Gold prices soared yesterday, and the Midas touch extended to other safe haven investments ahead of a speech at the UN which could bring war in Iraq a step closer.
As US Secretary of State Colin Powell prepared to reveal "sober and compelling proof" that Baghdad has weapons of mass destruction, oil rose, the Swiss franc hit a four-year high against the dollar and European government bond yields fell.
But the dispiriting fall in share prices showed no sign of reversing in Europe -- and Wall Street, where the Dow Jones index lost 1.2 percent on Tuesday, looked set to open lower again.
The mood was worsened by a warning from technology giant Cisco Systems that quarterly sales may fall.
"It's definitely a flight to safety," said David Thurtell, commodities strategist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia after gold was fixed in London at US$385 an ounce, a six-year high and up almost US$8.50 from the previous fix.
"This morning we tried to hire a diamond-tipped drill but were told there was none available," said Ron Manners, chairman of Australian gold prospector Croesus Mining.
European bourses were soft, near six-year lows, as investors weighed the still uncertain outlook for company profits and economic recovery as well as the spectre of war.
The FTSE Eurotop 300 index of pan-European blue chips was up a bare 0.09 percent.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2