Business

KUWAIT — The World Bank's private sector arm urged international companies on Sunday to overcome concerns about funding reconstruction projects in Iraq and seize high-yield investment opportunities in the country.

The International Finance Corporation's (IFC) country manager for Iraq, Ziad Badr, was speaking in Kuwait ahead of an international conference this week for donors and investors to rebuild and revive Iraq's economy, as the country emerges from a devastating three-war against the terror group Daesh.

"I don't think that in any other part of the world there are such investment opportunities," Badr said in a speech at the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry, giving as an example a Lebanese firm making a 24 per cent return on its stake in a luxury hotel in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish region of northern Iraq.

The IFC has about $1.2 billion in investments in different Iraqi ventures including banks, cement plants and telecommunications, and is preparing to announce a $250 million investment in a telecommunication venture, he said.

The Iraqi National Investment Commission (NIC) last week published a list of 157 projects it will seek investment for at the February 12-14 International Conference for Reconstruction of Iraq, estimated to cost about $100 billion in total.

The projects include rebuilding destroyed facilities like Mosul's airport and new investments to strengthen, and diversify the economy away from oil sales, by developing transport, agriculture and industries based on the nation's energy wealth, including petrochemicals and oil refining.

Rebuilding homes, hospitals, schools, roads, businesses and telecommunications is key to providing jobs for the young, ending the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people and putting an end to several decades of political and sectarian violence.

About 1,900 delegates have registered to attend the conference, representing foreign governments, private sector companies and international organisations, NIC head Sami Al Araji told the gathering at the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce.

"We are at the crossroads, the world now is supporting us, we have to seize the opportunity," he said.

Baghdad is determined to clamp down on "bureaucratic routine and corruption that in some cases are delaying investments", he said, responding to complaints by Kuwait companies about the difficulties of doing business in Iraq.

One of them, a supplier of telecommunications equipment, told the conference he had been waiting six months to get a $5 million payment for work done for the Iraqi government.

Iraq is the 10th most corrupt country in the world, according to Transparency International. 

Iraq declared victory over Daesh in December, having taken back all the territory captured by the militants in 2014 and 2015. 

A US -led coalition supported the Iraqi forces, especially in the battle to dislodge them from Mosul, their de facto capital in northern Iraq, in July.

Iraq reopened to foreign investment in 2003 after the US — led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, but the vast majority of the billions of dollars invested went to increasing its oil and natural gas production.

It has become the second-largest crude exporter of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, after Saudi Arabia, with a daily output of 4.4 million barrels.

Wall Street's main stock indexes climbed more than 1 per cent on Friday, giving investors some solace after a week of huge swings that shook the market out of months of calm.

Even with Friday's gains, the benchmark S&P 500 fell 5.2 per cent for the week, its biggest weekly percentage drop since January 2016, as volatility spiked back up.

During Friday's session alone, the S&P 500 swung from as high as up 2.2 per cent to down 1.9 per cent, echoing the big swings of the past week. The Dow moved in a range of more than 1,000 points.

The fresh volatility came a day after the benchmark S&P 500 and the Dow industrials confirmed they were in correction territory, both falling more than 10 per cent from January 26 record highs. 

Friday's session marked the latest day of sharp swings in the past week that have pulled stocks lower after a steady climb for months to record highs.

"I don't think the market is focused on fundamentals at all," Anwiti Bahuguna, senior portfolio manager at Columbia Threadneedle Investments in Boston. "It's very volatile."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 330.44 points, or 1.38 per cent, to 24,190.9, the S&P 500 gained 38.55 points, or 1.49 per cent, to 2,619.55 and the Nasdaq Composite added 97.33 points, or 1.44 per cent, to 6,874.49.

Wall Street's main stock indexes climbed more than 1 per cent on Friday, giving investors some solace after a week of huge swings that shook the market out of months of calm.

Even with Friday's gains, the benchmark S&P 500 fell 5.2 per cent for the week, its biggest weekly percentage drop since January 2016, as volatility spiked back up.

During Friday's session alone, the S&P 500 swung from as high as up 2.2 per cent to down 1.9 per cent, echoing the big swings of the past week. The Dow moved in a range of more than 1,000 points.

