Finance news

• Reshuffle shows Saudi determination to change, experts say

  08-05-2016 20:57 via news.yahoo.com
  
  With a major government reshuffle, Saudi Arabia's King Salman and his powerful son have shown their determination to move the kingdom's economy away from oil, experts say. A series of royal decrees announced on Saturday merged various ministries to reflect new priorities under the wide-ranging Vision 2030 plan announced two weeks ago by the king's son, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The world's largest oil exporter had long talked of economic diversification but plunging oil revenues o
  
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• Brexit would be 'lose-lose' for UK and EU: Moscovici

  08-05-2016 19:16 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Britain leaving the European Union would amount to a "lose-lose" situation, European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said on Sunday. "I wish passionately for Great Britain to remain in the European Union," Moscovici said on BFM TV. "I think it would be lose-lose, a loss for them and a loss for us, if Britain left." British Finance Minister George Osborne said earlier on Sunday that homeowners would face a "significant hit" from lower house prices and higher mortgage c
  
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• MIDEAST STOCKS-Gulf rises, government reshuffle buoys Saudi market

  08-05-2016 16:30 via news.yahoo.com
  * Some local retail investors enthused by Saudi reform scheme * Saudi Electric surges; reshuffle could speed its restructuring * Dubai index rebounds from near technical support * Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank continues rebound * Kuwait's Burgan Bank outperforms after Q1 earnings By Andrew Torchia DUBAI, May 8 (Reuters) - Most major Gulf stock markets rose on Sunday in response to a modest recovery on Wall Street and in oil prices at the end of last week, while a sweeping reorganisation of Saudi Ara
  
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• Managing Saudi's new energy mega-ministry may bring challenges

  08-05-2016 15:47 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Angus McDowall , Rania El Gamal and Reem Shamseddine RIYADH (Reuters) - Managing Saudi Arabia's new energy mega-ministry, set to oversee over half the economy and designed to cut through a tangled bureaucracy to make government more coherent and efficient, will be a formidable challenge. The new Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Ministry, under Khalid al-Falih, already chairman of state oil company Saudi Aramco, will handle oil and gas extraction, power generation and distribution, minin
  
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• China trade may sway Fed's rate decision

  08-05-2016 14:40 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The Federal Reserve's debate over whether to raise U.S. interest rates in June may be decided in the coming week, as investors look for any cracks in China and evidence of a solid start to the second quarter in the United States. For much of the past year, China has been at the center of financial market turmoil, sometimes offering reassurance but mostly fuelling concern its economy - and global growth - are losing momentum. "Trade figures always matter enormously to a trade-dependent nation lik
  
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• German SPD deputy denies rumors that Gabriel to step down as leader

  08-05-2016 13:30 via news.yahoo.com
  
  BERLIN (Reuters) - The leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel's junior coalition partner, Sigmar Gabriel, does not plan to step down as leader of the Social Democrats (SPD) this week, deputy party chairman Ralf Stegner said on Sunday. He was responding to rumors in German media after Helmut Markwort, co-publisher of German magazine Focus, told a German television program that Gabriel planned to step down this week. "Mr Markwort has presumably had too much sun in Munich," Stegner told Reuters. Gabrie
  
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• UK homeowners face significant hit from Brexit - Osborne

  08-05-2016 12:03 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Chancellor George Osborne said on Sunday that homeowners would face a "significant hit" from lower house prices and higher mortgage costs if voters decided to leave the European Union in a referendum in June. This goes to the heart of people's financial security," Osborne said in an interview on ITV television. Opinion polls have shown that voters believe that staying in the EU would be best for Britain's economy but they are narrowly divided on how they intend to vote next month.
  
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• North Korea leader Kim sets five-year economic plan, vows nuclear restraint

  08-05-2016 10:39 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By James Pearson PYONGYANG (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country will not use nuclear weapons unless its sovereignty is infringed by others with nuclear arms, state media said on Sunday, and set a five-year plan to boost the secretive state's moribund economy. The North "will faithfully fulfill its obligation for non-proliferation and strive for the global denuclearization," Kim said in a report to a rare congress of the ruling Workers' Party (WPK) that opened on Friday, t
  
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• Australian PM calls July 2 poll amid economic slowdown, instability

  08-05-2016 10:20 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Jane Wardell SYDNEY (Reuters) - Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull fired the starting gun on Sunday on one of the longest election campaigns in Australia's history, against the backdrop of a flagging economy and heated debate over sensitive political issues like asylum seekers. Turnbull officially called federal elections for July 2, several months earlier than originally planned, using rarely invoked powers to dissolve both houses of parliament after the upper house Senate repeatedly blocked go
  
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• Business titans secretly fund Philippine presidential bets

