Bloomberg Economists brought forward their estimate of when the European Central Bank will set an end-date for its bond-buying program, amid signs that more optimistic views on inflation might be gaining sway among policy makers. While no action is expected at the Governing Council meeting on January 25, almost half of respondents in a Bloomberg survey predicted the ECB will ...

Bloomberg Indian bank shares surged the most since November on a report the government is considering allowing foreign investors to own larger stakes in the country’s lenders. The Bankex Index, a gauge for 10 lenders, rose 2 percent to a new record high as of 9:30 a.m. in Mumbai. Gains were led by privately owned Yes Bank Ltd., which is ...

Bloomberg The Bank of Canada indicated it’s in no rush to pursue aggressive interest rate hikes, citing “important unknowns” such as the future of Nafta as it raised borrowing costs for the third time since July. At a rate decision, central bank officials led by Governor Stephen Poloz sought to quell expectations Canada’s economic boom could prompt them to move ...

Bloomberg Barclays Plc is eliminating as many as 100 senior staff at its investment bank as the unit’s chief, Tim Throsby, overhauls the underperforming division, according to people familiar with the decision. The cutbacks will fall mainly at the managing director and director levels and are evenly split between Europe and the US, said the people, who asked not to ...

Bloomberg The Argentine peso has a split personality, with analysts forecasting both big losses in the spot market and the highest total return for emerging-market investors. The reason for the divergence comes down to inflation and interest rates. Consumer-price increases of more than 20 percent will wreak havoc on the peso’s value, but any weakness will be more than offset ...

Bloomberg Bank of America Corp. once excited investors by pledging steep cost cuts by the end of this year. It still has a ways to go. The lender showed promise on revenue growth, as net interest income jumped to the highest in more than five years and revenue from trading and investment banking both topped estimates. Now, analysts question whether ...

ABU DHABI / WAM Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister of Economy, has announced that the average value of foreign direct investment (FDI) received by the country in 2016 reached $9 billion. The UAE’s outgoing international investments also reached $15.7 billion, making the country the largest receiver of FDIs in the Arab region and the largest Arab investor abroad, he ...

DUBAI / WAM Umm Al Qaiwain Coop has offered 2.5 million stocks for public trade, to increase investment in its retail sector. An integral part of Union Coop and the UAE’s largest consumer cooperative, Umm Al Qaiwain Coop will launch an Initial Public Offering from January 21 onwards until February 8. The public will be able to purchase these stocks ...

DUBAI / WAM A new report from Middle East Electricity (MEE) states the GCC requires a combined $131 billion worth of investment in electricity generation, transmission and distribution over the next five years to cope with increasing demand from growing populations, expanding economies and climatic changes. The report, ‘GCC Power Market’, reveals that despite the GCC’s current power-generating capacity of ...

Dubai / Reuters Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), the United Arab Emirates’ largest sharia-compliant lender, posted a 26 percent increase in fourth-quarter net profit on Wednesday, in line with analysts’ forecasts, according to Reuters calculations. DIB made AED1.15 billion ($313.1 million) in the three months to December 31, Reuters calculated from annual statements in the absence of a quarterly breakdown. This ...