RAC: Petrol prices to be “kept in check” if oil prices overshoot $50 per barrels May 21, 2016 The RAC assured motorists it expects fuel prices to remain in check, despite a recent uptick in the oil price due to production outages across the world. Supermarkets slashed petrol prices to below £1 per litre in the run-up to Christmas, citing savings from oil prices which had fallen from over $110 per barrel in the middle of [...]
Russia isn’t expecting much from Opec’s next meeting May 20, 2016 Russian energy minister, Alexander Novak, isn't expecting much from the fractured Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries' when it meets early next month. "In my opinion, any decisions on coordination which would require an obligatory fulfilment, are unlikely to be taken," Novak told Russian state TV in an interview. Read more: Opec faced with waning influence [...]
Circle Oil share price plummets after it warns “little or no value” left for shareholders May 20, 2016 Circle Oil tumbled as much as 75 per cent to 0.5p per share this morning, after it warned shareholders there could be "little or no value" left. The bleak assessment is based on the Aim-listed firm's $77.5m (£53.2m) outstanding debt position, as well as "indicative proposals" it's received to date. Read more: Will oil prices fall [...]
Brent crude oil price edges away from $50 a barrel May 20, 2016 Brent crude edged away from the $50 mark in early afternoon trading, despite worries about the situations in Canada and Nigeria sent investors into a buying frenzy. Brent crude was down 0.4 per cent at $48.60 at lunchtime, while WTI crude – the US benchmark – was down 0.2 per cent, at $48.04. That was a reversal of gains in [...]
S&P: Energy firms drive corporate defaults to highest since post-financial crisis May 20, 2016 The commodity crunch helped push the number of firms defaulting on their debt to the highest level since 2009, according to credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's. Energy and natural resources companies accounted for more than half of the 72 corporate defaults so far this year. Of these, 29 were in the struggling oil and gas sector, while 12 came [...]
Copper is heading for its third weekly decline May 20, 2016 Copper is heading for its third weekly decline today, having come under pressure from the stronger dollar. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange shed 0.7 per cent to 4,580 per tonne, following a 0.7 per cent loss in the previous session. Read more: Glencore share price falls as copper production slides Copper has shed around nine per [...]
Venezuela’s inevitable and miserable descent May 20, 2016 The lines start to form outside state-run supermarkets at dawn. As the sun rises, hundreds wait patiently in the hope that corn will be delivered in the afternoon. They are often disappointed. This is the reality of daily life for many in Venezuela, a country with the world’s largest reserves of oil and its highest [...]
As the US slaps a 522 per cent tariff on Chinese steel imports, should the world fear a new trade war? May 20, 2016 Eamonn Butler, director of the Adam Smith Institute, says Yes. Things could be much worse than they presently are. In the century to 1950, world tariffs averaged 20 to 50 per cent. Now they average 1 to 3 per cent. But protectionism ain’t dead yet. We’ve seen it aplenty from populist presidential hopefuls Donald Trump [...]
Golfer Phil Mickelson has been named as a defendant in an insider dealing case filed by US authorities May 19, 2016 Golfer Phil Mickelson has been charged as part of an insider dealing case filed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). According to the authorities, Mickelson used an alleged tip he received from a gambler, William “Billy” Walters, who got information from a former chairman of Dean Foods, Thomas Davis. Davis allegedly passed information [...]
MPC member Gertjan Vlieghe says the Bank of England could cut rates even if UK stays in the EU May 19, 2016 Interest rates could be cut after the referendum, even if the UK votes to stay inside the EU, a member of the Bank of England's monetary policy committee (MPC) has said. Gertjan Vlieghe, who joined the MPC as an external member in September, told an audience at the London School of Economics (LSE) this evening that if there was no [...]