Friday 13 July 2012

FINANCE - Istanbul bourse best performer year-to-date

Turkey has continued to separate itself from debt-ridden Western economies with its high performing Istanbul Stock Exchange (İMKB), on the back of higher growth rates and other positive macroeconomic data.

The Istanbul bourse has recorded the highest increase in value in the world, with 23 percent for the year to date, outscoring its closest rival, the Philippines, by 3 points.

Turkish economy shines with its first-quarter growth rate, inflation data for June, industrial production figure for May, and finally its better-than-expected current account deficit, at a time when global recession concerns are exacerbated by deepening eurozone debt woes.

Russia, Ukraine In Gas-For-Influence Tug Of War Eurasia Review

Russian President Vladimir Putin refused to lower the price of gas for Ukraine yesterday (12 July) during his first visit to the former Soviet republic since returning to the Kremlin in May, a meeting which Kyiv had hoped would resolve the energy stalemate.

Ukraine, which depends heavily on gas imports from Russia, has long wanted to revise a 2009 gas deal with Moscow which it argues set an exorbitant price for the fuel (see background).

But President Viktor Yanukovich’s talks with Putin, just like those with the Kremlin leader’s predecessor – and now prime minister – Dmitry Medvedev, failed to yield a breakthrough.

Will GlobalFoundries buy IBM chip business

Will GlobalFoundries Inc. or some other manifestation of the oil-rich state of Abu Dhabi, be buying the chip R&D and business interests of IBM any time soon? And what would be the price?

Future Horizons Ltd. (Sevenoaks, England) has said it included the comment "We assume GlobalFoundries will purchase IBM’s semiconductor division and that Hynix/Micron will buy up the remaining smaller memory firms," in the conclusions of a report prepared by Future Horizons and Decision SA for the European Commission on the future of 450-mm wafer processing in Europe.

The idea that GlobalFoundries – a foundry owned by an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth vehicle – could buy significant chunk of American technology leadership is likely to be controversial.

Abu Dhabi: Expanding in aviation | Transport | UAE: Abu Dhabi | Oxford Business Group

Etihad Airways, the UAE’s national airline, is pushing forward with an expansion policy that should prepare it to compete in the increasingly competitive regional aviation environment.

Founded in 2003, Etihad – which is backed by one of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth funds – has built up a fleet of more than 65 aircraft, with an additional 100 on order, including many wide-body, long-haul planes. While working to expand its own operations, Etihad has also recently acquired strategic holdings in other regional and global carriers to boost passenger growth figures via code sharing.

In December 2011, Etihad took a major stake in German carrier Air Berlin, lifting its existing holding in the airline from just under 3% to 29.2%. The airline spent $95m for the increased share in Europe’s sixth-largest passenger line. More recently, in May Etihad acquired 3% of the shares in Irish carrier Aer Lingus, and in January the airline purchased 40% of Air Seychelles.

US: American businessman in Dubai out on bail - News - Boston.com

American businessman Zack Shahin has been released on bail pending trial after more than four years in a Dubai jail, a U.S. Embassy official in the United Arab Emirates said Friday.

The detention of the Ohio-raised businessmen and a recent hunger strike he launched to urge authorities to hear his case threatened to strain relations between the United States and one of its top Gulf allies.

Shahin was met by an American consular officer upon his release late Thursday night, embassy spokesman Jeffrey Ladenson told The Associated Press. Ladenson welcomed the move, which he said will allow Shahin to engage fully in his own defense.

The Bear Market is Only Beginning | PRAGMATIC CAPITALISM

Long before it became headline news, we were talking about the corrosive effect of excessive debt, the softening U.S. and global economy, the “fiscal cliff”, the implausibility of a European solution, the probability of a hard landing in China and the prospect that corporate earnings estimates were far too high. Now these negative stories are carried in the Wall Street Journal every day.  This week alone carried articles on downward earnings revisions at major corporations, Brazil’s sputtering growth, the worsening slowdown in China, new austerity measures in Spain and Italy, the continuing disappointment in U.S. economic indicators and more worries about the fiscal cliff. As if that were not enough, the news has been full of reports on the fixing of Libor rates, the fraud at Peregrine Financial and the J.P. Morgan losses.