Gold prices are down 1.5 per cent or more on Thursday evening, falling below $1,750 an ounce, as a wave of risk sentiment has hit the global financial market following the US Federal Reserve (Fed) meeting, trading data showed. In the morning, the price of December gold futures on the New York Comex exchange was down 1.68%, or $29.95, to $1,748.6 per troy ounce. December silver futures were down...

Global non-cash payment volumes will reach nearly 3 trillion payments by 2030, up from 1 trillion last year, according to a study by international consultancy PwC. "Between 2020 and 2025, global non-cash transactions will grow by 80% from around 1 trillion transactions to almost 1.9 trillion, and by 2030 volumes will triple (reaching 3 trillion). In Asia-Pacific, the growth rate will be higher,...

At its September meeting, the US Federal Reserve (Fed) decided to keep its key rate at 0-0.25% per annum. At the same time, the regulator came close to announcing the winding down of the asset purchase programme - its statement indicated that such a decision could become "justified in the near future". The US Federal Open Market Committee refrained from changing the rate (urgently reduced to...

Global GDP may grow by 5.7% this year and by 4.5% next year, according to an updated forecast by the OECD. Compared to previous estimates of the organisation, the global growth forecast has been reduced by 0.1 percentage point for 2021 and increased by the same amount for the next year. Overall, says the OECD, global GDP has already exceeded the pre-pandemic level. At the same time, it is 3.5%...

Royal Dutch Shell is leaving the Permian oil and gas basin (located in Texas and New Mexico). The company has announced that it will sell all of its assets in the region to US-based ConocoPhillips. The deal, valued at $9.5 billion, will be paid entirely in cash. After its completion, scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2021, Shell will spend $7 billion on dividend payments to shareholders....

Oil prices will be at $70 a barrel in the first quarter of 2022, Iraq's oil minister predicted. Earlier this week, Brent rose above $76 for the first time in a month and a half. Oil prices will be around $70 a barrel in the first quarter of 2022. This was announced by Iraqi oil minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar, Bloomberg reports. According to the minister, the price will be affected by the...

Credit Suisse investors will have to pay $145 million to allow fintech startup Greensill Capital, which filed for bankruptcy earlier this year, to continue its existence, the Financial Times reports. The British-Australian startup, once considered one of the most successful in its sector, declared bankruptcy earlier this year. Credit Suisse, which had once allocated $10bn to the startup in its...

The European Central Bank currently does not expect interest rates, which have been low for a long time, to rise in 2023, said a spokesman for the regulator. The last ECB meeting was held in September, following which the watchdog kept the base rate at zero level. In this case, the Governing Council of the ECB at the meeting admitted the possibility of reducing the rate of asset purchases within...

US retail sales rose 0.7% month-on-month to $618.7bn in August, the US Department of Commerce said on Thursday, 16 September. August's increase came as a surprise - analysts polled by Reuters expected a 0.8% drop in sales amid the spread of the delta strain of coronavirus. In July, retail sales fell 1.8% (based on revised Commerce Department figures). The growth was helped by good online sales,...