Last year was truly unforgettable. It is the year we celebrated Mara’s 20th anniversary and launched three new businesses: an infrastructure investment vehicle for Africa; an online jobs portal, Mara Jobs; and a last-mile delivery business, Mara Xpress. It is also the year we launched the inaugural Ashish J Thakkar Global Entrepreneurship Index 2016 to better understand entrepreneurial environments around the world. But perhaps what will stick […]
Britain’s three quoted major supermarkets are expected to report this week that they enjoyed solid Christmas trading, though investor concern about a potential squeeze on consumer spending in 2017 means the focus is on their outlooks. Shares in market leader Tesco (TSCO.L) and Morrisons (MRW.L), the UK’s fourth biggest grocer, soared 38 percent and 55 percent respectively in 2016, reflecting a recovery in trading. That coincided with […]
The UK’s Brexit vote shook the cocoa futures market in 2016, pushing the commodity that is priced in sterling to levels not seen in decades. Six months on, traders are feeling a new aftershock from the UK referendum following a filing for bankruptcy protection at the end of December by the US subsidiary of a top 10 cocoa processor Transmar Group. Transmar Commodity Group filed for Chapter […]
Oil started the first week of 2017 with a bang but ended it with a whimper, as the Opec fireworks that dominated the last quarter gave way to the more mundane reality of monitoring if the cartel will make good on its pledged cuts. Brent crude oil briefly touched an 18-month high above $58 a barrel on the first day of trading but there was little fresh […]
By Ange Aboa and Loucoumane Coulibaly | BOUAKE, Ivory Coast BOUAKE, Ivory Coast Disgruntled soldiers demanding salary increases and the payment of bonuses seized control of Ivory Coast’s second-largest city, Bouake, on Friday, in an uprising that spread to at least two other cities. A statement from Defence Minister Alain-Richard Donwahi read out on state television said a group of soldiers had used their weapons to force […]
The amount of money making bets that US Treasuries will fall in value climbed to a new record high over the last week in a wager that faster US economic growth and higher inflation will weigh further on government bond prices. So-called “non-commercial” speculative positions selling the 10-year Treasury futures contract have been rising since the US presidential election and hit 816,156 contracts in the week to […]
Saudi Arabia is a historically entrepreneurial country. Jeddah has been a mercantile centre for centuries. Even Riyadh and the Holy Cities of Makkah and Madinah began as trading stations on the spice and silk trails. What has changed since the rise of the oil industry? Not the entrepreneurial spirit of the country but the institutional environment for entrepreneurship to flourish. As we contemplate the country’s future as […]
China strengthened the renminbi’s trading range on Friday by the most since it depegged it in 2005, as investors awaited data expected to show Beijing is continuing to burn through its reserves to support the currency. The renminbi’s sudden strength has caught global markets off-guard and wrongfooted investors betting the Chinese currency would start the year by continuing its gradual slide as outflow pressures persisted in spite […]
For the tourists visiting Abu Dhabi from around the world, buying dates is a top priority when searching for a taste of the UAE to take back home as gifts for family and friends. ABU DHABI // Date traders are in their element during the winter months at Mina Dates Market because the influx of tourists means they are doing brisk business. It seems the little fruit […]
Donald Trump has turned his Twitter ire on Toyota, telling the Japanese carmaker that it will face heavy penalties if it chooses to make cars for the US market in Mexico. “Toyota Motor said will build a new plant in Baja, Mexico, to build Corolla cars for U.S. NO WAY! Build plant in U.S. or pay big border tax,” the President-elect wrote on Twitter on Thursday. The […]
Friday 02:30 GMT Overview Asia’s markets were bracing for key US jobs data on Friday, leaving stock indices flat and most currencies higher against a wobbling dollar. Within the region, attention was on the Chinese renminbi, which paused for breath after enjoying its biggest two-day rally against the dollar since the offshore market was created in 2010. Hot topic While currency markets are looking at the renminbi, […]
With all eyes likely on wage growth indications in the subtext of tomorrow’s payrolls report (following The Fed Minutes’ comments on full employment), Goldman Sachs is forecasting a better-than-expected 0.3% rebound in average hourly earnings (helped by more favorable calendar effects) and a better-than-expected 180k payrolls print (albeit with a small rise in the unemployment rate). However, they are careful to note that any downside can be […]
