Recent Posts

Latin America’s only net creditor about to rejoin mere mortals

  Bloomberg At times, Chile’s economy has appeared super-human. Rapid economic growth, low inflation, trade surpluses and a strong currency have all combined to make it the wealthiest nation in South America, overtaking traditionally richer economies such as Argentina and Uruguay. That was achieved even as the government amassed savings of more than $23 billion in two sovereign wealth funds. ...

Read More »

Brenntag slumps after profit misses on oil, Venezuela

  Bloomberg Brenntag AG’s first-quarter profit missed analyst estimates after the world’s largest distributor of chemicals was hit by a currency devaluation in Venezuela and slump in demand for additives used by the oil and gas industry. Earnings were “surprisingly low” due to weakness in the Venezuelan currency, oil and gas and the North American industrial environment. Brenntag stuck to ...

Read More »

Australia’s strange submarine strategies

  On April 25 2016, the very day that Australia commemorated its war dead who fell in Europe a century earlier, Australia sent a private note to France, its former ally, that it had won the bidding process to be preferred designer of 12 new submarines. In announcing the decision, the Australian government made some understandable historical allusions to past ...

Read More »
Send this to a friend