In the first quarter of this year, after-tax US corporate profits as measured by the Bureau of Economic Analysis went up a lot (at an 8.2 percent annualised rate over the previous quarter), but pretax profits only went up a little (1.2 percent). That raised questions of whether all those great first-quarter earnings reports were mainly just the result of ...

It seemed like good news for Europe when Sharon Donnery, deputy governor of the Irish central bank, made an application to be the top banking supervisor at the European Central Bank (ECB). She is widely regarded as extremely competent, has experience in important areas like nonperforming loans, and is a woman in an institution that badly needs women in leadership ...

In the chaotic final months of 2016, angry citizens were slamming the Reserve Bank of India by calling it the “Reverse Bank.” It’s taken Governor Urjit Patel, who had only recently stepped into the top job, almost two years to reassert his authority and reestablish the institution’s credibility with a couple of notable successes just this week. Ridicule flew thick ...

Tech IPOs generate lots of excitement, but for sheer theater it helps to have something tangible — like a car. When Ferrari NV sold shares to the public in 2015, it parked half a dozen of its most recognisable vehicles outside the New York Stock Exchange. This seemed to do the trick. Before long, the company’s shares were valued as ...

US Senator Elizabeth Warren has proposed a bill — the Accountable Capitalism Act — that would require large companies to create corporate charters that take account of the interests of workers, customers and communities in addition to shareholders. To enforce this dictum, it would give each company’s employees the power to elect 40 percent of the corporate directors. Right now, ...

DUBAI / WAM HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre and the General Supervisor of its projects and plans, said launch of KhalifaSat is an important step towards achieving UAE’s space strategy. Highlighting the efforts of the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre team, he said ...

VIENNA / WAM The Opec Fund for International Development (OFID) signed pu-blic sector loan agreements totalling $37.5 million with Gui- nea Bissau, Burundi and Uga-nda to support socio-economic development and living standards in the African continent. OFID’s $20 million loan to Burundi will help fund the ‘Rumonge-Nyanza Lac Road Rehabilitation Project’. Improvements to 52km stretch of road will promote development ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The UAE Banks Federation (UBF) has released its annual report for the year 2017, shedding light on major developments, and trends in the UAE banking sector as well as local and regional economies. The report highlights UBF’s key initiatives and events, which continue to contribute significantly to the banking sector in the UAE. The report underscores ...

DUBAI / WAM Dubai International Airport (DXB) has recorded its second busiest month ever surpassing the eight million passenger mark in July, according to monthly traffic report issued by operator Dubai Airports. The airport clocked monthly traffic exceeding 8 million passengers on thr-ee other occasions last year —in January 8.03 million, July 8.06 million, and August 8.23 million. Passenger numbers ...

Bloomberg Talks to update the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) will resume in Washington with a focus on dairy as the US pressures Canada to strike a deal by Friday, a US official familiar with the negotiations said. Canada’s Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland is expected to visit the Washington office of US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. This week’s Nafta ...