Bloomberg However paltry the S&P 500’s return in the first half of 2018, at least it rose. Going by history, it’s a signal the rest of the world’s equity markets may be able to take solace in. Books have closed on a tumultuous six months that saw volatility surge amid trade wars and a faster-moving Federal Reserve. But while the ...

Bloomberg The weekend is offering some respite for Bitcoin investors. The bellwether of the cryptocurrency world rose 8 percent to $6,338.22 in New York on June 30, according to Bitstamp prices. The gain, which comes after the digital asset crashed through the $6,000 threshold for the first time since February, means the token has still lost about two-thirds of its ...

Bloomberg A global trade war is looming and emerging markets are plunging. Time to pile into US stocks. That’s the message from Wall Street prognosticators, who have stuck with full-year forecasts during a first half that’s been anything but smooth. After a torrid start to the year, the S&P 500 plunged into its first correction since 2016 and spent the ...

Bloomberg Canada’s oil industry just moved one step closer to getting some relief from its pipeline woes. Enbridge Inc’s planned $7 billion replacement and expansion of its Line 3 conduit, linking Alberta’s oil fields to refineries in the US, was given the green light by regulators in Minnesota, clearing the way for the project to move ahead. The state’s Public ...

Bloomberg Ethiopia’s nascent energy industry is gathering pace, with a unit of China Poly Group Corp. starting test output of crude oil in a volatile border region and the government estimating initial annual income of $1.2 billion when gas exports begin from the area. Oil and gas income will be a major boost to the landlocked Horn of Africa nation’s ...

Bloomberg The chairman of Libya’s National Oil Corp in Tripoli said he’s confident that the US and other world powers would help block authorities in eastern Libya from exporting any crude after militia captured key ports there. Forces loyal to Khalifa Haftar, a commander in the politically divided nation’s east, have handed over control of ports with a combined export ...

Bloomberg South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources has issued a moratorium on new applications for petroleum exploration and development in order to change its licensing process. The restriction won’t affect applications received before the date of publication of the notice, which appeared in the online version of the Government Gazette on June 28 and was signed by Minister Gwede Mantashe. ...

Bloomberg Bank of America (BofA) is jumping on the AI bandwagon. For the first time, the bank’s currency strategists are using machine-learning programs — which enable computers to comb through vast amounts of data to draw inferences and make predictions on their own — to tell clients what to buy and sell. They began producing AI-based research last month, as ...

Bloomberg China’s central bank said it’ll keep economic development steady and stabilise market expectations, and reiterated a more cautious tone on debt containment. The People’s Bank of China will keep a close eye on domestic and global economic developments and step up “forward-looking policy fine-tuning,” according to a statement released after a meeting a day earlier of the monetary-policy advisory ...

Bloomberg The Bank of Japan reduced debt purchases for a third time in June, taking advantage of the recent stability in bond yields and the yen. The BOJ lowered buying in the five-to-10 year segment by 20 billion yen ($181 million) to 410 billion yen at a regular operation. The yen — which has in the past shown a tendency ...