May, 2017

• 29 May

  Don’t count on innovation to overcome stagnation

  

  Innovation, everybody hopes, will rescue the world from economic stagnation. I’m not so sure. The extent to which an innovation is significant depends on the degree to which it alters existing activity or the performance of a function. It must create related and ancillary activities that in turn lead to employment, wealth and other discoveries in a virtuous cycle. It ...

  Read More »
• 29 May

  Stocks meander, pound rises in holiday-hit trading

  

  Bloomberg Global stocks were mixed and the dollar edged lower amid thin trading as investors weighed the latest comments from a Fed official on the path of borrowing costs. The British pound advanced after a selloff. With markets in the UK, US and China all closed for public holidays, volumes were depressed across the board and most moves were muted. ...

  Read More »
• 29 May

  Saudi reserves dip below $500bn as BofA sees headwinds

  Bloomberg Saudi Arabia’s net foreign assets dropped below $500 billion in April for the first time since 2011 even after the kingdom raised $9 billion from its first international sale of Islamic bonds. The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority, as the central bank is known, said its net foreign assets fell by $8.5 billion from the previous month to about $493 ...

  Read More »
• 29 May

  Deutsche Bank sees Saudi inflows topping $35bn on MSCI

  

  Bloomberg Saudi Arabia could attract tens of billions of dollars in foreign investments in the Arab world’s biggest stock market if it’s added to MSCI Inc.’s emerging-markets index, according to Deutsche Bank AG’s chief executive officer for the Middle East and Africa. Our “research anticipates a figure of up to $35 billion of inflows,” Dubai-based Jamal Al Kishi said in ...

  Read More »
• 29 May

  KFH in talks for Bahrain Ahli United Bank, Kuwait Unit

  

  Bloomberg Kuwait Finance House KSCP is in talks to buy Bahrain’s Ahli United Bank BSC, a person familiar with the matter said, in a deal that would create one of the Middle East’s largest Islamic lenders with about $85 billion of assets. KFH, as the lender is known, started discussions to acquire the Bahraini lender as well as its operations ...

  Read More »
• 29 May

  Bank Indonesia says 5.4% growth in 2017 too optimistic

  

  Bloomberg Indonesia’s central bank said economic growth of 5.4 percent this year is too optimistic and the nation should aspire for higher credit ratings to catch up with Southeast Asian peers. “In our view, the 2017 growth rate should be higher than 2016,” Bank Indonesia Senior Deputy Governor Mirza Adityaswara said in an interview in Jakarta. “Maybe 5.4 percent is ...

  Read More »
• 29 May

  Noor Bank to apply Dubai Font across internal platforms

  Dubai / emirates business Noor Bank on Monday announced that it has become the first bank in the UAE to implement the Dubai font across internal platforms. Employees of the bank will apply the iconic font to all documents created in Microsoft Office programmes. The transition from Arial to the Dubai font is in line with Noor Bank’s vision of ...

  Read More »
• 29 May

  US may expand laptop ban to all international flights

  

  Bloomberg Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary John Kelly said he may ban laptop computers in the cabins of all international flights into and out of the US amid continuing terrorist threats to bring down airplanes, but that a final decision hadn’t been made. “That’s really the thing that they’re obsessed with, the terrorists: the idea of knocking down an ...

  Read More »
• 29 May

  Japan’s BITPoint to add Bitcoin payments to retail outlets

  

  Bloomberg BITPoint Japan Co., the company behind Peach Aviation Ltd.’s move to let travellers use bitcoin to pay for tickets, is planning to give hundreds of thousands of Japanese retail outlets the ability to accept the digital currency. “We’re holding discussions with a retail-related company,” Genki Oda, BITPoint’s president, said in a recent interview. “By going through a company providing ...

  Read More »
• 29 May

  Target to invest $75 million in Casper

  Bloomberg Target Corp. is investing $75 million in online mattress seller Casper Sleep Inc., according to a person familiar with the situation, part of a bid to boost its e-commerce presence while brick-and-mortar sales decline. Target made the funding deal after considering a bid for the entire business, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations ...

  Read More »