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WASHINGTON — A major tax cut promised by US President Donald Trump was on track for final passage in the few coming days, after two previous holdouts in his Republican Party on Friday said they would vote yes on the legislation.

Republicans in both houses of the US Congress, where they hold majorities, each adopted their own versions of the controversial tax code overhaul since November and were putting the final touches on a bill combining the two plans.

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida had imperiled the legislation this week when he said he would not vote in favour of the sweeping bill unless some changes were made.

Rubio had been demanding a doubling of the child tax credit to $2,000. His spokeswoman confirmed to AFP that Rubio had moved to the "yes" camp after he got an increase in the refundable portion of the credit, which will help lower-income families.

Bob Corker of Tennessee, a fiscal conservative who had been the only Senate Republican to vote against the chamber's initial tax proposal, also said he would vote for the bill, despite reservations over the likelihood that the reforms would substantially increase the national debt.

"I know every bill we consider is imperfect and the question becomes is our country better off with or without this piece of legislation," Corker said in a statement. 

"I think we are better off with it. I realise this is a bet on our country's enterprising spirit, and that is a bet I am willing to make."

 Wall Street records 

Wall Street stocks surged to fresh records following the news that Rubio and Corker were on board with the reform, pushing the long-awaited measure closer to the finish line.

An outline of the compromise text that leaked this week saw the federal corporate tax falling from 35 per cent to 21 per cent — a notch up from the 20 per cent in previous versions — and the maximum income tax rate would drop from 39.6 per cent to 37 per cent.

But the final text, which both chambers will likely vote on, has not been released yet by negotiators amid last-minute haggling.

Republicans hold a 52-48 majority in the Senate, and could have only afforded two defectors, with Vice President Mike Pence casting a deciding vote in case of a deadlock. 

As for Democrats, none of them supports the measure.

Trump has promised Americans that the sweeping reform would pass before Christmas, so that it would take effect from the beginning of 2018. 

Walt Disney Co. has struck a deal to buy film, television and international businesses from Rupert Murdoch's Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. for $52.4 billion in stock, giving the world's largest entertainment company an arsenal of shows and movies to combat growing digital rivals Netflix Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.

The deal brings to a close more than half a century of expansion by Murdoch, 86, who turned a single Australian newspaper he inherited from his father at the age of 21 into one of the world's most important global news and film conglomerates. The new, slimmed down Fox, will focus on TV news and sport. 

Shares of Fox, which have surged more than 30 per cent since talk of the deal surfaced in early November, climbed 3.2 per cent in early trading. Disney shares edged slightly higher after the company said it expects to buy up to $20 billion of its own shares to offset dilution from the all-stock deal.

Fox stockholders will receive 0.2745 Disney shares for each share held and will end up owning about a quarter of Disney. 

Under the deal, expected to close in 12 to 18 months, Disney acquires 21st Century Fox's film and television studios, its cable entertainment networks and international TV businesses. 

The Fox deal brings marquee franchises like "Avatar" and "The Simpsons" inside the Mouse House, on top of Iger's previous purchases, including Pixar Animation Studios, Marvel Entertainment and "Star Wars" producer Lucasfilm.

Disney's global footprint also expands with the acquisition of Fox's international satellite assets, including Star TV network in India and a stake in European pay-TV provider Sky Plc . 

The new pipeline of shows and movies will help Disney battle technology companies spending billions of dollars on programming shown online that is siphoning audiences away from traditional TV networks.

"The deal illustrates the huge strategic challenge traditional media companies face and how they need to reinvent their business models to compete with digital, online competitors such as Netflix, Google and Amazon," said Nick Jones, partner and head of technology at Cavendish Corporate Finance. "[It] helps Disney dramatically reduce its reliance on traditional television, a business that has declined over the last two decades."

 'New' Fox 

Immediately before the acquisition, Fox will separate the Fox Broadcasting network and stations, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, its sports channels FS1, FS2 and the Big Ten Network, into a newly listed company that it will spin off to its shareholders.

