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14 PANORAMA OMANDAILYOBSERVER SATURDAY l JANUARY 28 l 2017 COLOURED IN CHINESE CULTURE: Australia’s iconic Opera House is lit up in red in connection with the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations in Sydney on Friday. Much of the region will welcome in the Lunar New Year on January 28, this year welcoming the Year of the Rooster. — AFP Teresa or Theresa? What difference an ‘h’ makes LONDON: A typo in a White House press office memo had the British media jesting on Friday that President Donald Trump might think he is meeting a glamour model — after Prime Minister Theresa May‘s name was misspelt. May will become the first foreign leader to meet Trump as US president later. “In the afternoon, the President will partake in a bilateral meeting with United Kingdom Prime Minister, Teresa May,” the memo read, dropping the ‘h‘ from May‘s first name — a mistake which was repeated two more times. The diplomatic faux pas prompted the British press to go into overdrive. The Twitter handle @RealTeresaMay belongs to a retired UK glamour model and in a bizarre twist, it has similarities to the president‘s own Twitter handle of @realDonaldTrump. The Independent reported that the “real” Teresa May has starred in films including one entitled “Whitehouse: The ... Video”. The prime minister‘s plans to reboot the “special relationship” between the two countries have already been met with some scepticism in Britain, with politicians voicing concerns that May will not stand up to Trump on issues including torture and climate change. This is not Trump‘s first run-in with a case of mistaken identity — a woman called Ivanka from the English coastal city of Brighton enjoyed a brief moment of Internet fame after the president accidentally tweeted her instead of his daughter. — dpa POOH PAW: A one-yearold cat Pooh playing with a toy with new bionic back paws. Two Bulgarian cats who lost their hind legs in accidents are being given new bionic paws in what vets say is the first such operation in Europe outside ground-breaking Britain. But that is not all there is to it, the stray fluffies are also looking to find homes. — AFP FIRST BABIES: Newborn babies dressed as chicks to mark the Year of the Rooster sleep at Paolo Memorial Hospital in Bangkok on Friday. — AFP A VIEW FROM THE WINDOW: Princess Charlene of Monaco holds Prince Jacques as they stand on the balcony during the traditional Sainte Devote procession in Monaco on Friday. — Reuters Student forced to pee in bucket awarded $1.25m LOS ANGELES: A former high school student in California has been awarded $1.25 million for having been forced to urinate in a bucket after being denied a bathroom break. A jury in San Diego on Wednesday ruled in favour of the former Patrick Henry High School student who had filed suit over the 2012 incident, initially seeking $25,000. According to the complaint, the unidentified teen, who was 14 at the time of the incident, was not allowed to use the bathroom by a teacher during class because of strict school policies. Instead, she was told to pee in a bucket in a supply room closet at the back of the classroom and then dump the urine in a sink. The teen testified during the three-week trial that the humiliating incident had prompted gossip, lewd texts from fellow students and that she had attempted suicide. “I’ve been doing personal injury cases for the last 20 years and this was one of my most unusual cases,” her attorney, Brian Watkins, said. “Something like this never should have happened to a 14-year-old girl just entering high school.” He said his client, who is now 18 and still undergoing therapy, was satisfied with the verdict. “I believe justice was done and I think the school district recognises that,” Watkins said. “They have already changed their policies so I think it was positive for both sides.” School district officials testified during the trial that the teacher had meant no harm and simply thought she was applying the rules. — AFP IN TUNE WITH NATURE: Folk artists from India’s Telangana state walk after performing the Ghusadi Tribal Dance during the Hyderabad Literary Festival. — AFP
