Clients ‘over the moon’ at US lender’s move as it withdraws from market
Chase Bank is forgiving all outstanding debt owed by customers of its two Canadian credit cards as it exits the country’s market.
Customers using the Amazon.ca Rewards Visa and the Marriott Rewards Premier Visa were pleasantly surprised to find the balance on their credit cards had been wiped clean.
Continue reading...Bank has been under scrutiny for its role in helping to raise $6.5bn through bond offerings
Malaysia has filed criminal charges against 17 current and former directors at subsidiaries of Goldman Sachs Group in a multibillion-dollar corruption investigation at state fund 1MDB, the attorney general said on Friday.
Goldman Sachs has been under scrutiny for its role in helping to raise $6.5bn through bond offerings for 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), the subject of corruption and money-laundering investigations in at least six countries.
Continue reading...Potential impacts of rise in vertical shear include longer, bumpier and dearer flights
The climate crisis could be making transatlantic flights more bumpy, according to research into the impact of global heating on the jet stream.
Jet streams are powerful currents of air at the altitudes which planes fly. . They result from the air temperature gradient between the poles and the tropics, and reach speeds of up to 250mph (400kmph). They also sometimes meander.
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A degree of calm has returned to world stock markets, after heavy selling earlier this week amid fears that the one-year trade war between the US and China was turning into a full-blown currency war. Washington branded Beijing a currency manipulator after the yuan fell sharply beyond the seven-to-one-dollar mark on Monday. This led to turmoil in financial markets – and US and UK stocks had their worst day this year.
Investors have been cheered today by better-than-expected trade data from China and the stabilisation of its currency. Wall Street has opened higher. In Europe, shares are even further ahead.
On Wall Street, stocks are up after the opening bell, mirroring gains in the UK, where the FTSE 100 index is 0.7% ahead at 7,250.
Gold pulls back after sharpest daily gain in 7 weeks but holds above $1,500 https://t.co/lnRzEbdH4z
Continue reading...Internal documents show how the company worked to discredit critics and investigated singer Neil Young
Monsanto operated a “fusion center” to monitor and discredit journalists and activists, and targeted a reporter who wrote a critical book on the company, documents reveal. The agrochemical corporation also investigated the singer Neil Young and wrote an internal memo on his social media activity and music.
The records reviewed by the Guardian show Monsanto adopted a multi-pronged strategy to target Carey Gillam, a Reuters journalist who investigated the company’s weedkiller and its links to cancer. Monsanto, now owned by the German pharmaceutical corporation Bayer, also monitored a not-for-profit food research organization through its “intelligence fusion center”, a term that the FBI and other law enforcement agencies use for operations focused on surveillance and terrorism.
Continue reading...More than 500 flights cancelled or delayed by IT glitch affecting London airports
British Airways was facing passenger anger on Wednesday as more than 500 flights were cancelled or delayed as a result of a systems failure.
In the latest in a series of operational problems to hit the airline, and the travel plans of tens of thousands with holiday and business plans, London’s Heathrow, Gatwick and City were the airports most affected by the computer failure. BA refused to reveal the number of flights affected but according to Flightstats.com, which tracks arrivals and departures, by 5.30pm the airline had cancelled 140 flights and a further 370 had been delayed.
Continue reading...Denis Christel Sassou-Nguesso allegedly used money-laundering scheme spanning six European countries
The son of Congo-Brazzaville’s president has misappropriated $50m (£41m) of public money by routing it through shell companies and secrecy jurisdictions, according to a new investigation.
Six countries in the EU, the US state of Delaware and the British Virgin Islands all played a key role in Denis Christel Sassou-Nguesso’s scheme, according to Global Witness. The campaign group said the money was siphoned off through an apparent sham contract Congo-Brazzaville had with a Brazilian infrastructure company.
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The pound is declining again today and is trading close to two-year lows versus the dollar and the euro. It is down 0.21% against the dollar at $1.2145, not far from the 31-month low of $1.2080 reached last week. Against the euro, sterling is 0.12% lower at €1.0855, not far from the 23-month low hit yesterday.