  08-05-2016 09:39 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Philippine presidential favourite Rodrigo Duterte has flippantly brushed aside campaign trail allegations of accepting million-dollar gifts, while his rivals have refused to disclose their backers, deepening concerns over business titans' shadowy grip on politics. The Philippines has one of Asia's biggest rich-poor divides, with poverty rates remaining stuck in recent years despite strong economic growth, and analysts say one of the reasons for the disparity is the debt that politicians owe thei
  
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• MIDEAST STOCKS-Saudi rises after government reshuffle

  08-05-2016 09:31 via news.yahoo.com
  DUBAI, May 8 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's stock market rose in early trade on Sunday after the king announced a sweeping reorganisation of the economic policy-making apparatus, while most other Gulf bourses were firm. The Saudi stock index climbed 1.0 percent in the first 15 minutes. Petrochemical shares were particularly strong with Saudi Basic Industries up 1.2 percent. The Saudi reorganisation replaced the oil minister and central bank governor and restructured some major ministries. ...
  
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• MIDEAST STOCKS-Gulf may edge up on U.S. markets, Saudi reshuffle

  08-05-2016 07:47 via news.yahoo.com
  Gulf stock markets may edge up on Sunday in response to firmer U.S. stock prices and a reorganisation of the government in Saudi Arabia, which could encourage investors there. Bourses in the region slipped on profit-taking last week but a modest recovery of Wall Street and oil prices on Friday may encourage some cautious buying-back of stocks in the Gulf. The Saudi reorganisation, which replaced the oil minister and central bank governor and restructured some major ministries, may please local i
  
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• Australian PM Turnbull formally calls July 2 election

  08-05-2016 07:13 via news.yahoo.com
  
  SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia will go to the polls on July 2 after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called an election that will likely focus on the flagging economy and hot-button issues like the country's tough asylum seeker policy. Turnbull, whose Liberal-National coalition is running neck-and-neck in opinion polls with the center-left Labor opposition, visited Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove in the capital, Canberra, to seek the dissolution of both houses of parliament. ...
  
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• China trade shrinks in April in troubling sign for economy

  08-05-2016 07:10 via news.yahoo.com
  BEIJING (AP) — China's trade shrank in April in a sign government stimulus is failing to jolt the world's second-largest economy out of a prolonged slowdown.
  
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• North Korea leader Kim says will not use nuclear arms unless threatened

  08-05-2016 06:11 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By James Pearson PYONGYANG (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country will not use nuclear weapons unless its sovereignty is infringed by others with nuclear arms, and is willing to normalize ties with states that had been hostile toward it, state media said on Sunday. Isolated North Korea has made similar statements in the past, although it has also frequently threatened to attack the United States and South Korea, and has defied United Nations resolutions in its pursuit of nu
  
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• Norht Korea leader Kim says will not use nuclear arms unless threatened

  08-05-2016 05:58 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By James Pearson PYONGYANG (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country will not use nuclear weapons unless its sovereignty is infringed by others with nuclear arms, and is willing to normalize ties with states that had been hostile toward it, state media said on Sunday. Isolated North Korea has made similar statements in the past, although it has also frequently threatened to attack the United States and South Korea, and has defied United Nations resolutions in its pursuit of nu
  
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• China April exports, imports fall in dollar terms in sign of weakness

  08-05-2016 05:42 via news.yahoo.com
  
  China's exports slumped nearly two percent in April compared to the same month last year, as imports fell nearly 11 percent, officials said Sunday, the latest sign of weakness in the world's second largest economy. The key export sector has shown year-on-year declines in dollar-terms for nine of the last 10 months as the country's economic growth has fallen to its slowest level in a quarter-century. Sunday's figures from the state statistics bureau suggest an unexpected March export increase may
  
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• Australian PM visits governor-general to seek July 2 election: media

  08-05-2016 05:41 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull visited Governor- General Sir Peter Cosgrove on Sunday to ask that both houses of parliament be dissolved and a general election called for July 2, media reported. Turnbull, running neck-and-neck in opinion polls with center-left Labor, confirmed on Wednesday he would seek a July 2 election as he looks to cash in on a budget plan outlined the day before aimed at creating jobs and spurring growth. The two-month campaign will likely focus on Australia's f
  
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• Crises in Brazil, Venezuela threaten Nicaragua projects

  08-05-2016 05:28 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The political and economic crises buffeting Brazil and Venezuela are having a big impact in Nicaragua, where the future of billion-dollar projects have been thrown into uncertainty. Venezuela was to have invested $6.5 billion in a petrochemical plant in the Central American country, while Brazil was set to spend $1.1 billion on a hydroelectric facility. The projects are meant to ensure "the continuity" of Ortega's reign, former diplomat Roger Guevara told AFP.
  
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