Markets & Industries
China increases real estate investments - 12/18/2019
China's investment in real estate development grew by 10.2% year on year for the first 11 months of the year, which is slightly lower than 10.3% in the first ten months, the National Bureau of Statistics of China said. The total investment in real estate over the specified period amounted to 12.13 trillion yuan (about $ 1.7 trillion), the bureau said. Investments in residential construction grew...
Coffee futures skyrocket as market concerns grow - 12/17/2019
Market concerns are growing due to reports of poor harvests in Brazil and other South and Latin American countries. There is turmoil in the coffee market: amid reports of poor crops in Brazil and other countries in South and Latin America, coffee futures soared 7.56% in a day to $ 1.3895 a pound. There has been no such rapid growth since 2015. For the year, raw materials for the popular drink...
Hong Kong real estate market on decline because of protests - 12/17/2019
Since the beginning of the year, the number of elite real estate purchase and sale transactions in Hong Kong has decreased by 34%, the South China Morning Post reported citing data from the Centaline Property real estate agency. The publication explains the fall in demand by mass protests that have not ceased in the special administrative region since the summer. So, over the past 11 months,...
Asian Nikkei hits 2019 record high - 12/13/2019
Key Japanese index Nikkei reacted to the news about trade agreements between the US and China with active growth. On December 13, at the opening of trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, it reached the highest level this year. Only in the first 10 minutes of trading, the index added 1.84%, reaching 23855.57 points. The main driver of growth was reports that China and the United States reached an...
China expects car sales to fall by 8% in 2019 - 12/12/2019
Car sales in the country will fall by around 8% in 2019, marking the second annual decline for the world's largest auto market, the Chinese Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) predicts. Last year, a decline of about 3% was recorded, which was the first since nineties. The expected steep fall came as a surprise for the industry participants, who back in 2018 predicted that...
SEC rejects NYSE's suggestion on alternative to traditional IPO - 12/11/2019
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rejected the offer of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to create a new type of direct listing that would allow companies to raise capital. The NYSE spokesman confirmed that the SEC rejected the proposal to create a new alternative to the traditional IPO, which was published on the exchange’s website in late November. He noted that the NYSE will try...
Study: Digitalization slows inflation down - 12/11/2019
Digitalization of the economy reduces the rate of inflation, says authors of the IMF’s paper. In particular, the use of new technologies can result in lower production costs (and, consequently, prices. At that, emergence of companies such as Amazon, lower entry barriers and growth of online commerce are changing conditions for competition in the markets. According to the paper, a positive...
Smartphone shipments in Europe overtake global market - 12/03/2019
In the third quarter of 2019, Europe showed the highest growth rates among regional smartphone markets, according to Canalys analysts. The supply of devices to the region increased by 8% year on year and reached 52.5 million units. Europe has outstripped not only the global market as a whole, where specialists previously registered an increase of 1%, but also the dynamic Asia-Pacific region, the...
How off grid technologies could shape the economic future of Africa - 11/26/2019
The “Off-grid” movement, nascent in America, is a spin-off of the growing popular feeling of defiance towards large organizations, both public and private. But what remains marginal in the United States and almost unheard of in Europe may soon form a revolutionary opportunity in Africa. In a land, the resources of which are acknowledged by all, but with widely varying sets of circumstances such...
Palladium prices going up as environmental movement is rising - 11/26/2019
Global palladium prices returned above the level of $ 1.8 thousand per troy ounce. The growth is supported by investors' expectations regarding conclusion of the first part of the US and China trade deal, as well as increased demand for metal from the automotive industry. After a three-week break, palladium prices once again climbed above $ 1.8 thousand per troy ounce. According to Reuters, on...
