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.
No comments:
Post a Comment