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Finance
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Saudi Royalty Offers $1 Million Reward For Capture Of Israeli Soldiers
31 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
Hours after Sheik Awadh al-Qarani promised a reward of $100 000 to anyone who captured an Israeli soldier, a member of the Saudi Arabian royal family, with ties to Rupert Murdoch, offered to raise that offer by $900 000 to make it $1 million. These offers follow the release of Israeli soldier, Gilad Schalit, who was held by Hamas in Gaza for more than five years.
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Greece Is Very, Very Lucky
28 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
European leaders are secretly all doing little victory dances. The Eurozone crisis has never looked better. Leaders have agreed new deals that slash Greek debt and increase the main bailout fund to around €1 trillion. They’re basically printing money. Athens will get a new €100 billion bailout early in the new year, and existing bond debt will be cut by 50%.
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Gordhan Relaxes Local Listing Rules – JSE To Gain
26 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
In a move that’s widely expected to attract further, and much needed investment diversification, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan yesterday announced that the Treasury will allow local investors to trade in foreign-domiciled companies, especially throughout Africa. The move will no doubt heighten the attractiveness and status of the local exchange.
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Wikileaks Temporarily Plugged Due To Lack Of Funds
24 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
It turns out publishing classified diplomatic files online isn’t all that lucrative! Whistle blowing site, WikiLeaks has announced that they’re pausing their publishing process to concentrate on raising funds. Julian Assange claims that the financial “blockade” mounted by Visa, MasterCard and other companies, has forced Wikileaks to “temporarily suspend its publishing operations and aggressively fundraise.”
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ANC Launches 1KG Commemorative Zuma Gold Coin
24 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / 6 Comments
Next year, the ANC will be celebrating 100 years of political activity. In the midst of the celebrations, the organisation will make various precious metals memorabilia for sale in the form of gold coins and other commemorative items. The most expensive of these will be the President Zuma one kilogram fine gold medallion, valued at over R1 million.
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Occupy Wall Street Explained In Under Two Minutes [VIDEO]
20 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
By now you must have heard of Occupy Wall Street (OWS) – an ongoing series of demonstrations in New York, now famous for the slogan “We are the 99%”. But who are these people and what are they so upset about? Watch this entertaining, yet sobering clip for the lowdown in no-nonsense layman’s terms.
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Greece To Come To A Standstill Ahead Of Crucial Vote
17 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
It promises to be one of the largest strikes since the resurgence of the catastrophic violence two years ago, and will touch virtually every industry of the deeply troubled state. At least half of the four million-strong workforce is expected to partake as parliamentarians vote on a package of austerity measures demanded by international lenders.
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Major British Banks Downgraded Amid Deepening EU Crisis
13 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
Just before lunchtime, a rumour began to do the rounds, courtesy of Sky News, that credit ratings agency Fitch was going to bring more bad news for Britain’s banks. A credit rating downgrade of major banks was possible later in the day. Sky changed their tune and withdrew the statement on TV, but the blog post remained, and now the downgrade has happened.
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Italy: The Next European Accident Waiting To Happen
13 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
The Italian debt crisis has the potential to make the Greek crisis seem small. It must be reiterated that Italian debt makes Greek debt look laughable. It currently stands at some €1,8 trillion. That’s excluding the purported €175 billion the Italians need to keep their country running until the end of the year.
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Goldman Sachs’ Secret £10 Million Christmas Present
12 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
It has been revealed that good old Goldman Sachs received one rather large Christmas present in the form of unpaid interest from Her Majesty’s Revenues and Customs, following a long legal battle over one of the US bank’s tax avoidance schemes.
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SABMiller Shares Climb On Takeover Report
07 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
After having recently bought Fosters, fresh rumours surfaced yesterday that SABMiller might itself face a takeover from Anheuser-Busch InBev, the biggest brewer in the world. SAB shares soared 7% to their highest gain in almost three years as a result.
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NYSE Threatened By Hacker Group Anonymous
04 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / 3 Comments
While it might not be doing too well at the moment, the New York Stock Exchange is fairly important. One of the world’s biggest markets, the daily business of the NYSE has been threatened for a while now by the Occupy Wall Street protests. Internet hacker group, Anonymous, has now also jumped on the bandwagon, […]
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Naspers Buys Russian Gumtree
04 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
The South African media giant, Naspers, has bought the Russian version of Gumtree: Slando, for an undisclosed amount. The original founders of Gumtree, Michael Pennington and Simon Crookall, confirmed the deal overnight. The site has 11 million users, and has sold items including Stalin’s clothing, a slew of diamonds, a MIG 21 aircraft and one whole oil refinery.
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China Agrees R19 Billion SA Investment, Dalai Lama Probably Not Coming
29 Sep 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe has today told a small news conference that China has agreed to invest approximately R19 billion in investment projects around South Africa. He’s been on a three-day visit to China, and has avoided all mention of the constant South African headache that is deciding whether the Dalai Lama should get a visa or not.
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SABMiller Buys Foster’s
21 Sep 2011 by Jasmine Stone / 1 Comment
South Africans have one-upped the Aussies again. Brewing giant, SABMiller, has flexed its muscles and laid claim to the iconic Australian brand, Foster’s. The takeover of the Australian beer maker should be complete by the end of the year, and the price tag has been confirmed at $10,2 billion, with a bit of change for some dividends.
