All the three major U.S. indexes opened higher on Tuesday, with the Nasdaq Composite hitting yet another record high, lifted by Apple. Apple (AAPL.O) rose 0.66 percent to an all-time high of $142.40 after the company unveiled a new version of its iPad tablet. The stock was the biggest boost to all the three major indexes. The gains were broad, with all the 11 major S&P sectors […]
At the start of March we showed a fascinating chart from Rystad Energy, demonstrating how dramatic the impact of technological efficiency on collapsing US shale production costs has been: in just the past 3 years, the wellhead breakeven price for key shale plays has collapsed from an average of $80 to the mid-$30s… … resulting in drastically lower all-in breakevens for most US shale regions. Today, in […]
TOKYO Asian shares hit 21-month highs on Tuesday while the dollar and U.S. bond yields were on the backfoot on the prospect of a less hawkish than previously expected Federal Reserve policy trajectory. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS rose 0.3 percent in its eighth consecutive day of gains with tech-heavy Seoul and Taipei shares .KS11 .TWII hitting two-year highs while Hong Kong’s Hang […]
Fashion Forward kicks off at Dubai’s Design District on Thursday with a packed three days of runway shows, sector talks and designer presentations. The latest edition will see 17 new brands debuting their collections before eagle-eyed buyers, members of the press and public. The significant leap in participant numbers appears to reflect renewed optimism when it comes to the wider fashion industry. According to a Dubai Chamber […]
By Henning Gloystein | SINGAPORE SINGAPORE Oil prices rose early on Tuesday on expectations that an OPEC-led production cut to prop up the market could be extended, and as strong demand was seen to slowly erode a global fuel supply overhang. Prices for front-month Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil, were at $51.76 per barrel at 0043 GMT, up 14 cents, or 0.3 percent, from […]
Big Chinese cities have launched a new round of lending curbs and purchase restrictions in an effort to cool overheated property markets, as official media warn that some have veered towards a bubble. Sky-high prices in cities including Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen are stoking anger, even among relatively well-off professionals. Meanwhile, controlling financial risk has emerged as the dominant economic policy theme for 2017. At the conclusion of the […]
The release of the Panama Papers exposed an elaborate kickback scheme whose tentacles spread from the Caribbean island of Aruba to warehouses in Doral to the offshore banking haven of Panama City, according to a lawsuit filed in Miami federal court. The scam was allegedly hatched by Egbert Koolman, an employee of Aruba’s state-owned telecommunications provider, Setar. Koolman’s job was to buy phones from suppliers around the […]
While VIX declined last week, the cost of protecting against major market swings has spiked above its previous Brexit-vote-day peak, reaching a fresh all-time high. As a reminder, CBOE explains, SKEW, is calculated from the prices of S&P 500 out-of-the-money options. SKEW typically ranges from 100 to 150. A SKEW value of 100 means that the perceived distribution of S&P 500 log-returns is normal, and the probability […]
U.S. stocks reversed course to trade slightly higher in late morning trading on Monday, helped by a rise in technology stocks including Apple. Apple (AAPL.O) rose nearly 1 percent, hitting a new record-high of $141.34, lifting the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index to yet another intraday high. The iPhone-maker’s stock could rise another 10 percent in six months, Barron’s wrote in an article posted Saturday. The U.S. stock […]
Monday 06:10 GMT Overview The US dollar continued its slide in the wake of last week’s widely expected decision by the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates, while Asian stocks were mixed. European bourses are expected to open with a soft bias, with spreadbetters predicting the UK’s FTSE 100 will be unchanged but Germany’s Dax to drop 30 points to 12,065. US index futures suggest the S&P […]
20 March 2017 Doha, Qatar – Al Meera Consumer Goods Company (Q.S.C) held its Annual Ordinary General Assembly on Sunday, 19 March 2017 at the La Cigale Hotel Doha, in the presence of Sheikh Thani Bin Thamer Bin Mohamed Al Thani, Chairman of the Board of Directors, as well as members of the Board of Directors, shareholders and investors. All items on the agenda were discussed, such […]
Mansour Bin Jabr’s idea of a hard life may not resonate with everyone. “The cars, the jets, they don’t make me happy. I’m a hippie in a way. I love islands, beaches,” says the 30-year-old chief operating officer of Bin Jabr Group, having just returned from a business trip in the Maldives. “I see myself retired in the Bahamas in a resort I own with my toys. […]
