Archives of “November 26, 2019” day

rss

German thieves pull off brazen heist at Green Vault museum

  
  Analysis
#  #  #  #  #  #  #

Burglars stole priceless jewelry and diamonds

Burglars stole priceless jewelry and diamonds
Thieves burglarized Dresden’s historic Green Vault museum in the early hours today.
At around 5 am local time the security system of the complex was tipped and two suspects were shown in the jewelry room of the 10-room museum and took three complete sets of jewelry.
It’s not entirely clear what was taken but officials said around 100 pieces were stolen including diamonds on gemstones. The jewelry stored in the vault is the equivalent of the crown jewels in the UK and have been held in the area for 300 years.
The artifacts are priceless but if the jewellery was broken down and pieced out, it would be considerably less valuable.
The police have mentioned two suspicious fires in the area around the time of the theft and a damaged box that turned off the nearby streetlights.
Two-and-a-half years ago, German thieves were also in the news after stealing a giant gold coin weighing 100kg. At today’s prices, it was worth $4.68m. They smashed a window and then used a wheelbarrow to transport it across railway tracks and to a getaway car.
After an anonymous tip, a security guard who recently started working at the museum was charged with the crime along with three family members. The trial is underway and will continue in 2020. The coin hasn’t been recovered and was likely melted down.
The largest gold heist in history was in 1976 when eight men stole 12 tons of gold bars from the British Bank of the Middle East in Beirut along with $160m of silver, platinum, gems, bonds and currency. No one has ever been charged with the crime, which occurred after blasting through the wall of an adjacent church.

Wall Street hits new record as takeovers help spark rally

  
Analysis, US Market
#  #  #  #  #  #

Investors gobbled up US stocks to begin the Thanksgiving week, as trade optimism and a flurry of corporate dealmaking pushed all three major indices to new record highs. The S&P 500 surpassed its peak set one week ago, with technology shares leading the way amid renewed hope the US and China can reach a preliminary trade agreement. The benchmark index climbed 0.8 per cent, ending the day near its session high.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite locked up a record closing high of its own, rising 1.3 per cent. Semiconductor groups — seen as a benefactor from warmer trade relations — helped spark gains in the tech sector. The Philadelphia semiconductor index, which tracks 30 companies in the industry, leapt 2.4 per cent, its best performance in a month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was back above the 28,000 threshold, as it added 0.7 per cent. Investors’ hopes for a thaw in the US-China trade dispute have helped stoke a record run on Wall Street in recent weeks.

The S&P 500 has traded higher in six of the past seven weeks and has gained more than 3 per cent this month. New guidelines from Beijing on strengthening intellectual property safeguards gave Wall Street renewed confidence on Monday that a “phase one” deal could materialise before December 15, when new American tariffs on Chinese goods are due to begin. China’s alleged theft of intellectual property has been a sticking point in negotiations with Washington.

A series of big deals, including LVMH’s planned $16.6bn takeover of Tiffany and Charles Schwab’s $26bn deal to combine with TD Ameritrade, also gave a boost to stocks. The rally followed on the heels of gains around the world. The Europe-wide Stoxx 600 was up 1 per cent.

The Hang Seng surged 1.5 per cent. Some safe-haven assets took a hit amid the shift to equities. Gold fell 0.5 per cent, and the Japanese yen weakened by 0.3 per cent against the US dollar. The dollar index edged fractionally higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell 1.4 basis points to 1.7603 per cent.

Go to top