News on Business

Saudi petrochemicals producers said on Saturday they would seek duties on imports from China after Beijing began a dumping probe on petrochemical products from Saudi Arabia and three other countries. Abdulrahman al-Zamil, chairman of the Council of Saudi Chambers, said China had no grounds to pursue the dumping investigation on imports of methanol and butanediol (BDO) it launched in late June. "We do not subsidise our exporters" of petrochemicals, he told a news conference. "This is not fair for two major partners," he said, referring to China and Saudi Arabia ...

Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson is taking part in a property venture, backed by rich Middle Eastern investors, that intends buying cheap European real estate, a report here said on Saturday. Ferguson and veteran British broadcaster David Frost are part of an investment company, aAim Capital Finance, that has received commitments of more than one billion pounds to snap up property, the Financial Times said. "The credit crunch has undoubtedly hit everyone involved in commercial property," Ferguson was quoted as saying by the FT. But Ferguson, who as United manager ...

Whoever needs more proof that fear in the markets has subsided should take a look at the current front-month, at-the-money straddle on S&P Depository Receipts (NYSE: SPY) versus a similar straddle at the end of last year, around the time when the CBOE SPX Volatility Index (VIX) was still hovering around 60%. Currently, the SPY is trading for around $93. So the current front-month, at-the-money straddle is the 93-strike. The call is currently trading for approximately $1.70 ...