Emirates hands Airbus A380 superjumbo lifeline with $16 billion order

Emirates announced a deal for up to 36 Airbus (AIR.PA) A380 aircraft on Thursday worth as much as $16 billion at list prices, saving the world’s biggest passenger jet from death row and securing its future for at least another decade. 

The European planemaker said Emirates [EMIRA.UL] had placed a provisional order for 20 of the double-decker superjumbos, with an option for 16 more. Deliveries are due to start in 2020.

The agreement hands a lifeline to the slow-selling aircraft, in service for just 10 years, and rescues one of Europe’s most visible industrial symbols overseas.

Airbus shares rose more than 3 percent after the announcement to touch a record high of 92.56 euros.
The deal ends months of tough-fought negotiations. Talks between Airbus and Emirates about a fresh A380 order broke down at the last minute at the Dubai Airshow in November, when the Gulf carrier placed an order for 40 smaller Boeing (BA.N) 787s.

World shares pull back from record highs, set for second fall of 2018

World shares pulled back from record highs on Wednesday, set for only their second day of losses in 2018 as lower commodity prices and a string of downbeat updates from companies dampened the mood in global markets.

European bourses opened lower, mirroring moves in Asia and Wall Street overnight, as earnings updates from companies weighed.

Luxury fashion brand Burberry (BRBY.L) and educational publishing company Pearson (PSON.L) were among the top fallers after disappointing trading updates.

Their losses, along with weakness in the heavyweight financial and healthcare sectors, dragged the pan-European STOXX 600 and Britain’s FTSE down as much as 0.2 percent.

Asian equities stepped back from a record high as the region’s resource shares were knocked by falling oil and commodity prices.

GE to take $6.2 billion charge in its finance arm

General Electric Co will record an after-tax charge of $6.2 billion in its fourth quarter results as part of an ongoing review of its finance arm’s insurance portfolio, the company said. 

GE shares were down 3.7 percent in premarket trading on Tuesday.

The company, which started the review last year, also said its GE Capital unit expects to make statutory reserve contributions of about $15 billion over seven years.

In November, GE’s new Chief Executive John Flannery outlined steps to turn the biggest U.S. industrial conglomerate into a smaller, more focused company.

GE also cut its annual dividend to 48 cents from 96 cents, only the third in the company’s 125-year history.

“At a time when we are moving forward as a company, a charge of this magnitude from a legacy insurance portfolio in run-off for more than a decade is deeply disappointing,” Chief Executive John Flannery said in a statement on Tuesday.

Apple, researchers eye patches to solve Intel chip flaws

Security issues with Intel Corp (INTC.O) microchips are only slowing computers slightly, technology companies said, as researchers played down the need for mass hardware replacements to protect millions of devices from hackers. 

Google and other security researchers this week disclosed two major chip flaws - one called Meltdown affecting only Intel Corp chips and one called Spectre affecting nearly all computer chips made in the last decade.

That raised the prospect of Intel being on the hook for lawsuits claiming that software patches to fix the issue would slow computers and effectively force consumers to buy new hardware, driving the company’s shares down.

But Intel said in a statement after U.S. stock markets closed on Thursday that the performance impact of the recent security updates should not be significant and would be mitigated over time.

It said Apple Inc (AAPL.O), Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O), Google (GOOGL.O) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) had all reported little to no performance impact from security patches.

Global shares score latest record high, dollar flexes muscle

World shares hit their latest in a run of record highs on Tuesday, while the dollar was at it loftiest in 1-1/2 months as encouraging U.S. data lifted it in tandem with global bond yields. 

MSCI’s 47-country ‘All-World’ index which contains more than 2,400 firms was pushed to the fresh peak as Europe’s main bourses added to gains made in Asia and after Wall Street set its own record close again overnight. 

It was the tenth new high since late July alone and extends the year’s blizzard of records that started in February to more than 40 with no sign it is about to run out of steam yet. 

SEB investment management’s global head of asset allocation Hans Peterson pointed to strong economic and trade data and signs that firms in large economies like the United States and Europe were finally increasing investment spending. 

The dollar climbed 0.2 percent to 93.74 .DXY against a broad basket of other top world currencies. [/FRX] 

That was its highest level since Aug. 17 and came as a firming view that the Federal Reserve will raise U.S. interest rate for a third time this year in December kept two-year U.S. government bond yields US2YT=RR hovering at a 9-year high. 

Borrowing costs across the euro zone nudged higher too. Southern European bonds continued to underperform meanwhile as political tensions remained in Spain after Sunday’s independence vote in Catalonia was marred by police violence. 

