Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii left financial markets guessing on Tuesday on whether he will remain in the post, saying he was still waiting for test results after being hospitalised last week suffering from exhaustion. The 77-year-old fiscal veteran said the medical results may be available shortly, and a decision on whether he should stay…
Financial markets kicked off 2010 on an upbeat note on Monday with world stocks close to 15-month highs on hopes for a sustainable economic recovery. The dollar was slightly weaker against a basket of major currencies while government bonds sold off. MSCI’s all-country world stock index was up nearly half a percent, slightly below 2009…
Changes to the pension protection act of 2001 created the Solo 401(k) plan. Thanks to these tax-law changes, the Solo 401(k) is revolutionizing the way many self-employed individuals save for retirement. Never before have the self-employed been afforded the same advantages and protections that traditional 401(k) participants have maintained. SEP IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs and Traditional…
Investors who kept faith in Asia as the world teetered on the brink of financial meltdown a year ago have been richly rewarded – the region’s markets rode out the storm in spectacular style and posted stunning gains. The economic outlook for 2010 appears far sunnier. But with frothy markets betting on a smooth return…
They are rare, beautiful, valuable and a girl’s best friend but traditionally diamonds have not been considered an asset class in their own right. They do not share the “haven” status of gold and their prices are more volatile than those of the precious metal. While the value of spot gold has gained about 25…
The resistance to mandatory bonus caps for bankers’ bonuses was as inevitable as the public clamour to strip these “fat cats” down to size. In the end – after much politicking worldwide – the bankers won the first round. Mandatory caps have been rejected in favour of a system whereby cash bonuses are limited and…
The events that led to the landmark judgment unfolded in the local authority of Vaxholm, Sweden. There, a Latvian construction company Laval un Partneri had won a contract to refurbish a school and posted a team of Latvian workers to Sweden. But the work deadlocked as the Swedish building workers union demanded the same rates…
PricewaterhouseCoopers is and has been the leading accounting firm in Mexico not only because it is the oldest, established 103 years ago, but also because of its expertise, innovative approach and professionalism. The tax line of service has always stood out for its dynamism and ability to resolve issues. This is reflected in its size…
The IT world stands at the threshold of a paradigmatic shift to cloud computing. According to industry consultancy Gartner: “[C]loud computing [is] begin[ning] to move beyond the pure hype stage and into the beginning of mainstream adoption.” The prospect of storing business critical transaction data in the cloud – a massive centralised and virtualised third…