By Anthony Boadle | BRASILIA BRASILIA President Michel Temer, confronting a corruption scandal tarnishing Brazil’s lucrative meat industry, met on Sunday with executives and foreign diplomats to assuage health concerns tarnishing a sector responsible for $12 billion in annual exports. The hastily called meetings, following raids by police on Friday investigating whether companies paid bribes to conceal unsanitary conditions at meatpackers, come as Temer works to protect […]
By Nichola Saminather | SINGAPORE SINGAPORE Asian stocks were mixed on Monday in thin trade, following Wall Street’s declines and the G20’s decision to drop a pledge to avoid trade protectionism, while the Federal Reserve’s less hawkish-than-expected comments continued to drag the dollar lower. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS added 0.1 percent. Chinese shares .SSEC added 0.2 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng […]
It has been almost five years to the day since Mahmood Hashim Al Kooheji took over as head of Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund, Mumtalakat, restructuring several investment interests and making other changes to whip the fund into shape after years of losses. It followed a term at Gulf Air in which he managed the national carrier’s controversial restructure that saw 15 percent of its staff, around 600 […]
UAE-based Aster DM Healthcare is in discussions with its banks to change some terms of a syndicated loan to counter difficult business conditions, including delays to payments it is owed, sources familiar with the matter said. The company, which operates hospitals, clinics and pharmacies in the Gulf and India, raised a multi-tranche syndicated loan equivalent to about AED600 million ($163 million) in March last year, Thomson Reuters […]
Employer-funded healthcare in the US is an accidental system. It came into being during the second world war, when wage freezes and 1.9 per cent unemployment forced the government to allow companies to offer fringe benefits like healthcare in an attempt to attract workers. In 1943, the Internal Revenue Service ruled that employer-based healthcare should be tax free — and we were off to the races. The […]
UAE-based Al-Futtaim is seeking to open new stores in Egypt while stepping into Oman, according to a senior company executive. “We are currently working on expansion in Muscat, Oman, and are still studying the possibility of opening more stores in Egypt and some other countries,” John Kersten, managing director, Ikea, told Arabian Business. At present, Al-Futtaim holds franchise rights for the UAE, Qatar, Egypt and Oman. In […]
Patches, appliqués and pins are aplenty in the current fashion market, used often to decorate jeans and denim jackets. A circular pink iron-on patch scripted with “Habibi” in a font reminiscent of the Barbie logo, however, is something you don’t see every day. Newly launched Dubai-based apparel and accessories brand La Come Di is disrupting the market with fresh new ideas that give a tongue-in-cheek, cultural spin […]
Here are the big questions for markets and investors as a new trading week beckons. Does a measured Fed risk being left behind by inflation?After a barrage of central bank meetings, Brexit angst and the first major European election for the year, market volatility across bonds and equities remains quiescent. Having been primed for a more aggressive Federal Reserve and wary of polls being wrong ahead of […]
There are more than 100 places to get steak in the UAE and more steakhouses are opening all the time, which is testament to the fact that beef is one of the world’s most popular dishes. If there’s one thing the UAE likes to eat it’s beef, and the country’s connoisseurs have long enjoyed a love affair with one particular type – Wagyu. This intensely marbled beef […]
Brazil’s coffee farmers, struggling with the effect of last year’s drought, have turned to another black commodity — pepper. In a desperate search for an alternative source of income, an increasing number of growers in the state of Espirito Santo, the key producer of the lower-quality coffee robusta beans, have switched to black pepper, whose price more than tripled between 2009 and 2015. “Four years ago, we […]
Apple, Huawei, LG, Samsung, Sony lead the way as retail extravaganza prepares to open its doors to thousands of visitors in Dubai Global smartphone revenues continue to grow; 97% of UAE users reliant on WhatsApp for communication 18 March 2017 Dubai, United Arab Emirates – Thinner, faster and even more intelligent than we could have imagined, smartphones are back with a bang this year and leading […]
Prices for bonds sold by the Netherlands and France fell on Thursday, reversing early gains as Dutch voters rejected rightwing populism and opted for the status quo in an election regarded as a litmus test for Europe’s political future. Dutch and French sovereign debt initially outperformed German Bunds as investors reacted to news that the anti-EU populist Geert Wilders’ PVV party had fallen short of expectations. However, […]