"This will be a growth company, centred on live news and sports brands and the strength of the Fox network," 21st Century Fox Executive Chairman Murdoch told investors. He said Fox was not retreating, rather "pivoting at a pivotal moment".

Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger, 66, will extend his tenure through the end of 2021 to oversee the integration of the Fox businesses. He has already postponed his retirement from Disney three times, saying in March he was committed to leaving the company in July 2019. If Iger sees out his new term, that would rule out a presidential bid in 2020, which had been the subject of some speculation. 

"This gives us the ability to marry the great content of Fox with the great content of Disney, it gives us a much larger international footprint, and it enables us to use cutting-edge technology to reach consumers in far more compelling ways," Iger told ABC's "Good Morning America" programme.

Iger said new technology would be necessary to meet the demands of viewers who want to access content anytime. Direct-to-consumer service is a top company priority, he added.

Disney has been struggling to bolster its TV business as cancellation of cable subscriptions is pressuring its biggest network, sports channel ESPN. 

The company plans to launch its own streaming service in 2019, a calculated gamble that it can generate more profit in the long run from its own subscription service rather than renting out movies to services like Netflix.

It is not clear who will head the new Fox. Iger said current Fox CEO James Murdoch, Rupert's younger son, will help with the transition and that the two will discuss whether he will have a longer-term role at Disney. 

Sky's future

Through Fox's stake in the Hulu video streaming service, Disney would assume majority control of one of Netflix's main competitors. Hulu is also partially owned by Comcast Corp and Time Warner Inc.

It is unclear whether the deal will meet the same resistance in Washington that AT&T Corp's bid to acquire Time Warner Inc has met.

A majority of antitrust experts contacted by Reuters said the deal would likely win approval from US antitrust authorities, although the US Department of Justice may require asset sales or conditions, they said. 

Disney will also assume about $13.7 billion of Fox's net debt in the deal.

Fox also said it remained committed to buying the 61 per cent of Sky it does not already own and expects to win regulatory approval from Britain and to close the deal by the end of June, 2018.

Britain's Takeover Panel said Disney had informed the watchdog that should it only buy 39 per cent of the company — if Murdoch fails to buy the rest of Sky — it did not think it should be forced to make a full bid for the company. The statement prompted Sky's stock to fall by 1 per cent.

In Britain, any investor acquiring 30 per cent of a listed company is automatically forced to make a bid for the rest of the stock. The Takeover Panel said it would seek the opinions of Sky's independent directors before making a decision. 

NEW YORK — Wall Street stocks rose early on Wednesday ahead of an expected Federal Reserve (Fed) interest rate increase and amid signs Republican congressional leaders were nearing a deal on tax cuts.

The Fed was widely expected to raise the benchmark interest rate and outgoing Fed Chair Janet Yellen was expected to offer clues on the pace future rate hikes at a news conference. Fresh data on Wednesday showed inflation rose above the Fed's target, but that was driven by higher gasoline prices, while other sectors showed signs of weakness.

About 20 minutes into trading the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 24,558.71, up 0.2 per cent.

The broad-based S&P 500 also gained 0.2 per cent to 2,669.13, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.4 per cent to 6,892.60.

The Dow and S&P 500 closed at records on Tuesday.

Analysts are watching Washington for updates on how congressional Republican leaders are doing in efforts to meld the House and Senate tax cut bills into a final version that President Donald Trump can sign. 

Republicans are expected to accelerate those efforts after Tuesday's upset election victory in Alabama cut into the party's narrow majority in the Senate. Democrat Doug Jones is expected to be seated in early January, giving an impetus for Republicans to get tax bill to Trump before the end of the year.

The Dow's biggest mover was Caterpillar, which jumped 1.8 per cent following an update that showed solid gains in worldwide machine sales in each of the last three months. November sales rose 26 per cent compared with the year-ago period.

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia decided on Tuesday to hike energy prices while paying compensation to Saudi families, as the world's top oil exporter seeks new revenue sources.

