NEw SARS-likE viRUS EMERGES iN MidEASt - Kuwait Times

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2012
German business mood worst since mid-2009
Gold retreats from 6-1/2
month high as dollar firms
Dreamliner brings jolt
of excitement to flying
Page 22
New Audi S models
arrive in Middle East
NEW YORK: Greg Packer, 49, celebrates as he enters the Fifth Avenue Apple store for the release of the iPhone 5, Friday, Sept 21, 2012. — AP
Apple sells more than 5m iPhone 5
NEW YORK: Apple Inc sold out of its latest
smartphone, with more than 5 million iPhone
5s sold in the three days since it hit stores,
the company said yesterday. While sales were
solid, analysts were concerned that Apple
was unable to produce the new phone fast
enough to meet demand. The early total for
the iPhone 5 topped sales of the iPhone 4S,
which sold more than 4 million units in its
first weekend after Apple introduced it in
October 2011.
Expectations for new Apple products are
so high that Wall Street appeared not to be
Foxconn factory in China shaken by violence
wowed by the latest numbers. Investors sent
shares of the stock down 1.4 percent at
$690.14 in mid-morning trade. “It appears
investors were disappointed with the slowdown
in growth in the first weekend,” said
BTIG analyst Walter Piecyk. Apple said while
the majority of iPhone 5 pre-orders have been
shipped to customers, many were scheduled
to go out in October.
The world’s most valuable technology
company is being closely watched for any
supplier problems that may slow down the
smartphone production. “We believe that
sales could have potentially been much higher
if not for supply constraints,” William Power,
an analyst with Baird Equity Research, wrote
in a note. He forecast Apple selling 8 million
to 10 million units in the fiscal fourth quarter
ending in September.
One of Apple’s key suppliers for screens,
Sharp Corp , is struggling with high costs
and scrambling to raise funds to pay debt.
Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group, which
assembles iPhones, closed a plant in China
yesterday after about 2,000 workers were
involved in a brawl in a company dormitory.
Clinton summit highlights business practices
NEW YORK: Former President Bill
Clinton on Sunday challenged Wal-
Mart to open a store in Libya and
help create jobs in the world’s most
troubled areas. “If the new president
of Libya asked you to open a store in
Tripoli, would you consider it?”
Clinton asked Wal-Mart CEO Mike
Duke at the opening session of the
Clinton Global Initiative. The annual
forum brings together leaders in politics,
business and philanthropy for
three days of brainstorming about
the most pressing global problems.
Duke was on a Clinton-mediated
panel with UN Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon, Queen Rania of Jordan and
World Bank President Jim Yong Kim.
The Wal-Mart executive - jokingly
calling the corporate giant a “small
company from Arkansas,” Clinton’s
home state - said the company
already operates in high-risk areas
including parts of sub-Saharan
Africa. But Wal-Mart has no presence
in Tripoli, the Libyan capital Clinton
named as a possible location.
Newly elected Libyan President
Mohammed el-Megarif is listed
among about 1,000 forum participants,
as is Egyptian President
Mohammed Morsi, a leader of the
Islamist Muslim Brotherhood. Libya
faces more domestic upheaval after
the killings of US Ambassador
Christopher Stevens and three other
Americans in the Libyan city of
Benghazi earlier this month.
More than 50 current or former
heads of state are lined up for this
year’s high-power gathering. On
Sunday, the audience in the ballroom
of the Sheraton New York Hotel
included the former president’s
daughter, Chelsea Clinton. Secretary
of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was
to speak yesterday. President Barack
Obama and Republican presidential
candidate Mitt Romney will speak
today.
The theme of the 2012 meeting is
“Designing for Impact.” Its stated purpose
is to consider how the Clinton
Global Initiative community “can utilize
our abundance of global capacity
to invent better tools, build more
effective interventions, and work creatively
and collaboratively to design
a future worth pursuing.”
The UN secretary-general said the
“top priority” is sustainable development
- especially for basic needs
such as energy, food and water in
poor parts of the world. “I’m going to
sound an alarm to all the leaders,” he
said. “We are living in an era of insecurity,
injustice, inequality and intolerance,
and what should we do?” He
called on powerful businesses like
Wal-Mart to not only act for profit
but also “for humanity.”
The World Bank head noted, however,
that even effective efforts such
as delivering HIV-fighting drugs to
impoverished countries with high
infection rates cannot succeed
unless ways are found to expand
help to large numbers of people.
“How do you go from promising initiatives
to taking things to scale?”
