Oil price hits 2019 peak as Trump moots new sanctions against Iran April 2, 2019 Oil prices reached a 2019 high today as traders worry over the stability of supplies from Iran and Venezuela. The price of international standard Brent crude reached $69.50 per barrel in the early hours, and edged close to that price again closer to midday. Read more: Oil prices rise as Trump asks for them to [...]
Nouriel Roubini interview (Part I): Expect a ‘synchronised slowdown’ in 2019 April 2, 2019 | City Talk When Nouriel Roubini talks, it’s worth a listen. Not known for his optimism, the well-known American economist bears the moniker ‘Dr Doom’. CFA Institute spoke to him to get his take on topics including the prospects for global growth and technologies. CFA Institute: When you spoke to us in 2015, roughly six years after the [...]
Turkish lira falls against dollar as tensions with US mount over fighter jets April 2, 2019 The Turkish lira has fallen against the dollar today after the US suspended the delivery of F-35 fighter aircraft equipment to Turkey. The drop follows a tumultuous period in the foreign currency markets that saw a key lira lending rate hit 1,200 per cent amid claims of government meddling. Read more: Overnight Turkish lira lending [...]
UK inflation rate highest of major advanced economies in February April 2, 2019 The UK’s annual inflation rate was the highest of the G7 countries in February, statistics released today showed, due in part to the fall in the value of the pound pushing up the cost of imported goods. Read more: Inflation edges up from two-year low as food and alcohol prices rise Britain’s inflation rate in [...]
Is Uber the new Amazon? April 2, 2019 | City Talk By Edmond Jackson from interactive investor. In a test of narrative power versus whopping financial losses, so-called “ride-hailing” or “ridesharing” giants Uber and Lyft have rivalled each other to list on the New York Stock Exchange – Lyft got there first. Both capture the spirit of the times, connecting taxi drivers to passengers via their [...]
Are emerging markets really worth the risk? April 2, 2019 At a time when the US Federal Reserve has well and truly capitulated on its hiking path, some emerging markets are not showing signs of relief. Against the dollar, Argentina’s peso is close to an all-time low, the Turkish Lira is teetering near a year-to-date low, and the South African rand is creeping back to [...]
Generation Rent needs more help to buy property, not Help to Buy April 2, 2019 Britain is not yet a nation of renters – but it’s getting there. Half of children are now born in rented accommodation, versus a third back in 2003-4. The number of families renting with children has doubled in a decade, according to the insurance provider Royal London. Meanwhile, new analysis shows that the government’s Help [...]
Overnight Turkish lira lending rate surges to 400 per cent April 1, 2019 The Turkish lira overnight swap rate rocketed up to 400 per cent today, from a closing rate of 23.75 per cent on Friday. The rate – which is the cost to investors of borrowing lira using foreign currency overnight – hit 1,200 per cent last week, by far its highest mark in history. Economists and bankers believed [...]
Vale stops operations at nine more dams after auditors’ report April 1, 2019 Under-fire Brazilian miner Vale has closed another nine sites across the country, it said today, over two months since a disaster which is thought to have killed over 300 people. Vale said that external safety experts had failed several of its dams, including one at the Corrego do Feijao mine where another dam burst in January [...]
Saudi Aramco leapfrogs Apple to claim title as world’s most profitable company April 1, 2019 Ol giant Saudi Aramco was today confirmed as the world’s biggest profit machine, making as much as Apple, ExxonMobil and Google put together last year. The Saudi state oil company showed net income hitting $111.1bn, considerably ahead of second-place Apple on $59.4bn. Aramco revealed the impressive state of its finances for the first time as [...]