The cabinet, in a session chaired by King Salman, approved plans to "reform" electricity and fuel charges, as part of measures to counter lower oil prices on the world market, the official news agency SPA reported.

In a first, the government also approved cash transfers to some 3.7 million Saudi families, covering 13 million of the country's 20-million population, to compensate them for the hike.

Expatriates working and living in the kingdom have been excluded from the cash transfer programme which will start next week.

The electricity authority has announced minor price increases from early next year.

The energy ministry said new prices for petrol, diesel and aviation fuel will be applied in the first quarter of 2018, but did not give details on the planned increases.

The hikes are the second wave of Saudi subsidy cuts.

The kingdom, which pumps around 10 million barrels per day of oil, has embarked on a series of reforms and price hikes since oil revenues plummeted in mid-2014.

Saudi Arabia has posted huge deficits in the past three fiscal years, totalling over $200 billion, and has withdrawn another $250 billion from its fiscal reserves.

It has also borrowed tens of billions of dollars from the domestic and international markets to finance the shortfall.

The kingdom plans to introduce VAT, at a rate of 5 per cent, for the first time at the start of 2018.

LONDON — Most Asian and European stock markets rose on Monday, tracking fresh records on Wall Street after forecast-busting US jobs data, as investors eyed this week's upcoming Federal Reserve [Fed] meeting.

Bitcoin continued its stratospheric rise after the virtual money began trading on its first major global exchange over the weekend.

European bourses enjoyed slender gains after a broadly positive Asian session, with London up 0.7 per cent, while Frankfurt added 0.2 per cent and Paris advanced 0.1 per cent in midday deals.

Eyes are now on the Fed's last monetary policy meeting of the year, which winds down on Wednesday.

Most analysts expect the central bank's policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) to lift interest rates again, but they will be more interested in what boss Janet Yellen has to say about the timetable for future increases.

"The Fed will no doubt provide markets with a central focus this week, where the FOMC are expected to come good on their promise of three rate hikes for 2017," said IG analyst Joshua Mahony.

"With market expectations for 2018 somewhat up in the air, there is a feeling that investors are hungry for clues as to where things will stand in 12-months' time."

US data on Friday showed 228,000 jobs were created last month and unemployment held at a 17-year low, reinforcing the view that the world's number one economy is in a healthy state.

The reading — mixed with news of a breakthrough in Brexit talks, strong Chinese indicators and aprogress in US tax reform — helped fire a rally in US equities before the weekend, driving the Dow and S&P 500 to all-time highs.

Adding to the upbeat sentiment was an agreement by US lawmakers to keep funding the government to avert a painful shutdown.

The advance helped staunch a sell-off that has hit global markets for most of this month as traders wound down and took profits before the end of the year.

In Asia on Monday, Tokyo ended 0.6-per cent higher as the Nikkei rose for a third straight day, while Hong Kong surged more than 1 per cent and Shanghai added 1 per cent as Chinese traders brushed off lower than expected inflation figures.

Bitcoin surges 

Bitcoin catapulted past $18,000 on a wave of fresh optimism, despite persistent bubble fears.

The unit remains in focus after ticking off multiple records since the start of December.

Trading of the controversial digital currency on a futures contract began on Sunday on the Chicago board options exchange (Cboe) at a price of $15,000.

The move is a milestone for bitcoin, which has previously only been tradable on unregulated exchanges.

Bitcoin was trading at $17,600 per unit for the futures contract expiring on January 17, exceeding the highest value it had reached on alternative non-regulated internet platforms, and even climbed past $18,000.

"The level of volatility the introduction will have is uncertain," said Shane Chanel, equities and derivatives adviser at ASR Wealth Advisers.

KUWAIT CITY — Kuwaiti Oil Minister Essam Al Marzouk on Sunday said the international crude market is expected to rebalance in the fourth quarter of 2018 after producers extended a deal to curb output.

Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting for the oil ministers of the Organisation of the Arab Petroleum Countries (OAPEC), Marzouk also said oil prices would maintain at “current levels”.

Producers from OPEC and non-OPEC members agreed on November 30 to extend a deal to cut output by 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) until the end of 2018.

