Business

Unpaid fees lead to safe deposit caches of suspicious paintings and expensive jewelry. A foreign client’s offshore deposits turn up possibly forged documents from the sale of tanks and high-caliber weapons to an African defence ministry.

European anti-trust authorities have launched investigations into at least three oil companies on suspicion of price-fixing.

Caribbean Community (Caricom) countries say they will continue to oppose subsidies being granted to the UK-based Diageo, one of the world’s biggest producers of rum, because of the impact the subsidy is having on rum producers in the Caribbean.

The Spanish oil exploration firm Repsol yesterday signed a new oil exploration concession offshore agreement with Guyana.

Chief economist at Republic Bank Limited Dr Ronald Ramkissoon doubts the T&T economy can achieve the target growth rate of 2.5 per cent predicted by Central Bank Governor Jwala Rambarran.

A domestic natural gas boom already has lowered US energy prices while stoking fears of environmental disaster.

Stocks closed little changed yesterday as investors assessed whether stock valuationwere overstating the recent improvement in the economy. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 26.81 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 15,091.

Overall market activity resulted from trading in 15 securities of which five advanced, zero declined and ten traded firm.