The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has published a report showing that the downturn in international tourism could cost the world economy $4 trillion by 2020-2021. The report, prepared jointly with the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), notes that the tourism sector and businesses dependent on tourist traffic lost $2.4 trillion in 2020 alone. And almost as much could...

Analysts at research firm S&P Global Market Intelligence believe major mid-priced Western clothing manufacturers such as Levi's and H&M could be affected by the coronavirus restrictions in Bangladesh, which local authorities have been forced to implement due to a rise in infections. The government of Bangladesh, where more than 5,000 new infections a day have been recorded in recent days, has...

Companies around the world raised a record $350bn in IPOs in the first half of 2021. Online retailers and renewable energy firms were particularly popular. The boom in IPOs was fuelled by rising stock markets and private investor activity. For the first six months of 2021, companies around the world raised about $ 350 billion at their IPOs, says Bloomberg citing its own data. Thus, the global IPO...

The abnormal heat wave resulted in a sharp increase in electricity prices in the Baltics and Eastern Europe, with spot prices in some countries momentarily exceeding record levels of €100 per MWh. Demand for energy has been rising since early June, but more expensive fossil-fired power plants have had to make up the shortfall due to weak winds. Spot electricity prices in a number of EU countries...

The platinum group is recovering from last week's slump. Platinum rose by 8% to $1,100 an ounce in the interbank market since the beginning of the week. According to Reuters, quotations of platinum rose above $1100 per troy ounce on June 24. This result is more than 8% higher than the value of the beginning of the week. Palladium rose a comparable 7.7% to $2654 an ounce. The platinum group metals...

Cost of shipping has risen to a record this year, with the price per container shipped from Asia to Northern Europe exceeding $11,000 for the first time, up from $2,000 in October. This price increase is linked to the disruption to global supply chains, which has been exacerbated in recent weeks by an outbreak of coronavirus in the world's third-largest port. Maritime freight prices have risen to...

China wants to turn its main wine-producing region, Ningxia, into a rival to France's Bordeaux, squeezing the country out of that market, CNBC writes. The region is set to produce 600 million bottles worth 20 billion yuan ($3.12 billion) by 2035. "If this target is achieved, Ningxia will become an important and influential producer worldwide, comparable to the scale of Bordeaux," said Director of...

Gas prices in Europe have soared to $363 per thousand cubic metres because of the heat. This is the highest since the beginning of March 2018. The average "day-ahead" contract price on the TTF since the beginning of 2021 has already been $264 per thousand cubic metres.  The heat wave is provoking an increase in energy consumption for air conditioning, as power plants are consuming more gas...

Last month, new car sales in Europe increased by 53.4% compared to May 2020. According to the Association of European Automobile Manufacturers (ACEA), 891,665 cars were sold in the region in May this year. However, while this is significantly better than May 2020, when the car market was barely moving in the pandemic, it is still a long way from May 2019, when 1.2 million cars were sold....