Announced in 2013 on a stage at Nazarbayev University in Astana, Kazakhstan by Chinese President Xi Jinping, the land-based portion of the “One Belt, One Road” initiative (the Silk Road Economic Belt) traces a line through Central Asia. The Chinese are far from the first to brand cross-regional trade visions under the Silk Road banner — although, as several speakers …

Hillary Clinton’s performance in the debate in Florida on Wednesday was, as usual, a professional effort. She’s good at this, and she hit her marks repeatedly. But she also reminded me of one worry I have about her as president. Clinton had a good day in Michigan and Mississippi on Tuesday. That’s right: A good day. She received more votes …

BLOOMBERG The markets asked, and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi delivered. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index surged and government bonds rose, while the euro slid as the ECB announced cuts to key interest rates and increased the scope of its bond-buying program. U.S. stock-index futures jumped. South Korea’s won rallied after policy makers refrained from lowering borrowing costs, New …

ABU DHABI / EMIRATES BUSINESS The Emirates Securities Market Index has decreased by -1.30% to close at 4509.80 points. Accordingly the Market Capitalization has lost AED 9.6 billion attaining AED 731.55 billion. A total of 0.92 Billion Shares were traded with a total value of AED 1.29 billion during the trading session of 10-03-2016 through 11283 transactions. The number of companies which …

FRANKFURT / Bloomberg The next target for the European Central Bank’s (ECB) expanding asset-purchase programme will be the region’s 900 billion-euro ($980 billion) corporate-bond market. The ECB will buy investment-grade euro-denominated bonds issued by non-bank corporations established in the euro area. Corporate bonds are the latest assets to be added to a growing list of securities, from government debt to …

Frankfurt / AFP European Central Bank (ECB) chief Mario Draghi said that while chronically weak loan growth in the euro area “has been recovering for quite some time, it is still too low.” In the wake of the eurozone’s financial and debt crisis, banks became wary of lending money to households and businesses for fear of a possible default, preferring …

Bloomberg Foreign banks including HSBC Holdings Plc and Deutsche Bank AG are pushing back against the Federal Reserve’s proposals on implementing rules designed to end too-big-to-fail, saying they are burdensome and unfair to the US units of the world’s biggest lenders. Under the Fed’s proposals, US units of foreign banks affected would need an extra layer of debt available to …

BLOOMBERG Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), the country’s largest lender by assets, awarded David McKay C$10.9 million ($8.2 million) for fiscal 2015, his first full year as chief executive officer, 44 percent more than the previous year. McKay, 52, received a salary of C$1.3 million, share-based awards of C$5.8 million, C$1.45 million of stock options, C$2.33 million in incentive pay …

DOHA / EMIRATES BUSINESS Qatar’s Qatar Airways has invited companies to express interest in the contract to build a new car park at Hamad International airport on the outskirts of Doha. The structure will have a ground floor level, two above ground floors as well as rooftop parking. Altogether the gross floor area will be about 156,000 square metres, which …

BLOOMBERG The U.K.’s chief statistician said he wants the country’s main inflation measure to include housing costs, backing an index that’s been stripped of its quality mark. In a letter to the Statistics Authority, John Pullinger said CPIH — consumer prices index including owner-occupiers housing costs — should be the “preferred measure of consumer inflation.” He said it’s important that …