Dear followers everywhere, welcome to a new global tour of the financial, business, companies, and energy markets around the world, and everything new for today, Thursday, December 12, 2024.. coming to you from Banker.
Starting with the European Central Bank, which decided to reduce interest rates by 25 basis points, a move in line with expectations
The European Central Bank reduced the lending interest rate for the fourth time in a row this year, to 3 percent, from 3.25 percent.
The European Central Bank kept the door open for further easing in the future, especially with inflation approaching the target range and the continued weakness in the economy.
And to the global gold markets, where profit-taking operations put pressure on gold prices
The prices of the yellow metal witnessed a decline during early trading on Thursday, with investors taking profits after prices recorded the highest level in more than a month earlier today amid growing expectations that the Federal Reserve (the US central bank) will reduce interest rates next week.
Gold fell in instant transactions to $2,704.41 per ounce, after recording the highest level since November 6 earlier in the session.
US futures also fell to $2,744.60.
And to the Arabian Gulf and the following news from the United Arab Emirates, which revealed that hotel revenues exceeded $9 billion in 9 months.
Revenues from hotel establishments in the UAE rose to 33.5 billion dirhams (about $9.12 billion) during the first nine months of 2024, a growth rate of 4 percent compared to the same period last year.
Hotel occupancy rates in the seven emirates increased to 77.8 percent, which is among the highest in the world.
Hotel nights recorded about 75.5 million nights in the period from January to September 2024, an increase of 8 percent compared to the same period in 2023.
Among the corporate news in our global tour, the American oil and gas giant ExxonMobil revealed its plans to achieve an additional $20 billion in potential profits and $30 billion in free cash flows to shareholders by 2030.
The company said its profit growth plans target a compound annual growth rate of 10 percent and cash flows of 8 percent annually.
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The last news in our global tour about the wealth of American billionaire Elon Musk, as billionaire Elon Musk strengthened his position as the richest man in the world, after his wealth doubled since the victory of US President-elect Donald Trump last month, to reach 447 billion dollars, when the markets closed yesterday, Wednesday, which makes him The first person in history to reach this number, according to Bloomberg data.
During Wednesday alone, Musk’s wealth increased by $62.8 billion, which is the largest daily increase ever, after Tesla shares continued their strong gains, which had jumped since Trump’s victory last November 5, by about 69 percent, bringing the company’s shares to a new record high at $424.77.
