January, 2018

• 31 January

  Apple’s iPhone sales cycle is looking a lot less super

  

  Remember the hype about the iPhone “super cycle?” Wall Street doesn’t. There was a popular investment theory that Apple’s 2018 would be something like a repeat of 2015, when the first larger-screen iPhone models flew off store shelves. Apple sold 231 million iPhones in its 2015 fiscal year, or 37 percent more than it did in the previous year. Apple ...

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• 31 January

  EU softens push to keep clients from exiting failing banks

  

  Bloomberg European Union policy makers are softening plans to stop clients pulling money from banks suffering a financial crisis, according to a draft plan seen by Bloomberg News. Regulators have been debating the length of time that traders and other clients should be suspended from yanking funds when a lender is deemed to be failing. An earlier proposal for two ...

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• 31 January

  European Union’s biggest rate hawks set to hike again

  Bloomberg The Czech central bank will probably raise interest rates for the third occasion in less than a year on Thursday and for the first time since 2013 release a currency outlook that may guide investors on what to expect in further monetary tightening. The Czech National Bank will raise its main interest rate to 0.75 percent from 0.5 percent, ...

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• 31 January

  Hungarian central bank seeks redemption in swap auction rerun

  

  Bloomberg For a central bank that’s become used to an almost limitless ability to steer markets, Hungary’s rate meeting served as a measure of reckoning, with officials looking to guide their latest round of unconventional easing back on track. Policy makers, who had to scramble to revamp the rules after a swap sale sparked the biggest bond sell-off in more ...

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• 31 January

  Traders look to RBI for support as India’s bond rout worsens

  

  Bloomberg Traders in India’s battered bond market want the central bank to play the role of a savior. With the market reeling under the worst selloff in almost two decades, investors say the Reserve Bank of India should consider buying support as well as expand the quota limits for global funds. Absent that, they expect the declines to continue. “To ...

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• 31 January

  ING’s Hamers suffers cost-cutting reversal

  

  Bloomberg ING Groep NV, the biggest Dutch lender, saw expenses increase as a proportion of income last year as Chief Executive Officer Ralph Hamers said the bank increased spending on measures that will help it cut costs further in the future. ING reported a cost-to-income ratio of 59.9 percent in the fourth quarter, a rise from a year earlier and ...

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• 31 January

  BoJ offers to buy more bonds for first time since July

  Bloomberg The Bank of Japan increased the amount of bonds it offered to buy at a regular operation for the first time since July, helping to bring down yields and weaken the yen. The BOJ sought to buy 330 billion yen ($3 billion) of 3-to-5 year debt, more than the 300 billion yen at the last operation, it said a ...

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• 30 January

  RAKBank profit up 22%

  DUBAI / WAM The National Bank of Ras Al Khaimah (RAKBank) reported a 22 percent y-on-y jump in net profit, which reached AED810.5 million in 2017, up from AED663 million a year earlier. “The figure puts net profit in the fourth quarter of 2017 at AED204.2 million, close to twice the AED108.7 million in net profit in the same quarter ...

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• 30 January

  MOHAP, Mubadala join forces to enhance healthcare services

  ABU DHABI / WAM The Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP) and Mubadala Investment Company (Mubadala) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore cooperation across eight key healthcare pillars. The agreement will see the organisations collaborate on a range of healthcare and therapeutic areas in which Mubadala Healthcare and its network of world class healthcare companies has deep expertise. ...

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• 30 January

  GCC healthcare market to reach $94 billion by 2021

  

  DUBAI / WAM Private healthcare in the Gulf Cooperation Council region, estimated at $62 billion in 2016, is forecasted to expand 8.7 percent annually, to reach $94 billion in 2021, according to MENA Research Partners (MRP), a leading research company in the region. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the UAE together represent more than two third of the market, ...

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