The Senate Commerce subcommittee on Technology Held a hearing on illegal robo calls and what the federal Communications Commission is doing to combat them. South dakota senator john thune chaired the hearing. Illegal and abusive robo calls are a clear problem. Automated calls are not inherently negative. Many Important Services are carried out by such calls and companies have a preestablished relationship. If you are on the way to the airport and your flight is canceled, if theres a fraud alert on your credit card, or if you are being reminded of a medical important, those calls are important to consumers. Our focus today is on the unscrupulous use of robo calls. Almost a year ago, when i was chairman of the Commerce Committee, i subpoenaed an operation. Hes facing fcc penalties for making robo calls throughout the country. His testimony shed light on the reality that many robo callers view getting caught and getting fines as a cost of business. Acttroduced the deterrence with senator
Appetite reverses the trend weve seen of late joining us, steven weis, managing partner of weis managing partners. Thanks for being here. Thanks for having me. I like the no tie look. I do that on a friday. Hes, i guess, getting the positive sentiment going here. Absolutely. Even though its only tuesday. When you look at whats really leading the s p higher today, its tech stocks its the Semiconductor Names what do you think right now . So, i own smash which is semiindex, ctf i owned it coming in today, bought more immediately when the news hit its not something i typically do i sold some in the last halfhour. Im not sure this momentum is going to continue. Its highly volatile, and when you have profits and positions that arent core positions, take them, be happy look at where the market is. The market is no further than where it was actually, its lower than where it was. Go back a year and a half, its basically flat core positions you dont necessarily touch unless the fundamentals chan
and the duke of edinburgh returns home and is said to be in good spirits. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. we start with harrowing testimony from one community in syria, one of the many shattered by the conflict, which started a decade ago this week. tens of thousands had taken to the streets, calling for change. the government tried to crush the protests and the country descended into civil war. the united nations estimates more than 250,000 people have died in syria s conflict, although the true number could be much higher. at least 6.2 million syrians have been forced from their homes. another 5.7 million have left the country, and, now, a decade on, after all the bloodshed, president bashar al assad is still in power. in aleppo in 2013, iqra school was bombed by a fighterjet. some children were killed instantly. 0thers died of their injuries in the days and weeks that followed. a bbc panorama team were filming nearby when the attack happened.
Keeping rates on hold. It is 8 00 a. M. In dubai, 5 00 in london, and this is Bloomberg Markets middle eas. We are just under two hours away from the opening of the emirates markets. Dubai and abu dhabi. Lets run you how they last closed last week. Take a look at dubai, abu dhabi and qatar. You can see a mixed picture. Youre going to the earnings season. We have a couple of big bang results in abu dhabi. Also must recommend in dubai. We will see how this open. Elsewhere in the gulf, lots of optimism off the back of that makeup saudi funded sale. More about that later in the show. And over in egypt, up 1. 4 . We are waiting for a potential currency devaluation, has not happened yet. In israel, tel aviv stocks relatively unchanged. Looking at how markets closed in the u. S. , we have the s p 500 pretty much treading water, despite the middle of earnings season, and some pretty decent corporate results. The dow jones also in the middle of change. Nasdaq up one third of a percentage point.
You are watching the pulse. We are here in london. Tensions between ukraine and russia are at boiling point. Nato top military commanders say russia is sending troops and equipment to ukraine. Sanctions are the focus of a meeting today in brussels. Ryan chilcote has been covering the story. What options do eu and u. S. Officials have . What toare deliberating do next and then we get a final decision from the Foreign Ministers on monday. Choices, one,e expand personal sanctions, the individuals subject to asset freezes. Two, expand the list of Russian Companies facing sanctions. Westernestrict what companies and investors can do on the russian market. It looked like it was going to be option one. Now it looks like options two and three may be in play. I spoke with Ukrainian Foreign minister and he seemed to downplay the idea that these sanctions would be really biting. Is just one point in the whole toolbox. What we need is a clear pressure to keep the escalation on track. Again, sancti