According to the Financial Times (FT), citing Goldman Sachs calculations, in the first four months of the year US companies announced a total of $484bn to buy back their shares from the market. This is a record for this period in the last 20 years. Goldman Sachs expects that by the end of the current year the volume of buybacks in the USA will grow by 35% compared to 2020. Analysts attribute this...

Oil demand in 2021 will increase to 96.4 million barrels per day (bpd), which is 5.4 million bpd more than in 2020, the previous growth estimate was reduced by 270 thousand bpd, according to the International Energy Agency report. The adjustments take into account changes in demand in the first quarter - it was 320 kbpd lower in Europe and 515 kbpd lower in North America - and expectations of a...

The International Energy Agency (IEA), responsible for the energy security of developed energy-importing countries, has unveiled its first study on the transition to renewable energy. The notable environmental, social and geopolitical risks associated with a surge in demand for the minerals needed for the energy transition were discussed at the UN back in the late twentieth century - but the IEA...

Global food prices continue to rise, reaching a six-year high in April, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). Global food prices hit a six-year high in April as the FAO reported the average food price index was 120.9 points, up 30.8% from April 2020 and 1.7% from March 2021. The index has risen to its highest level since May 2014 but has not yet hit an all-time high: in...

The inflow of funds to emerging markets accelerated in April: according to the International Institute of Finance (IIF), $45.5bn was raised in bonds and equities compared with $10.1bn in March. The US Federal Reserve is increasingly pointing to a recovery of the US economy, but according to the Institute, the situation in emerging markets is now better than in 2013, when the US regulator's...

Electric cars and hybrids will account for the majority of vehicles sold in the world in five years, Boston Consulting Group forecasts. In 2026, more than half of global passenger car sales will be in electrified cars, predicts Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Last year the company's experts argued that this figure (51%) would only be reached by 2030, but they revised their forecasts because of the...

Airlines have experienced an unexpected but welcome trend: people who used to fly in economy class have started buying business class tickets more often. Airlines have noticed an increased demand for seats in business class, not from its traditional passengers who traveled for business purposes, but in the more mass segment, which used to choose economy class. That's what Bloomberg writes....

International rating agency Moody's has upgraded its outlook on the global energy sector to positive from stable on the back of rising energy prices and recovering demand for commodities, the agency said in a statement. "Sustained commodity price growth amid a global economic recovery should support a turn in the industry during the next 12-18 months," the agency wrote. The agency keeps its...

Chinese companies have never before floated their securities on U.S. exchanges so aggressively, the Financial Times reports. According to Dealogic, since the beginning of the year, Chinese companies have raised a record $11 billion through IPOs and subsequent stock sales and bond issues. This is 440% more than in the first quarter of 2020. Bloomberg reports that Chinese companies raised $6.6...