The fresh volatility came a day after the benchmark S&P 500 and the Dow industrials confirmed they were in correction territory, both falling more than 10 per cent from January 26 record highs. 

Friday's session marked the latest day of sharp swings in the past week that have pulled stocks lower after a steady climb for months to record highs.

"I don't think the market is focused on fundamentals at all," Anwiti Bahuguna, senior portfolio manager at Columbia Threadneedle Investments in Boston. "It's very volatile."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 330.44 points, or 1.38 per cent, to 24,190.9, the S&P 500 gained 38.55 points, or 1.49 per cent, to 2,619.55 and the Nasdaq Composite added 97.33 points, or 1.44 per cent, to 6,874.49.

WASHINGTON — The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week, dropping to its lowest level in nearly 45 years as the labour market tightened further, bolstering expectations of faster wage growth this year.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits decreased 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 221,000 for the week that ended on February 3, the Labour Department said on Thursday. Claims fell to 216,000 in mid-January, which was the lowest level since January 1973.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims rising to 232,000 in the latest week. Last week marked the 153rd straight week that claims remained below the 300,000 threshold, which is associated with a strong labour market. That is the longest such stretch since 1970, when the labour market was much smaller.

The labour market is near full employment, with the jobless rate at a 17-year low of 4.1 percent. The tighter labour market is starting to exert upward pressure on wage growth. 

The Labour Department reported last week that average hourly earnings jumped 2.9 per cent year-on-year in January, the largest gain since June 2009, after advancing 2.7 per cent in December.

Strong wage growth supports optimism among Federal Reserve officials that inflation will increase toward the US central bank's 2 per cent target this year. US financial markets expect the Fed will raise interest rates in March. 

The Fed has forecast three rate increases for this year, but much will depend on the inflation outlook and financial conditions. The central bank lifted borrowing costs three times in 2017.

US financial markets were little moved by the claims data.

The Labour Department said claims for Maine were estimated last week. It also said claims-taking procedures in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands had still not returned to normal months after the territories were slammed by Hurricanes Irma and Maria.

Last week, the four-week moving average of initial claims, considered a better measure of labour market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, declined 10,000 to 224,500, the lowest level since March 1973.

The claims report also showed the number of people receiving benefits after an initial week of aid fell 33,000 to 1.92 million in the week that ended on January 27. The four-week moving average of the so-called continuing claims rose 12,500 to 1.95 million.

US stocks overturned early losses to trade higher on Wednesday as some buyers returned to a market still shaking from a record fall for the Dow Jones Industrial Average earlier this week.

At 10:09 am ET (15:09 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 228.25 points, or 0.92 per cent, at 25,141.02. 

The S&P 500 rose 19.12 points, or 0.7 per cent, to 2,714.26 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 22.72 points, or 0.32 per cent, at 7,138.60.

"It looks like a little bit of a stabilisation trade overnight," said John Brady, senior vice president at futures brokerage R.J. O'Brien & Associates in Chicago. "I don't know if it's over, but a market range may be established." 

Gains in industrial and consumer discretionary stocks led advances on the S&P and the Dow.

Boeing and United Tech rose about 1.5 per cent, providing the biggest boost to the Dow, while Amazon's 1 per cent rise helped lift the S&P.

The S&P energy index was up more than 1 per cent, led by Anadarko Petroleum's 5 per cent gain and an uptick in oil prices. 

A wild session on Tuesday had seen the Dow swing more than 1,100 points from peak to trough and ended with the benchmark S&P 500 recording its best day since just before President Donald Trump's election in 2016.

Traders are still braced for more volatility as they try to figure out if the swings of the past week are the start of a deeper correction or just a temporary blip in the US market's nine-year bull run.

The pivotal gauge of S&P 500 volatility, the VIX, opened at a relatively elevated 31 points and slipped to 21.74. The VIX on Tuesday hit a more than two-and-a-half year high above 50, after trading, on average, below 20 for months.

Some investors fear the market is over-stretched in the context of higher inflation and rising bond yields as central banks withdraw their easy money policies of recent years. The recent rout has wiped about $4 trillion off world equities.

US 10-year yields were at 2.789 per cent, up from 2.766 per cent on Tuesday.