SATURDAY | JANUARY 28, 2017 | RABEE AL THANI 29, 1438 AH business www.omanobserver.om editor@omanobserver.om ASIAN SHARES INCH DOWN, DOLLAR EXTENDS GAINS IN HOLIDAY TRADE P16 GOOGLE PARENT ALPHABET PROFIT EDGES UP P16 FORD SEES LOWER 2017 PROFITS, TAKES HIT FROM PENSIONS, MEXICO P16 US new home sales fall; weekly jobless claims rise WASHINGTON: New US singlefamily home sales fell to a 10-month low in December after three straight months of solid gains, but the housing market recovery remains intact as a tightening labour market boosts wage growth. While other data on Thursday showed a bigger-than-expected increase in the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits last week, the four-week moving average of claims dropped to levels last seen in 1973. There was also good news on the economy with the goods trade deficit falling in December as exports rose. With trade expected to have weighed on economic growth in the fourth quarter, last month’s rise in exports bodes well for growth in early 2017. The Commerce Department said new home sales dropped 10.4 per cent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 536,000 units last month. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast singlefamily home sales, which account for 8.9 per cent of overall home sales, slipping 1 per cent to a 588,000-unit rate last month. “December’s decline is probably mostly a result of this volatility rather than a drop in the underlying fundamentals for housing demand, despite the rise in mortgage rates,” said David Berson, chief economist at Nationwide in Columbus, Ohio. New home sales, which are derived from building permits, are volatile on a month-to-month basis and subject to large revisions. Sales increased 12.2 per cent to 563,000 units in 2016, the highest since 2007. The dollar was trading higher against a basket of currencies, while prices for US government debt fell. US stocks were up. With the labour market considered as being at or near full employment, USC student Prathamesh Naik, 25, (R) talks to Esri HR Business Partner Shawna Schultz at TechFair LA, a technology job fair, in Los Angeles, California, US. — Reuters and pushing up wages, demand for housing is likely to remain supported. Economists so far see a modest impact on demand for housing from the recent run-up in mortgage rates, given labour market strength. The fixed 30-year mortgage rate increased 43 basis points in December from November to an average of 4.20 per cent, according to data from mortgage finance firm Freddie Mac. That was the highest since April 2014. Further increases are likely as the Federal Reserve has forecast three * New single-family home sales fall 10.4 pc * Weekly jobless claims increase 22,000 * Four-week average of claims falls 2,000 * Goods deficit falls 0.5pc in December rate hikes this year. The US central bank raised its benchmark overnight interest rate in December by 25 basis points to a range of 0.50 per cent to 0.75 per cent. Last month, new single-family homes sales rose 48.4 per cent in the Northeast to their highest level since January 2008. They fell in the Midwest, South and in the West. LABOUR MARKET TREND STRONG: In a separate report on Thursday, the Labour Department said initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 22,000 to a seasonally adjusted 259,000 for the week ended January 21. Claims have now been below 300,000, a threshold associated with a healthy labour market, for 99 consecutive weeks. That is the longest stretch since 1970, when the labour market was much smaller. Last week’s data included the Martin Luther King Jr holiday, which could have impacted on the data. Claims tend to be volatile around this time of the year because of different timings of the various holidays. “Through the volatility they continue to show no sign of an uptrend,” said Jim O’Sullivan, chief US economist at High Frequency Economics in Valhalla, New York. “We believe the trend in employment growth remains quite strong, more than strong enough to keep the unemployment rate trending down.” The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better measure of labour market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, fell 2,000 to 245,500 last week, the lowest since November 1973. In another report, the Commerce Department said the goods trade deficit fell 0.5 per cent to $65 billion in December. Goods exports increased $3.7 billion to $125.5 billion. The rise outpaced a $3.4 billion gain in imports. Economists expect trade to have subtracted as much as 1.5 percentage points from gross domestic product in the fourth quarter after contributing 0.85 percentage point the prior quarter. Much of the anticipated export drag will likely come from a decline in soybean shipments, after they provided a huge boost to GDP growth in the third quarter. The government is scheduled to publish its advance fourth-quarter GDP estimate on Friday. According to a Reuters survey of economists, GDP likely increased at a 2.2 per cent annualised rate in the fourth quarter after a surging at a 3.5 per cent pace in the July-September quarter. — Reuters Japan CPI falls 0.3pc in 2016, first fall in 4 years People