The uncertainty also kept the squeeze on the euro. It dipped 0.2 percent to $1.1709 EUR= while the dollar added 0.3 percent against the yen to 113.11 yen JPY= to keep it within reach of last week's two-month high of 113.26 yen. 

Crude oil futures extended losses after tumbling on Monday, as a rise in U.S. drilling and higher OPEC output put the brakes on their recent rally and rekindled concerns about oversupply. 

Brent crude LCOc1 slipped 0.4 percent to $55.90 a barrel, after marking a third-quarter gain of about 20 percent. U.S. crude CLc1 fell 0.3 percent to $50.42.

Spot gold XAU= edged down 0.1 percent to $1,270.06 per ounce, plumbing its lowest since Aug. 15 as the dollar continued to strengthen.

Tech stocks bask in Apple glow, Dow eyeing 22,000

Asian technology stocks hit 17-year peaks and Wall Street's Dow index looked set to break 22,000 points on Wall Street later, as blockbuster earnings from Apple (AAPL.O) rippled out to component makers globally.

Shares in the world's most valuable company surged 6 percent after-hours to a record of more than $159, taking its market capitalisation above $830 billion. 

That should help carry the Dow through the 22,000 mark when trading resumes in New York. E-Mini futures for the Dow YMc1 were up 0.2 percent, though Europe started flat as disappointing results from Societe Generale and Commerzbank weighed on the region's bank stocks.

The U.S.-based tech giant reported better-than-expected iPhone sales, revenue and earnings per share and signalled its upcoming 10th-anniversary phone is on schedule. 

It helped dispel one of the few nagging doubts of the corporate earnings season so far - that Amazon’s lacklustre results last week might have revealed some tiredness among the giant U.S. tech and internet stocks that have been driving the stock market rally all year.

Among Asia's Apple suppliers, LG Innnotek (011070.KS) jumped 10 percent and SK Hynix (000660.KS), the world's second-biggest memory chip maker, rose 3.8 percent. 

Murata Manufacturing (6981.T) firmed 4.9 percent and Taiyo Yuden (6976.T) 4.4 percent, helping the Nikkei .N225 up 0.47 percent. 

The MSCI tech index for Asia .MIAS0IT00PUS climbed 0.9 percent to ground not trod since early 2000, bringing its gains for the year to a heady 40 percent. 

Those gains balanced losses in basic materials and energy to leave MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS steady near its highest since late 2007.

Improving data in other major economies has also served to push the greenback down nearly 11 percent from January peaks, benefiting commodities and emerging markets. 

Global shares rise, euro near 14-month high ahead of ECB

World shares extended a run of record highs on Thursday, as a cautious sounding Bank of Japan lifted Asian stocks to a near decade peak and Europe wagered on an incremental increase in confidence from the ECB at its latest meeting. 

The euro was near a 14-month high and investors were riding a global rally in stocks as Asia's and then Europe's early 0.4 percent gains .FTEU3 ensured MSCI's 47-country All World index .MIWD00000PUS was up for a 10th straight session. 

It is its longest winning streak since February 2015 and was showing little sign of fatigue even as bond yields - the key driver of global borrowing costs - edged higher again. [GVD/EUR] 

They were lifted as oil prices LCOc1 held near 2 percent gains made the previous session when falling U.S. crude inventories gave the market a lift ahead of a key OPEC meeting next week.

The day's focus though was squarely on the Japanese central bank's decision to push back its ambitious inflation target again and on whether European Central Bank head Mario Draghi would give a hint later that it plans to wind down its 60 billion-euro-a-month stimulus programme.

ECB President Draghi opened the door to policy tweaks in a speech last month that was viewed as unexpectedly hawkish, sending the euro EUR= and government bond yields rallying. 

The euro EUR= is up almost 10 percent so far this year but and was a shade lower at $1.1513 ahead of Draghi's 1230 GMT post-meeting news conference, having hit a 14-month high of $1.1583 on Tuesday.

The yen meanwhile had weakened to 112.135 yen per dollar JPY=D4 after the BOJ pushed back its projected timing for hitting its 2 percent inflation target until 2020. 

With both its main rivals down, the dollar rose for a second straight day climbing 0.3 .DXY against a broader basket of trade-weighted peers. 

The other main mover was the Australian dollar AUD=D4 as it set a new two-year high, still heady from an upbeat sounding Reserve Bank of Australia earlier in the week. It eventually pulled back to trade at $0.7939 in Europe. 

In commodities, Brent crude futures LCOc1, the international benchmark for oil prices, were flat at $49.75 per barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures CLc1 also barely budged at $47.18.

Gold XAU= slipped to $1,237 an ounce as the dollar pulled higher, while government bonds, also seen as safe-haven assets, saw modest selling ahead of the ECB meeting.