Markets & Industries
UK watchdog: Apple and Google duopoly restricts ecosystem competition - 12/15/2021
Apple and Google's duopoly could limit competition and ecosystem choices for mobile service users, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said in an interim report. Earlier this year, the CMA began investigating how Apple and Google interact with their operating systems (iOS and Android), app stores (App Store and Play Store) and web browsers (Safari and Chrome), which together form their...
Bloomberg lists key economic risks for 2022 - 12/14/2021
Bloomberg has published a forecast of major economic risks in 2022. Experts believe that the main threat to markets is the likely escalations around Ukraine and Taiwan, as well as the spread of the new COVID-19 strain. In particular, it is reported that if the omicron strain proves more dangerous than other strains of COVID-19, the global economy could slow to 4.2%. But if it turns out to be less...
Air freight prices hit record highs - 12/14/2021
According to the Financial Times, the cost of air freight on major routes has reached an all-time high. Last week, costs on routes from Shanghai to North America hit $14 per kg for the first time, according to the Baltic Exchange Airfreight Index and TAC Freight, which track airfreight prices. Airfreight for that route was $8 per kilogram in August. As a result, the price has nearly doubled in...
WSJ: Inflows into ETFs surpass $1T for the first time - 12/13/2021
Experts have noted record inflows into exchange-traded funds around the world, with more than $1 trillion invested in them in 2021. Most of that money went into US index funds managed by Vanguard, BlackRock and State Street. In 2021, inflows into exchange-traded funds (ETFs) around the world reached a record high. This is reported by The Wall Street Journal, citing data from analyst firm...
Analysts: 179 companies left major US exchanges in 12 months - 12/08/2021
According to research firm Finbold, 179 businesses have departed the two main US stock markets, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the NASDAQ, in the last year. The overall number of issuers on these exchanges is at 6,000, down about 3% from the previous year. The NYSE companies were the most commonly delisted, with a 15.3 percent fall in the number of businesses listed there, from 2,873 to...
Goldman Sachs cuts US GDP growth forecast for 2022 - 12/06/2021
According to Goldman Sachs, US GDP will expand by 3.8 percent in 2022, lower than the 4.2 percent originally predicted. The omicron strain, according to the bank's economist Joseph Briggs, may impede the economic recovery, reports Reuters. According to this economist, GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2022 will be 2.9 percent compared to the current quarter, down from a previous estimate of 3.3...
Researchers: LEGO sets are better investment than gold and bonds - 12/03/2021
In a study published in the journal Research in International Business and Finance, economists at the Higher School of Economics found that old LEGO kits show a better return on investment over time than stocks of large companies, gold, bonds and alternative sources of investment. The researchers looked at pricing patterns from 1987 to 2015 and found that the average return on investment for LEGO...
Bank of America gives oil price forecast for 2022 - 12/02/2021
US banking giant Bank of America (BofA) predicts the average price of Brent crude will be $85 a barrel next year, the bank's global head of commodities and derivatives research, Francisco Blanch, said. "We believe the average price of Brent crude will be $85 next year. This is our official forecast," Blanch said during the bank's webinar reviewing the energy market for 2022. He noted that the...
UNCTAD: World trade growth may exceed 20% in 2021 - 12/01/2021
World trade in 2021 could grow by 23% from 2020, according to a UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report released on Tuesday. "World trade is expected to reach around $28 trillion in 2021, an increase of 23% compared to 2020," the report reads. UNCTAD expects trade in goods to reach a record high of $22 trillion in 2021. Trade in services in 2021 is estimated at about $6 trillion,...
Study: Digital Dollar and Euro may outperform weaker currencies - 11/30/2021
The monetary independence of developing economies is threatened by central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Foreign money there is allowed to circulate, but local currency can be in a small supply - although weak currencies usually win competition for circulation, while hard currencies are used for savings. Sebastian Edwards, an economist at UCLA's Anderson Graduate School of Management, looked...