US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly praised Wall Street gains during his first year in office, on Wednesday dismissed recent market rout, saying stocks should not be falling amid strong economic news.

"In the 'old days, when good news was reported, the Stock Market would go up. Today, when good news is reported, the Stock Market goes down. Big mistake, and we have so much good [great] news about the economy!" Trump wrote on Twitter.

Snapchat owner Snap soared 21 per cent after it reported surging growth in users and revenue in its latest quarter.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 2,068 to 720. On the Nasdaq, 1,596 issues rose and 1,056 fell.

The S&P 500 index showed 2 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the NASDAQ recorded 13 new highs and 21 new lows.

LONDON — Panic gripped trading floors across the world on Tuesday, with Asia and Europe plunging after record-breaking losses on Wall Street, as investors fretted over the prospect of rising US interest rates and took profits following months of markets euphoria.

The selloff began last Friday when bright US non-farm payrolls data sparked fears that inflation will surge this year — and that the Federal Reserve will be forced to raise borrowing costs more quickly than anticipated.

In initial trade on Tuesday, European stock markets collapsed by about 3.5 per cent, mirroring dramatic falls across Asia.

"It's not doom and gloom, and it's not financial markets Armageddon; it's just a much needed and much overdue correction," AxiTrader analyst James Hughes told AFP.

"There are four stages of a fall: Hope, greed, panic and fear. We are not at fear, but we are at panic at the moment — which is only natural after a 1,175-point fall."

New York's Dow Jones Industrial Average saw its steepest ever one-day point drop on Monday, shedding a total of 1,175.20 points or a hefty 4.6 per cent in value.

Ten-year US Treasury yields are still hovering near four-year peaks. European markets later trimmed their losses somewhat on Tuesday to stand about 2.5 per cent lower compared with Monday's closing level.

At the start of trading on Tuesday the Dow shed another 2.7 per cent, officially moving into what is considered a correction — a drop of 10 per cent from a recent high.

"US stocks are adding to a sharp pullback seen in the past few trading sessions, with the recent jump in bond yields and signs of inflation ticking higher appearing to spur on the selloff..." said analysts at Charles Schwab brokerage.

The S&P 500 shed 1.2 per cent at the open, with the Nasdaq Composite dropping 1.9 per cent. 

 'Time to take revenge' 

"Markets usually grind to the upside, but fall like a rock," said analyst Naeem Aslam at trading firm ThinkMarkets.

"Traders have been looking at the market for the past year moving in one direction which was skewed to the upside. Now, it's time for the bears to take their revenge."

Prior to this week's chaotic selloff, Wall Street had enjoyed an impressive record-breaking run ever since Trump's 2016 election on hopes over the US president's pro-business tax-cutting policies.

Asia and Europe had meanwhile reaped bumper gains from the improving economic outlook.

"If investors had been waiting for an opportunity to take profits, the prospect of higher than expected inflation and tightening by the Fed provided just that," added Richard Hunter, head of markets at online stockbroker Interactive Investor.

"Rising interest rates, whilst potentially good news for savers, increase the cost of borrowing and the possibility of loan defaults," he told AFP.

"Mixed in with that, higher bond yields could increase the attractiveness of bonds as an investment destination, some of which will be at the expense of equities."

On Tuesday, Tokyo stocks led a collapse throughout Asia, briefly diving almost 7 per cent before closing down 4.7 per cent.

Hong Kong lost more than five per cent in its worst day since summer 2015, while Sydney and Singapore each sank 3 per cent.

On currency markets, the yen, considered a go-to unit in times of turmoil and uncertainty, climbed against the dollar.

Bitcoin continued its spiral downwards after some banks banned their customers from buying it with credit cards. The news is the latest to hit the cryptocurrency after recent crackdowns by authorities in India, South Korea, China and Russia.

The unit was down more than 20 per cent to a three-month low at $5,922 — less than a third of its value near $20,000 in December.

PARIS — US online retailer Amazon said on Monday that it has settled a major tax claim in France and will start declaring all its earnings in the country in a response to building European pressure on the digital economy giants.

Amazon did not reveal how much it had paid over a French claim for nearly 200 million euros ($249 million) covering the period from 2006 to 2010.

