Friday 05.10 GMT Overview Equities markets were mixed in Asian trading on Friday as the dollar ceded ground to regional currencies and China reported on-target economic growth ahead of the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump. Hot topic The dollar index measuring the greenback against a basket of peers fell 0.2 per cent after a two-day winning streak left it 0.8 per cent higher at Thursday’s close. […]
The Bank of England’s corporate bond buying plan has moved much faster than investors expected with the central bank surpassing half of its total target just five months after the programme was launched. Started in September as part of the central bank’s plan to cushion the economy from any fallout from the Brexit vote, the programme has seen the BoE buy £5.2bn of corporate bonds, according to […]
Brussels is seeking to defuse a regulatory time-bomb facing Europe’s pensions as the retirement industry warns that EU derivatives reforms scheduled for 2018 could cost savers billions. The European Commission is preparing legislation to amend regulations that are seen hurting pensions funds by forcing them to put aside higher amounts of money to satisfy derivatives rules. Trades such as swaps and other derivatives require support in the […]
SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK This past November, Nasdaq Inc (NDAQ.O) hired a helicopter to film Manhattan’s skyline using Snapchat’s new video-camera sunglasses and sent the aerial footage to its social media followers. The New York Stock Exchange – its arch-rival – on the same day tweeted a video shot from the floor of its exchange, showing that it too was using the social media giant’s gadget. The scramble […]
If this week’s speech by Theresa May on her Brexit plans was designed to reassure the City of London and stop banks from shifting jobs out of the UK, early indications are that it appears to have failed. The prime minister is scheduled to address business leaders at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos Thursday morning, but in the meantime a flurry of senior financiers popped […]
Saudi Arabia’s National Commercial Bank (NCB) reported a 7.5 percent rise in fourth-quarter net profit on Wednesday as the kingdom’s largest lender was boosted by higher income from commission and investments. The results are the strongest in four quarters for the bank, which like other lenders in the kingdom has seen its performance clipped by weaker activity as depressed oil prices drag economic growth to its lowest […]
WASHINGTON U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will name former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue as his nominee for secretary of agriculture on Thursday, a senior transition official said on Wednesday. Perdue, 70, served on Trump’s agricultural advisory committee during his presidential campaign. His nomination, which must be confirmed by the Republican-led Senate, will complete Trump’s proposed cabinet just before he is sworn in as president on Friday. By nominating […]
China cut its holdings of US Treasuries by $66bn in November, reducing its position in the safe-haven debt to the lowest level since 2010 as the country battles to stabilise its currency. The acceleration in sales — the largest monthly decline since December 2011 — threatens a rise in US interest rates if it continues and follows an unwinding in October that saw China cede its position […]
By Lisa Richwine and Anya George Tharakan Streaming video pioneer Netflix Inc added over a third more subscribers than expected in the last quarter of 2016, a sign of success for its ambitious global expansion that sent its shares up 8 percent in extended trading. Netflix signed up 7.1 million new subscribers globally, far more than the 5.2 million analysts had expected, according to research firm FactSet, […]
New Zealand is pressing to finalise a stalled free trade deal with the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) that includes two of the Middle East’s largest economies, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Trade Minister Todd McClay visited the UAE and Kuwait this week in an effort to promote the deal with the GCC, his country’s sixth largest trading partner. The GCC comprises Saudi Arabia, the […]
Via ConvergEx’s Nicholas Colas, Want to know why US stocks feel so fragile? Perhaps we can blame Wall Street analysts. Even after two months of market buzz about lower taxes, infrastructure spending and less regulation juicing investor expectations for better earnings growth, they refuse to bump their revenue or earnings estimates for 2017. Our monthly look at revenue expectations for the companies of the Dow […]
The sole Republican commissioner at the main US derivatives regulator has thrown his hat in the ring to be appointed the next chairman, even as he embraced aspects of financial reforms that Donald Trump’s team wants dismantled. Christopher Giancarlo, of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, is set to assume the job of acting chairman after Mr Trump’s presidential inauguration on Friday, replacing Tim Massad, the sitting Democratic […]
