Morgan Stanley to cut 1,200 jobs: source

Morgan Stanley plans to cut 1,200 jobs, including about 470 bankers and traders in its fixed-income trading division, a person familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. 

PHOTO: REUTERS

DEC 9, 20157:23 AM

[NEW YORK] Morgan Stanley plans to cut 1,200 jobs, including about 470 bankers and traders in its fixed-income trading division, a person familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

The cuts hit 25 per cent of the staff of the division that trades corporate bonds, treasury bonds, commodities and foreign exchange, with the other 730 affected employees working in support functions, this person told AFP.

The total jobs to be eliminated represent a bit more than two per cent of Morgan Stanley's 56,000 workers.

Morgan Stanley plans a US$150 million charge in the fourth quarter in connection with the restructuring, a spokesman for the US bank said.

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In an internal memo to staff reviewed by AFP, Morgan Stanley executives Colm Kelleher and Ted Pick said the job cuts "will result in businesses that are critically and credibly sized for the current market, while maintaining the ability to deliver for our clients across products and geographies."

Shares of Morgan Stanley fell 1.9 per cent to US$34.03 in midday trade.

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Brazil's Rousseff loses ground in impeachment battle

      

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was left scrambling on Tuesday to avoid impeachment after a key coalition ally indicated he may desert her and opponents won control of the congressional commission examining her case. 

PHOTO: AFP

DEC 9, 20156:45 AM

[BRASÍLIA] Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was left scrambling on Tuesday to avoid impeachment after a key coalition ally indicated he may desert her and opponents won control of the congressional commission examining her case.

Deputies either in open opposition or part of the ruling coalition yet favouring impeachment took 39 of 65 seats on the newly formed commission after a chaotic voting process that erupted in shouting and pushing.

This did not bode well for the moderate leftist president, who is fighting to survive just one year into her second term at the head of the world's seventh biggest economy.

The commission is charged with studying the case, then making a recommendation to the lower house of Congress, where a two-thirds vote would be required to put Ms Rousseff on trial in the upper house and possibly force her from office.

Brazil's first female president is accused of illegal budgeting maneuvers, but says the practices were long accepted by previous governments. She calls the attempt to bring her down a "coup." On paper, Ms Rousseff has the numbers between her Workers' Party and main coalition ally PMDB to survive.

However, those calculations were thrown into doubt with the publication overnight of an angry letter from PMDB leader and Vice-President Michel Temer in which he all but announced their political divorce.

Mr Temer told the president that during her first term in office starting in 2011 he was reduced to a "decorative" role and that she has shown an "absolute lack of confidence" in him. If Ms Rousseff is forced from office, Mr Temer would become interim president.

The turmoil has alarmed markets, already bruised by recession and a huge corruption scandal centered on state oil company Petrobras.

Andre Perfeito, chief economist at Gradual Investimentos, said the "climate of war" suggested that "the impeachment process... will drag out for longer than initially thought."

Although Ms Rousseff has so far given no public reaction, Globo newspaper columnist Gerson Camarotti said "the government's interpretation is that Temer's letter was a declaration of a split."

Mr Temer's office insisted, however, he was not breaking with the government but rather "defending the reunification of the country," according to Globo.

As recently as Monday, the president said she believed Mr Temer would stand by her.

The unrest is stirring passions across the country of 204 million people, where the Workers' Party has been in power since 2003 with the help of its often uncomfortable partner the centrist PMDB.

In Congress, dozens of deputies nearly came to blows as they argued over procedures for voting the members of the commission. Some danced and waved a Brazilian flag, others shook their fists in opponents' faces, and Rousseff loyalists reportedly broke voting urns in their anger.

Both sides of the debate have promised to take to the streets in an attempt to pressure Congress during what could potentially turn into months of intrigue if the impeachment procedure goes the full course.

In Rio de Janeiro, several hundred trade union activists marched in support of Ms Rousseff late Tuesday, at one point letting off a deafening barrage of crackers that spewed orange smoke into a central avenue. Opposition groups have announced nationwide rallies for this Sunday.

Ms Rousseff has approval ratings of about 10 per cent and is widely blamed for a devastating economic slump.

Brazil, host of the 2016 Rio Olympics, is in a deep gloom, with GDP down 4.5 per cent in the third quarter year-on-year, and the national currency down a third against the dollar this year.

But she came out swinging last week after months of impeachment rhetoric in Congress ended with the launching of the process. She called on Congress to speed up proceedings and to scrap the annual holidays that run from December 23 through to February when the carnivals are held.

Also tainting Ms Rousseff is the Petrobras scandal, which has sucked in leading politicians and business figures, exposing the depth of corruption at the highest levels in Brazil.

Ironically, Ms Rousseff herself has not been linked to any Petrobras-related crimes, while the chief architect of the impeachment drive, the PMDB's Eduardo Cunha, who is house speaker, is accused of taking millions of dollars in bribes.

