Business

US stocks fell back on Friday after President Donald Trump instructed aides to proceed with tariffs on about $200 billion in Chinese products, despite Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's attempts to restart talks with Beijing.

A source familiar with the situation confirmed stories initially carried by both Bloomberg and Fox News on the moves by the White House.

Wall Street, which had been trading marginally in positive territory on the back of a rise in US Treasury yields above 3 per cent, reversed. 

"If Trump is willing to go ahead with the tariffs then that is significant enough to sour markets," said Bryan Reilly, managing director at CIBC Private Wealth Management in Boston, Massachusetts.

"Should this trade uncertainty prevail, then sentiment only has one way to go from here and that is down."

At 12:39am ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.17 per cent to 26,102.37, the S&P 500 0.15 per cent to 2,899.71 and the Nasdaq Composite 0.26 per cent to 7,992.72.

Financial stocks held on to their gains and were last up 0.52 per cent. Only three of the 11 major S&P sectors were higher.

The real estate index fell 1.11 per cent, while utilities 0.69 per cent and telecoms declined 0.77 per cent.

Also weighing on utilities was NiSource, which tumbled 9.9 per cent after fire investigators said they suspected the company's unit, Columbia Gas, was linked to a series of gas explosions in Boston suburbs on Thursday.

The energy sector was up 0.69 per cent, making it the best performing group on the day.

Walmart dropped 0.5 per cent after Goldman Sachs raised questions around the purchase of a majority stake in India's Flipkart.

L Brands Inc. jumped 4.8 per cent after the owner of Victoria's Secret said it would close all 23 Henri Bendel stores and its website in January.

Adobe Systems rose 2.6 per cent after the company topped quarterly revenue and profit expectations.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.18-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, but advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.19-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 45 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 100 new highs and 48 new lows.

MAR DEL PLATA — Trade and investment ministers from G-20 countries meeting in Argentina said there was an "urgent need" to improve the World Trade Organisation (WTO), a joint statement said on Friday. 

With US President Donald Trump readying tariffs on another $200 billion in Chinese goods, the ministers said they were "stepping up the dialogue" on international trade disputes, according to the statement issued at the summit.

It did not provide any details of possible WTO reforms or how dialogue on trade was being increased.

"Obviously the new tariff measures are not positive," Argentina's Production and Labour Minister, Dante Sica, said in a news conference at the end of the one-day meeting. "But we need to see how things evolve."

German Deputy Economy Minister Oliver Wittke said the joint declaration sent a powerful signal about the importance of strengthening WTO "especially in times of 'America first' and increasing global protectionism", with next steps to follow when G-20 leaders meet in Argentina at the end of November.

"We have to use this momentum," Wittke said in a statement released by the ministry after the summit.

Outside the meeting, smoke filled the air in the normally tranquil seaside city of Mar Del Plata where the conference is being held. Protesters burned makeshift American flags and chanted against free trade orthodoxy and Trump's support of Argentina's cash-strapped President Mauricio Macri, whose fiscal belt-tightening has garnered a backlash from the country's working-class.

"We're standing here in solidarity with the workers of Latin America. While those politicians sleep in fancy beds, communities starve because of trade and adjustment policies that hurt the most vulnerable," protester Maralin Cornil, 30, said. 

Argentina holds the G-20's rotating presidency this year, and is re-negotiating a $50 billion stand-by financing deal with the IMF, cutting its fiscal deficit targets and reducing costs to ensure it can continue paying its international debts.
Trump has said he would attend the summit's final meeting with other heads of state, in Buenos Aires on November 30. 

The Trump administration has demanded that China cut its $375 billion trade surplus with the United States, end policies aimed at acquiring US technologies and intellectual property, and roll back high-tech industrial subsidies.

While Trump has threatened to pull the United States from the WTO, China has called for WTO reform to make the global trade system fairer and more effective. 

The 23-year-old trading club is run on the basis of consensus, meaning that every one of its 164 members has an effective veto and it is almost impossible to get agreement on any change to the rules.

Sica also said that talks on a free trade deal between the European Union and the Mercosur trade bloc of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay were wrapping up, with an agreement likely by the end of the year.

