Hundreds of unemployed Kentucky residents wait in line outside the Kentucky Career Center for help with their unemployment claims. The US economy regained 4.8 million jobs in June as businesses began to reopen nationwide, while the unemployment rate fell more than two points to 11.1%. AFP
Hundreds of unemployed Kentucky residents wait in line outside the Kentucky Career Center for help with their unemployment claims. The US economy regained 4.8 million jobs in June as businesses began to reopen nationwide, while the unemployment rate fell more than two points to 11.1%. AFP
Hundreds of unemployed Kentucky residents wait in line outside the Kentucky Career Center for help with their unemployment claims. The US economy regained 4.8 million jobs in June as businesses began to reopen nationwide, while the unemployment rate fell more than two points to 11.1%. AFP
Hundreds of unemployed Kentucky residents wait in line outside the Kentucky Career Center for help with their unemployment claims. The US economy regained 4.8 million jobs in June as businesses began

Stock futures rally as US unemployment rate falls in June


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US stock futures rallied after a better-than-estimated jobs report indicated a sharp economic rebound from the coronavirus lockdowns. Treasuries and the dollar fell.

S&P 500 contracts jumped more than 1 per cent as government data showed payrolls rose by 4.8 million in June after an upwardly revised 2.7 million gain in the prior month.

The unemployment rate fell for a second month to 11.1 per cent. Economists had forecast payrolls to rise by 3.23 million — the median in a range of 500,000 to 9 million — and an unemployment rate of 12.5 per cent.

Treasury yields climbed, while the dollar fell among most major peers. Tesla soared in premarket trading after reporting deliveries that beat the average analyst estimate.

The rebound in the US labor market accelerated as broader reopenings spurred more hiring last month, though filings for unemployment benefits remained elevated last week as coronavirus cases picked up.

Massive monetary and fiscal policy stimulus have been unleashed to support the economy during the pandemic. US daily coronavirus cases topped 50,000 for the first time with increases in major states including Florida, Texas and California.

The share of S&P 500 Index members with a 14-day relative strength index above 70 — seen by some traders as overbought -- is a little more than 1 per cent. That compares to 44 per cent at the start of June when the equity benchmark reached its highest of the pandemic era. Adding to the bull case: The index bounced off a key support level at 3,000 to start the week and remains above its 200-day moving average.

Futures on the S&P 500 Index advanced 1.3 per cent as of 8:45am New York time. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index gained 1.5 per cent. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 1.4 per cent.

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index dipped 0.3 per cent. The euro gained 0.3 per cent to $1.129. The Japanese yen was little changed at 107.52 per dollar.

The yield on 10-year Treasuries increased two basis points to 0.70 per cent. Germany’s 10-year yield decreased one basis point to -0.40 per cent. Britain’s 10-year yield advanced less than one basis point to 0.212 per cent.

The Bloomberg Commodity Index climbed 0.4 per cent. West Texas Intermediate crude increased 1.2 per cent to $40.29 a barrel. Gold fell 0.3 per cent to $1,775.20 an ounce, the lowest in a week.

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SPECS
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How to wear a kandura

Dos

  • Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion 
  • Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
  • Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work 
  • Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester

Don’ts 

  • Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal 
  • Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
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MEDIEVIL%20(1998)
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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if you go

Getting there

Etihad (Etihad.com), Emirates (emirates.com) and Air France (www.airfrance.com) fly to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, from Abu Dhabi and Dubai respectively. Return flights cost from around Dh3,785. It takes about 40 minutes to get from Paris to Compiègne by train, with return tickets costing €19. The Glade of the Armistice is 6.6km east of the railway station.

Staying there

On a handsome, tree-lined street near the Chateau’s park, La Parenthèse du Rond Royal (laparenthesedurondroyal.com) offers spacious b&b accommodation with thoughtful design touches. Lots of natural woods, old fashioned travelling trunks as decoration and multi-nozzle showers are part of the look, while there are free bikes for those who want to cycle to the glade. Prices start at €120 a night.

More information: musee-armistice-14-18.fr ; compiegne-tourisme.fr; uk.france.fr

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Our legal columnist

Name: Yousef Al Bahar

Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994

Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”