Banks can mask their borrowing in a manner similar to that used by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., with debt ratios within the limits set by regulators only four times a year, Bloomberg states. Lenders use repurchase agreements to manipulate their assets as the reporting date approaches, usually at the end of the quarter, according to the annual Economic Report of the Bank for International...

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange has become a place that attracts some of the world's largest companies for an initial public offering of shares, CNBC reports. While US markets are waiting for IPOs of Uber and Airbnb, three Chinese companies that are among the world's 20 largest Internet companies are expected to hold an IPO of more than $ 5 billion this year in Hong Kong. Among these companies are...

A few days before the meeting in Vienna, where the future of the OPEC + deal will be discussed, the main players of the oil market cannot find a consensus. Iran threatened to withdraw from the talks and publicly accused Saudi Arabia of supporting the US actions to isolate Tehran. Russia and Saudi Arabia offered to increase production by 1.5 million barrels per day, but this consensus is now also...

The American marketing research company JD Power has presented its latest research of quality of cars which are on sale in the USA. The first three places were occupied by Korean brands Genesis, Kia and Hyundai, leaving behind brands such as Porsche (the fourth place) and Ford (the fifth place). The European brands Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo are at the bottom of the ranking. JD Power conducted...

Total assets of funds investing in gold fell to a two-month low, approaching a level of 2,200 tons. The tightening of the monetary policy of the US Federal Reserve System (FRS) against the background of lower inflationary fears is forcing investors to cut investments in precious metal. As a result, the metal’s value returned to a minimum this year, being fixed below $ 1280 per troy ounce. The...

Professors of the Faculty of Finance at the University of Texas at Austin seem to have found the reason why Bitcoin’s cost nearly tripled last year. In their study, they argue that it is fault of the Tether crypto currency. Its owners used it to manipulate Bitcoin and other digital currencies. Developers of the Tether crypto currency claim that it is provided with fiat money. Now it turns out...

The population of Switzerland rejected an initiative to provide the national bank of the country with a "full monopoly on money" at a national referendum. The idea of refusing fractional-reserve banking in the non-standard version gained only 24.3% of the supporters among the voters in the country. However, the referendum rather opens than closes this discussion. The rigidity of banking...

Moody's agency issued another report on the state of the aerospace and defense industries, and gave a forecast for their development for the next 18 months. On average, the operating profit of companies related to these industries will grow by 7% by the end of 2019. Airbus and Boeing will be doing the best in the emerging market conditions. A bright future - at least in the coming years – is...

China may take possession of the world's largest gas field in Iran thanks to American sanctions against Iran and Total’s forthcoming leave. Tehran is ready to transfer the share of the French oil giant Total in the South Pars gas field to the Chinese partner. In July 2017, Total signed with Tehran an agreement worth $ 4.8 billion to develop the 11th phase of South Pars, the largest gas field on...