"We are in the final stages regarding the most delicate aspects of an EU-Mercosur agreement and we are concluding with the political and technical details," Sica said.

AMMAN — The executive committee of the Arab Air Carriers Organiation (AACO) held its 82nd meeting in Amman on Thursday, hosted by Royal Jordanian (RJ) Airlines, according to an RJ statement.

The attendees, headed by Saleh Bin Nasser Al Jasser, director general of Saudi Arabian Airlines and chairman of AACO executive committee, discussed several strategic issues and the development of some joint projects among AACO members during the meeting.

 The committee also examined internal issues in preparation of AACO’s 51st Annual General Meeting that will be held between November 5 and 7, 2018. 

Participants comprised RJ President/CEO Stefan Pichler, AACO’s Secretary General Abdul Wahab Teffaha, and the CEOs of eight Arab airlines that are members of the executive committee. 

Pichler said RJ is pleased to host the chief executives of the Arab carriers, and underlined the significance of these meetings that gather the Arab airlines under one umbrella to find the best solutions that face the air transport industry in the region. 

Royal Jordanian has been an AACO member since 1965, just two years after the airline was established.    

Teffaha thanked RJ for hosting the event. He said that one of the tasks of the executive committee is to supervise the work of the organisation and discuss the main issues that concern the Arab carriers in various fields. 

Such issues include joint projects, managed by AACO, and aeropolitical matters.  

AACO is made up of 33 Arab airlines that operate over 1,400 aircraft of an average age of seven years, half of the age of other global fleets. 

Apple Inc. unveiled larger iPhones and watches based on the design of current models on Wednesday, confirming Wall Street expectations that the company is making only minor changes to its lineup.

The world's most valuable tech company wants users to upgrade to newer, more expensive devices as a way to boost revenue as global demand for smartphones levels off. The strategy has helped Apple become the first publicly-traded US company to hit a market value of more than $1 trillion earlier this year. 

Its shares were down 1.2 per cent on Nasdaq.

Apple uses the “S” suffix when it upgrades components but leaves the exterior design of a phone the same. Last year's iPhone X — pronounced "ten" — represented a major redesign. 

The new phones are the XS, with a 14.7cm screen, the larger XS Max, with a 16.5cm screen, and a 15.4cm iPhone Xr made of aluminum, with an edge-to-edge liquid retina display. 

Apple, which is looking for ways to lessen reliance on phones for revenue, opened its event by announcing the new Apple Watch Series 4 range with edge-to-edge displays, like its latest phones, which are more than 30 per cent bigger than displays on current models. 

It is positioning the new watch as a more comprehensive health device, able to detect an irregular heartbeat and start an emergency call automatically if it detects a user falling down, potentially appealing to older customers. It said it had approval for the device from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The FDA said it worked with Apple to develop apps for the Apple Watch. The agency said it has been taking steps to ease the regulatory pathway for companies seeking to create digital healthcare products.

Shares of fitness device rival Fitbit Inc fell about 3.7 per cent after the Series 4 announcement. Shares of Garmin Ltd. lost some earlier gains and were flat in midday New York trade.

Executives made the announcement at the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple's new circular headquarters in Cupertino, California, named after the company's co-founder who wowed the world with the first iPhone in 2007.

"There's no real game-changer on the table," said Hal Eddins, chief economist at Apple shareholder Capital Investment Counsel. "It's a matter of getting people to keep moving up."

The company is also expected to unveil a new version of its wireless AirPods earbuds with wireless charging and a wireless mat that will be able to charge several devices at once.

FRANKFURT AM MAIN — Ryanair warned on Tuesday that it may slash jobs and close some bases in Germany if it is hit with more strikes, a day before a work stoppage by pilots and cabin crew for better pay and conditions.

The Irish no-frills airline has blasted the planned walkout as "unnecessary" and said it would be forced to cancel 150 out of 400 scheduled flights to and from Germany.

"These threatened strikes can only damage Ryanair's business in Germany, and if they continue, will lead to base cuts and job cuts for both German pilots and cabin crew, particularly at some secondary German bases," the airline's chief marketing officer Kenny Jacobs said.