Kim asked. One solution is to knock
down the average cost of a year’s HIV
NEW YORK: (Left to right) Michael T Duke, President and CEO of Wal-
Mart, Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of the Hashemite
Kingdom of Jordan, Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary-General of the United
Nations, Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group and former
US President Bill Clinton are seen during the session “Designing for
Impact” at the Clinton Global Initiative September 23, 2012 New York
City. — AFP
treatment so it’s more accessible in
low-income societies. In four African
countries - Ethiopia, Malawi, Rwanda
and Zambia - the cost averages
about $200, compared with $682 in
South Africa, according to research
by the Clinton Health Access
Initiative.
Since Clinton created the Global
Initiative in 2005, members have
made 2,100 “commitments” seeking
to improve the lives of people in
more than 180 countries. On Sunday,
Clinton highlighted a Procter &
Gamble-sponsored project aiming to
provide 2 billion liters of clean drinking
water every year to save the life
of one child per hour in the developing
world. But he said the long-term
prospects for struggling societies
rest on educating workers and helping
them land jobs, or run their own
businesses, “and at least maximize
chances that they’ll have something
to look forward to when they get up
in the morning.” —AP
It was not clear how long the shutdown
would last.
Additionally, Apple is facing stiff competition
from smartphones that run on Google
Inc’s Android software, which has become the
most-used mobile operating system in the
world. Apple’s key supplier as well as rival,
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, has taken the
lead in smartphone sales. The iPhone 5 has
been one of Apple’s most aggressive international
rollouts to date. The phone will be available
31 countries on Sept. 28 and in more
than 100 countries by the end of the year.
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DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s bourse made its
largest one-day drop in 11 weeks yesterday
as slumping oil prices and jittery global
markets spurred nervy investors to cut
risk. Most other Gulf markets also fell as
sentiment in the world’s top oil exporting
region faltered. Saudi’s index dropped 1
percent to a six-week low in its largest
one-day loss since July 9 as the heavyweight
petrochemical and banking sectors
headed declines. Saudi Basic Industries
Corp (SABIC), the world’s largest chemicals
producer, shed 1.6 percent. Samba
Financial Group and Al-Rajhi Bank fell 2
and 0.7 percent respectively.
“Today’s sell-off is in line with what’s
happening in US markets - you’ve (also)
seen oil prices come off and some of this
selling is in reaction to that,” said Asim
Bukhtiar, head of research at Riyad Capital.
“Sentiment is weak on petrochemical
stocks for Q3. Banks are expected to do
well but there will be some moderation in
lending in H2. Some of that started to
show in provisioning in Q2.”
Saudi earnings season will start in early
October and some analysts expect petrochemical
sector profits to decline by about
30 percent, hit by weak global demand.
Oil was trading at $91.31 a barrel at 1304
GMT, down 7.8 percent since Sept. 14’s
four-month high, with the latest drop
attributed to a firm dollar and worries
about weak economic growth in key consumer
nations.
In the UAE, Dubai’s measure slipped 0.3
percent, down for a third session since
Wednesday’s 20-week peak. Courier
Aramex fell 2 percent, telecom operator
Page 26
“Expectations for Apple are always white
hot,” said Colin Gillis, a research analyst with
BGC. “It’s not just enough for them to break
records but to smash them.” Apple signaled
last week that pre-orders outstripped initial
supply and that many phones would not be
available until October. The iPhone is Apple’s
highest-margin product and accounts for
half of its annual revenues. On Friday, fans
lined up at stores in cities around the world
to get their hands on the new phone, which
is thinner and lighter and has a bigger
screen. — Reuters
Saudi heads Gulf drop as
slumping oil prices weigh
du shed 1.4 percent and builder Arabtec
lost 1.5 percent. Abu Dhabi’s index also
dipped, closing 0.3 percent lower.
Elsewhere, Qatar’s bourse ended little
moved and Oman’s measure lost 0.6 percent.
Recent economic initiatives in
Europe and United States helped UAE and
Qatar stocks to rally last week, but
investors have since booked some of these
gains as global growth concerns resurfaced.
These worries also weighed on
European shares as investors refocused
attention from central bank stimulus
schemes to weak economic fundamentals
and the euro zone’s yet-to-be-resolved
debt crisis.
Bucking the Gulf trend, Kuwait’s bourse
rose 0.6 percent to a three-month high,
extending gains since the government
said it would double the portion of state
revenue it puts into a rainy day fund. The
move is thought to be aimed at investing
state money more efficiently. The index
slumped to an eight-year low in mid-
August as political infighting weighed on
the economy, but it is now up 4.4 percent
from this trough. “People are optimistic
about the steps the government has been
taking to boost the economy,” said Safaa
Zbib, head of research at Kuwait and
Middle East Financial Investment Co.
“There are serious plans to help the economy
and it will impact the stock market
positively, but we are waiting because
these are for the long-term.” Most of the
large-caps rallied in heavy trade. National
Bank of Kuwait rose 2.1 percent, while
telecom operator Zain and Kuwait Finance
House each jumped 4.2 percent. —Reuters