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Moneysmart: Shift Control For Financial Freedom
19 Sep 2011 by Seth Rotherham / 2 Comments
As South Africa’s free, online money-managing tool, moneysmart will revolutionize the way South Africans manage their finances. The idea behind this fresh and exciting new brand is to shift financial control to you. moneysmart presents a unique platform that provides an innovative approach to aggregating financial data and enables individuals to take control of their […]
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Trader Single Handedly Costs Swiss Bank $2 Billion
15 Sep 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
Zurich-based bank, UBS is in the toilet after a very, very naughty little boy or girl engaged in a spot of skullduggerous, unauthorised, and apparently not entirely skillful trading. The cost? A cool $2 billion, and an additional drop of 10% in its share price over the course of today’s early trading alone. UBS had better clench its buttocks. This is going to be a wild ride.
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China Is Amped To Buy Debt
15 Sep 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
China’s time is now. We’ve all been saying it for ages, but their time really is now. A report from Bloomberg doesn’t beat around the bush: “China is willing to buy bonds from nations involved in the sovereign debt crisis.” They already own millions of hectares of land right here in Africa, but now they want to invest.
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Here Are The Real Numbers And Consequences If Greece Goes Bang
13 Sep 2011 by Jasmine Stone / 1 Comment
European stocks have bounced back slightly (well, leveled, more than anything) on news that China and Italy are in discussions about “significant” purchases of Italian bonds and investments in strategic companies. Greece will probably get that next round of funding, but Europe still needs to approve it. Here are some interesting numbers if Greece does go bang.
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Is Germany Giving Up On Greece?
12 Sep 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
Reports coming out of the East and Europe this morning paint a dismal picture for Greece. The Euro had already slipped to a 10 year low against the Yen and a six month low against the dollar in overnight trading. Bloomberg thinks Germany might give up on Greece because a Greek default is probably inevitable.
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Government Has Spent At Least R46 Million On Cape Mansions This Year
29 Aug 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
At the end of last week, parliament confirmed that the embattled public works department had spent approximately R183 million since May 2009, and that R46 million had been dropped on exclusive residences in this year alone. It’s therefore no surprise that the Hawks are struggling to finance their investigations.
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Our Dear Leader Kim Jong Il Visits Russia, Probably Wants Help
22 Aug 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
Our Dear Leader, Kim Jong Il, has caught a train to Russia and will meet and attend an energy summit with President Dmitry Medvedev later this week. The summit is expected to focus on energy cooperation and nuclear disarmament, no spice. But, Our Dear Leader is probably also after a business opportunity that will make money out of South Korea.
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Here We Go Again, Could Gold Hit $1 900 By The End Of The Day?
19 Aug 2011 by Jasmine Stone / 1 Comment
European banks tumbled for the third day in a row, led by Lloyds Banking Group and Commerzbank AG, on concerns that firms will struggle to fund themselves and increase earnings as the region’s sovereign debt crisis strangles economic growth. Basically, it’s a case of just about everything taking on for the team.
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Abercrombie And Fitch Shares Drop Nine Percent Day After Jersey Shore Jab
18 Aug 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
Yesterday, 2oceansVibe reported that clothing retailer, Abercrombie and Fitch, had decided it no longer wanted its clothing to be associated with members of The Jersey Shore cast, especially Michael “The Situation” Sorrentino. Coincidentally, the very next day of trading after the announcement, Abercrombie shares shed nearly 10 percent at one stage.
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Warren Buffett And Donald Trump Are Loving The Turbulent World Markets
12 Aug 2011 by Jasmine Stone / 1 Comment
World financial markets might be in turmoil and investors might be discarding shares at any opportunity, but, there is always the exception to the rule. Warren Buffett and Donald Trump are just two of these exceptions to the rule. The two financial moguls are actually having a good old time of things at the moment.
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Europe’s Economy Goes To Hell
11 Aug 2011 by Jasmine Stone / 2 Comments
It’s becoming a case of “your guess is as good as the next guy’s” in world financial markets now. Share prices are fluctuating like unseasonal temperatures and nobody can really predict what might happen next. French markets rallied earlier, but as soon as they did, rumours that BNP Paribas may face another €500 million loss on Greek debt surfaced.
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Hong Kong Securities Exchange Hacked, Partly Suspends Trading
11 Aug 2011 by Jasmine Stone / 1 Comment
Not even security exchanges are immune to hackers these days. Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited, the world’s biggest security exchange operator by market value, suspended trading yesterday for companies including HSBC. This came after its website was hacked in what’s been described as a hack with malicious intent at a critical time.
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NATIONAL START SOMETHING DAY
08 Aug 2011 by Seth Rotherham / No Comments
What is your dream? What have you always wanted to start? We all know that we need to start doing certain things now, in order to enjoy the rewards we wish for later. Yet, for some reason, we often put them off, failing to take advantage of the moment. That’s why Sanlam has created National […]
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French Court Orders Probe Into IMF Head Christine Lagarde
04 Aug 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
The International Monetary Fund has another scandal to deal with, although this time it’s a financial one. A French court has today ordered an investigation into the new IMF head, Christine Lagarde, and her role in a much-criticised $400 million arbitration deal in favour of a controversial tycoon. It concerns the mishandled sale of sportswear maker, Adidas, in the 1990’s.
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Greece Starts €50 Billion Privatisation Drive
02 Aug 2011 by Jasmine Stone / 1 Comment
It’s time to dust off the old cheque book and keep an eye on what’s happening in Greece. You may just find something you want to purchase as Greek officials begin appointing advisers for the country’s ambitious privatisation drive, and what is one of the most ambitious asset-selling campaigns in modern history.
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2oceansvibe Partners
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