It is one of several American technology giants in the line of fire in Europe over their tax-avoidance strategies, which often sees them route their income through low-tax nations — in Amazon's case, Luxembourg.

French President Emmanuel Macron has proposed a new mechanism for taxing US tech companies that would take into account the volume of sales generated in each European country, rather than on the profits that are booked through low-tax jurisdictions. 

Amazon announced a similar tax settlement deal with Italy in December, paying 100 million euros to settle an investigation into suspected tax evasion from 2011 to 2015, while also agreeing to declare its income locally.

In 2012, Amazon revealed that it had been hit with a 198-million-euro tax bill in France for back taxes, interest and penalties relating to income spread between different jurisdictions.

At the time, the company had said it disagreed with the French assessment and vowed to "vigorously" fight it.

In its statement Monday, Amazon said it had created a French subsidiary for its European operations in August 2015, "with all retail revenues, expenses, profits and taxes due now accounted for in France".

The retailer also said it had invested over 2 billion euros in France since 2010, creating more than 5,500 jobs.

'Electroshock' plan 

European officials have vowed to make the digital economy giants known as GAFA — Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple — pay a greater share of their taxes in the countries where they earn their profits.

Under current EU law, companies based outside the bloc can declare their earnings from across the 28-nation market in a single country.

That has led them to pick low-tax nations like Ireland, the Netherlands or Luxembourg — depriving other member states of revenues, even though they may account for a bigger share of the earnings.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development says such rules cost governments around the world as much as $240 billion (193 billion euros) a year in lost revenue, according to a 2015 estimate.

On Sunday, EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said he would unveil by the end of March a plan to "create a consensus and an electroshock" on taxing digital economy revenues.

"The idea is to be able to identify the activities of digital companies, so we need a range of indicators — the number of clicks, the number of IP addresses, advertising, and eventually revenues... and then we'll find ways to tax them," Moscovici said.

He said the new rules would apply to the GAFA giants, as well as accommodation services like AirBnB and Booking.com.

Changes under way 

American tech giants appear to believe the European tax revamp is in the cards, with several already announcing pledges to pay more in each country where they operate as governments step up their fiscal demands.

Facebook said in December that it would start declaring advertising revenue in the countries where they have offices, instead of recording it at its international headquarters in Dublin.

"We believe that moving to a local selling structure will provide more transparency to governments and policy makers around the world," the social network's financial chief Dave Wehner said at the time.

France is pursuing Google for 1.12 billion euros it says it owes in back taxes, after paying just 6.7 million euros in corporate tax for 2015 by booking most of its revenues through Ireland.

A court initially ruled that Google was not liable for the tax claim, but the government has appealed the decision — while saying it was still open to a settlement.

The search giant has already agreed to fiscal deals with Britain and Italy over the Irish tax arrangement.

Amazon's settlement comes as it is also facing a court case in France over claims it has abused its dominant position on its "marketplace" platform for third-party vendors.

The finance ministry said in December that it was seeking a fine of about 10 million euros.

NEW YORK — The Dow suffered its worst drop in more than a year and a half on Friday as US stocks plunged on disappointing earnings from big companies and worries about higher interest rates.

The Dow Jones Industrial sank 2.5 per cent, 665 points, to 25,520.96, its worst drop in percentage terms since June 2016. All 30 companies of the index ended in the red.

The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 2.1 per cent to 2,762.13, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 2 per cent to 7,240.95. 

Analysts have been eyeing an increase in US bond yields that accelerated further on Friday after a stronger-than-expected US jobs report raised expectations more Federal Reserve interest rate increases could be coming.

The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note climbed again Friday to 2.85 per cent.

"What's been bothering the market is the speed with which they're going up," Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare said of higher Treasury yields.

"Everyone has to remember we had a very over-extended market," O'Hare said. "You now have group think driving things the other way as the trading trends shifts."

O'Hare said disappointing earnings added to the selling momentum.

Troublesome headlines from Washington over the disputed release of Republican memo about investigations of Donald Trump's election campaign were "another negative news item", but not the driver of Friday's selling, O'Hare said.

ExxonMobil slumped 5.1 per cent after reporting a huge increase in fourth-quarter profits due to one-time benefits from US tax reform. 

