WASHINGTON: A coalition of US states unveiled on Friday an antitrust investigation of Facebook, the first of what is expected to be a wave of action against dominant technology firms.New York state Attorney General Letitia James announced the action on behalf of seven other states and the District of Columbia to probe “whether Facebook has…
BEIJING/SHANGHAI: Overburdened Chinese regulators have left the peer-to-peer lending industry to poorly staffed local governments, according to ex-regulators, threatening the survival of an important credit mechanism once seen as crucial for the country’s economy.The resulting difficulties, as the industry tries to grapple with pyramid scheme scandals and runaway bosses, underline the struggles China will face…
BERLIN: German industrial output unexpectedly fell in July, adding to signs that struggling manufacturers could tip Europe’s biggest economy into a recession in the third quarter and supporting the case for the European Central Bank to take action next week.Industrial output fell by 0.6% on the month, figures released by the Statistics Office showed, bucking…
LONDON: Britain should delay Brexit beyond Oct. 31 rather than leave the European Union without a deal which is a particular threat to large automakers, the head of the sector’s industry body told Reuters on Friday.As the United Kingdom spins toward an election, Brexit remains up in the air more than three years after Britons…
SHANGHAI/DETROIT: Ford Motor Co. has scrapped a plan to create a unified national sales company for China that stoked mistrust of the automaker at its joint venture partners and contributed to a spectacular collapse in sales in the world’s biggest car market.On the face of it, the plan announced by Ford in June last year…
NEW YORK: Glencore Inc’s penchant for risk has long been mining industry lore, but the company is quickly expanding into a part of the world that would have been improbable just a few years ago: Minnesota.The Swiss-based commodity trader took majority control last June of PolyMet Mining Corp, which is developing a mine in the…
Apple said on Thursday it had sold $7 billion of bonds at yields ranging up to 103 basis points over the equivalent US Treasury on maturities of up to 30 years, its first such debt issues since November 2017.The company had said on Wednesday it was offering the five sets of notes, the first of…
BEIJING: No cash, no cards, no wallet and no smartphones: China’s shoppers are increasingly purchasing goods with just a turn of their heads as the country embraces facialpayment technology. China’s mobile payment infrastructure is one of the most advanced in the world, but the new systems — which require only facerecognition — being rolled out…
DUBAI: Aabar Investment’s bonds, worth 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion), have lost about a quarter of their value this week after an auditor of the Abu Dhabi company gave an “adverse opinion” on its 2018 financial statements.Aabar was a subsidiary of International Petroleum Investment Co. (IPIC), which is now part of Abu Dhabi state fund…
DUBAI: Aabar Investment’s bonds, worth 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion), have lost about a quarter of their value this week after an auditor of the Abu Dhabi company gave an “adverse opinion” on its 2018 financial statements.Aabar was a subsidiary of International Petroleum Investment Co. (IPIC), which is now part of Abu Dhabi state fund…
BEIJING: European stock markets opened higher while Asia was mixed Monday after Washington and Beijing escalated their war over trade and technology with new tariff hikes. Benchmarks in London, Paris and Shanghai advanced. Tokyo and Hong Kong declined. Markets reacted less strongly to the weekend tariff hikes on billions of dollars of goods than to previous…
DUBAI: The CEO of the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) said it has “a good pipeline” of initial public offerings (IPOs) in the coming months, and is ready to stage the biggest of them all, that of Saudi Aramco, whenever the government decides to launch it. Speaking exclusively to Arab News as Tadawul marked its full…
SEOUL: South Korea’s exports tumbled in August for a ninth consecutive month, on sluggish demand from its biggest buyer, China, and depressed prices of computer chips globally, government data showed on Sunday. The bleak data clouded the outlook for Asia’s fourth-largest economy as a brewing trade dispute with Japan emerged as a new risk to the…
BEIJING: European stock markets opened higher while Asia was mixed Monday after Washington and Beijing escalated their war over trade and technology with new tariff hikes. Benchmarks in London, Paris and Shanghai advanced. Tokyo and Hong Kong declined. Markets reacted less strongly to the weekend tariff hikes on billions of dollars of goods than to previous…
SHANGHAI: When China launched the expansion of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone (FTZ) recently and announced six new zones in July, officials touted the efforts to attract foreign investment and deepen trade ties with neighboring countries. Yet, for many businesses the FTZs have simply failed to live up to their hype, undermined in part by Beijing’s…
SHANGHAI: When China launched the expansion of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone (FTZ) recently and announced six new zones in July, officials touted the efforts to attract foreign investment and deepen trade ties with neighboring countries. Yet, for many businesses the FTZs have simply failed to live up to their hype, undermined in part by Beijing’s…
LONDON: Bank of England Gov. Mark Carney has suggested that a virtual currency, modeled on Facebook’s Libra, could one day replace the dollar as king of the foreign exchange market. The BoE chief aired vague proposals for a so-called “Synthetic Hegemonic Currency” at the recent Jackson Hole Symposium of central bankers. Here is a brief assessment…
VIENNA: Space-starved Singapore has expanded outwards by building into the sea and upwards by constructing high-rises but planners are now looking underground as they seek new areas for growth. The nation has carefully managed its rapid growth in recent decades to avoid the problems faced by other fast-developing Asian metropolises, such as overcrowding and traffic chaos.…
SEOUL: South Korea’s exports tumbled in August for a ninth consecutive month, on sluggish demand from its biggest buyer, China, and depressed prices of computer chips globally, government data showed on Sunday. The bleak data clouded the outlook for Asia’s fourth-largest economy as a brewing trade dispute with Japan emerged as a new risk to the…
Brent crude settled above the $60 per barrel barrier as markets continued to be preoccupied with slowing global growth. The grade advanced to $60.43 per barrel while WTI rose to $55.11 per barrel. While economic growth concerns remain amid the ongoing trade war dispute, crude oil balances are tightening. Meanwhile, geopolitical developments remained a key…