The producing nations aim to reduce an oil supply glut that sent crude prices crashing.

As a result of the curbs, oil prices have doubled since dipping under $30 a barrel in early 2016.

Marzouk said OPEC would hold a crucial meeting in June to “review the production cuts deal... and the possibility of preparing a study to exit the output curbs”.

A Kuwaiti-chaired ministerial committee monitoring the market and compliance of the cuts would hold meetings every two months to assess the situation, the minister said.

Iraqi Oil Minister Jabbar Al Luaibi has said he expects oil prices to remain around $60 a barrel.

He said that Iraq’s production would hit five million bpd in the first quarter of next year.

PARIS () — France’s finance minister unveiled on Friday a decree that would make it the first nation in Europe to allow the trading of some non-listed securities using the blockchain technology that underpins cryptocurrencies.

The decree, presented by Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire to the government, should enter into force by July at the latest and will apply to non-listed financial securities that EU law doesn’t require to be traded via an intermediary, a market worth potentially more than 3 trillion euros.

In particular this includes shares in mutual and hedge funds, negotiable debt securities, and unlisted stocks and bonds.

Blockchain technology debuted in 2009 as a public, encrypted ledger for the digital currency bitcoin.

It has drawn interest from the established financial sector in recent years because of its potential for securely tracking transactions, allowing anyone to get an accurate accounting of money, property or other assets.

Blockchains record transactions as “blocks” that are updated in real time on a digitised ledger that can be read from anywhere and does not have a central recordkeeper. It is considered to be secure as all changes should be made simultaneously among all users.

“The use of this technology will permit fintechs and other financial actors to offer new solutions for exchanging securities, solutions that are faster, cheaper, more transparent and more secure,” Le Maire told journalists.

Fintechs are startups trying to shake up the financial sector via the introduction of new technology.

Le Maire said the decree “is a way of telling firms ‘come do live tests here, in a secure legal framework’”.

Becoming the first in Europe to authorise blockchain trading will increase the attractiveness of Paris for fintechs and encourage innovation, he added.

BEIJING — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday warned of brewing risks in China's banking system as it found dozens of crucial lenders needed to beef up their defences against possible financial crises.

The IMF report comes a day after regulators in Beijing drafted new rules to strengthen bank funding, and follows a number of alerts about a ballooning debt problem in the world's number-two economy.

Near the top of the list in the IMF study on the stability of China's financial system is the need for banks to increase their capital to ward off risks from mounting debt.

China has largely relied on debt-fuelled investment and exports to drive its tremendous economic growth, but the fund said this model has reached its limits.

Part of the problem lies in high growth targets, the IMF said, which incentivise local governments to extend credit and protect failing companies.

"We recommend the authorities to de-emphasise the GDP [growth]," Ratna Sahay, deputy director of the IMF's Monetary and Capital Markets Department, said during a news conference.
China should "incite local governments to strengthen supervision on risks", she added.

Abundant credit allows local governments to hit high growth figures but now each extra dollar of debt is producing diminishing returns.

The ballooning debt — estimated at 234 per cent of gross domestic product by the IMF — adds financial risk and may weigh on China's future economic growth.

"Credit growth is an important indicator of future financial distress, because lending standards often fall in the rush to make more loans," IMF experts warned in a blog post. 

Zombie companies 

The IMF’s experts carried out stress tests on dozens of banks. 

China's big four banks had adequate capital but "large, medium, and city-commercial banks appear vulnerable", the IMF said.

It added that 27 out of the 33 banks tested — accounting for three-quarters of China's banking system assets — were "undercapitalised relative to at least one of the minimum requirements".

While the country's banking system meets the requirements of global banking rules known as Basel III, "current circumstances warrant a targeted increase in capital", the report said.

"This would create a buffer to absorb potential losses that can be expected during the economic transition as credit is tightened and implicit guarantees are removed."

 China's central bank said it disagreed with "a few descriptions and views" in the report.

