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 […]
11 December 2016 Dubai-UAE – National Bonds Corporation (National Bonds), the leading sharia-compliant savings and investments company in the UAE, has launched its Prestige wealth management program for the benefit of high net-worth customers that total more than 11,000 of the company’s 817,000 client base. National Bonds announced the program at a special gala dinner at the Ritz Carlton in Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC). Attended by guest […]
Boeing officials, already dismayed by Mr. Trump’s attack last week over the costs of a new Air Force One, acknowledged that the Iran jet deal still faced contingencies — a polite way of saying they were deeply worried about whether Mr. Trump and the Republican-led Congress would support it. Continue reading the main story Beyond that deal, Boeing and other companies that export jet engines, high-tech products […]
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 […]
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 […]
In the past 70 years, the world’s population tripled to more than seven billion and average global temperature increased by nearly one degree Celsius. Population growth and climate change are associated with big challenges facing modern agriculture. New research combines computer science and biology to identify genes that make plants more resistant to stress factors, such as drought and saline soils. (via WSJ)
An astounding 60 percent of employees have been given their walking papers at Yik Yak, a chat app particularly popular among college students. The massive layoff saw the 50-strong startup reduced to a motley crew of 20 on Dec. 8. Yik Yak Layoff The recent development has been surprising for tech industry observers because Yik Yak has managed to raise $73.5 million from investors since it began its […]
ABU DHABI // Cultural development is an integral part of progress in any society, Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak, Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development, told a conference in the capital. Sheikh Nahyan said on Sunday that culture was a pre-requisite for achieving successful and sustainable economic growth. “We strive to preserve our heritage, values and principles as well as all aspects of culture in the UAE and […]
Saudi Arabian non-oil private sector growth rebounded in November following a back-to-back slowdown in September and October, according to a new survey. Data from the Emirates NBD Saudi Arabia Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) showed that utput, new orders, purchasing activity and input stocks all rose sharply and at faster rates than in the prior month. That said, the expansions remained weaker than their respective averages. Subsequently, the […]
Our round-up of the week’s best comment and analysis from the Financial Times focuses on the expectations of boom times for US stocks, the troubles of active fund managers and Italy’s dilemma after the referendum. The selection is taken from our Markets Insight and Smart Money columns, written by industry contributors and FT commentators. US stocks may be at record levels but there is no end to […]
By Caroline Valetkevitch | NEW YORK NEW YORK Next week’s Federal Reserve meeting and possible signals on the pace of rate hikes for next year could pose the biggest risk yet to the rally the U.S. stock market has seen since last month’s presidential election. While investors have long anticipated the Fed will raise rates at the Dec. 13-14 meeting – in what would be its first […]
Ahead of next week, here are the big questions we are asking at FT Markets What signal will the Federal Reserve send? The last US central bank meeting of the year will unfold on Wednesday with all eyes on officials’ latest assessment of the economy and the press conference of Fed chief Janet Yellen. Plenty has changed since their previous gathering just before the US election. Dollar […]
International retail franchise operator MH Alshaya Co is preparing to open 32 brands at the new Mall of Qatar, which is set for a soft opening on December 10. Alshaya’s portfolio at the mall will include eight brands that will be making their debut in Qatar. The brands opening for the first time in Qatar include The Cheesecake Factory, Victoria’s Secret, Texas Roadhouse, Le Pain Quotidien, Bridgewater […]
Abu Dhabi Ports, the master developer, operator and manager of the emirate’s commercial and community ports as well as Khalifa Industrial Zone, has hailed the opening of the new Mohammed bin Rashid Road as a “major milestone”. Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi, CEO of Abu Dhabi Ports, said in a statement that the new highway, which opened on Tuesday, will enable Khalifa Port’s expansion and growth plans. Al […]
VIENNA OPEC and non-OPEC producers on Saturday reached their first deal since 2001 to curtail oil output jointly and ease a global glut after more than two years of low prices that overstretched many budgets and spurred unrest in some countries. With the deal finally signed after almost a year of arguing within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and mistrust in the willingness of non-OPEC […]
10 December 2016 Dubai, UAE: Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has reached financial closure for the 2,400MW Hassyan clean coal power project. The project uses the Independent Power Producer (IPP) procurement model on a Build Own Operate (BOO) basis and is supported by a 25-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with DEWA. Last June, DEWA signed the PPA, Shareholders Agreement (SHA), and other project agreements with the […]
Submitted by Mac Slavo via SHTFPlan.com, There just isn’t a lot of good news here. The middle class is still struggling for something tangible, but things remain pretty frustrating for most people. It could actually feel like things are going in reverse… and that each piece of economic interaction squeezes just a little bit harder. via the Washington Examiner: A new report on the economy finds that […]
TUNIS Tunisia’s parliament approved on Saturday a 32.7 billion dinar ($14.1 billion) budget for next year, including deficit cutting measures that had been watered down under pressure from unions. From a total of 217 lawmakers in parliament, 122 voted in favour of the finance bill. Earlier this week parliament struck out two key clauses imposing taxes on lawyers and pharmacists, in a blow to government efforts to raise […]
Islamic financing growth in the UAE has slowed in 2016 but remains above that of conventional banks, supported by enhanced recognition of Islamic finance and wider adoption of sharia products, especially in retail, according to a new report. Fitch Ratings said that the share of total bank gross financing held by the six largest Islamic banks and the Islamic windows of conventional banks was around 26 percent […]
For a quick study in market blindness, look at how an obscure US fund reacts to events in a country where markets do not even exist. Nearly two years ago US president Barack Obama and Cuban president Raúl Castro jointly announced their intent to rejuvenate the diplomatic and commercial relationship between their two countries. Until that day, the Cuba closed-end fund had historically traded beneath its net […]
After decades of eluding researchers because of chemical instability, key metal-oxide clusters have been isolated in water, a significant advance for growing the clusters with the impeccable control over atoms that’s required to manufacture small features in electronic circuits. Oregon State University chemists created the aqueous cluster formation process. It yielded a polyoxocation of zinc, aluminum and chromium that is not protected by the organic ligand shell […]
In early 2009, roughly at the time when this blog was launched which coincided with the start of the greatest monetary experiment of all time, we warned that there are two ways it will end: either in hyperinflation, or a deflationary supernova, the failure of currency and, eventually, barter. Now, almost 8 years later, some of the world’s top hedge funds are in agreement, and they are […]
This is part of a series on the global rise of exchange traded funds The morning after the US election Steven Bregman, a New York-based hedge fund manager, began to notice something strange going on in a corner of the stock market. His screen showed that shares of gold mining companies were being sold indiscriminately, falling by double digits, even though the price of gold itself had […]
Screens from the Starbucks mobile app. At its annual meeting with investors on December 7, Starbucks executives outlined a bevy of initiatives involving new store formats, expanded food offerings, and new premium coffee beverages — but the other big story to come out of the coffee giant’s corporate hobnobbing was how the company’s use of technology has turned the brand into a digital innovation machine. Starbucks, which […]