are seen at a market street in Tokyo, Japan. — Reuters TOKYO: Japan’s consumer price index dropped 0.3 per cent in 2016, the first annual fall in four years, government data showed on Friday, in another setback for Tokyo’s efforts to counter deflation. Japan has been struggling to reverse a years-long deflationary spiral of falling prices and lacklustre economic growth. Core consumer prices, which exclude volatile fresh food, declined 0.2 per cent in December from a year ago — slightly better than expectations of a 0.3 per cent decline — as weak household spending and meagre wage hikes keep a lid on inflation, the figures showed. The monthly data — which marked the 10th straight month of price declines — are a blow to efforts from the government and Bank of Japan to pump up the economy. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe came to office in late 2012 and launched his so-called “Abenomics” growth plan — a mix of massive monetary easing, government spending and red-tape slashing — but the economy remains fragile and inflation well below target. Officials have blamed external factors, such as falling energy prices and uncertainty related to emerging economies, for their failure to achieve a promised two per cent inflation level. The central bank now expects to hit two per cent inflation by March 2019 — four years later than planned. Falling prices discourage companies from making capital investments, while also slowing production. Deflation can also discourage spending by consumers, who might postpone purchases until prices drop further or save money, creating further pressure on businesses. — AFP Tesco to buy Booker for $4.6 billion LONDON: Britain’s biggest supermarket Tesco has agreed to buy leading wholesaler Booker for £3.7 billion ($4.64 billion), reasserting its dominance with a bold move into the faster-growing restaurant and pubs market. Tesco’s takeover of Booker signifies the supermarket chain’s growing confidence after two years of turmoil. The group also said on Friday it would restart paying dividends in respect of the financial year 2017/18. Chief Executive Dave Lewis’s focus has been on reviving Tesco’s main grocery business in Britain, and in a joint statement with Booker it said on Friday that together the pair would be able to address more of Britain’s growing food market. “The Tesco of old is back,” said John Ibbotson of Retail Vision. “This is an extremely bold move and demonstrates an intent and sense of purpose that have been missing for the best part of a decade.” By adding Booker, Tesco will gain exposure to supplying Britain’s cafe, restaurant and pub market, which is growing faster than the eat at home market served by its shops. Booker supplies 450,000 catering outlets including chains such as Wagamamas and Carluccio’s. “This merger with Booker will further enhance Tesco’s growth prospects by creating the UK’s leading food business with combined expertise in retail, wholesale, supply chain and digital,” Lewis said in a statement. Shares in Tesco traded up 7.7 per cent at 203.6 pence, and Booker had risen 12 per cent to 205 pence at 0806 GMT. The deal sees Lewis, who took the helm at Tesco in 2014 when the firm was in a state of crisis and losing market share rapidly, switch to acquisition mode from his strategy of streamlining the sprawling international business. Over the last two years he has sold Tesco’s South Tesco’s takeover of Booker signifies the supermarket chain’s growing confidence after two years of turmoil. Korean arm for $6.1 billion, as well as its Turkish business and the Giraffe restaurant chain. BOLD STEP: The pair said the deal would lead to synergies of at least £200 million within three years and that it would be accretive to earnings per share in the second full financial year of the deal. One analyst said, however, that the deal could face hurdles from the competition regulator. “Our instant reaction is that the Competition and Markets Authority will have a field day with this,” said independent retail analyst Nick Bubb. But Lewis told BBC radio that he disagreed. “This is not a case of Tesco buying any more stores. We actually don’t see there to be an issue in terms of competition,” he said earlier on Friday. Under the terms of the deal each Booker shareholder will receive 0.861 new Tesco shares and 42.6 pence in cash. Based on Tesco’s closing share price on Thursday of 189 pence the deal represents a value of 205.3 pence per Booker share — a premium of about 12 per cent on its Thursday close. The deal will result in Booker shareholders owning approximately 16 per cent of the combined group. — Reuters
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