The risk of a no-deal Brexit has increased markedly under Boris Johnson’s government. When he became prime minister a fortnight ago, he said he would take Britain out of the EU at the end of October “do or die”. Investors are also fretting about the possibility of a no-confidence vote in the new Conservative government after the summer recess, or an early general election.
There are many key dates ahead for sterling, but the passing of 5 September without a successful of no confidence in the government will in our view be a further important step along the road of a no-deal Brexit on 31 October.
The mood in financial markets is still fragile. Oil prices have hit a fresh seven-month low as traders worried about the impact of the US-China trade war on the global economy.
Brent crude, the global benchmark, fell nearly 2% to $58.57 a barrel earlier this morning and is now trading down 0.2% at $58.82 a barrel. Prices have tumbled more than 20% since hitting their 2019 peak in April.
Tweet in support of US farmers suggests dispute with Beijing could extend well into 2020
Donald Trump has dropped the broadest possible hint that he is ready to dig in for the long term in the Washington’s trade war with China, after the latest escalation in the long-running dispute between the world’s two largest economies.
The US president said he was ready to provide support for US farmers in 2020 should they face pressure from China, as economists at Goldman Sachs said the standoff could continue until after the US presidential election in November 2020.
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Gold has hit a fresh six-year high, rising above $1,473 this morning, after Beijing hit back at Washington’s branding of the country as a currency manipulator.
Asian stock markets were painted red overnight but shares in Europe have stabilised, no doubt helped by the strong factory orders data from Germany this morning. Germany’s Dax has risen 0.46%, France’s CAC is up 0.67%, Spain’s Ibex has edged 0.09% higher and Italy’s FTSE MiB is 0.25% ahead.
UBS, the Swiss investment bank, has sent us its analysis of the impact of the 10% tariff on $300bn of US imports from China threatened by Donald Trump last Friday.
The direct impact of the new tariffs, if implemented, would reduce US GDP by 0.15%, and we estimate Chinese GDP growth in the next 12 months could fall by 0.25–0.5 percentage points as a result, which would push the country’s growth rate below 6% into 2020.
China’s response to recent trade escalations has been relatively measured and we expect a similar reaction this time, with retaliation involving a mix of more tariffs and non-tariff measures. Potential non-tariff measures include a managed depreciation of the yuan to mitigate the trade impact from higher tariffs, penalising select US companies operating in China, and imposing export restrictions on rare earth metals.
There is still time to find a compromise, trade talks between the US and China scheduled for September have not been called off, and investors should also consider potential offsetting factors such as rate cuts by central banks and stimulus in China. Our base case assumes a long, drawn-out negotiation process, during which tensions can occasionally flare up.
An environment of a) rising trade tensions and b) potential stimulus, including falling interest rates, is tricky for investors to navigate. While we ultimately believe that US–China tradetensions will be resolved through negotiations, we think equities may struggle to move markedly higher until there is greater certainty.
Continue reading...Trade war rhetoric ratchets up as Beijing responds to US claim of being ‘a currency manipulator’
China stepped up the trade war rhetoric on Tuesday, accusing the US of “deliberately destroying international order” with “unilateralism and protectionism”.
A day after Washington branded China a currency manipulator in a rapidly escalating trade dispute, China’s central bank said it “deeply regretted” the move by the US and said such behaviour “seriously undermined international rules” and damaged the global economy.
Continue reading...The Enron playwright talks about retelling the murder of the KGB whistleblower, our surreal political era, and how Billie Piper helped her through dark times
Lucy Prebble operates an “elephant in the room” method when it comes to writing plays: she tries to take on the biggest overlooked ideas that shape our world.
“In theatre there is always a lot of very tasteful, refined work,” she says. “I wouldn’t be dismissive of that. But it doesn’t feel very representative of life at the moment, which feels to me quite ugly and lacking taste and unrefined. Rambunctious.”
