A massive blaze was engulfing one of the world’s tallest residential buildings in Dubai early on Friday, residents said, but authorities said the tower had been evacuated and no injuries were reported. Flames shot up the sides of the Torch tower in the upscale Marina district in the second blaze at the building since 2015, […]
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THE trend seems clear. Spirit Airlines became the most profitable carrier in America at the same time that it was the most complained about. Frontier Airlines cut costs, became a no-frills budget carrier, and went from posting big losses to notching big gains. American, Delta and United scrambled to keep up, slashed comforts and amenities, […]
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EVERY working day, shortly before noon, British time, the London Interbank Offered Rate, or LIBOR, is published. For five currencies and seven maturities, from overnight to 12 months, it is the average, trimmed of outliers, of up to 20 banks’ estimates of the interest rate at which they can borrow from other banks. It is […]
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THE modern pharmaceutical firm lives or dies on the strength of its drug portfolio. As patents expire on lucrative medicines, they must replace the income that has been lost by inventing new drugs, or buying them in from outside. Both paths are expensive. But the costs of failure are greater, and this is how it […]
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THE private-equity business presents a paradox. Its barons like to boast of revamping the companies they buy. But they themselves have been steadfast to their own business model, centred on funds with a ten-year life. Within this time span, fund managers, known as “general partners” (GPs), commit to buy, manage and sell a clutch of […]
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“MUTUAL benefit, joint responsibility and shared destiny,” sings a choir of enthusiastic schoolgirls in a music video called “The Belt and Road, Sing Along” from Xinhua, a news service run by the Chinese government, that mixes shots of cranes and shipping containers with people enjoying foreign landmarks. Western firms are scarcely less optimistic. Launched by […]
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“DON’T you know about our summer?” asks a spokesperson of a Swedish multinational, himself presumably on holiday as kids chirp in the background. Almost everyone is gone until September, he says. At a German multinational, “the whole board is away for August,” admits a spokesperson. Faced with a slew of out-of-office messages across corporate Europe, […]
Read moreCurrency, United States Finance
Investors conflicted as gold prices rise, but Fed and ECB policy outlook weighs
Gold prices may be rising, but the precious metal is failing to attract investors as concerns about policy normalization by central banks weighs on demand and creates a conflicted outlook for the commodity. Demand for gold-based exchange traded funds (ETF) fell 76 percent in the last quarter, according to the World Gold Council’s latest gold […]
Read moreThe number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell last week, pointing to a tightening labor market that likely keeps the Federal Reserve on course to announce plans next month to start reducing its massive bond portfolio. Labor market strength was also underscored by another report on Thursday showing U.S.-based employers in July announced the […]
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THE DOW Jones Industrial Average closed above 22,000 on August 2nd, something President Trump is almost certain to mention in a tweet soon*. So it might seem as if the “Trump bump”, which began on the night of the election, is continuing smoothly. But the picture is a lot more complex than that as a […]
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