But the excluding tax reform bonus, earnings translated to 88 cents a share, below the $1.04 expected by financial analysts.

Chevron, another big oil company in the Dow that reported disappointing results, fell 5.6 per cent.

Google-parent Alphabet fell 4.8 per cent after reporting a $3 billion quarterly loss to set aside funds to pay taxes on repatriated profits.

Apple fell 4.3 per cent after reporting a record $20 billion profit in the fourth quarter on higher revenues. However, the tech giant said iPhone sales in the quarter of 77.3 million were about a million fewer than the same period a year earlier.

An exception was Amazon, which jumped 2.9 per cent after reporting quarterly profits more than doubled to $1.9 billion.

AMMAN — The free trade agreement between Canada and Jordan should be fully utilised in order for trade figures to reach record high, Peter MacDougall, Canada’s ambassador to Jordan said this week.  

The ambassador made the remark at the opening ceremony of a workshop entitled “Opportunities in the Canadian Market for Processed Food under Jordan-Canada FTA”. 

Organised by the Jordan Exporters Association (JEA) in partnership with the Trade Facilitation Office Canada (TFO Canada), the workshop, which commenced on Monday, is the first of a series of activities, aimed at boosting bilateral trade, according to a JEA statement. 

Other activities include building SMEs exporters’ capacity to access the Canadian market through specialised technical assistance.

An exporter mission is scheduled to go to Montreal, Canada towards the end of April 2018, said the statement. 

Representatives of Jordanian companies will also participate in the food exhibition SIAL Canada 2018 which will be held in Montreal between May 2 and 4.

This project has been possible with the financial support of the government of Canada, provided through Global Affairs Canada. 

This initiative aims to underline Canada’s commitment to stimulate and promote gender equality. Therefore, all project’s activities consider the participation of at least 50 per cent of women led/owned SMEs.

The government of Canada, through TFO Canada, is providing a comprehensive incentive package for five women led/owned SMEs so they can participate in the exporter’s mission to Canada in May 2018. 

Under the free trade agreement signed between the two countries in June 2012, Jordanian companies can export their products to Canada without having to pay any customs duties giving them a competitive edge in the Canadian market, according to the statement.

The Jordan Exporters Association has partnered with the Trade Facilitation Office Canada since 2015 benefiting many Jordanian companies and helping them enter in the Canadian market. 

LONDON — The dollar stumbled on Thursday despite mounting expectations that the Federal Reserve (Fed) will speed up interest rate hikes this year, dealers said.

After Janet Yellen's final meeting as Fed governor, the US central bank's policy board said on Wednesday that while the nation's inflation remains below target, it expects it to move up this year.

The Fed's comments provided a partial boost for the dollar, although it stumbled during European trading hours.

"The dollar did not get the lift we expected from the Fed monetary policy meeting yesterday," said ADS Securities analyst Konstantinos Anthis on Thursday.

"Even though the central bank made it clear that they see inflation moving higher this year the US currency failed to capitalise on this news."

The greenback is still under pressure against most of its peers as central banks around the world look to tighten monetary policy more in line with the US.

'Unloved' 

"It's remarkable how the Dollar remains depressed and unloved, despite the Federal Reserve expressing optimism over increased inflationary pressures as the year moves on," said Lukman Otunuga at FXTM online currency trading brokerage. 

European stock markets slid after a mixed performance across Asia, with Frankfurt's DAX slumping 1.4 per cent.

London was hampered by a strong pound, which tends to weigh on the share prices of multinationals that earn in currencies other than sterling.

The pound rose on Thursday against major rivals as dealers shrugged off news of slowing UK manufacturing growth in January.

The FTSE was also dented by telecoms giant Vodafone, which announced a drop in revenue during its third quarter — sending its share price sliding 4.5 per cent.

Royal Dutch Shell dropped 1.7 per cent, despite the energy major announcing that 2017 net profits more than doubled on recovering oil prices.

Wall Street opened lower, with the Dow dropping 0.4 per cent in the first moments of trading.

In Asia, Tokyo's main stocks index jumped almost 2 per cent on a weaker yen and bargain-buying following a six-day losing streak.