The prospect of a more aggressive Federal Reserve and a surge in the oil price hit global bonds on Monday, sending the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note above 2.5 per cent for the first time since 2014. Treasuries have led a sharp sell-off in sovereign bonds since Donald Trump’s victory in last month’s US election, raising the prospect that Fed officials will have to raise […]
This is part of a series on the global rise of exchange traded funds Each day, the investing public hears news of the latest developments in exchange traded index funds (ETFs). But rare is the mention of traditional index funds, which I call Tifs, although the acronym has yet to gain acceptance. In 1976, I created the first Tif. It was named First Index Investment Trust (now […]
IT management and consultancy firm ASG Group expects to be wholly acquired by Japan’s Nomura Research Institute (NRI) before the year is out, after the Federal Court of Australia gave the nod to the arrangement on Monday. Announced in September, NRI will pay approximately AU$349 million for 100 percent ownership of ASG. ASG told shareholders on Monday that a copy of the court’s order is to be […]
Monday 02.15 GMT Overview Markets around Asia were mostly higher, buoyed by a surge in oil prices and following on from another set of records for Wall Street on Friday. Hot topic Ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting on Wednesday, government bond yields are hovering at their highest levels in months. Of note, the yield (which moves inversely to price) on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury […]
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 Angus McDowall | BEIRUT BEIRUT When President Bashar al-Assad turns from the wreckage of Aleppo to assert his authority across a fractured Syria, it will be as a figure who is virtually unassailable by rebels, but still faces great challenges in restoring the power of his state. The expected fall of Aleppo would mean rebels have almost no chance of ousting Assad, but their revolt has […]
Photo Alexander Novak, Russia’s energy minister, left, with Khalid Al-Falih, Saudi Arabia’s energy and industry minister, after OPEC members and 12 other countries met in Vienna, Austria, on Saturday. Credit Lisi Niesner/European Pressphoto Agency Russia and other oil producers agreed on Saturday to join OPEC nations in a rare, coordinated reduction in oil output meant to lift petroleum prices and revenues to shore up their sagging government […]
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 […]
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 […]
Dubai-based Citigate Commodities Trading has signed a joint venture agreement with Stellar Diamonds, the London listed diamond development company focused on west Africa, for Safa Afrique, its diamond mining portfolio. Under the deal, Stellar Diamonds will be operating mines in Liberia and Guinea for the first phase while Citigate Commodities Trading has been appointed as the official off-taker of all diamonds produced. The agreement follows a deal […]
DUBLIN A group of British and Irish lawyers are seeking to challenge Britain’s decision to leave the European Union in the Irish High Court to try to establish if Brexit can be reversed once divorce talks have been triggered. British Prime Minister Theresa May has said she wants to invoke Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty by the end of March, kicking off up to two […]
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 […]
Global investors are turning their backs on French government bonds, reflecting alarm over the capacity for next year’s presidential election to deliver another shock to the eurozone and financial markets. A pronounced drop in French sovereign bond prices suggests they are being treated less like those of a core European economy and more like securities issued by the region’s least creditworthy countries. The selling has pushed the […]
By Yeganeh Torbati and Warren Strobel | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S.-led coalition planes destroyed 168 Islamic State oil tanker trucks in Syria, the coalition said on Friday, in the largest strike of its kind and the latest instance of what U.S. officials say has been a successful effort to starve the militant group of revenues. The air strikes targeted the truck fleet near Palmyra, Syria on Thursday, a […]
An upcoming deadline for a major derivatives market reform is “unrealistic” and authorities should consider whether the asset managers and banks most affected are ready, a top US regulator has warned. Christopher Giancarlo, the sole Republican of the three commissioners at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, on Friday called on counterparts to prevent new rules due on March 1 from disrupting the global swaps market. His remarks, […]
Japanese electronic parts maker TDK Corp is in talks to acquire InvenSense Inc, a U.S. chip maker that produces motion sensors for Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co, people familiar with the matter said on Friday. The deal would allow TDK, already a major smartphone components supplier, to boost its sensor technology offerings. InvenSense designs gyroscopes which help smartphones calculate motion, enabling augmented reality games such as […]
The European Central Bank’s supervisory arm has rejected a request from Rome to delay a private sector-led rescue for Monte dei Paschi di Siena, leaving Italy little option but to inject state funds and impose losses on creditors. MPS asked the ECB for an extra five weeks to pull off a last-ditch €5bn equity injection for the lender, which emerged as the weakest in the European bank […]
December 9, 2016 by: Lauren Fedor and Katie Martin in London Irish fruit distributor Fyffes has agreed to a takeover by a subsidiary of Sumitomo, a deal that will value the London-listed company at €751m and allow the Japanese conglomerate to dramatically expand its European food business. The two companies said on Friday that Swordus Ireland Holding, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sumitomo, would acquire the entire share […]
Friday 06:00 GMT Overview Markets across Asia were mostly higher as investors reflected on record highs for Wall Street and the European Central Bank’s decision to tweak its asset purchase programme. European bourses are expected to open little changed, with spreadbetters predicting the UK’s FTSE 100 will be flat at 6,932 and Germany’s Dax to add 7 points to 11,186. US index futures suggest the S&P 500 […]
By Lisa Twaronite and Wayne Cole | TOKYO/SYDNEY TOKYO/SYDNEY Asian shares edged down on Friday but were on track for weekly gains, while the euro became more settled after the volatility seen in the wake of the European Central Bank’s decision to trim the size of its asset purchase program while also extending it for longer than many analysts had expected. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares […]
Relegated to the backbench of the UK parliament, George Osborne has a great deal more time on his hands after the very public failed Brexit ‘Remain’ campaign. The former British chancellor is using the downtime to investigate why a wave of populist nationalism is currently sweeping across the world – and how it managed to bruise his political career as well as that of former prime minister […]
Investors bought firmly into the view that a diverging outlook for interest rates is the key driver for the euro in the wake of the European Central Bank’s extension of quantitative easing, leaving the single currency nursing its biggest one-day drop against the dollar since the UK’s vote to leave the EU. After a knee-jerk 1 per cent leap up in the euro as headlines flashed that […]
Photo Closer Aroldis Chapman, left, with Starlin Castro, signed with the Yankees for five years, but he can opt out after three. Credit Mike Stobe/Getty Images NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — You might think a $17.2 million annual salary, a new benchmark for closers, would be enough to get a five-year commitment to the Yankees from Aroldis Chapman. But that is not how free agency works. The Yankees […]
Thursday 21:00 GMT Overview The European Central Bank’s latest policy surprise fuelled a volatile session for the euro and government bonds as participants appeared, initially at least, to struggle to assess its implications. But European stocks rose to 11-month highs while Wall Street overcame an early bout of fatigue to set yet more record peaks. Oil prices resumed their upward path, even as a stronger dollar unsettled […]
