The European government bond market had what is known in technical circles as a minor freak-out this week. Yet as yields in eurozone bonds diverged sharply, the markets for stocks, corporate debt and currencies carried on regardless. The Cac 40 index of large French-listed companies was barely changed on the week. The euro weakened per cent against the US dollar, but at the same time the dollar […]
Investors remained cautious on the so-called Trump trade over the past week, as political wrangling in Washington drove more money into bond funds and bond proxies. Junk bond funds collected $1bn in new money in the week to February 8, while investment grade corporate bond funds gained $2.1bn, the fourth straight week of inflows for highly rated company debt, according to data from EPFR. Utilities-focused equity funds, […]
Is there really such a thing as a market bubble? I feel almost heretical answering this question. I and most readers have lived through two decades that were dominated by two vast investment bubbles and the attempt to deal with their consequences when they burst. Getting into definitions is beside the point. As US Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart once said to define pornography: “I know it […]
Gulf countries are forecast to drive the bulk of 2017 sovereign debt issuance, followed by Latin America, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Its latest GEMs Macro Monthly report said it expects Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Qatar and Kuwait to be the largest gross and net debt issuers in 2017. It said these four issuers could account for 37 percent of the total sovereign gross issuance. Among […]
Friday 21:00 GMT Overview US stocks and industrial commodities were riding high and the dollar forged ahead at the end of a week in which an outbreak of worries over forthcoming European elections was replaced by renewed bullishness about the policies of Donald Trump, US president. The more confident mood was also driven by optimism about corporate earnings and evidence of strong trade growth in China. Hot […]
A government leader opens his mouth, and listeners instantly know how much of the speech is provable. Science fiction? For the moment, but hopefully not forever. The state of technology and the maturity of fact-checking organizations today make it possible to take the first steps toward that goal. Chequeado, where I work as director of editorial innovation, started working on automated fact-checking just over a year ago. […]
European equity markets are warning of greater volatility in coming months, as the European Central Bank prepares to cut its stimulus programme and anxiety grows ahead of upcoming elections. Futures contracts in the Vstoxx — a measure of implied volatility for the benchmark Euro Stoxx 50 index — reflect expectations of a blip as after the ECB cuts its monthly bond purchases at the end of March […]
By Lucia Mutikani | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S. job growth surged more than expected in January as construction firms and retailers ramped up hiring, but wages barely rose, handing the Trump administration both a head start and a challenge as it seeks to boost the economy. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 227,000 jobs, the largest gain in four months, the Labor Department said on Friday. The unemployment rate, however, […]
RedfestDXB has announced new timings for its closing day. It will be held on Saturday, after severe winds forced organisers to postpone the original date. To cater to young fans with Sunday school commitments the festival will run from 2pm to 8pm. Fans and ticket holders are urged to follow the event social media channels for further updates on ticket refunds, updated performance times and opening times. […]
Investors have warmed to Russian assets, welcoming the country in from the cold. Russian bond funds counted record inflows in the week to February 1 as higher crude prices and improving relations with the US prompted an investor rotation back into the country. Emerging markets more broadly have found renewed investor appetite as the dollar has fallen to an 11-week low. More than $1bn flowed into EM […]
Amazon.com Inc’s (AMZN.O) shares fell as much as 4.2 percent on Friday after the company missed Wall Street targets for its closely watched cloud computing business. Shares fell to $804 in early trading, a day after the company reported lower-than-expected fourth-quarter revenue and said it would continue to spend heavily this year, as it looks to take control of its delivery chain and expand its video service […]
Apple clinched $10bn of debt financing on Thursday as capital market activity remained robust, with Microsoft and AT&T also borrowing hefty amounts from investors this week. Apple’s latest bond sale follows a bumper start to the year for corporate and bank borrowings, with more than $185bn raised by investment-grade groups in the US, according to Dealogic. This week Microsoft borrowed $17bn in the largest bond offering of […]
