Qatari banks Masraf Al Rayan, Barwa Bank and International Bank of Qatar have entered into initial talks for a potential merger, a statement said on Monday, in a deal that would create the Gulf state’s second-largest bank. The trio have begun initial discussions “to create a larger and stronger financial institution with a solid financial position and liquidity to support Qatar’s economic growth”, according to a joint […]
SEATTLE Boeing Co’s (BA.N) commercial airplanes unit said on Monday it would cut more jobs in 2017 after slashing the workforce by 8 percent in 2016 as it battles to sell planes. The job cuts come as Boeing and rival Airbus (AIR.PA) face slowing demand for new aircraft, particularly twin-aisle jetliners such as the Boeing 777 and Airbus A330. Boeing said last week that it would cut […]
ABU DHABI // Pakistan’s ambassador to the UAE said he aims to help deepen bilateral defence and economic ties, particularly through the major new trade route traversing Pakistan to China, the Asian power that is set to become the GCC’s largest trade partner. “We really want to make this relationship more diversified, and deepen and expand it,” said Moazzam Ahmad Khan, who began his tenure as Islamabad’s […]
Emirates, the world’s biggest long-haul airline, and Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways are reviewing their workforce as overcapacity and a stronger dollar put pressure on earnings. The cutbacks show how the Gulf airlines’ rapid expansion of the past few years is slowing down against a more challenging economic backdrop. Dubai-based Emirates has offered redundancies to staff working in accounting, finance, IT and other departments in its head-office, sources […]
Global Investment House said on Monday that its Elaj Group unit has concluded partial divestment from Al Borg Medical Laboratories Limited to Investcorp and Boubyan Petrochemical Company. Al Borg is the largest chain of private laboratories in the Middle East and North Africa region, according to its website, with 26 laboratories in Saudi Arabia, four in the UAE, two in Qatar, and one each in Bahrain, Kuwait, […]
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 […]
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 […]
Soaring price growth in China’s top cities has slowed almost to a standstill, as government measures to cool the overheated property market take hold. Price growth of newly built homes in China’s “first tier” cities of Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai and Guangzhou slowed to 0.1 per cent in November compared with the previous month, the National Statistics Bureau said on Monday — well below month-on-month growth of 3-4 […]
Cloud accounting software firm Reckon has recently expanded its product scope, offering up finance for Australian small to medium business in a bid to remove red tape and give SMEs cashflow within hours. According to Reckon COO Dan Rabie, the move into the small business lending market was almost a natural progression. “We’ve been selling accounting software to small businesses for many, many years and a lot […]
The Middle East mobile phone market suffered its third consecutive quarter-on-quarter decline between July and September, according to the latest figures announced by IDC. Shipments in the region totalled 23.8 million units, down 0.7 percent on the 23.9 million units shipped in Q2 and 19.4 percent on the corresponding period last year. IDC said that given that the quarter-on-quarter decline in Q2 was much steeper at 8.5 […]
Underlines the Importance of Strengthening Partnership with the Private Sector to Achieve Strategic Objectives in the UAE Dubai, UAE: December 18, 2016 The Ministry of Climate Change and Environment launched the ‘Environment and Business Majlis’, aimed at boosting the private sector’s contribution and guided private companies to be aligned with the government’s environmental strategies and create new investment opportunities that involved the ministry and the private sector. […]
Six new species of marine animals have been discovered on the sea floor of Indian Ocean, living close to a bunch of hot springs. In a robot led survey, scientists from the Southampton University, Natural History Museum in London and University of Newcastle explored hydrothermal vents in the seabed. Their expedition in November 2011 yielded valuable data and led to the discovery of new organisms living on the […]
The Federal Reserve will wait six months before raising interest rates again, according to a survey of top economists that suggests policymakers will maintain a cautious approach to tightening policy until they see the economic package US president-elect Donald Trump has promised. Officials will raise the Fed’s key short-term rate just twice in 2017, starting with a move in June, an FT survey of 31 Wall Street […]
The Brazilian market for mobile devices is predicted to drop 10 percent in volume for 2016 due to a 11 percent decrease in smartphone sales, according to research. A study released by the Brazilian Electrical and Electronics Industry Association (ABINEE), revenues for the sector should see modest growth of 2 percent driven by more expensive items. According to the ABINEE report, the decline is down to the […]
BERLIN Daimler (DAIGn.DE) does not expect Donald Trump to favor U.S. carmakers over their European counterparts, the carmaker’s chief executive told a German paper, shrugging off concerns over the president-elect’s protectionist rhetoric during his campaign. “I find it hard to believe that it would come to punitive tariffs,” Dieter Zetsche told Bild am Sonntag in an interview published on Sunday, adding he did not expect any negative […]
Wall Street is bathing in nostalgia. This week the cover of Barron’s, the bible of US retail investors, proclaimed “Dow 20,000”. Presenters on CNBC are wearing Dow 10,000 caps first donned in 1999. And each day the thinning crowds on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange have watched the boards to see if the Dow Jones Industrial Average, having passed 19,900, can top the 20,000 […]
By Stanley White and Izumi Nakagawa | TOKYO TOKYO Japanese workers put up with long hours and unpaid overtime under pressure from cost-saving companies, and figures from government, which wants more money in workers’ pockets to boost consumer spending, appear to underestimate the problem. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is trying to enact labor reforms as part of his “Abenomics” plan to end decades of stagnant growth and […]
Our round-up of the week’s best comment and analysis from the Financial Times focuses on expectations of a Trump-presidency stimulus and the danger of complacency. The selection is taken from our Markets Insight and Smart Money columns, written by industry contributors and FT commentators. Wall Street might be too complacent about Donald Trump’s corporate tax stimulus and are not pricing in an upsurge in volatility, argues the […]
18 December 2016 Dubai: The Ministry of Finance (MoF) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre to exchange experiences and coordinate on matters related to the strategic plan for ‘Dubai the Capital of Islamic Economy 2017-2021’, in order to strengthen the UAE’s position and enhance the Emirate of Dubai as the capital of the Islamic economy. The Dubai Islamic Economy Development Center […]
Settling into an interview with Marwan Bin Jassim Al Sarkal, the man in charge of luring foreign investors to Sharjah, it becomes evident that both tensions and ties bond the emirate with neighbouring Dubai. On the one hand Sharjah is cast into the shadows, often overlooked by businesses and visitors. On the other hand, the bigger brother’s international standing is helping the emirate of 1.5 million people […]
15 December 2016 The Ajman Real Estate Conference 1, being organized by the Real Estate Regulatory Agency – Ajman [ARRA], the state-run institution mandated with regulating the real estate activities and developments in Ajman, was inaugurated this morning by Sheikh Abdul Rahman bin Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Director General of Survey and Land Registration Bureau – Bahrain, Sheikh Mubarak Al-Otaibi, prominent business leader – Saudi Arabia […]
The number of passenger cars in use in the GCC region is expected to grow at 5 percent annually from an estimated 10.3 million in 2015 to 13.2 million in 2020, according to Alpen Capital. Its report said new passenger car sales are projected at 1.4 million in 2020, compared to 1.2 million in 2015. Although new sales declined in 2016 and will be under pressure in […]
Newspapers reach nearly seven in 10 Americans in any given month, according to a new report from the ratings agency Nielsen. The report, drawn from a Nielsen Scarborough study, found that “more than 169 million adults in the U.S. read a newspaper in a month — whether it be in print, on a website or via mobile app.” Notably, more than half of monthly newspaper readers are reading […]
