Markets & Industries
US companies run the show in 2016 - 12/29/2016
In 2016, US companies earned more money and were more economically profitable than others, as follows from Handelsblatt’s rating. Handelsblatt’s list of the world’s most valuable companies by stock market capitalization shows that 58 of the top 100 companies are located in the US. The first 13 feature no country but America, and there hasn’t been better demonstration of microeconomic forces yet....
Bitcoin's market cap reached all-time peak - 12/23/2016
Yesterday, Bitcoin’s quotes broke the mark of $ 870, which was the highest rate in nearly three years. Market capitalization of the digital cryptocurrency reached a historic high of $ 14.06 billion. Bitcoin is regaining its former glory. Quotes of the digital currency have gradually grown the past few months, and reached the mark of $ 875 per BTC yesterday. This is a historic event for...
Dow Jones nears the mark of 20 000. What does it mean? - 12/22/2016
Dow Jones Industrial Average looks ready to the historical record. Here are four things of which an investor should be aware. 1. The US economy is obviously improving (and so do expectations). However, it is worth mentioning that while the Dow Jones and other indices are getting close to its heights, economic performance has already improved significantly. Over the past 80 months, the private...
PwC: volume of European IPOs halved in 2016 - 12/22/2016
Volume of funds raised under initial public offerings (IPO) on stock exchanges in Europe will double-fall by the end of the year to 28.4 billion euros, PwC's experts predict. Number of transactions declined by almost a quarter, according to study of the audit and consultancy company, which covers the period from 1 to 30 November. Despite these trends, PwC's experts believe that the IPO market...
Oil prices in 2017 and reaction of the US shale industry - 12/22/2016
The most discussed topic in today market is potential reaction of the United States oil shale industry to the global agreement on reduction of production volumes. Below are present views of various experts who gave comments on the matter. Goldman Sachs. Experts of the investment bank believe that Saudi Arabia has made a serious mistake by assuming that shale production in the United States will...
Cash flow of energy giants may turn positive in 2017 - 12/21/2016
Cash flow of 60 the world's largest oil and gas companies can be positive in 2017 for the first time in three years, if oil prices stick above $ 55 a barrel, writes Financial Times referring to new research of Wood Mackenzie. Also, this prediction can turn into reality thanks to cost saving programmes launched in the companies back in 2014. Apparently, oil companies are not going to recklessly...
Fed pierced Chinese debt bubble - 12/19/2016
Last Thursday, the Chinese authorities for first time halted trading key futures on government bonds due to landslide fall in their prices. Panic in the market triggered concerns that the long bullish period in the bond market, caused by availability of loans coming, is over. All this is against the background of slowing economic growth, outflow of capital and the government’s concerns about...
Online banking kills retail bank branch model - 12/19/2016
British research company Which?, calculated that more than a thousand bank branches have been closed in the country during the last two years as popularity of online banking jumped. Which? notes that from January 2015 to January 2017, British branches of international banks have closed or will close 1046 branches. Among the institutions are HSBC, RBS, Lloyds, Barclays, The Co-operative Bank,...
Chinese industrialists are gripped by robot fever - 12/16/2016
Robotics in China is developing rapidly. However, experts note that enhanced reliability of products requires higher level of standardization in the industry. According to China Robot Industry Alliance (CRIA), more than 19 thousand industrial robots were sold in the first half of 2016 in the country. 64 thousand industrial robots were delivered in the January-November period, which is 90% more...
Online advertising was the new black in 2016, British retailers confirm - 12/15/2016
In the fourth quarter of the outgoing year, British business will spend on Christmas advertising more than 5.5 billion pounds, up 300 million more compared to the same period last year. Almost half of these funds, that is, about £ 2.7 billion, will be spent on marketing in digital media. At the same time, Google Inc. and Facebook will be main beneficiaries of the profits. Analysts predict that...
