Trevor Noah Marvels at "Dreamlike" White House Meeting Between Obama and Trump

The Daily Show' have couldn't trust his eyes as President Obama invited Donald Trump and his family to the White House.

"Have you ever pondered what it resemble to meet your most exceedingly awful Twitter adversary face to face?" Trevor Noah solicited on Thursday night's scene from The Daily Show. He was alluding to the peculiar meeting at the White House prior in the day between President Barack Obama and President-Elect Donald Trump.

Noah ridiculed Trump for demanding he has awesome "regard" for Obama, notwithstanding his history of scrutinizing his citizenship, in addition to other things. "Yes, it turns out he's super decent," the host envisioned Trump saying. "Never judge a dark by his cover."

Something that made Noah "acknowledge how enormous this change will be" was the Martin Luther King Jr. bust behind Trump in the Oval Office. "That bust must think at this moment, 'I have a bad dream.'"

"I'm sad man, this is so strange for me," he included. They apparently discussed both residential and remote arrangement, driving Noah to think about whether Trump "requested that see local strategy's introduction to the world declaration to ensure it wasn't outside."

With respect to the meeting between First Lady Michelle Obama and her successor, Noah envisioned Melania Trump "simply copying her on the fly."

Commodities Round-up: Gold spikes on Bank of England rate cut, oil remains 20% below June prices

Gold futures rallied on safe-haven sentiment on Thursday (4 August), after the Bank of England (BoE) decided to cut UK interest rates by 25 basis points to a record low of 0.25%.

At 2.30pm BST, Comex gold futures contract for December delivery was up 0.31% or $3.90, extending the overnight uptick stateside to $1,368.60 an ounce, as investors concerned about the health of the post-Brexit global economy, sought the safety of the yellow metal.

Confronted with dire UK economic survey data, the BoE supplemented the rate cut with a decision to increase the central bank's asset purchase programme to £435bn ($572bn, €514bn). The committee was unanimous in its decision to cut interest rates, but was split 6-3 in favour of increasing the level of quantitative easing by another £60bn.

It also announced a new Term Funding Scheme (TFS) to reinforce the pass-through of the cut in interest rates and the purchase of up to £10bn in UK corporate bonds.

Jameel Ahmad, vice president of research at FXTM, said that atop ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty, the recent depreciation in the value of the dollar has a provided gold with the platform to return back towards levels not seen since the post-Brexit uncertainty, above $1350.

"Gold still has further upward appreciation potential before the end of 2016 and there are a variety of different reasons for this. Firstly, the oil market is already weighing on equity markets. Secondly, while the US Federal Reserve is maintaining a bias towards raising interest rates, on the outside there is still a lack of confidence over whether this would actually happen in 2016."

Elsewhere, silver futures tumbled lower on hedging calls by traders with the September Comex contract down 0.52% or 11 cents to $20.37 an ounce. Concurrently, spot platinum was 0.49% or $5.65 lower at $1,157.80 an ounce.

Away from precious metals, oil futures continued to trade 20% below their June level, albeit with the pace of decline having slowed compared to last week. At 3.05pm BST, the Brent front month futures contract was down 0.84% or 36 cents to $42.74 per barrel, while the West Texas Intermediate was 0.47% or 19 cents lower at $40.64 per barrel, as fears over inventory overhang continue to mount.

US oil inventories rose by 1.4 million barrels last week, compared with analysts' expectations for a decrease by as many barrels, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), stockpiles of crude and refined oil that built up in OECD-nations during the years of oversupply stands at a record high of more than 3 billion barrels.

Analysts at Vienna-based JBC Energy said the oil price rebound, seen over the past few sessions, remains on shaky ground. "A bullish tone would not fit the implied US crude output picture, with our estimates showing an increase of about 200,000 barrels per day over the last four weeks, which is supported by higher upstream activity in shale areas and hence lower declines.

"In line with this news, four big independent US crude producers have recently increased their production guidance for 2016, mostly on the back of ongoing improvements to drilling and well completion techniques but also on increased spending and plans to add more rigs by year's end."

EU referendum: Remain campaign wants to barter away UK's freedom and democracy says Boris Johnson

The official Brexit campaign has put a pro-democracy argument at the front and centre of its campaign, with just over a fortnight to go before the EU referendum on 23 June. Boris Johnson, one of the main spokesmen for the Vote Leave group, warned that a Remain vote result would result in the UK bartering away its freedom and democracy to Brussels in a bid to secure economic gains via membership of the 28-nation-bloc.

