A surge in U.S. job creation and some reassuring words from the head of the U.S. central bank sent U.S. stocks soaring Friday.  

The Labor Department reported a net gain of 312,000 jobs in December, far more than economists predicted. The unemployment rate, however, rose slightly, to 3.9 percent.

Many analysts said the rising unemployment rate was probably good news because rising wages prompted many jobless people to start looking for work.

People are not counted as officially unemployed unless they have searched for work in the past four weeks. In December, the labor force expanded by a healthy 419,000 people as wages rose 3.2 percent over the past year.

PNC Bank Chief Economist Gus Faucher said the data meant worries about a possible recession were probably “overblown.” Worried investors have sent stocks mostly downward in recent months in a series of drastic gains and losses driven in part by concern that the U.S. central bank might raise interest rates too quickly and choke off growth.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Friday that Fed officials were “listening carefully” to markets that were weighing the impact of “concerns on global growth and trade negotiations.”

Dec Mullarkey of Sun Life Investment Management wrote that “markets were reassured” because the Fed made it clear it was not on course to automatically raise rates and would “dynamically adjust as new data and trends emerge.”

By the close of trading, the Dow advanced more than 700 points, as the major U.S. indexes rose more than three percent.  
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Marriott International Inc said Friday that fewer than 383 million customer records were stolen in a massive cyberattack disclosed last month, down from its initial estimate that up to 500 million guests were affected.

The hotel operator also said that some 25.55 million passport numbers were stolen in the attack on the Starwood Hotels reservation system, 5.25 million of which were stored in plain text. Another 8.6 million encrypted payment cards were also taken in the attack, it said.

Marriott previously confirmed that passport numbers and payment cards were taken, but not said how many.

The company disclosed on Nov. 30 that it had discovered its Starwood hotels reservation database had been hacked over a four-year period in one of the largest breaches in history.

At least five U.S. states and the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office are investigating the attack.

Marriott also said that it had completed an effort to phase out the Starwood reservations database that it acquired in September 2016 with its $13.6 billion purchase of Starwood. The hack began in 2014, a year before Marriott offered to buy Starwood.
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It sounds like a Hollywood caper: A group of investors and officials convince European banks to loan a total of $2 billion to a resource-rich African nation trying to rebuild after a bruising civil war.  

The money promptly disappears, and then this caper turns tragic.  The government doesn’t learn of the loans until three years after they happen. It defaults on the loans, and that triggers an economic crisis: the currency tumbles, prices rise, hospitals run out of basic supplies and key roads go unrepaired.  Thousands of people contract cholera – an easily preventable and treatable illness that is often caused by a breakdown of health services.

This isn’t Hollywood. This, allegedly, is Mozambique, according to an indictment that has resulted in the arrests of at least four figures in recent days, including a former finance minister.  The men are now awaiting extradition to the U.S. for their role in defrauding U.S. investors when seeking the loans.

VOA obtained a redacted copy of the indictment, issued by the U.S. District Court’s Eastern District of New York.  It accuses the four, plus another man who has not been arrested and two others who were not named, of “creat(ing) the maritime projects as fronts to raise money to enrich themselves and intentionally divert(ing) portions of the loan proceeds to pay at least $200 million in bribes and kickbacks to themselves, Mozambican government officials and others.”

Last week, South African officials arrested Mozambique’s former finance minister, Manuel Chang, on an Interpol warrant as he transited through the country.  

This, says analyst Alex Vines of the Chatham House think tank, is a very big deal. This matter has been investigated by both an independent firm and also by the British government, and until now, nothing has come of it.

“So it looked as if nothing would happen about these many millions, probably billions, of U.S. dollars that were (un)accounted for,” Vines told VOA. “So the indictment that has occurred from the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, for key characters involved in this loan scandal, is very very significant and is a game-changer, I think.”

The reaction: Public vs Party?

That’s certainly the case in Mozambique, where commentator Fernando Lima notes the public has largely applauded the arrests, while the ruling Frelimo party has been silent.

