sell-off since 2008/2009. – The US dollar lead this crisis and will lead back up when the low is in – We have reached most of Steen Jakobsen’s technical targets and below is his primitive “expected” path from here (2015 low getting established) – We will see recession […]
INTERNATIONAL. OPEC next gathers December 4 in Vienna, just over a year since Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi announced at the previous OPEC winter meeting the Saudi decision to let the oil market determine oil prices rather than to continue Saudi Arabia’s role of guarantor of $100+/bbl oil. Despite the intense financial and economic pain this decision has inflicted on Saudi Arabia, its fellow OPEC members, and […]
ABU DHABI // A company’s success lies in its diversity, the chief of Xerox told an audience at the Crown Pince’s Court ahead of Emirati Women’s Day. It is crucial for society to remove obstacles in the workforce that impede women, said Ursula Burns, chairman and CEO of Xerox. “Diversity is a driver of innovation. Gender, race and background give an eye to the world. Organisations succeed […]
UAE. The continuation of low energy prices is impacting both optimism and risk appetite in the Middle East, according to Deloitte’s latest report “Global CFO Signals: CFO Sentiment Q2 2015 – Staying focused; remaining vigilant”. With oil at US$53 a barrel at the time of the survey, CFO optimism fell to one of its lowest levels in recent years, with only a net 26% across the Middle East […]
UAE. The MENA Region is all set to become a global logistics hub in the next few years, an Al Masah Capital Limited Report on “Transportation & Logistics in MENA” has revealed, which experts believe will be driven by the emergence of the MENA-Asia trade corridor that will redefine global supply chains. Notably in 2013, India and China ranked as top merchandise export and import destinations for MENA […]
UAE. Business confidence in the Middle East continued to fall in the second quarter of 2015, but not as quickly as it had in the first three months of the year, according to the to the Global Economic Conditions Survey (GECS) organised by ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and IMA (the Institute of Management Accountants). The slight optimism was due to a temporary reprieve in […]
|By Matein Khalid| Geopolitics is now another source of risk for the Turkish lira, government debt and Istanbul equities. The Turkish air force is bombing Daish in Syria and the secessionist Kurdish PKK party in northern Iraq. Suicide bombings have killed Turkish citizens in eastern Anatolian cities on the Syrian border. Ankara has given the US a green light to launch military airstrikes from the Incerlik air […]
People gathered near the site of a bomb blast on the outskirts of Cairo on Friday. A study found that public turmoil, war and other crises can be associated with declining air pollution in the Middle East. By JOHN SCHWARTZ August 21, 2015 Civil unrest and humanitarian crises can now be detected from space — because of, somewhat surprisingly, cleaner air. A paper published on Friday in the journal […]
FRANKFURT Smartphone apps that help people learn languages for free or nearly free, a few sentences at a time, are piling pressure on established education firms and setting the pace for how to make lessons more engaging. Phone and tablet-based mobile products from newcomers like Germany’s Babbel, Britain’s Memrise and U.S.-based Duolingo have overtaken names like Berlitz and computer self-learning pioneer Rosetta Stone (RST.N) in terms of […]
Xpress Money, a leading global money transfer brand, has launched its Xpress Money Rewards Program, which provides customers a guaranteed cash back, each time they transact with Xpress Money. Customers who enrol for the program get an instant advantage of Dh5 cashback on their very first transaction and will continue to get Dh2 cashback for all subsequent transactions. Customers can also earn Dh1 on each transaction done […]
INTERNATIONAL. In the wake of China’s recent devaluation of the yuan, companies need to be more strategic than ever in their manufacturing-sourcing decision-making, focusing on clear-headed, case-by-case analysis and tight project management. That is according to a new study, including a survey of almost 250 senior-level executives in Western Europe and North America from manufacturing and distribution companies in 20 industries, released today by AlixPartners, the global […]
