Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Dow Jones breaks 21,000-mark; London to remain magnet for super-rich; Saudi king's luggage has limos, elevators

1 Dow Jones breaks 21,000-mark (BBC) The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 303.31 points to close at 21,115.55 following US President Donald Trump's address to Congress last night. The S&P 500 index gained 32.32 points, rising to 2,395.96, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index was up 78.59 points at 5,904.03.

Shares have been climbing since Mr Trump's election victory after investor optimism about deregulation. He has also promised to cut taxes and boost infrastructure spending. Financial firms were the top gainers on the Dow, with JP Morgan Chase and American Express both up more than 2.3%.

Tom Stevenson from Fidelity International said the Dow Jones Index only cleared 20,000 points three weeks ago, making this the fastest rise between 1,000 milestones since 1999. Sentiment was helped by comments suggesting that the US central bank may raise rates sooner rather than later.


2 London to remain magnet for super-rich (Rupert Neate in The Guardian) The global super-rich will continue to flock to London despite the UK’s decision to leave the EU, according to a report by property consultants Knight Frank.

The number of UK-based ultra high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs) – those with more than $30m (£24.2m) in assets – is expected to increase by 30% to 12,310 over the next decade. Liam Bailey, Knight Frank’s head of research, said London would remain “the city of choice” for the superrich from the Asia and the Middle East despite concerns over Brexit.

Bailey said Britain’s exit from the EU may have some impact on London’s global appeal, but the UK’s membership of the EU was less important for the world’s richest people than the general population.

While the population of UNHWIs in the UK, which has increased by 28% over the past decade, is expected to keep rising, the number of superrich on the continent is expected to remain flat or decrease. More than 10,000 HNWIs left France last year, 6,000 Italy, 3,000 Greece and 2,000 Spain.

The global population of UHNWIs increased by 6,340 last year to 193,490, after a slight decrease in 2015. Another 60 people were added to the global tally of billionaires last year, taking the total number of dollar billionaires to 2,024 – up 45% over the past decade.


3 Saudi king’s luggage has limos and elevators (Cleofe Maceda in Khaleej Times) Social media news feeds have been abuzz with the announcement that King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud is visiting Indonesia that began Wednesday.

The trip to the world’s largest Muslim-majority country is said to be his first in more than 40 years.  But what got everyone’s attention the most is that the nine-day visit has been keeping hundreds of people in the travel, hospitality and cargo-handling industry busy.

The king of Saudi Arabia is toting with a colossal luggage weighing a total of 459 metric tonnes and is travelling with more than a thousand people. He has taken with him two electric elevators and two limousines and is accompanied by a 1,500-person entourage, which includes 25 princes and 10 ministers.

Adji Gunawan, president of JAS, the Indonesian company commissioned to deal with the king’s cargo, said that the limousines and elevators had been transported ahead of the royal arrival. Gunawan said he had commissioned 178 of his staff in Jakarta and 394 more in Denpasar to take care of the king's huge travel essentials that were scheduled to arrive days before the visit.

He’s not the only state leader who has travelled in grandiose fashion, either.  Former US president Barack Obama flew to Africa in 2013, along with 56 vehicles, including 14 limousines and hundreds of security personnel, according to Washington Post.


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