Markets & Industries
US Fed cuts interest rates for the first time in 10 years - 08/01/2019
On July 31, the US Federal Reserve System (Fed) reduced the key rate to 2–2.25% per annum. The decline in its level occurred for the first time since the end of the crisis of 2008. By this decision, the US Central Bank intends to support the US economy amid a slowdown in global growth and conflicts in world trade. However, the markets on Wednesday were more interested in the comments of the...
Global car market falls by 7% in the first half of 2019 - 07/29/2019
In June, the global car market fell by 6.4%. Results of six months were even worse as the sales fell by 6.6%. The world car market in June decreased by 6.4%, to 7 million 794 thousand cars and light commercial vehicles. In the first six months of 2019, sales of cars in the world amounted to 45 million 159 thousand units (-6.6%), calculated LMC Automotive. The annual level of sales cleared of...
Trump threatens to impose additional duties on French wine - 07/29/2019
The US readiness to impose duties on wine is associated with the "digital tax" adopted by France because of "foolishness" of President Macron, Head of the US White House said. US President Donald Trump threatened to introduce penalties on French wine imported into his country. This intention, announced on Trump’s Twitter on Friday, July 26, is associated with a new French “digital tax” that will...
ECB considers rate cut as euro zone growth slowing down - 07/26/2019
Deterioration of the forecast for the European economy growth, further weakening of the industrial sector, low inflation and continuing tension in world trade are forcing the European Central Bank (ECB) to take the path of further easing of monetary policy. Reduction in the already negative deposit rate may occur as early as September; at the same time an announcement about the restart of the...
IMF: Global trade imbalance is not declining - 07/25/2019
The total volume of current account imbalances in the world in 2018 hasn’t changed much and amounted to 3% of GDP, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reported. The oil exporting countries, the rise in prices for this energy resource supported an increase in the surplus. In China, the surplus fell sharply, and so the country left the top ten oil exporters. The deficit in the United States,...
Why don't banks and watchdogs like Facebook's Libra? - 07/22/2019
Facebook's plans to launch its own cryptocurrency called Libra faced serious resistance from the US administration and watchdogs. Washington is concerned that the new means of payment can be used for carrying out illegal operations such as money laundering, human trafficking and financing of terrorism. It is not the first time that such concerns have been expressed. In mid-July, US Treasury...
IMF: The US dollar is significantly overvalued - 07/18/2019
Taking into account the main economic indicators, the USD exchange rate is overestimated by 6-12 percent. At the same time, the rates of euro, yen and yuan are at an acceptable level, experts of the IMF believe. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has concluded that the current exchange rate of the US dollar is significantly overvalued. Taking into account the main short-term economic...
Study: Nearly half of the world uses social media networks - 07/18/2019
Population of the Earth is over 7.7 billion people, of which 4.3 billion use the Internet. 3.5 billion are active users of social networks, which is 0.5 billion more than in 2017, states a report of Global Digital Statshot research company. As of July 2019, 46% of the world's population used social platforms, which is an increase of 7.8% compared to last year. Facebook remains the most popular...
Analysts: China is the world's largest shadow lender - 07/15/2019
Against the background of China's dominance in world trade, the country's growing role in global financial flows remains in the shadow. In spite of this, Chinese capital exports worldwide have reached record levels in recent decades, according to a group of economists from Harvard, the University of Munich and the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. Half of the debts are not counted in the...
OPEC downgrades oil production forecast - 07/12/2019
OPEC lowered the forecast for non-cartel production growth for the current year by 95 thousand barrels per day (bpd) to 2.05 million bpd. As a result, the average volume of these shipments in the current year will amount to 64.43 million bpd. The decline can be explained by extension of the OPEC + transaction for nine months. Recall, OPEC and its allies explained the decision taken last week by...