We need to find a fairer way of providing Goods and Services to the rest of the people on Earth.Cryptocurrencies and/or Gold Standard of money....maybe the answer to fight hyperinflation caused by too much printing of paper/fiat currencies by Governments and Central Banks all over the World. (https://nomorefiatmoneyplease.blogspot.com)
The EU's competition regulator launched a probe on Friday into the proposed sale of Telefonica's O2 unit to a Hong Kong investment company that would create Britain's biggest mobile operator.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
[BRUSSELS] The EU's competition regulator launched a probe on Friday into the proposed sale of Telefonica's O2 unit to a Hong Kong investment company that would create Britain's biggest mobile operator.
The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, said it had concerns that the sale of O2 to CK Hutchinson "could lead to higher prices, less choice and reduced innovation for customers of mobile telecommunications services in the UK." O2 is Britain's second biggest mobile operator, while the Hutchinson-owned Three UK is the fourth largest.
The proposed merger is the latest example of a national market in Europe potentially being reduced from four major players to three.
Last month, Nordic telecoms Telenor and TeliaSonora abandoned merger plans in Denmark faced with the concerns of EU regulators about the contraction of the Danish market.
See who is talking about TELEFONICA DE
Last 30 days:
70
3
32
30 days avg
HOT COMPANIES
Barclays +346% messages
RBS +151%
IAG Airlines +88%
BG Group +47%
Centrica +35%
ARM Holdings +29%
Meggitt +22%
Anglo American +20%
GlaxoSmithKline +20%
Smith & Nephew +20%
RBS +151%
IAG Airlines +88%
BG Group +47%
Centrica +35%
ARM Holdings +29%
Meggitt +22%
Anglo American +20%
GlaxoSmithKline +20%
Smith & Nephew +20%
Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager has expressed concern that cutting a market down to three operators can have negative consequences for consumers.
"With this investigation we want to ensure that consumers in the UK do not pay higher prices or face less choice as a result of this proposed takeover," Ms Vestager said in a statement.
The commission now has until March 16 2016, to take a decision on the transaction, which can include a demand for concessions to alleviate concerns.
Six children among 15 killed in Philippine market fire
Fifteen people including six children perished on Saturday after they were trapped in a burning market in the southern Philippines, police said.
PHOTO: REUTERS
[MANILA] Fifteen people including six children perished on Saturday after they were trapped in a burning market in the southern Philippines, police said.
The victims were sleeping in the padlocked building when the fire, believed to have been triggered by faulty electrical wiring, broke out before dawn, Chief Inspector Joel Tuttuh told AFP .
Saudi finance ministry says S&P downgrade unjustified
The offices of the King Abdullah financial district are seen on the horizon in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Thursday, Oct 14, 2010.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
[DUBAI] A decision by Standard & Poor's to cut Saudi Arabia's credit ratings is unjustified and ignores the strength of the kingdom's economy, the Saudi finance ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
"The Ministry of Finance strongly disagrees with S&P's approach to ratings management in this particular instance. We consider S&P's credit assessment reactionary, driven by fluid market factors rather than changes in the fundamentals of the sovereign," the ministry said in a statement carried by official news agency SPA.
"We believe that S&P's decision was not only rushed but analytically inconsistent with the idea of ratings being a medium-term tool meant to look through the cycle while assessing creditworthiness."
The ministry added that the kingdom's economy remained fundamentally strong, with the government's net assets exceeding 100 per cent of gross domestic product, backed by large foreign exchange reserves.
The Saudi economy is continuing to grow faster than similar economies, while the government has announced "a thorough fiscal consolidation plan" to avoid running down its financial reserves too rapidly, the ministry added.
On Friday, Standard & Poor's cut its rating on Saudi Arabia's long-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit to 'A plus/A-1' from 'AA minus/A-1 plus,' citing a "pronounced negative swing" in the kingdom's fiscal balance due to low oil prices.
TPP to play key role in helping Japan meet GDP target: Nikkei
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed in September to raise gross domestic product by nearly a quarter to 600 trillion Japanese yen (S$7 trillion), though he gave no timeframe.
PHOTO: AFP
[TOKYO] The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will play a key role in helping the Japanese government to boost economic growth, the Nikkei business daily reported on Saturday.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed in September to raise gross domestic product by nearly a quarter to 600 trillion Japanese yen (S$7 trillion), though he gave no timeframe.
A draft by the government's top economic advisory panel, the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy, suggests the TPP free-trade deal, which still needs ratification, will help boost the nation's potential growth rate to around 2 per cent from current levels of below 1 per cent, the Nikkei said.
The draft says 25 trillion yen will likely come from increased exports thanks to TPP, which will also help orders for infrastructure work such as bullet trains to grow 30 trillion yen from 10 trillion yen in 2010, the Nikkei said.
Exports of farm and fishery products could grow over 2 trillion yen from around 600 billion yen last year, it said.
The draft also says capital spending will probably grow by more than 10 trillion yen through separate steps such as cutting the effective corporate tax rate below 30 per cent at an early date and scrapping regulations, the Nikkei report said.