The spat is the latest escalation in Ryanair's battles with employees across Europe since it first started recognising unions last year.

Germany's Cockpit union and the Verdi services sector union have called for a 24-hour walkout from 3:00 am (01:00 GMT) on Wednesday.

The unions, representing some 400 Ryanair pilots and 1,000 crew, argue that no headway has been made with the airline's management despite repeated negotiations.

But Ryanair hit back, saying it had already offered more local contracts and pay rises for pilots in Germany.

"Ryanair is totally serious about working with unions," Jacobs told a press conference in Frankfurt.

"It is unacceptable that a union representing Ryanair's German pilots, who earn up to 190,000 euros ($220,000) a year and work a five-day week followed by a four-day weekend, is now threatening customers travel plans at short notice," he added.

Ryanair said it would try to minimise the disruption for customers, who will be offered free re-bookings.

The airline last year averted widespread Christmas strikes by agreeing to recognise trade unions for the first time in its 33-year history, but it has since struggled to reach deals with the workers' representatives.

Ryanair was hit by its first ever simultaneous pilot strike in five European countries last month, including in Germany.

The walkout forced the airline to cancel 400 out of 2,400 scheduled flights during the peak summer holiday season.

More trouble is brewing with unions in Belgium, The Netherlands, Italy and Spain calling for another mass walkout in the last week of September.

The unions have said it would be "the biggest strike action the company has ever seen".

The famously low-budget airline boasts lower costs per passenger than its competitors and is eyeing profits of around 1.25 billion euros this year.

But staff have long complained that they earn less than counterparts at rival airlines.

The Verdi union for instance says full-time cabin crew employees get a monthly gross salary of 800 to 1,200 euros from Ryanair that can be topped up depending on flying hours and seniority, but is still far below what rival EasyJet pays.

Verdi has rejected Ryanair's offer of a 41-euro a month increase from 2020.

Another key gripe of workers based in countries other than Ireland is the fact that Ryanair employs them under Irish legislation.

They say this creates huge insecurity for them, blocking their access to state benefits in their country.

Unions also want the airline to give contractors the same work conditions as staff employees.

Ryanair, which carries some 130 million passengers annually, has however made some progress in talks with unions in recent weeks.

It reached a deal with Italian pilots over working conditions in late August, its first ever union agreement.

In Ireland, pilots voted to accept an agreement on improved working conditions last week.

The breakthrough prompted Ryanair to back down from an earlier threat that it would move several aircraft and 300 jobs from Ireland to Poland.

LONDON - Sterling rallied for a second consecutive day on Tuesday as a weaker dollar fuelled appetite for riskier currencies while overnight comments from the European Union's chief negotiator that a Brexit deal was possible within weeks boosted sentiment.

For the second time in less than a week, Michel Barnier has signalled his desire to push ahead with Brexit negotiations, less than seven months before the United Kingdom is slated to leave the European Union on March 29, 2019.

"Recent comments from the UK and the European side have been remarkably positive for the British currency but these negotiations are by no means a straightforward affair and markets should be prepared for more volatility," said Morten Helt, a currency strategist at Danske Bank.

In early London trading, sterling rose 0.4 percent to a five-week high of $1.3072 against the dollar. Against the euro, it was broadly flat at 89.02 pence.

Hedge funds are broadly negative on the outlook for the British currency, according to latest positioning data which shows a net $5.5 billion outstanding short position.

But recent comments from policymakers have prompted investors to reduce some of their short positions.

On Monday, diplomats and officials said EU leaders were likely to hold a special Brexit summit in mid-November when they hope to be able to sign off on a divorce deal with Britain.

That has helped sterling rally nearly 2.5 percent from Wednesday's lows below $1.28 and tighten five-year credit default swaps by more than a basis point from a near 1-1/2 year high hit earlier this month.

Growing expectations of a deal are also eroding the safe-haven appeal for government debt with yields on ten-year British government bonds rising to a one-month high while German yields are also ticking higher.