AFP

Russia has black box of downed jet, will analyse with foreign experts: Putin

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (right) shows Russian President Vladimir Putin a flight recorder from the Russian SU-24 bomber that was downed near the Syria-Turkey border on Nov 24 by a Turkish F-16 fighter jet, during their meeting in the Novo-Ogariovo residence outside of Moscow, Russia on Dec 8, 2015. 

PHOTO: EPA

DEC 9, 20156:56 AM

[MOSCOW] Moscow has recovered the black box of the Russian jet downed by Turkey last month and will analyse it with foreign specialists, President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday.

"I ask you not to open it for the time being," Mr Putin told defence minister Sergei Shoigu at a meeting during which he was presented with the black box, Russian news agencies reported.

"Open it only together with foreign experts, carefully determine everything." Moscow and Ankara are locked in their worst crisis since the Cold War over the November 24 downing of a Russian jet on Turkey's border with Syria, sparking fury and economic sanctions from the Kremlin.

Mr Shoigu said the territory where the Russian jet was shot down had been "liberated" by Syrian special forces, allowing them to recover the black box from what had been a rebel-held area.

Mr Putin said an analysis of the black box would help determine the downed jet's flight path and position, which Ankara and Moscow have furiously disagreed upon.

Turkey says the Russian jet strayed into its airspace and ignored repeated warnings, while Moscow insists it did not cross from Syria and has accused Ankara of a planned provocation.

But Mr Putin warned that no black box findings could assuage Moscow's anger at Ankara over the incident.

"Whatever we learn (from the black box) won't change our attitude to what the Turkish authorities did," the Russian strongman said.

"We used to treat Turkey not only as our friend but also as an ally in the fight against terrorism, and nobody expected this low, treacherous stab in the back."

AFP

IMF changes rule on debt as Ukraine faces Russia deadline

The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday changed a rule that would have blocked its financial aid programme to Ukraine in the event the country defaulted on debt owed to Russia. 

PHOTO: AFP

DEC 9, 20157:06 AM

[WASHINGTON] The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday changed a rule that would have blocked its financial aid programme to Ukraine in the event the country defaulted on debt owed to Russia.

The move - which drew an angry response from Moscow - comes as cash-short Ukraine faces a looming year-end deadline to repay Russia for a US$3 billion loan.

Until now, the IMF could not provide financing to a member country that was in arrears to an official creditor, such as a government.

The rule was particularly problematic in the case of Ukraine, which received a US$17.5 billion financial rescue from the IMF in March.

"The IMF's executive board met today and agreed to change the current policy on non-toleration of arrears to official creditors," said IMF spokesman Gerry Rice in a brief statement.

"We will provide details on the scope and rationale for this policy change in the next day or so." Moscow blasted the IMF decision, which could in theory allow Ukraine to miss debt payments to Russia without impacting its bail-out program.

"The decision to change the rules looks hasty and biased. This is done only at the expense of Russia and to legalize the possibility of Kiev not paying its debts," said Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov.

"In these conditions, we have no other choice but use all possibilities to defend our rights as a creditor. We are preparing documents for a court appeal," he said.

Moscow and Kiev are locked in a dispute over US$3 billion that Russia loaned the Kremlin-backed president Viktor Yanukovych in 2013, before pro-European protests led to his ouster.

The Russian government earlier Tuesday said it had made its last offer to Ukraine on restructuring its debt.

"Russia put forward an offer for restructuring... unfortunately our interlocutors have not accepted this initiative," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. "There will be no other proposals by Russia."

Russian President Vladimir Putin last month said Moscow was ready to spread out the repayment over three years after initially demanding that Kiev make good on the full amount by late December.

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'Go to hell': Trump under fire over Muslim ban call

A global firestorm erupted on Tuesday over Donald Trump's call to bar Muslims from entering the United States, as the White House branded him a "carnival barker" unfit to lead and his campaign rivals rounded on him. 

PHOTO: REUTERS

DEC 9, 20157:14 AM

[WASHINGTON] A global firestorm erupted on Tuesday over Donald Trump's call to bar Muslims from entering the United States, as the White House branded him a "carnival barker" unfit to lead and his campaign rivals rounded on him.

Mr Trump, the leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, made the provocative remarks - just his latest on a range of topics on the campaign trail - after last week's shooting that left 14 dead in California by a Muslim couple said to have been radicalised.

In a rare primetime speech to the nation from the Oval Office on Sunday, President Barack Obama called the attack in San Bernardino an "act of terrorism," but stressed that it was not "a war between America and Islam."

Less than 24 hours later, Mr Trump's bombastic bid for the White House plumbed what critics called new depths and triggered calls for him to be barred from taking power after he urged a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on."