Continue reading...A bill making its way through the Senate would set the hourly wage at $15 nationwide, to be enacted over six years
Maria Torres followed eight sprinting co-workers into the kitchen’s walk-in fridge, screaming “Gun!” They locked the door against an armed intruder.
“He was threatening everyone with a gun,” the 58-year-old McDonald’s cook said, recalling that morning last December in the Princeton Park section of Chicago. “He came in very erratic. We couldn’t understand what he was saying.”
Continue reading...Markets fell sharply as Trump threatens fresh tariffs; US non-farm payrolls matched economists’ expectations in July, while June figures were revised down
The Bank of Finland governor Olli Rehn has confirmed that he has withdrawn from the race to become the next managing director of the International Monetary Fund.
EU is about to vote on Europe’s candidate for IMF managing director. It is an exceptionally meaningful and motivating job. However, at this stage I withdraw my name from the ballot, so that we can achieve a broad-based consensus for the European candidate, and world-wide support.
Continue reading...Industry warns of job losses and higher consumer prices after president targets another $300bn in imports
US retailers were lining up on Thursday night against Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on a fresh $300bn of Chinese imports in September, if a US-China trade deal can’t be struck.
Financial experts warned of an “economic drag” in the further escalation of trade tensions with China – after the president said that China had not stuck to various promises over trade that he had previously touted as signs of progress.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Analysis includes stark assessments of potential problems including panic-buying and civil disorder
The UK is currently less able to cope with a hard Brexit than it was in the spring, with the real risk of panic-buying in the run-up to Christmas and civil disorder if the country leaves the EU without a deal on 31 October, an official document reveals.
The prime minister, Boris Johnson, has made Michael Gove responsible for “turbo-charging” Brexit planning, and on Thursday the new chancellor, Sajid Javid, announced an extra £2.1bn of funding to prepare for a no-deal exit.
Continue reading...German carmaker’s CEO offers to travel to London to deliver message to PM saying ‘listen to business’
The boss of BMW has urged Boris Johnson to respond to calls from business to find a compromise on Brexit – and offered to travel to the UK to deliver the message to the prime minister in person.
Speaking as the German carmaker reported falling profits due to its investment in electric vehicles, BMW chief executive Harald Krüger said it would be a “lose-lose” scenario if the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
Continue reading...Claims including links to Triads to be ‘re-examined’ and rules covering junket operators reviewed
Victoria’s minister for gambling, Marlene Kairouz, says she has ordered the state’s casino regulator to conduct a snap investigation into a flood of allegations made against Crown Resorts and its Melbourne operation that include claims of links to organised crime and that its high rollers got waved through immigration without proper checks.
Kairouz said her department would also review the regulation of junket operators who bring high rollers from China, some of whom have been linked by Nine to Triad gangs.
Continue reading...Redirecting small portion of subsidies would unleash clean energy revolution, says report
Switching just some of the huge subsidies supporting fossil fuels to renewables would unleash a runaway clean energy revolution, according to a new report, significantly cutting the carbon emissions that are driving the climate crisis.
Coal, oil and gas get more than $370bn (£305bn) a year in support, compared with $100bn for renewables, the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) report found. Just 10-30% of the fossil fuel subsidies would pay for a global transition to clean energy, the IISD said.
Continue reading...Fifa, Uefa and Premier League ask Saudi government to clamp down on beoutQ
The world’s biggest football authorities, including those who run the Premier League, World Cup and Champions League, have called on Saudi Arabia to take action to stop a sophisticated, homegrown pirate TV and streaming service that is illegally broadcasting matches internationally.
The strongly worded letter from the exasperated sports bodies – including Fifa, Uefa, Germany’s Bundesliga, Spain’s La Liga and Italy’s Serie A as well as the Asian Football Confederation – comes after almost 18 months fruitlessly attempting to mount a legal challenge in Saudi Arabia to block the service, called beoutQ.
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