Markets & Industries
Global sugar consumption falls. But why does production grow? - 08/14/2018
Prices for sugar fell to a three-year low due to a decrease in consumption caused by agitation of scientists and doctors. Yet, levels of production are still the same, and are even growing in some places. In the end, all this is a matter of competition. Scientists and doctors struck a blow at sugar manufacturers. They are beating records of sugar production, but still receiving less money. Prices...
On the threshold of a financial storm: What does the Skyscraper Index tell? - 08/09/2018
If you believe the Skyscraper Index, then a major financial crisis will occur in the next two years. In 2020 Saudi Arabia is completing construction of the world's tallest building, the Jeddah Tower. For the first time, the skyscraper index was introduced in 1999 by Andrew Lawrence, an employee of the Hong Kong branch of the international investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Benson. Having...
Chinese stock market loses to Japan - 08/08/2018
The Shanghai Stock Exchange has been showing very weak results this year. This fact has become yet another reason for China to climb down to the second line in the ranking of the largest stock markets. Now, the country’s main Asian competitor is Japan. After the Friday's decline in the stock price, according to Bloomberg, the volume of Chinese securities fell to 6.09 trillion dollars. The volume...
Emerging markets are increasing investment flow - 08/07/2018
Despite the tightening of the monetary policy of the US Federal Reserve and escalation of trade disputes, the influx of non-resident portfolio investment in emerging markets in July was positive once again and amounted to $ 11.9 billion against minus $ 10.6 billion in June, the Washington Institute of International Finance calculated. $ 7.9 billion were invested in stocks, $ 4 billion - in debt...
US GDP shows the fastest growth in almost four years - 08/06/2018
The American economy has shown the fastest growth in nearly four years. According to preliminary estimates of the US Department of Commerce, GDP grew by 4.1% year-on-year in the second quarter, the highest since the third quarter of 2014, when it was 4.9%. In the first quarter, GDP grew by 2.2%. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), on the average, expected growth of 4.4%. Some...
Is it worth investing in US banks now? - 08/03/2018
American banks are boosting profits due to stable economic growth in the US and an increase in interest rates by the Fed. For an investor, this means a good opportunity to earn on shares of companies from the financial sector. It is important to remember the main risk of 2018 is a large-scale trade war that can bring down the quotes of the largest US banks. The season of corporate reporting in...
Fed is getting ready for yet another rate hike - 08/02/2018
As expected, the Federal Reserve System (Fed) of the United States kept the key rate at 1.75-2% per annum on Wednesday. At the same time, the US regulator optimistically assessed the state of the economy in the country, noting that inflation is close to the target of 2%. Against the background of positive macro statistics, experts predict two more rate hikes in the remaining three meetings of the...
Investing in gold is so not attractive anymore - 07/31/2018
According to Thomson Reuters GFMS, there was a significant drop in demand for gold in the first half of the year. The decrease in demand for the metal from professional investors and jewelers could not be compensated either by central banks of developing countries or by private investors. The decline in demand for metal may continue against the backdrop of the tightening monetary policy of the US...
US tariffs prompted outflow of capital from China - 07/26/2018
The rise in market volatility and the weakening of the yuan, which followed announcement of new trade restrictions on Chinese imports to the US, caused a net outflow of capital from China in the amount of $ 6 billion in June. In July it could rise to $ 20 billion, Capital Economics forecasts. In May, this indicator was positive ($ 5 billion), despite of the Fed's plans to increase the dollar’s...
Are we on the verge of a new global economic crisis? - 07/25/2018
Who can doubt that we live in interesting times? Was not the press conference of US President Donald Trump, when he confessed to the whole world that he trusted Vladimir Putin more than his own intelligence services, interesting? The US intelligence services insist that they have convincing evidence of the involvement of the Russian government in interfering in the presidential election in 2016....