 

ISTANBUL — Turkish economic growth slowed to 5.2 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter, data showed on Monday, in what officials described as an "economic rebalancing" before an expected second-half slowdown as Turkey grapples with a currency crisis.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has overseen strong growth during his 15 years in power but the economy is now facing challenges after a sharp decline in the lira, triggered partly by concerns about his influence over monetary policy.

In a Reuters poll, the economy had been expected to grow 5.3 per cent in the second quarter. The lira firmed to 6.4581 against the dollar after the data from 6.4850 beforehand.

Second quarter gross domestic product (GDP) expanded a seasonally and calendar adjusted 0.9 per cent from the previous quarter, data from the Turkish Statistical Institute showed. Last year the economy grew 7.4 per cent.

Growth was driven by domestic demand despite a moderate slowdown in consumption and investments in the second quarter but the slowdown will become more visible from the third quarter, said Finance Minister Berat Albayrak.

Rabobank emerging markets forex strategist Piotr Matys said that, given concerns over the economy overheating, the slowdown from 7.3 per cent in the first quarter could be seen as encouraging.

"The Turkish economy is widely expected to lose even more momentum in the coming quarters as a result of significant lira depreciation," he said, adding that attention was focused on the central bank's rate-setting meeting on Thursday.

Rate hike?

Investors expect the central bank to raise interest rates, but the size of the hike will be crucial, Matys added. The bank left rates on hold at its last meeting in July, defying expectations of a hike.

Data last week showed inflation surged to 17.9 per cent year-on-year in August, its highest level since late 2003, prompting the central bank to signal it would take action against "significant risks" to price stability.

In the second quarter, the agricultural sector shrank 1.5 per cent year-on-year while the industry sector grew 4.3 per cent, the construction sector grew 0.8 per cent and services expanded 8 per cent.

A central bank survey on Monday showed 2018 GDP growth was expected to be 3.4 per cent, down from a previous forecast of 3.9 per cent. It also showed end-2018 inflation was seen at 19.61 per cent, up from a previous 16.45 per cent.

According to a Reuters poll, the economy is expected to grow 3.3 per cent in the year as a whole.

The government has been working on stimulus measures to stave off the expected slowdown in the coming quarters. Erdogan, a self-described "enemy of interest rates", has pushed banks to lend more to boost private spending.

His demands for lower interest rates have fuelled concerns that the central bank lacks independence. The lira has tumbled 41 per cent against the dollar this year in a slide exacerbated by a bitter diplomatic row with the United States.

Officials have said they expect a contraction of the economy in the third quarter and full-year growth of around four per cent — below a 5.5 per cent government target.

THESSALONIKI, Greece, — Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Saturday unveiled plans for tax cuts and pledged spending to heal years of painful austerity, less than a month after Greece emerged from a bailout programme financed by its EU partners and the IMF.

Tsipras, who faces elections in about a year's time, used a keynote policy speech in the northern city of Thessaloniki to announce a spending spree that he said would help fix the ills of years of belt-tightening, and help boost growth. 

But he said Athens was also committed to sticking to the fiscal targets and reforms promised to its lenders. 

Greece has agreed to maintain an annual primary budget surplus — which excludes debt servicing costs — of 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product up to 2022. So far, it has outperformed on fiscal goals and the economy has returned to growth. 

"We will not allow Greece to revert to the era of deficits and fiscal derailment," he told an audience of officials, diplomats and businessmen.

He said it would beat its primary surplus target again this year, and following a debt relief deal in June, he could "safely plan its post-bailout future". Government officials have put this year's fiscal room at 800 million euros. 

Tsipras promised a phased reduction of corporate tax to 25 per cent from 29 per cent from next year, as well as an average 30 per cent reduction in a deeply unpopular annual property tax on homeowners, rising to 50 per cent for low earners.

No more pension cuts?

He also promised to reduce the main value added tax rate by two points to 22 per cent from 2021. 

But he added that Greece could achieve its primary budget surplus targets without implementing further pension cuts, a position that would be presented to the European Commission before next year's budget is drawn up in October.

