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In times of market uncertainty, some investors will flock to “safeguarded” currencies such as the Swiss franc or Japanese yen. Others may choose diversifiers like gold, farmland or other hard assets. And then there are those who flock to alternative investments like bitcoin. Yet one investment that has historically been considered a safe bet, low-risk option for investors when frothy ...

Pity Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Tesco Plc and Carrefour SA. The three Western supermarket giants have plonked down hundreds of millions of dollars over the past decade to expand their retail chains across India. Now Amazon.com Inc. is about to establish a larger bricks-and-mortar presence than all three combined at a cost of just $28 million. In the 95 minutes it ...

Immigration restrictionists give a number of reasons why they want fewer people settling in the US. Most of these reasons don’t hold up under scrutiny. For example, the best available data says that immigrants don’t take native-born Americans’ jobs, or drive down their wages; indeed, it’s more likely, that skilled immigrants boost the earnings of the native-born. In the US ...

Bloomberg US stocks slid as investors weighed the impact of the Republican tax proposal that would dramatically cut levies on corporations and the wealthy. Politics dominated trading in Europe, with the euro sliding after the German election, giving European stocks a boost. The S&P 500 Index opened lower, while the Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed. The euro weakened against almost ...

Reuters Saudi Arabia’s stock index fell on Monday on rumours that index compiler FTSE might not upgrade Riyadh to emerging-market status as quickly as hoped, while Qatar notched up its fifth straight session of gains. At the end of the business day on September 29, FTSE will announce its decision on whether to include Saudi Arabia in its secondary emerging ...

Bloomberg The Bank of England (BOE) said an agreement is needed as part of the Brexit process to protect the ‘long-term validity’ of 20 trillion pounds ($27.1 trillion) of existing derivative contracts. The BOE’s Financial Policy Committee said on Monday that after the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union, it will be ‘complex and difficult’ for financial firms themselves to ...

Bloomberg Two months after suspending masala bonds sales by local issuers, India lifted restrictions on issuance. That was the easy part. Masala bonds, or rupee-denominated debt securities sold abroad, are still subject to caps on pricing and tenor. Issuers must also compulsorily seek approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) before every sale—constraints that may keep issuance from picking ...

Bloomberg Now that Nigeria’s economy is recovering from its worst slump in 25 years, the central bank can turn its focus to fighting inflation again — and shoring up its currency. The Monetary Policy Committee has kept its interest rate at a record-high 14 percent since July 2016, trying to support the economy, and will probably hold it there at ...

DUBAI / Emirates Business Mashreq Bank, one of the first banks in the Middle East and a leading financial institution in the UAE, partnered with Diebold Nixdorf, the leader in driving connected commerce, to streamline its in-branch cash cycle management processes by implementing the latest in teller automation technology across select UAE branches. The innovative cash recycling systems combined with ...

Bloomberg China’s currency has swung from hot to cold in a matter of weeks, thwarting expectations that policy makers would keep the yuan stable before a crucial Communist Party congress next month. The yuan slumped 0.5% to 6.6210 per greenback as of 5.30pm in Shanghai, taking its decline from an 8 September peak to 2.8%. That’s a sharp reversal from ...