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The 69-year-old billionaire real estate mogul was unrepentant on Tuesday, even as criticism rained down from the White House and as far afield as London and Cairo, where Egypt's official religious body Dar al-Iftaa denounced his comments as "extremist and racist."

The strongest reaction came in the United States, where White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Mr Trump's proposals were unconstitutional and challenged the mogul's fellow Republicans to denounce him.

Mr Earnest was scathing and deeply personal, painting Mr Trump - who has never held elected office - as a "carnival barker" with "fake hair." "What Donald Trump said yesterday disqualifies him from serving as president," concluded Earnest, describing the remarks as "offensive" and "toxic."

Mr Trump, for whom the comments were extreme even by his populist standards, was similarly lambasted by leading Republicans and campaign rivals.

Mr Trump was the "ISIL man of the year," thundered Senator Lindsey Graham, referring to his belief that Mr Trump was succeeding only in fueling the radical ideology of the Islamic State group.

"Do you know how you win this war? You side with people in the faith who reject this ideology, which is 99 per cent," Mr Graham told CNN, before invoking Mr Trump's campaign slogan - "make America great again." "And do you know how you make America great again?" asked Mr Graham, who is lagging badly in the nomination race.

"Tell Donald Trump to go to hell."

Other Republican contenders including Marco Rubio, John Kasich, Chris Christie and Jeb Bush, as well as Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan, also swiftly rejected Mr Trump's proposal.

Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential frontrunner, said Mr Trump was playing "right into the hands of terrorists" and Rick Kriseman, the Democratic mayor of Saint Petersburg, Florida, tweeted: "I am hereby barring Donald Trump from entering St. Petersburg until we fully understand the dangerous threat posed by all Trumps."

Muslim leaders in the United States also hit out.

Sohaib Sultan, Muslim Life Coordinator and Chaplain at Princeton University, drew parallels between Trump and the radical ideology of the Islamic State group.

"ISIS is to Islam what Donald Trump is to American values: a complete distortion of everything that we as a country and a society stand for." But Sultan also lambasted other Republicans.

"I know a lot of Republican candidates are jumping on Mr Trump about his latest comments, but a lot of Republican candidates have really been using similar type of rhetoric throughout the election cycle as well," he told CNN.

Mr Trump showed little inclination to back down, however, and instead compared the proposed ban to actions taken by Franklin D. Roosevelt against Japanese and German "enemy aliens" during World War II, though he stopped short of advocating internment camps.

Asked in an interview on MSNBC's Morning Joe programme if his proposal went against treasured American values, he responded: "No, because FDR did it!" But that failed to quell the firestorm, with Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling saying he was worse than the notorious villain in her blockbuster books.

"How horrible. Voldemort was nowhere near as bad," she tweeted - a theme quickly picked up by thousands of other Twitter users.

The British government was similarly unimpressed.

Prime Minister David Cameron "completely disagrees" with the remarks, which are "divisive, unhelpful and quite simply wrong," a spokeswoman for the Conservative leader said.

In Geneva, the United Nations refugee agency - though not directly responding to Trump's remarks - warned that rhetoric in the US presidential campaign was threatening a key refugee resettlement program in the United States.

AFP

    
 

Forecasters lower 2015 growth projections for Singapore, predict 2.2% expansion in 2016

By

Kenneth Limkenlim@sph.com.sg@KennethLimBT

Economists have cut their expectations for Singapore's economic growth in 2015 to 1.9 per cent and are predicting a 2.2 per cent expansion in 2016, according to a November poll of professional forecasters by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. 

PHOTO: ST FILE

DEC 9, 201512:01 PM

ECONOMISTS have cut their expectations for Singapore's economic growth in 2015 to 1.9 per cent and are predicting a 2.2 per cent expansion in 2016, according to a November poll of professional forecasters by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

The 28 economists and analysts who were surveyed on Nov 25 have tempered their median expectations for the 2015 GDP (gross domestic product) growth from the 2.2 per cent growth forecast in the previous poll. Growth in the fourth quarter of 2015 is now expected to be 1.4 per cent, lower than the 2.3 per cent predicted in the previous quarter.

Expectations for headline inflation have also fallen, with prices of all items now expected to slip by 0.5 per cent in 2015, a sharper retreat than the 0.2 per cent decline predicted three months earlier.

Forecasts for core inflation, which excludes accommodation and private road transport, remain at 0.5 per cent for 2015.

The economist expect headline inflation to be 0.5 per cent in 2016, and for core inflation to edge up to one per cent in the coming year.

Among economic sectors, the outlook remains the softest for manufacturing. Economists now expect manufacturing GDP to shrink by 4.7 per cent in 2015, compared to the 2.7 per cent contraction predicted in the third quarter.

GDP from wholesale and retail trade, however, is now expected to increase by 6 per cent in 2016, up from the 4.8 per cent forecast in the previous survey. Expectations for private consumption growth have also improved to 3.8 per cent from 3.3 per cent previously
.