"It is a myth and a delusion to think that we can somehow gain greater prosperity by bartering away our freedom and our democracy. In fact, we can see at every stage how the loss of democratic control is turning into an economic disaster," the top Conservative claimed on 6 June."There is nowhere else that is engaged in anything like this experiment, of trying to fuse countries into a giant political entity; and in its centralising tendencies the European project is going against the tide of events and history.

"The risks of remaining in this over-centralising, over-regulating job-destroying machine are becoming more and more obvious, which is why I believe we are winning the arguments today.

"It is time to take back control, and speak for freedom in Britain and around the whole of the EU."

Johnson made the pro-Leave address alongside Justice Secretary Michael Gove, German-born Labour MP Gisela Stuart and John Longworth, the former director-general of the British Chamber of Commerce. The Vote Leave campaigners spoke at a shampoo factory in the West Midlands market town of Stratford-upon-Avon.

News By ibtimes.

British Airways could be sued over wages and recognition by Hong Kong union

A union representing the Hong Kong cabin crew of British Airways (BA) is threatening to sue the airline in the UK. The union said legal action will be taken if talks with BA scheduled this month, over pay rises and union recognition, fail to materialise.

The union which goes by the name, BA Hong Kong International Cabin Crew Association, revealed that majority of the airline's crew has not been given a pay rise since 1998. Carol Ng Man-yee, general secretary at the union, said they were serious about taking the airline to court for alleged discrimination. "We have already sought legal advice and there is a huge chance we will win. We are not afraid," she added.The union said BA's Hong Kong-based crew were being discriminated against crews of other countries such as those in the UK, Japan and India, where the crews were given pay rises over the years. Ng Man-yee said the union had pressed the airline over the issue several times and in 2015 it had even demanded a 7% pay rise, according to the South China Morning Post.

Ng Man-yee said in response the management had said that their packages were too good. "But their packages are good as well. Why are they getting raises?" she argued.

A British Airways spokesman said: "We have carried out research that indicates that our cabin crew in Hong Kong receive a generous package that is above the market rate. Our permanent members of crew received an increase in pay earlier this year and are also entitled to a number of flying allowances the value of which has been increased over the years."

BA has crew strength of 100 in Hong Kong, of which 50 are permanent staff and the remaining contract staff. While the permanent staff is being paid more than HK$30,000 (£2,683, €3405, $3,862) per month, including flying allowances, the contract employees are paid about HK$20,000 including allowances, of which HK$5,840 is the monthly basic salary.

News By ibtimes.

HSBC reshuffles investment banking arm in a bid to cut costs and make business 'more agile'

HSBC is understood to be in the process of reorganising its banking operations worldwide, in a bid to cut costs and ensure the business is "more agile".

In June last year, the FTSE 100-listed lender unveiled plans to reduce the size of its investment banking division by a third and reduce its global workforce by approximately 25% in an attempt to boost profitability.

According to an internal memo seen by Reuters, the bank is expected to cut dozens of senior jobs in its investment banking division, although it did not specify how many jobs would be slashed as part of the reshuffle.

Robin Phillips and Matthew Westerman, the joint chiefs of HSBC's global banking, said the changes will include establishing new corporate, financials and multinationals banking divisions, which will be headed by Philippe Henry.

"Our new structure will deliver the best outcome for our clients by bringing our country, sector and product teams closer together – and improve returns for our shareholders by improving our profitability and generating efficiencies," said Westerman and Phillips.

"The environment around us is changing, and we must adapt to ensure that we use our competitive strengths."

Westerman, who started at HSBC last month after leaving Goldman Sachs in February following a 16-year spell at the US bank, is just one of the high-profile figures involved in the reshuffle, which saw 15 senior bankers being let go earlier this month.

Last week, the lender hired Andre Cronje, the former chief operating officer at UBS investment bank, to cover the same role within HSBC' Global Banking and Markets branch. Meanwhile, HSBC confirmed Patrick George has been promoted to head of global markets for EMEA, a role he will take over on 1 July.

George will replace Niall Cameron, who will be moving on to cover the newly created role of head of corporate and institutional digital.

In the first quarter, HSBC's Global Banking and Markets division saw pre-tax profit plunge 30% year-on-year to $2.12bn (£1.46bn, €1.87bn).