PwC, an audit and consulting firm, has estimated that 87 out of the top 100 companies in the world have seen an increase in market capitalization from March to June 2020. As a result, the combined market capitalization of the world's top 100 companies in June 2020 was only 1% behind December 2019, despite continued high volatility in equity markets. A PwC study of the world's 100 largest...

Foreign tourist flow to Spain for six months decreased by 71.7%, to 10.8 million people, follows from the data of the National Institute of Statistics (INE) of the country. From January to June, 10.8 million foreign travelers visited Spain; the figure is down by 71.7% from the same period a year earlier. Most tourists came from the UK (2 million, minus 75.5%), France (1.4 million, minus 69.8%)...

In the second quarter, global demand for gold fell by 11% to 1,016 tons. The consumption of metal in the jewelry and electronics industries dropped sharply. At the same time, professional investors are increasing their purchases, while private investors and central banks have reduced their investment in the precious asset. On July 30, the World Gold Council (WGC) published a quarterly survey on...

In the second quarter of 2020, Chinese telecoms company Huawei sold 55.8 million mobile devices, surpassing South Korean company Samsung, which sold 53.7 million devices, according to research firm Canalys. On an annualized basis, Huawei's sales fell 5%, while Samsung's sales fell 30% due to disruptions in key markets such as Brazil, the United States and Europe, due to the coronavirus pandemic,...

The Federal Reserve System (Fed) of the USA, following the results of the July meeting, left the key rate at the level of 0-0.25% per annum. At the same time, the regulator again promised to use “the entire set of support measures” and continue the practice of bond redemption. The Fed also extended the term of emergency lending programs until the end of the year. The regulator separately...

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has worsened the baseline forecast for the fall in passenger air traffic in 2020 to the last year's indicator: in April, the organization was expecting a fall by 46%, now - by 55%. IATA associates such pessimism with several trends: a slow containment of the spread of the coronavirus in the United States and developing countries, a reduction in...

In June, profits of large industrial enterprises in China rose for the second month in a row amid a gradual recovery from the crisis caused by the pandemic. This is evidenced by the data of the State Statistical Bureau of the PRC. The combined profit of industrial enterprises with annual revenues in excess of 20 million yuan last month increased 11.5% year-on-year to 666.55 billion yuan ($95.22...

Dominance of the US dollar in global trade and finance could exacerbate the impact of the COVID-19 crisis, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warns. "A stronger dollar could exacerbate the fall in global trade and economic activity in the short term," the IMF study said. The fall in emerging markets 'currencies against the dollar amid the pandemic boosted hopes for an increase in the...

The period of quarterly corporate reporting began in the US and Europe last week. This time, analysts are watching the numbers especially closely. Companies are reporting for the second quarter, which saw the peak of restrictive and quarantine measures in many countries due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The largest American banks were among the first to open the corporate reporting season for the...