"The descriptions of the stress testing did not fully reflect the outcomes of the test," the People's Bank of China said on its website.

The China Banking Regulatory Commission on Wednesday released a draft of fresh rules to tackle related issues.

The latest regulations call for new indicators to monitor commercial banks' liquidity and set related requirements. 

They will "strengthen management of liquidity risk for banks and protect the safety and stability of the banking system", the commission said.

In some cases local banks face pressure to lend to politically important companies, as local governments aim to maintain high employment even if that means cash-bleeding enterprises continue to operate.

These loss-making firms, often state-owned, have come to be known as zombie companies, and banks and investors fund many of them as if they will not be allowed to fail.

"Implicit guarantees and the government's desire to support growth encourage these firms to invest excessively, raising already-high leverage while weakening performance on profitability and debt service capacity," the fund wrote in a recent report.

In October, it warned China's dependence on debt was growing at a "dangerous pace" and needed to act to avert a crisis.

That came weeks after the Bank for International Settlements — dubbed the bank of central banks — said the banking sector could be facing an imminent blowout, raising worries about its effect on the world economy.

The IMF's latest assessment said financial engineering helped banks obscure the potential losses.

"Implicit guarantees to SOEs [state-owned enterprises] need to be removed carefully and gradually," Sahay said. 

"It would be wise to have a high-level committee to monitor the risks across all sectors."

PARIS — Several countries protested on Wednesday against their inclusion on a European Union tax haven blacklist, with some calling the move “unfair” and others accusing Brussels of “meddling”.

The EU on Tuesday unveiled a list containing 17 non-EU states a year on from the leak of the “Panama Papers” — a massive amount of data from a prominent Panamanian law firm showing how the world’s wealthy stash assets.

South Korea, Macau, Mongolia, Tunisia and Namibia on Wednesday joined Panama in condemning the EU move.

Panama protested late Tuesday by recalling its ambassador to the EU for consultations with President Juan Carlos Varela, slamming the measure as “unfair” while economy and finance minister, Dulcidio De La Guardia, tweeted his rejection of an “arbitrary and discriminatory” decision.

South Korea’s finance ministry also reacted angrily after it too was placed on the list.

“The EU said that a number of tax subsidy measures offered by the South Korean government on foreign investments, including those at our free economic zone, could be considered ‘preferential tax regime’.”

“But the decision by the EU not only runs counter to international standards including the OECD standards, as well as international agreement but also may infringe upon tax sovereignty,” said the ministry.

The ministry insisted that South Korea had “demonstrated a high level of transparency in taxation operations” hence would “actively respond” to the EU move.

Misunderstanding 

Mongolia’s finance minister dubbed his country’s inclusion as a “misunderstanding”.

“This is a misunderstanding. We are not on an offshore list,” Khurelbaatar Chimed told AFP. 

He said his country had only been named because “it is difficult to have tax-related information and data” after Brussels contacted his ministry in June for information about European residents with bank accounts or investments there. 

“The EU decision showed us that we need to... build a transparent tax system and to connect with other countries.” Gambling hub Macau also objected to its designation, saying the decision is “one-sided and does not reflect the real situation”.

A government statement said the semi-autonomous southern Chinese city had been “actively cooperating” with the international community including the EU to combat cross-border tax evasion.

 ‘Meddling’ 

A Tunisian official told AFP the country was included notably over tax advantages for exporting companies based on its territory.

The official stressed that “Tunisia refuses all meddling in its fiscal policy” and stressed its determination to maintain the advantageous tax regime for such firms.

Tunisia’s bosses federation Utica expressed “surprise” at the EU decision it termed “dangerous” while urging dialogue with Brussels to resolve the issue.

Namibia, meanwhile, called its inclusion on the list “unjust, prejudiced, partisan, discriminatory and biased”, according to Finance Minister Calle Schlettwein.

“Namibia is clearly, by any objective criteria, not a tax haven,” he said.

No sanctions are in the offing for those countries named and shamed, though some EU members, including France, want tough measures including possibly an exclusion from World Bank or EU funding.