Markets & Industries
Saudi Arabia is about to invest in the US shale oil - 12/27/2017
Saudi Aramco, the state company of Saudi Arabia, is looking for opportunities to conclude a deal with a company working on shale deposits in the United States. If successful, this will be the country’s first international investment in the oil and gas sector. Saudi Aramco held preliminary talks about the share in the Tellurian Houston company, which is liquefying natural gas, or buying LNG from...
Morgan Stanley analysts called "real price" of Bitcoin - 12/26/2017
A team, headed by the analyst of US investment bank Morgan Stanley James Fawcett, sent out a note to the bank’s clients a few days ago, stating that the real cost of Bitcoin, the most popular crypto currency in the world, is zero. According to The Business Insider, the document emphasizes that it is practically impossible to reason the real price of the most popular crypto currency at the moment....
Eight black swans for the energy market in 2018 - 12/25/2017
The end of the year is the time to sum up and make forecasts for the next year. This concerns, among other things, the energy and the oil markets. As a rule, experts make various forecasts at the end of the year concerning such aspects as OPEC policy, energy consumption, raw material prices, car sales in China. However, only a small part of them do come true. Therefore, many analysts believe that...
Is it worth investing in the "passion index"? - 12/25/2017
They say that diamonds are forever. Yet, they can also be very expensive. On December 5, 173 lots of jewelry, auctioned at Sotheby's, were sold for $ 54 million. Among them were jewels of the famous English actor Sean Connery, the performer of the James Bond role. The next day, the favorite car of Agent 007 - Aston Martin DB5 - was put up for sale for $ 2.7 million. It was one of 24 vintage cars...
The reverse side of Bitcoin - 12/21/2017
The new crypto currency Bitkoin has risen more than tenfold in 2017. In December its rate has overcome a record mark of 18 000 dollars. At the same time, virtual money is increasingly being criticized. Many call them "dirty", because you need huge amounts of electricity to mine bitcoins. According to experts of Digiconomist analytical online resource, about 32 terawatt hours are spent annually...
WSJ: European single market is falling apart - 12/18/2017
Economic nationalism is spreading in the countries of the European Union. As a consequence, the union’s members are now paying less attention to the rules of the single market. The single market, created in 1993, has not actually become truly united, but now actions of the authorities of individual EU countries are increasingly undermining its principles. These countries are introducing their own...
IEA: Growth in oil production in the US will spoil OPEC's expectations - 12/15/2017
The International Energy Agency (IEA) raised the forecast for oil demand by 0.2 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2017 and 2018, that is, to 97.8 million bpd and 99.1 million bpd, respectively. At the same time, the agency kept the forecast for growth in demand unchanged: it will increase by 1.5 million bpd, or 1.6%, in 2017 and 1.3 million bpd, or 1.3%, in 2018, says the IEA’s December report. In...
"Amazon effect" prevents the US Federal Reserve from pursuing monetary policy - 12/13/2017
The ability to compare prices on the Internet hinders the acceleration of inflation. Thanks to smartphones, consumers can now easily compare prices on the Internet. But this prevents prices from rising and inflation – from accelerating to a target of about 2% in the US and other developed countries. Therefore, their central banks, in particular the US Federal Reserve System (FRS), find it...
SEC to deal with crypto-currency funds - 12/12/2017
The Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States (SEC) may turn its attention to funds that intend to keep their crypto-currency assets on their accounts, CoinDesk writes. The authority, overseeing investment activities in the United States, is going to solve issues related to the regulation of companies holding or investing in digital assets, said Dalia Blass, head of investment...
ECB to delay introduction of rules on bad loans - 12/08/2017
The European Central Bank (ECB) will consider postponing the date when unpaid bank loans will be subject to other rules. This means that banks will have to allocate more money for possible losses, Reuters reports. Bank loans that are not paid will be subject to proposed new rules that force lenders to allocate more money for possible losses, its chief executive said on Thursday. "The published...