US financial stocks have come under pressure since the start the year, denting a sharp rise that began after the election, in the latest sign that the Trump trade has begun to run out of steam. The S&P 500 financial sector has fallen 1.1 per cent since the end of 2016, bucking the broader index that has risen by 1.4 per cent. While the financial index was […]
New stock trading allegations are set to cast a shadow over Tom Price’s confirmation hearing as health secretary on Wednesday, as Senate Democrats prepare to do battle over Donald Trump’s latest cabinet picks. On Wednesday Senate Democrats and Republicans will question Mr Price, a sitting Republican congressman, over his fitness for the health role and his plans for repealing and replacing Obamacare — a key policy agenda […]
China’s currency was softer after its central bank fixed the renminbi’s trading band at its strongest level in two months in the wake of the dollar’s Tuesday fall against a host of major currencies. The onshore renminbi gained 0.8 per cent against the dollar at the close of trading yesterday as President-elect Donald Trump questioned the value of the dollar, but had weakened 0.3 per cent in […]
By Saikat Chatterjee | HONG KONG HONG KONG Asian stock markets held near three-month highs on Wednesday as investors scooped up exporter shares after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump expressed concerns over a stronger dollar. In Asia, MSCI’s ex-Japan Asia-Pacific shares index .MIAPJ0000PUS rose 0.3 percent, just shy of a three-month high hit last Thursday. Stock markets in Hong Kong .HSI and China .SSEC led the gains. “Trump’s […]
Wednesday 02:20 GMT Overview Currency movements once again dominated trading in Asia as markets reacted to UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit blueprint and unexpected criticism of the dollar’s strength from US president-elect Donald Trump. Hot topic The dollar index, which measures the US currency against a basket of peers, was up 0.1 per cent at 100.470. It fell 0.8 per cent on Tuesday after comments from […]
A much delayed surveillance system to monitor trading in the world’s largest equity market took a big leap forward on Tuesday with the selection of the group to build and operate the project. Founded in 2009, Thesys Technologies, a trading technology provider, beat out the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and SunGard Data Systems. Called the “Hubble telescope” by one regulator, the so-called Consolidated Audit Trail, or CAT, […]
Researchers offer a treatment algorithm, or protocol, for identifying patients with global (flail arm) brachial plexus injuries who are likely to benefit from trading in their insensate and nonfunctional hand for a myoelectric prosthetic device. (via WSJ)
As we observed in yesterday morning’s market wrap, while US market were taking the day off for the MLK holiday, China was busy defending an accelerating selloff across its stock markets. During Monday trading, having traded quietly lower for the past few days, Chinese stocks tumbled in early trading on the mainland and in Hong Kong’s offshore market amid weakness in Asian equities. The Shanghai Composite Index […]
Donald Trump has threatened to overturn two decades of US economic policy by questioning the strong value of the dollar, raising fears that his presidency could set off a new round of currency wars between the world’s major economies. On Monday the president-elect appeared to break from the longstanding “strong dollar” policy of successive administrations, declaring that the currency was too high and that this was preventing […]
Before she spoke on Tuesday, Theresa May was gaining a reputation for talking sterling lower by spooking investors that Britain was headed to a disorganised exit from both the EU and its common market. Her Lancaster House speech was the first occasion the pound rallied to her Brexit views since becoming prime minister; it had risen nearly 3 per cent by the end of the London trading […]
By Kylie MacLellan and William James | LONDON LONDON Britain will not seek a Brexit deal that leaves it “half in, half out” of the EU, Prime Minister Theresa May will say on Tuesday in a speech setting out her priorities for divorce talks which indicates she is prepared to leave the single market. Sterling, which has traded at the lowest levels against the U.S. dollar for […]
The US dollar is weakening this morning after comments from president-elect Donald Trump that the greenback was “too strong” against the Chinese currency. “Our companies can’t compete with them [Chinese companies] now because our currency is too strong. And it’s killing us”, Mr Trump told the Wall Street Journal. His comments have helped soften the dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of its major […]
