Markets & Industries
BP: Growing prosperity stimulates demand for energy - 02/09/2017
BP released its annual Energy Outlook for 2017. The company's experts monitor trends in the global energy market and make predictions on unfolding circumstances and changes tone of market in 2017. Additionally, they identify the main factors that influence the global energy market. Here are main conclusions of the report’s drafters. • Global GDP is growing under influence of the rapid rising of...
A tough year for European agriculture - 02/06/2017
Agriculture in Europe has been exposed to negative impact of several factors, such as overproduction of dairy products, Brexit and the UK’s rapprochement with the United States, influx of cheaper products from countries outside the EU. Dairy Dairy production is the most problematic agricultural sector of Europe. The industry has become subsidized since in mid-July 2016 the union’s government...
Fears and regulations clip wings of Chinese M&A deals - 02/06/2017
Baker McKenzie law firm and research firm Rhodium found out that in the past year, Chinese companies slipped 30 foreign acquisitions worth $ 75 billion. Enthusiasm of Chinese investors has been constrained by limited foreign regulators and the Chinese authorities fighting with outflow of capital from the country. However, for a total in 2016, volume of direct investment from China to the United...
Global demand for gold increased by 2% in 2016 - 02/03/2017
Demand for gold in the world over the past year increased by 2% and exceeded 4.3 thousand tons, mainly thanks to popularity among private and institutional investors, yet has fallen by the end of the year. Central banks, some of which had to maintain stability of national currency, cut demand for gold dramatically. Slump in gold jewelry in China and India resulted in overall drop in the industry...
Cheap euro promoted economic upturn in Germany - 02/01/2017
Economic situation in the euro area has improved in the fourth quarter of 2016. GDP growth accelerated, unemployment fell to a record low for the past seven years, and higher fuel prices spurred inflation. The ECB, however, is not going to tighten monetary policy, one of the main beneficiaries of which was the German economy. The country's current account surplus, according to experts, has become...
Equatorial Guinea wants to join OPEC - 01/27/2017
OPEC may invite Equatorial Guinea, which previously had supported OPEC’s initiative to limit production, in its ranks. EG is not a major producer and exporter yet it is a significant player in the oil market, so the deal would look interesting to OPEC’s leaders. EG’s entrance into the cartel can be supported by Saudi Arabia or its traditional opponent Venezuela. Equatorial Guinea wants to join...
ECB: Quantitative easing will pan out, we just have to wait - 01/26/2017
Major central banks have lost control of inflation. Markets now just need some more time to verify effectiveness of regulatory measures, according to a new series of the ECB’s analytical documents. Experts say that asset buyout has been the most effective fix so far. As for longstanding preservation of low rates, it can be explained by a series of successive shocks, from the euro area crisis to...
E-commerce starts to shape future of car retailing - 01/25/2017
Ford’s lending division invested in AutoFi – a startup, engaged in development of technologies for on-line purchase of cars. Amount of the investment is not disclosed. According to the automaker, the company will use AutoFi’s software, so that clients can buy cars Ford or Lincoln without leaving the house. All a client needs to make a purchase is to go to a dealer’s website, choose a favorite car...
Premium brands embrace Modernization and Optimization - 01/24/2017
A new research on luxury market conducted by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) together with Bernstein suggests that the world luxury centers - New York, London and Paris - will maintain a high concentration of stores of this class. However, luxury brands are an urgent need to review effectiveness of existing stores chains as the world is gripped by highly competitive e-commerce, especially in Asia....
EU may conduct stress tests of bank cybersecurity - 01/23/2017
EU is pondering a possibility to carry out stress-tests on banks’ protection from cyber-attacks, said European officials and sources amid rising concerns about the banking sector’s vulnerability to hacker attacks. Over the past few years, attacks against banks have become more numerous and sophisticated as criminals are finding new ways to attack financial institutions. In February 2016, hackers...
