Saudi Aramco's IPO Is Vulnerable to the Russians

In finance, as in comedy, timing is everything. Get it right and you have investors (or the audience) in the palm of your hand. Get it wrong and the ensuing silence is painful.Saudi Arabia has stepped on stage finally to launch the initial public offering of its oil monopoly Saudi Aramco. By a strange quirk of the calendar, the price of the shares will be set on the same day OPEC meets to decide the next step in its strategy of propping up the price of crude.It’s hard to see this coinciden

Nov. 12, 2019

[Graphic News] No. of China’s ‘unicorn’ startups exceed US for first time

　China now has more privately held startups valued by investors at over $1 billion than the US, a report said.　There were 206 Chinese firms out of a global total of 494 ultravaluable startups - known as unicorns - in June 2019, according to the research firm Hurun Report.　This makes China the country with the largest number of unicorns in the world, with the US coming in second with 203 such companies.　According to Hurun, China is home to the world’s three most valuable unicorns - Alibaba

Nov. 11, 2019

Beyond vegan burgers: next-generation protein could come from air, methane, volcanic springs

It may sound like science fiction, but in a few short years the family dinner table may be laden with steak from a printer and other proteins produced from air, methane or volcanic microbes.　With the explosive success of vegan beef and burger substitutes developed by Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, the alternative protein sector just keeps growing.　According to investment bank Barclays, alternative meat sales could reach $140 billion - or 10 percent of the global meat industry - within a

Nov. 6, 2019

Euro zone economy at risk of contracting in Q4, PMI shows

Euro zone business activity grew more than initially thought last month but remained close to stagnation, according to a survey whose forward-lookingindicators suggest the existing growth might dissipate.Wednesday‘s survey of businesses comes soon after the European Central Bank resumed its 2.6 trillion-euro bond-buying program to try and stimulate inflation and growth.The former head of the ECB, Mario Draghi, repeatedly called on euro zone countries to add fiscal support to stoke growth,

Nov. 6, 2019

Saudi regulator says approves Aramco share offering

RIYADH (AFP) -- Saudi regulators on Sunday approved state energy giant Aramco's request to make its stock market debut, firing the starting gun on the highly anticipated offering which could be the world's largest.The Capital Markets Authority did not give any details of the Initial Public Offering but it is expected to begin trading in mid-December.The markets regulator "has issued its resolution approving the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco)... application for the registration and

Nov. 3, 2019

[Graphic News] Rich Chinese outnumber wealthy Americans for first time

　The number of rich Chinese has surpassed the count of wealthy Americans for the first time as both countries keep churning out millionaires, a study by Credit Suisse showed. 　The Swiss bank’s annual wealth survey found 100 million Chinese ranked in the global top 10 percent as of the middle of this year versus 99 million in the United States. 　The ranks of the world’s millionaires have risen by 1.1 million to an estimated 46.8 million, collectively owning $158.3 trillion in net asse

Oct. 28, 2019

Luxury giant LVMH makes bid for jewellers Tiffany: source

NEW YORK (AFP) -- LVMH, which owns Louis Vuitton, Dior and the champagne brands Veuve Clicquot and Moet, has made a bid for American jeweller Tiffany, known for its engagement rings and diamonds.The French luxury giant made an offer for the US company at the start of the month, a source told AFP late on Saturday.Tiffany, whose flagship New York store is next to Trump Tower on 5th avenue, has not yet responded to the offer, which comes as the luxury industry is jittery about the possible effects

Oct. 28, 2019

SoftBank Seeks Majority Stake in WeWork With Bailout Deal

SoftBank Group Corp. offered to take a majority stake in WeWork, one of two rescue packages that the board of the troubled company is weighing, according to people familiar with the matter.The deal from SoftBank is currently in the lead among some directors, according to a person familiar with the board’s thinking. A decision is likely to be made Monday night, though the process is fluid, said the person, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations. JPMorgan Chase &

Oct. 22, 2019

SoftBank bailout would give it control of WeWork: sources

NEW YORK (AFP) -- Japan's SoftBank Group has prepared a financing plan that would give it control of WeWork as the office sharing startup seeks badly- needed financing, sources told AFP Monday.The plan would give SoftBank, which is controled by billionaire Masayoshi Son, more than 50 percent of WeWork and further limit the influence of former chief executive and co-founder Adam Neumann, said sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity.Neumann stepped down as chief executive in September amid