Consumer spending, which accounts for 60 per cent of GDP, will rise about 60 trillion yen a year by raising the minimum wage 20 per cent in five years, according to the report.
Foreign tourists' spending will likely grow between 7 trillion yen and 10 trillion yen annually from 2 trillion yen in 2014, according to the Nikkei.
Private sector members of the council will present the draft at a meeting on Wednesday, it said. But some see the GDP target as unrealistic because it implies levels of growth not seen in the past two decades.
China mulls allowing individuals to invest more abroad
A Chinese national flag flutters outside the headquarters of the People's Bank of China, the Chinese central bank, in Beijing, in this Apr 3, 2014 file photo.
PHOTO: REUTERS
[SHANGHAI] China is considering relaxing limits to allow individuals to invest overseas in stocks and property, the central bank said, which would potentially unleash a flood of money if the government loosens strict capital controls.
The country keeps a tight grip on outflows of funds due to worries capital flight could disrupt the economy and weaken its control.
The People's Bank of China said it was studying letting "qualified" individuals invest abroad in industry, property and financial products through the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, according to a statement released Friday.
"These policy initiatives are another important step toward complete capital account liberalisation," Zhou Hao, a senior economist at Commerzbank in Singapore, was quoted by Bloomberg News as saying.
China's premier free trade zone in the commercial hub Shanghai was set up in 2013 with the promise of a range of financial reforms, but foreign investors especially have expressed disappointment over the pace of change.
Chinese citizens are now only allowed to convert the equivalent of US$50,000 from the domestic yuan currency under an annual quota, state media said, which creates a limit on overseas investment though many evade the barrier.
Individuals are allowed to legally invest in stocks in Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, through a special link with accounts on the Shanghai stock exchange.
The central bank announcement, which gave no timetable for the move, followed a top-level Communist Party meeting which discussed the country's development plans for the next five years.
China also wants the yuan to join the International Monetary Fund's "special drawing rights" basket of currencies and is pursuing reforms to help gain the coveted status.
In August, the central bank suddenly devalued the yuan, allowing it to lose nearly five percent of its value over a week, in a move which raised alarm over the state of the world's second largest economy.
Employees working at the wafer production line at REC Solar ASA manufacturing facility in Tuas on Sept 5,2014.
ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG
Singapore
BOTH manufacturing and services companies in Singapore have turned pessimistic about their short-term business prospects, official surveys released on Friday show, with soft global economic conditions weighing on sentiment.
A higher proportion of companies in the two sectors now see a reduction in business activity over the next six months ending March 2016 - a reversal from the optimism seen just a quarter ago.
The Economic Development Board (EDB) said that manufacturers' bearish leanings are mostly due to the slowdown in China, as well as weak oil and commodity prices.
Of the more than 400 manufacturers that EDB polled in September and October, 26 per cent expect the business climate to weaken in the next six months - heavily outnumbering the 10 per cent who expect it to improve. The rest see no change.
That translates into a negative net weighted balance of 16 per cent, and marks a significant deterioration from the positive net weighted balance of 2 per cent seen a quarter earlier.
The net weighted balance (the difference between the proportion of optimistic and pessimistic firms) is a widely used measure of the nature and extent of business sentiment.
EDB said the softening in business expectations is broadbased, with most clusters (excluding the biomedical manufacturing cluster) foreseeing a weaker business outlook in the six months ahead.
"The chemicals and the electronics clusters are the most pessimistic, with a net weighted 22 and 38 per cent of firms expecting a worsening situation in the next two quarters, respectively. Firms in both clusters are concerned about the slowdown in China's economy. In addition, the chemicals cluster's outlook is weighed down by excess supply of refined petroleum and chemical products in the region," noted EDB.
While services firms were, on the whole, also more bearish about their prospects for the next six months, sentiment was mixed within the sector.
Out of the 1,500 services firms polled by the Department of Statistics (DOS), a weighted 21 per cent of firms foresee a reduction in business activity, while a weighted 15 per cent anticipate a favourable business outlook. The rest expect no change.
This equates to a negative net weighted balance of 6 per cent - a slippage from the positive net weighted balance of 2 per cent seen a quarter ago.
Firms were polled between September and mid-October.
Emphasising the varying nature of sentiment within the sector, DOS said: "The accommodation, food & beverage services and retail trade industries were among those which foresee favourable business conditions for October 2015-March 2016 compared to April-September 2015. On the other hand, industries such as real estate, wholesale trade and transport & storage services are less optimistic in their outlook."
Indeed, with the upcoming year-end holidays and festive season, domestic-oriented clusters such as the accommodation industry (+40 per cent), food & beverage services industry (+36 per cent), and retail trade industry (+34 per cent) are particularly upbeat about their business prospects.
But more outward-facing industries, like wholesale trade (-16 per cent) and transport & storage (-13 per cent), expect less favourable business conditions. Real estate firms (-22 per cent) anticipate deteriorating conditions, too - especially since they see the uncertain economic outlook leading to buyers holding back on property purchases.