“There is a sentiment of huge enthusiasm and joy, which causes a lot of irritation on the other side, meaning people related to the Frelimo party,” he told VOA  “…It caused this huge, huge embarrassment for the current government. And up to now, which is also very, very surprising, no Mozambican authorities have said anything related to the arrest of Mr. Chang. Neither the government, neither Frelimo party, neither the attorney general’s office, or our parliament.”

Vines says it’s unclear how President Filipe Nyusi – who was defense minister at the time of the secret loans – will come out of this scandal, but he says there may be a bright side for investors who are eager to put money into the nation, which will start exporting natural gas in 2023.

“The International Monetary Fund, IMF, and bilateral donors to Mozambique had suspended lending to Mozambique, or direct government lending, should I say,” he said. “They do want to move on, and so again, I think this might help clear things up so that longer term, the relationship of Mozambique with some of its international creditors and international partners can be improved.”

Rudi Krause, the South African lawyer representing the former finance minister, Manuel Chang, says they’ll fight the U.S. extradition request.

Krause said attorneys had not been given a full copy of the indictment by South African officials at the time of Chang’s arrest and so could not comment on the allegations.

VOA was unable to reach Krause after receiving the U.S. copy of the indictment, for further comment.

Chang will appear in a South African court on January 8. But the court of public opinion will also have its chance to weigh in, when Mozambique goes to the polls in October.

 
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Гривня втратила щодо долара 19 копійок, свідчать дані на сайті Національного банку України.

На 8 січня офіційний курс встановлений на рівні 27 гривень 70 копійок за долар.

Крім того, гривня втратила 37 копійок щодо євро. Її вартість знизилася до 31 гривень 59 копійок.
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«Укренерго» зекономило 190 мільйонів гривень у 2018 році завдяки системі електронних закупівель ProZorro, заявив перший заступник міністра економічного розвитку і торгівлі України Максим Нефьодов у Facebook.

«Укренерго» працює в ProZorro з 2015-го, минулого ж року компанія провела 2,4 тисячі закупівельних тендерів з очікуваною вартістю закупівель більше ніж 4 мільярдів гривень», – розповів Нефьодов.

Він додав, що компанія заробила на «ProZorro.Продажі» понад 170 мільйонів гривень доходу від реалізації майна.

За його словами, «фактично все йде» у розвиток мереж.

Аукціони в ProZorro проходять щодо всіх державних закупівель для товарів і послуг, вартість яких дорівнює або перевищує 200 тисяч гривень, для робіт – дорівнює або перевищує 1,5 мільйона гривень. Для замовників, які здійснюють свою діяльність в окремих сферах господарювання, так званні монополісти, вартість товарів і послуг дорівнює або перевищує мільйон гривень і для робіт – дорівнює або перевищує 5 мільйонів гривень.

Із 1 серпня 2016 року ProZorro стало обов’язковим для всіх замовників державних закупівель.
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Видобуток «Укргазвидобування» за 2018 рік становить 15,496 мільярдів кубометрів газу, що є рекордним показником річного видобутку за 25 років. Про це повідомили у «Нафтогазі».

«За січень-грудень 2018 року було перекрито природне падіння видобутку обсягом близько 950 мільйонів кубометрів і на 246 мільйонів кубометрів перевищено річний видобуток минулого року. У грудні «Укргазвидобування» закріпило значення середньодобового видобутку на рівні 43,7 мільйонів кубометрів, що майже на 1,3 мільйонів кубометрів більше за фактичні показники аналогічного періоду 2017 року», – ідеться у повідомленні.

«Нафтогаз» зазначає, що «Укргазвидобуванню» вдалося покращити показники, зокрема, завдяки збільшенню кількості операцій з інтенсифікації видобутку до 744.

«Також з початку року закінчено бурінням 97 свердловин та введено в експлуатацію 69 нових свердловин. Зазначених результатів вдалося досягти завдяки ефективному використанню наявної ресурсної бази вуглеводнів, хоча більшість родовищ, які дають 95% блакитного палива, виснажені до 87%», – розповіли у «Нафтогазі».
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Herb Kelleher, who changed the airline industry by helping create and lead Southwest Airlines, a low-fare carrier that made air travel more accessible to the masses, has died. He was 87. 

