Sectors
Wall Street monitors USD, while oil price drops
Investors are concerned as the US stock index futures turned weaker. The marginal recovery in oil price amid drop in the US dollar puts the Wall Street on cautious note. On the other hand, Asian and European stocks were trading marginally higher on oil price recovery and drop in US dollar.
ING's Q4 earnings beat forecast
The Dutch banking major ING Groep's revenues for the fourth quarter were above the analysts' forecasts. ING's exposure to the oil companies is putting pressure on its stock, which suffered 20 percent drop. However, ING is also receiving indirect benefits from lower oil prices.
Gulf investor eyes the $1.7 bln stake in Kuwait’s Americana
The Gulf establishment, Adeptio LLC has approached Kuwait's fast-food chain, Americana, for buying out the 66.8% controlling stake held by the Al Kharafi family valued at $1.7 billion. Currently, the investor is conducting the due diligence but the final outcome will be based on the approval of the Americana franchisers.
Job growth slowdown a sign of tightening economy
The US economy encouragingly created more jobs for the past two years and now is set for a slowdown, as economists predict. The prevailing credit conditions the US market indicate tightening of economy. The US private sector added 205,000 jobs in January as against 267,000 in December.




