The number of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the world in the second half of last year increased by 18% compared with the first half, reaching 26.2 thousand. The total amount of M&A grew even more: by 94%, to more than $2 trillion. This data was published by PwC in its new report. The number of mega-deals worth more than $5bn also rose sharply - there were 57 mega-deals worth $688bn in the...

Former US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, whom President-elect Joe Biden is set to appoint as Treasury Secretary, warned about the risks of a longer and more painful recession. This will happen if the Congress fails to approve additional support measures and calls to take "sweeping action" to stimulate an economic recovery. The Wall Street Journal reports that Yellen will address the Senate...

Strategists at Swiss bank UBS warned investors about the risks of devaluation of cryptocurrencies, writes Bloomberg with reference to a message, which employees of the division of UBS Global Wealth Management, engaged in private capital management, sent to clients in response to inquiries about the advisability of buying bitcoins. The bank's experts said that in the long run, digital assets could...

China's exports for 2020 rose 3.6% from 2019 to a record $2.59 trillion, despite the pandemic, while Chinese imports fell 1.1%, to $2.06 trillion, Chinese customs data showed. Exports were up just 0.5% in 2019 after climbing 9.9% in 2018. Imports then shrank 2.8 percent versus a 15.8 percent increase in 2019. China's 2020 trade balance increased to $535 billion, the highest since 2015. "Export...

Food prices rose for the seventh consecutive month to a three-year high by December 2020, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said. Prices of dairy products and vegetable oils rose the most, the organisation added. "For 2020 as a whole, the average value of this (food price) index, which monitors monthly variations in the world prices of the most traded food commodities, reached its...

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) is raising February oil prices following Saudi Arabia, Bloomberg reported. According to the agency, ADNOC set the February price for Murban crude at a premium of 75 cents, which is 25 cents more than in January. The agency earlier reported that Saudi oil and gas company Saudi Aramco raised February oil prices for Asian buyers. OPEC+, following its...

The Dow Jones index reached an all-time high of 31,193.4 points, up more than 2.6% since the unrest began in Washington. On January 6, the NASDAQ Composite index was down 0.6%, but rebounded 2.6% the next day to 13,038.25 points, also posting a new all-time high. On January 7, the leading European stock indexes added 0.3-0.9%, and gained 2.1-4% over the two days. The ongoing economic recovery...

In the long term, the price of bitcoin may exceed $146,000, analysts at JPMorgan forecast. According to them, the cryptocurrency will gradually displace gold as an "alternative" currency. In the long term bitcoin exchange rate may exceed $146,000 on the background of displacement of gold as a protective asset, according to strategists of JPMorgan Chase headed by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, quoted by...

If vaccination against the COVID-19 coronavirus is universally implemented, the global economy will grow by 4% this year, according to a report by the World Bank (WB). With a slow process of universal vaccination and an increase in new infections, experts allow global economic growth to be limited to 1.6 percent. "The global economy is expected to grow by 4% in 2021, assuming the initial...