TOKYO (Reuters) – Global bond yields flirted with record lows while stocks struggled to recover on Thursday, as global recession worries from intensifying U.S.-China frictions and the specter of a no-deal Brexit drove investors to safer harbors. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.38%, Singapore shares hit eight-month lows, while Japan’s Nikkei […]
Diamond buyers have taken the rare opportunity to reject stones from iconic supplier De Beers as the company offered almost unprecedented flexibility to ease a growing crisis. De Beers sold just $280m (€252m) of diamonds this month, 44pc less than a year earlier. The only sale smaller in the last three years was in July, […]
WASHINGTON/DECATUR, Ill. (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump will announce a plan to boost demand for biofuels within weeks, Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said on Wednesday, as the administration seeks to assuage farmers angered by its expanded use of waivers freeing refineries from their obligation to blend ethanol into the fuel supply. The Trump […]
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks climbed on Wednesday, recovering from early declines on gains in energy and financial shares, but investors remained leery about the potential for another flare-up in the U.S.-China trade war. The financial sector .SPSY was up 0.91%, recouping all of the prior day’s losses that came on a deepening of […]
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Oil prices rose nearly 2% on Wednesday after a larger-than-expected decline in U.S. crude stockpiles helped ease worries about weakening oil demand caused by the trade war between Washington and Beijing. Brent crude LCOc1 futures settled 98 cents, or 1.7%, higher at $60.49 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 ended […]
The Central Bank of Ireland endorsed calls for higher government spending to help offset the impact of hard Brexit on the economy on the same day as UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson moved to suspend parliament. In its annual advisory letter to the Minister for Finance, Acting Governor Sharon Donnery said that any extra spending […]
SINGAPORE – A prime District 10 freehold condominium, Beaufort On Nassim, has been launched for collective sale by tender at a minimum expected price of $222.68 million, real estate services firm Savills Singapore announced on Wednesday (Aug 28). The price tag translates to a unit land rate of $3,508 per sq ft per plot ratio […]
LONDON (REUTERS) – The sterling fell on Wednesday(Aug 28) after a BBC journalist said that Britain’s Queen Elizabeth could be asked as early as Wednesday to agree to suspend Parliament. The pound, already trading lower on the day, extended its drop to hit $1.2157, down 1.1 per cent on the day. Against the euro, the […]
US retail chain Costco was forced to close its first store in China on its opening day due to overcrowding after large crowds flocked there, sparking traffic jams in the area. Videos posted on social media showed people clambering to get into the shop in Shanghai, jostling with others to get roasted chickens and meat […]
Britain’s government will seek to extend the period during which parliament does not normally sit, shutting it for around a month until Oct. 14, as part of a drive to prevent politicians from derailing its Brexit plan, the BBC reported. The move, also reported by the Guardian, limits the amount of parliamentary time available to […]