By Parisa Hafezi | ANKARA ANKARA Many Iranians who dreamt of quiet, comfortable lives after a nuclear deal with world powers in 2015 are starting to worry for the first time in decades they might be bombed in their own homes. Since taking office last month, U.S. President Donald Trump has pledged to get tough with Iran, warning the Islamic Republic after its ballistic missile test on […]
European stocks and S&P futures rose modestly ahead of January US payrolls data, along with the dollar, while Asian shares dropped after China returned from a week-long holiday. Bonds slid, oil rose while the JGB intervened in the bond market to prevent a bond rout, in one of two major surprises during the Asian session. As reported last night, having closed at 0.109% yesterday the 10y JGB […]
By Emily Stephenson and David Shepardson | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON President Donald Trump will huddle with chief executives of major U.S. companies on Friday as the business community finds itself increasingly split over how to respond to his policies. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick on Thursday quit the business leaders’ group, a panel selected by Trump in December, under pressure from activists over Trump’s week-old executive order halting travel […]
Russia is to spend more than Rbs113bn ($1.9bn) during the next month in an effort to weaken the rouble, marking a reversal from the 2014 foreign exchange shock that forced it to intervene heavily to stop the currency falling too far. The country’s central bank will spend Rbs6.3bn a day on forex transactions from February 7 to March 6, the finance ministry said in a statement on […]
By Keith Wallis and Osamu Tsukimori | SINGAPORE/TOKYO SINGAPORE/TOKYO Oil prices edged up on Friday on news that U.S. President Donald Trump could be set to impose new sanctions on multiple Iranian entities, firing geopolitical tensions between the two nations. Comments by Russian energy minister Alexander Novak that oil producers had cut their output in accordance with a pact agreed in December also helped support prices, analysts […]
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has made the final decision to continue regulating wholesale ADSL internet services for the next five years during the migration of customers onto the National Broadband Network (NBN), saying it will help promote competition against Telstra’s continuing dominance. The regulation of ADSL is designed to ensure any-to-any connectivity and the long-term interests of end users (LTIE), encourage the economically efficient […]
Submitted by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.com, As I outlined in my article ‘The False Economic Narrative Will Die In 2017’, the mainstream media has been carefully crafting the propaganda meme that the Trump administration is inheriting a global economy in “ascension,” when in fact, the opposite is true. Trump enters office at a time of longstanding decline and will likely witness severe and accelerated decline over the […]
Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick has quit President Donald Trump’s business advisory council on the eve of its first meeting, after mounting criticism from passengers and drivers angry over the president’s immigration order. The move will raise the stakes for other executives on the council, including leaders from Blackstone, IBM, GE, GM, Disney, Pepsi and Tesla. Several have already voiced concerns about the travel ban but none […]
The rouble turned volatile as investors made sense of a tweak by the Trump administration to part of the US sanctions on Russia. The currency moved 1.7 per cent higher, trading at an 18-month high of RUB58.547, before quickly giving up most of that rise and falling back below the RUB59 level as investors parsed the decision. The changes in the sanctions appeared to re-authorised certain technology […]
Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan said a government efficiency office created last year to review state projects has saved the kingdom 80 billion riyals ($21 billion) on costs, according to the ministry’s official Twitter account. Jadaan expects increased savings this year and in future years to have a positive impact on the kingdom’s finances and the ministry has set up a mechanism to reimburse contractors within 60 […]
Falcon 2017-1 prices $410 million of Loans Dubai, U.A.E., 2 February 2017 Falcon Aerospace Limited and Falcon Aerospace USA LLC (“Falcon 2017-1” or “Borrowers”) will issue $410 million of asset-backed secured term Loans. The Borrowers expect to use the proceeds to purchase 21 in-production, narrow-body aircraft. Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) Ltd will act as servicer for the transaction. Mr. Firoz Tarapore, Chief Executive Officer of DAE said: […]
By Yashaswini Swamynathan U.S. stocks slipped on Thursday, as bank stocks fell after the Federal Reserve provided little clarity into whether it would raise interest rates at its next meeting, even as the central bank painted an upbeat picture of the economy. The Fed, which left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, gave no firm signal of a hike in March as it closely watches the impact of […]
