Haque Specialized Group's News

Oil prices recovered on Thursday from losses chalked up the session before, but the market remained under pressure as bloated US crude inventories and rising output dampen OPEC-led efforts to curb global production. Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil, were at $50.95 per barrel at 0231 GMT, up 31 cents, or 0.6 per cent, from their last close. That came after Brent briefly dipped below $50 a barrel on Wednesday for the first time since November. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 35 cents, or 0.7 percent, at $48.39 a barrel, after testing support at $47 overnight. Analysts said Brent had found technical support around $50 a barrel and was being pushed up as traders took new long positions after crude hit multi-month lows overnight. Despite the bounce, traders said the market remained under pressure, largely due to a big US inventory and doubts that an effort led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to cut output was reining in a global fuel supply overhang. Greg McKenna, chief market strategist at futures brokerage AxiTrader, said OPEC was "underwriting the investment plans and returns of their competition in U.S. shale oil." McKenna said there was a risk of oil prices dropping further due to US output and a lack of compliance by some producers who said they would cut production. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) said US inventories climbed almost 5 million barrels to a record 533.1 million last week, far outpacing forecasts of a 2.8 million-barrel build. The high inventories come as US oil production has risen over 8 per cent since mid-2016 to more than 9.13 million barrels per day (bpd) to levels comparable in late 2014, when the oil market slump started. There were also signs of a bloated market in Asia, where China's gasoline imports slumped while its refiners sent huge volumes overseas as they refine more fuel than the domestic market can absorb. China's gasoline exports in February hit the second highest on record, up 76.6 per cent over a year earlier at 1.06 million tonnes, data from the Chinese customs showed on Thursday. Diesel exports last month surged 66.7 per cent on year at 1.32 million tonnes. China imported just 7,245 tonnes of gasoline in February, tumbling 94 per cent from the same period last year. Diesel imports dropped 52 per cent from a year ago to 50,000 tonnes.   ....

Published at: 2017-03-23 00:00:04

A police officer and three other people were killed in a string of shootings that unfolded in three small communities in central Wisconsin of United States, local media reported on Wednesday. A suspect was taken into custody by police at an apartment complex in Weston, Wisconsin, following the incident, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel newspaper reported. Weston is about 90 miles west of Green Bay. Todd Baeten, police captain for Wausau, Wisconsin, told an afternoon press conference that the incident began shortly before 1:00pm central time when shots were reported fired at the Marathon Savings Bank in the nearby town of Rothschild. Baeten told the news conference that several minutes later a similar report was received from a law firm in Wausau before officers converged on the apartment complex. Wausau police and the Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigations declined to confirm the casualties to the Reuters.....

Published at: 2017-03-23 00:00:04

US prosecutors are building potential cases that would accuse North Korea of directing the theft of $81 million from Bangladesh Bank's account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York last year, and that would charge alleged Chinese middlemen, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation believes that North Korea is responsible for the heist, an official briefed on the probe told Reuters. Richard Ledgett, deputy director of the US National Security Agency, publicly suggested on Tuesday that North Korea may be linked to the incident, while private firms have long pointed the finger at the reclusive state. The Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that prosecutors believe Chinese middlemen helped North Korea orchestrate the theft from Bangladesh's central bank, which was among the biggest bank robberies in modern times. The current cases being pursued may not include charges against North Korean officials, but would likely implicate the country, the newspaper reported, with the United States accusing a foreign government of orchestrating the heist. A US Department of Justice spokesman declined to comment. FBI offices in Los Angeles and New York have been leading an international investigation into the February 2016 incident, in which hackers breached Bangladesh Bank's systems and used the SWIFT messaging network to request nearly $1 billion from its account at the New York Fed. The branch of the US central bank rejected most of the requests but filled some of them, resulting in $81 million disappearing into casinos and other entities in the Philippines. A top police investigator in Dhaka told Reuters in December that some Bangladesh Bank officials deliberately exposed its computer systems, enabling the hackers to get in. The incident exposed bungling and miscommunication between central banks, and left the Fed, Bangladesh, SWIFT, and the Philippine lender that initially received the funds trading blame for months. SWIFT - or the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication that serves as the backbone of global finance - has since revealed that its messaging system has been targeted in a "meaningful" number of other attacks last year using a similar approach as in the Bangladesh incident. Last week, SWIFT said it planned to cut off the remaining North Korean banks still connected to its system as concerns about the country's nuclear program and missile tests grow. The Journal reported that federal investigators are focusing on Chinese individuals or businesses who allegedly helped North Korea orchestrate the heist, and that the US Treasury is considering sanctions against these alleged middlemen. The New York Fed and SWIFT declined to comment.  ....

Published at: 2017-03-23 00:00:04

Starting on Monday, Wells Fargo & Co depositors can withdraw money using a smartphone at any branded ATM, the latest sign of US lenders moving away from traditional brick-and-mortar banking. Jonathan Velline, Wells Fargo's head of ATM and branch banking, said that the San Francisco-based bank decided to apply the smartphone technology to all of its 13,000 cash machines after piloting the idea in selected locations across the country. Bank of America Corp and JPMorgan Chase & Co are among the big banks that have announced digital upgrades to their ATM infrastructure, but Wells Fargo is the first US bank to roll out cardless machines across its entire network. The 20 million customers on Wells Fargo's mobile banking app will be able to request an eight-digit code to enter along with their personal identification code at an ATM to retrieve cash. "The new feature allows customers to withdraw cash at any time, even when they don't have their cards on them," Velline said. "The new option will also improve protections against data theft," Velline added. "Security certainly was a big aspect of the cardless feature and the two-step identification helps reduce the risk of fraud," Velline said, adding that the elimination of cards prevented so-called skimming techniques that criminals employ to read and store data of cards inserted into ATMs. Wells Fargo, the third-largest US bank, was once the envy of Wall Street, able to seemingly sell its customers a range of different products and highly regarded for its stock price which had once made it the world's most valuable bank. But last year's revelations over a sales scandal that involved the creation of as many as 2.1 million fraudulent accounts in customers' names without their permission took a toll on the company. The lender has since seen a sharp drop in the number of consumers opening checking and credit card accounts. As have many other US lenders over the last years, Wells Fargo has invested in the development of digital tools to attract customers and slash costs at its retail branches. "Digitalizing services is unquestionably the way to the future and the arguments are very powerful, but US banks are still far behind," said Gerard du Toit, a partner at consulting firm Bain & Company. Accessible, well-designed digital offers not only provide a massive cost advantage, but also significantly improve customer loyalty, du Toit said.....

Published at: 2017-03-23 00:00:04

Police recovered a rocket launcher, believed to be of 1971 Liberation War, from Cantonment Khayertala Bazar area in Jessore district town on Wednesday. Aminur Rahman, a sub-inspector of Kotwali Police Station, said day-labourers found the launcher in an abandoned condition while digging earth there in the afternoon and informed police. On the information, police rushed to the spot and recovered the rocket launcher, according to UNB report. Locals said, "Pakistani soldiers might be abandoned the rocket launcher in the land during the 1971 Liberation War”. ....

Published at: 2017-03-23 00:00:04