EU launches investigation into Chinese steel exports May 13, 2016 The European Union has launched an investigation into a slew of Chinese steel which is flooding global markets and crippling the industry. This was one of the reason given by Tata behind the decision to sell its UK business, puttings thousands of jobs at risk. Read more: Brexit would spell the end to UK manufacturing The EU's [...]
Apple just ploughed $1bn into this Chinese taxi startup May 13, 2016 So now we've found out exactly what Apple was planning to do with (some of) the vast amount of cash it has sloshing around its bank account. Overnight Didi Chuxing, a Chinese rival to Uber, which describes itself as "the world's leading one-stop mobile transportation platform", issued a rather gleeful statement overnight saying it had made [...]
London is still the world’s most luxurious property market while Auckland is the “hottest” city according to Christie’s International Real Estate May 12, 2016 This may come as little surprise, but London has retained its title as the world's most luxurious property market for the fourth year in a row, according to Christie's International Real Estate. The capital topped the list of 100 cities surveyed, beating Hong Kong, New York, Los Angeles and Singapore to the real estate top [...]
Before the bell: What you need to know before the US market open May 11, 2016 US stocks are set to open down after pulling in strong rises yesterday. The S&P is down by 0.12 per cent in the pre-market, the Nasdaq is 0.1 per cent lower, while the Dow is 0.2 per cent off. It's been a poor showing so far from European markets, coming off the back of a disappointing trading [...]
China’s drowning in debt, defaults are rising and investors have turned bearish as corporates must pay back billions this year May 10, 2016 China's massive debt levels have started to spook investors. The country’s corporate borrowers face a record $571bn of debt that’s due to mature this year, according to figures from Bloomberg. That’s cash they’ll either have to pay back or refinance. Too bad, then, that sentiment towards local debt has begun to sour. There has been a [...]
At the close: FTSE 100 slips on the falling oil price as poor China data weighs heavy May 9, 2016 The FTSE 100 has managed to erase all its earlier gains to close down, adding to the worst weekly performance since February and marking the third straight week of losses. The blue-chip index finished 0.2 per cent lower at 6,114.81 after falling 1.9 per cent last week. The index is down around two per cent so far this year and 15 per [...]
Singapore-listed Cosco Corporation’s profits tank in first quarter May 9, 2016 Singapore-listed Cosco Corporation posted a loss of $14.4m (£10m) in the first quarter of 2016. The figures The corporation, which is a subsidiary of the Chinese state-owned Cosco shipping firm, reported a loss of $14.4m compared with a profit of $800,000 in the same period of last year. Group turnover fell 27 per cent to $722.3m, [...]
EU ambassador to China urges it to do more to cut steel output May 9, 2016 The EU ambassador to China urged it to do more to curb the slew of steel which is flooding global markets and causing widespread pain in the industry. Speaking at a briefing, Hans Dietmar Schweisgut, said its current measures to address overcapacity were "not going quite far enough". "Overcapacity, especially in the steel sector, is one of [...]
Before the bell: What you need to know before the US market open May 5, 2016 Oil has steamed ahead so far today, with West Texas Intermediate crude oil higher by three per cent at $45.70 a barrel after wildfires in Canada, as well as fighting in Libya dragged on production. International benchmark Brent crude added 2.6 per cent to $45.75 a barrel. Yesterday the latest US inventories posted a higher than expected addition to stockpiles [...]
Carry on shopping: Alibaba defies China slowdown with fourth quarter revenue May 5, 2016 Alibaba, the Chinese ecommerce giant, has defied the country's economic slowdown, reporting expectation-busting revenue. The Amazon of China's sales rose 39 per cent in the fourth quarter to 24.2bn yuan (£2.55bn) smashing estimates of around 23bn yuan, while income came in at 5.3bn yuan, a rise of 81 per cent. "Whatever they are doing must be working, and [...]