The attempted coup in Venezuela could have unexpected consequences for the oil market. On the one hand, a part of the Venezuelan oil may leave the market in the event of new sanctions from the United States. On the other, in the event of a regime change, the Bolivarian Republic may significantly increase production, which will lead to an excess of supply. The political crisis in Venezuela made...

Estimates of the future growth of the euro area countries continue to decline. As follows from a survey of the European Central Bank (ECB), now experts on average predict EU GDP growth by 1.5% in 2019 and 2020, which is 0.3 and 0.1 percentage points (pp) lower than in the fourth quarter of last year. The first forecast for 2021 (1.4%) also implies a further decrease in the dynamics. The estimate...

China with its billions in population has been attracting the largest American brands for more than a decade. The double-digit growth rates of the Chinese economy are a thing of the past, but the 400 million middle class created during the boom years still drinks expensive coffee, watches American films and uses smartphones. However, now they are becoming more stingy, and these changes in the...

The European Union is ready to impose import duties on American goods totaling 20 billion euros if US President Donald Trump fulfills his threats and imposes additional duties on European cars, said Jean-Luc Demarty, director general of the European Commission for Trade. "We must be prepared to respond symmetrically and effectively to any new trade restrictions that the US may impose on us,"...

The US authorities do not rule out a ban on e-cigarettes and vape pens due to their growing popularity among young people, said Head of the Office for the Control of the Quality of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States Scott Gottlieb. “I am very concerned that we are at this crossroads today. In recent years, as it seemed, we managed to defeat one of the most harmful threats to...

With all controversies, IMF experts believe that full implementation of principles of the 2017 US tax reform allows the country that implements it to significantly outperform its competitors. Economists of the fund are very cautious but still certain that such a reform, exempt profits abroad from taxes, is most effective for the global economy in all major countries at the same time. The IMF...

Industry 4.0, or, in other words, the fourth industrial revolution, implies not only the further development of technology, but also the digitalization of all spheres of life. This is a fundamentally new approach to production and consumption, a new ecosystem in which physical processes are integrated into a single information space. As for specific areas, Industry 4.0 includes automation of...

OPEC will bring clarity to the market. Already this week, data on levels of reduction will be announced, and traders will receive clear guidelines. This week, the OPEC Secretariat plans to publish data on the levels of production cuts by OPEC + countries as part of the decision taken at the meeting on December 7 in Vienna. Earlier it was planned to disclose these data on December 21....

According to Hamptons International, a company specializing in property management services, Londoners spent £ 30 billion on housing when moving outside the capital this year, and this was the highest figure since 2007. Too high real estate prices in London itself are the determining factor in this trend, which is why many people simply cannot afford to buy housing there. In 2018, residents of...