Southwest confirmed that Kelleher died Thursday. 

Kelleher was a lawyer in San Antonio when a client came to him in the late 1960s with the idea for a low-fare airline that would fly between big cities in Texas. Today, Southwest carries more passengers within the United States than any other airline. 

At a time when many other airlines were run by colorless finance wizards, Kelleher boasted about drinking whiskey and showed a gift for wacky marketing ploys.  
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Three former Credit Suisse Group AG bankers were arrested in London on Thursday on U.S. charges that they took part in a $2 billion fraud scheme involving state-owned companies in Mozambique, a spokesman for U.S. prosecutors said.

Andrew Pearse, Surjan Singh and Detelina Subeva were charged in an indictment in Brooklyn, New York federal court with conspiring to violate U.S. anti-bribery law and to commit money laundering and securities fraud, according to spokesman John Marzulli. They have been released on bail.

The arrests came five days after former Mozambique finance minister Manuel Chang was arrested in South Africa as part of the same criminal case, which was brought by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn.

The prosecutors will seek to have all of the defendants extradited to the United States, according to Marzulli. Lawyers for the defendants could not immediately be reached for comment after business hours in New York and London.

“The indictment alleges that the former employees worked to defeat the bank’s internal controls, acted out of a motive of personal profit, and sought to hide these activities from the bank,” Credit Suisse said in a statement. It added that the bank will continue to cooperate with authorities.

Chang oversaw Mozambique’s finances when it failed to disclose government guarantees for $2 billion in international borrowing by state-owned firms. The disclosure of those loans in 2016 plunged the southern African country into a suffocating debt crisis it is still struggling to climb out of two years later.
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Stock markets around the globe dropped Thursday after tech giant Apple said that sales of its devices had fallen sharply in China last month, perhaps signaling a broader slowing in the world economy.

The widely watched Dow Jones industrial average of 30 prominent U.S. stocks plunged 2.8 percent — more than 660 points — by the close of trading, after stock indexes in Europe and Asia closed with smaller losses. Apple’s stock was down nearly 9 percent.

The stock declines came after Apple announced late Wednesday that its holiday sales were lower than it had expected, especially in China, the world’s second-biggest economy after the United States. In addition, a key gauge of U.S. manufacturing unexpectedly hit a two-year low in December, indicating weak demand and exports.

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook blamed the company’s sales shortfall on the trade battle President Donald Trump is waging against China. 

“While we anticipated some challenges in key emerging markets, we did not foresee the magnitude of the economic deceleration, particularly in greater China,” Cook wrote. “In fact, most of our revenue shortfall to our guidance, and over 100 percent of our year-over-year worldwide revenue decline, occurred in greater China across iPhone, Mac and iPad.” 

​More to come

Kevin Hassett, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said the contentious U.S.-China relations would force other U.S. companies to cut their sales estimates in China. 

“It’s not going to be just Apple,” Hassett told CNN. “There are a heck of a lot of U.S. companies that have sales in China that are going to be watching their earnings being downgraded next year until we get a deal with China.”

He said slowing consumer demand in China would give Trump an edge in trade negotiations. 

“That puts a lot of pressure on China to make a deal,” he said. “If we have a successful negotiation with China, then Apple’s sales and everybody else’s sales will recover.”

The U.S. economy remains strong, with the country’s 3.7 percent jobless rate at a nearly five-decade low. But economists say the U.S. economy could be slowing, and uncertainty in global economic fortunes has led to volatile daily swings in stock indexes in recent weeks.

In 2018, U.S. stock indexes suffered their worst year in a decade, with most of the losses recorded in December. The Dow was off 5.6 percent for the year, with the broader Standard & Poor’s index of 500 stocks down 6.2 percent.
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Гривня до долара зміцнилася на 17 копійок, свідчать дані на сайті Національного банку України.

На 4 січня вартість долара встановлена на рівні 27 гривень 51 копійки.

Євро також подешевшав – із 31 гривні 71 копійки до 31 гривні 22 копійок.
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