By Susan Cornwell and Susan Heavey | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON Senate Democrats on Thursday demanded an ethics probe into Tom Price, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for U.S. health secretary, following a report that the fierce Obamacare critic traded in healthcare company stocks while pushing legislation in Congress that could affect those shares. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and others made their comments as congressional Republicans moved ahead with […]
After a near double-digit rally in US stocks since Donald Trump’s election victory, the question for investors is whether the outlook for corporate profits can begin to justify investors’ newfound optimism. Much of the rally has been underpinned by hopes that a Trump administration will boost corporate profits through lower corporate taxes, a more accommodative regulatory regime and a more confident US consumer. Corporate chief executives will […]
January 4, 2017 by: Joe Rennison and Eric Platt in New York Wall Street’s debt engine started in record form at the start of 2017, as companies sought to lock in borrowing costs shortly before the inauguration of Donald Trump as US president raises hopes for faster growth and higher interest rates. Eleven companies and banks sold $19.9bn of debt in the US as global financial markets […]
In one of the first signs that India’s crackdown on tax evaders is helping swell the government’s coffers, it this week lowered its borrowing plan by 4.2%. The government says it now plans to reduce the amount it borrows by 180 billion rupees ($2.64 billion). It had budgeted to borrow a net 4.25 trillion rupees in the current financial year. The Reserve Bank of India, which acts […]
Wednesday 05:00 GMT Overview Data-fuelled optimism helped lift equities for a second day in Asia as Japanese investors cheered the weaker yen after the US dollar hit new 14-year highs. With few significant events on the regional calendar for Wednesday, it was left to overnight gains on Wall Street to set the tone Hot topic Is it too early to start talking about Friday’s US non-farm payrolls […]
Dubai Financial Market (DFM) , the Gulf’s only listed stock exchange, said on Tuesday that it planned to introduce covered short-selling, a move that could increase trading liquidity. “DFM is planning implementation of regulated short-selling on a selected list of eligible securities in accordance with international recommendations under local market conditions in the coming months, subject to regulatory approvals of its rules,” it said in a statement […]
Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA.O) said on Tuesday fourth-quarter deliveries fell 9.4 percent due to short-term production hurdles from the transition to a new autopilot hardware. Deliveries fell to about 22,200 vehicles in the fourth quarter from 24,500 vehicles in the preceding quarter. Total deliveries for 2016 of 76,230 also fell short of the company’s projection of 80,000 to 90,000. Shares of the company, led by entrepreneur Elon […]
Banks and commodity companies set the pace as the FTSE 100 extended its run into record territory on Tuesday, taking the gains for the blue-chip index to 13 per cent since the UK voted for Brexit. Sentiment towards the FTSE 100 has brightened on optimism over bank earnings as bond yields rise, and on the support a stronger oil price is giving the commodities sector. “The FTSE […]
|By Matein Khalid|“Few individuals alter the course of history. Fewer still change the map of the world. Hardly anyone creates a nation state. Mohammed Ali Jinnah did all three”. Dr. Stanley Wolpert’s words still give me goose pimples two decades after I first read his book. Mr. Jinnah founded Pakistan and was also my ancestral kinsman. I too was born in Karachi, the city by the sea, […]
Turkey’s lira fell to a record low on Tuesday amid concerns about rising inflation and the fallout from the new year’s day terrorist attack in Istanbul. The currency dropped 1.5 per cent to TL3.5993 against the dollar. The fall underlines investor disdain for a currency that fell 17 per cent in 2016, marking the second-worst performance among emerging market currencies after the Argentine peso. Political risk and […]
LONDON Upbeat data from China helped lift global markets as 2017 trading started in earnest on Tuesday, with the dollar notching its biggest gain in three weeks, oil on a tear and European stocks setting a one-year high. Base metal prices and bond yields also advanced, as the better-than-expected factory growth in China dovetailed with higher inflation data in Europe to give investors a solid start to […]
Donald Trump is expected to tap a longtime advocate of greater protectionism as his US trade representative in yet another signal that his administration is poised to enact the aggressive trade policies he advocated during the campaign into government. Robert Lighthizer, whose impending nomination was reported by US media on Monday, has been seen as the favourite for the trade role for weeks and has been leading […]