Oct. 17, 2019

[Graphic News] New York world’s top financial center

　New York has extended its lead as the world’s top financial center, with London barely holding on to second place ahead of Hong Kong, as uncertainty over Brexit takes its toll on the UK capital, a Z/Yen Group survey showed.　Singapore, Shanghai, Tokyo, Beijing, Dubai, Shenzhen and Sydney make up the remainder of the top 10 centers, the Global Financial Centers Index said in a statement. 　South Korea’s two largest cities, Seoul and Busan, ranked Nos. 39 and 43, respectively.　The GFCI

Oct. 14, 2019

[Graphic News] Tether becomes most used cryptocurrency in world

　What’s the world’s most widely used cryptocurrency? If you think it’s Bitcoin, which accounts for about 70 percent of all the digital-asset world’s market value, you’re probably wrong.　While concrete figures on trading volumes are hard to come by in this often murky corner of finance, data from CoinMarketCap.com shows that the token with the highest daily and monthly trading volume is Tether, whose market capitalization is more than 30 times smaller. 　Tether’

Oct. 13, 2019

[Graphic News] Property bubble risks in EU rise

　The risk of a property bubble in the eurozone surged last year as ultralow interest rates helped drive up house prices.　Munich is now the city most vulnerable to a property bubble, according to UBS Group’s annual Real Estate Bubble Index. Frankfurt and Paris are increasingly in danger of prices becoming unsustainable, even as some of the priciest cities around the world cool, the report said.　For the first time in four years, London is no longer regarded as dangerously overvalued. Prices

Oct. 8, 2019

[Graphic News] Biggest buyers of Saudi Arabian oil

　Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group last week attacked two plants at the heart of Saudi Arabia’s oil industry in a strike that could impact about 5 million barrels per day of crude production - close to half of the kingdom’s output, or 5 percent of global oil supply.    　The Saudis are the world‘s biggest oil exporters, sending more than 7 million barrels of crude to numerous destinations around the globe every day - equal to nearly one-third of exports by t

Sept. 22, 2019

Wall Street slides a day after Fed rate cut

NEW YORK (AFP) -- US stocks went nowhere on Thursday as investors lost their appetite in afternoon trade, a day after the US central bank delivered a widely expected shot of stimulus.At the close, the benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.2 percent at 27,094.79, erasing earlier gains in the day.Meanwhile, the broader S&P 500 was flat, hovering near record levels at 3,006.79, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq was 0.1 percent higher at 8,182.88.Disney led the Dow lower, shedding 2.6 perc

Sept. 20, 2019

[Graphic News] Aramco is the biggest oil firm in the world

　Drones attacked the world’s largest oil processing facility in Saudi Arabia and a major oilfield operated by Saudi Aramco last weekend. 　　Aramco is the biggest energy company in the world. It produces and exports more than 9.5 million barrels of Saudi Arabia’s oil per day to consumers around the world, primarily in Asia. 

Sept. 18, 2019

Trade war cited as cause for 10,000 layoffs in US in August: report

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- The pace of downsizing at American companies surged last month, with more than 10,000 job cuts blamed on “trade difficulties” alone, according to figures released Thursday.Employers also announced the most layoffs of any August since 2009, the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said.Job cuts rose 38 percent over July, with 53,480 positions to be slashed from employer payrolls, led by workforce reductions in health care, which had been a mainst

Sept. 5, 2019

US, Poland sign joint document on 5G technology cooperation

The US and Poland signed an agreement on Monday to cooperate on new 5G technology amid growing concerns about Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei.Vice President Mike Pence and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki signed the deal in Warsaw, where Pence is filling in for President Donald Trump, who scrapped his trip at the last minute because of Hurricane Dorian.The signing comes amid a global battle between the US and Huawei, the world's biggest maker of network infrastructure equipment,

Sept. 2, 2019

Trump claims serious trade negotiations with China to begin

BIARRITZ, France — President Donald Trump, facing pressure to scale back a US-China trade war contributing to a global economic slowdown, claimed Monday that serious talks will begin soon although another round has been expected in Washington in September.Trump said his trade negotiators had received two “very good calls” from China on Sunday. But a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry said Monday that he didn’t know what calls Trump was talking about.Trump expres

Aug. 26, 2019

[Graphic News] China world’s No. 1 rare earth producer　

　Vital for smartphone screens, electric vehicle batteries and wind turbines alike, rare earths are highly sought after.　These metals and elements have become indispensable for many advanced industries.　About 35 percent of the world’s rare earth reserves are in China, which produced 120,000 metric tons, or 70 percent, of the global supply in 2018. (AFP)

Aug. 26, 2019