The government has already passed legislation to cut pensions next year — a deeply controversial measure in a country where high unemployment means that pensioners are occasionally the primary family earners. It is also a group that has been targeted for cutbacks more than a dozen times since 2010. 

The leftist premier said he would reduce unemployment, reinstate labour rights and increase the minimum wage. He said the state would either reduce or subsidise social security contributions for certain sections of the workforce.

"Today I can look in your eyes and tell each one of you that your insistence and your patience have borne fruit," he said, referring to the eight years of reforms under Greece's bailouts.

Tsipras, who was catapulted to power in January 2015 on promises to end austerity but was later forced to sign up to a new bailout, hopes to boost his sagging poll ratings.

A poll by the Marc agency published in Sunday's Proto Thema newspaper had his Syriza party lagging behind the conservative New Democracy Party by about 10 percentage points. 

Outside the venue where he was speaking, thousands protested against a deal to end a decades-old dispute with neighbouring former yugoslav Republic of Macedonia over the ex-Yugoslav republic's name — a sensitive issue in northern Greece, which has its own region named Macedonia. 

EDINBURGH— Major energy organisation BP is working with the local office of UniHouse, a British education and development consultancy company operating worldwide, to provide scholarships for their local staff to obtain graduate degrees in the UK.
BP is working within the Rumaila Operating Organisation (ROO), an organisation formed between the Basra Oil Company and BP, and initiated by the Ministry of Oil with the State Oil Marketing Organisation and PetroChina as partners, as part of a part of a broader effort to help nationalise Iraq's oil and gas sector.
The recently awarded Scholarship Management Services project is a continuation of services UniHouse has provided since 2015 for BP. BP has previously co-invested millions of dollars in this programme and financed graduate degrees for 27 employees.
Employees are sent to the UK to complete MSc, MA, or PhD programmes, and their spouses and children are able to join them throughout the length of their graduate program.
UniHouse provides the Scholarship Management Services for these programmes, facilitating the process from start to finish, including: applications, visas, English language training, accommodation, and in-country support services.
Students are matched with universities based on their preferences and areas of study, and are able to choose from a wide variety of universities across the UK.
As one alumni of the program states, “Choosing UniHouse is a conscious decision that has been made due to its efficient cooperation, fruitful interaction and modern programs in terms of training, placement and follow up that have helped me to pursue my individual and professional targets.”
Aows Dargazali, MENA Director stated ‘’Programmes such as these encourage the development of local staff within large companies and organisations, and provide great benefits to the community. BP, Ministry of Oil and Basra Oil Company offering selected employees a unique educational opportunity and building the structure for highly educated future motivated managers and leaders’’

BERLIN — Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani said in Berlin on Friday that his country would invest some 10 billion euros ($11.6 billion) in Germany.

"We are announcing Qatar's desire to invest 10 billion euros in the German economy over the coming five years," the Gulf state leader said as he opened a German-Qatari business forum alongside Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Qatar plans to invest in the car, high-tech and banking sectors — three traditional strengths of the German economy.

Business daily Handelsblatt reported that Doha is especially interested in Germany's dense network of small- and medium-sized firms known as the "Mittelstand".

In recent years its German investments in larger industrial or financial firms have often soured, including in the country's troubled largest lender Deutsche Bank.

For more than a year, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt have cut off ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting "terrorist" movements, cosying up to Iran and undermining stability in the region.

The cold shoulder from its neighbours has prompted Qatari leaders to fall back on more distant allies, with Germany now its third-weightiest trading partner after the US and China.

Bilateral trade has more than doubled since 2011, to around 2.8 billion euros.

Also on Friday, Merkel confirmed German plans to build a liquified natural gas (LNG) terminal in Germany.

Qatar is the world's largest exporter of the fuel.

Both capitals also have a common interest in Turkey, with Qatar announcing $15 billion of investments there last month.

Meanwhile, Berlin is bound to Ankara by Germany's millions-strong Turkish diaspora community and an agreement for Turkey to hold back refugees from the Middle East from reaching Europe.

Turkey's lira currency has been weakened recently as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US President Donald Trump engage in a diplomatic face-off with mutual sanctions.