January, 2019

• 6 January

  Anti-Orban protests surge in Hungary

  

  Bloomberg Hungarian anti-government demonstrations showed no sign of abating after almost a month of rallies that have snowballed from workers’ demands to scrap a law on more overtime hours to a call for the end of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s illiberal rule. After a holiday lull, thousands of people gathered in Budapest to resume the most sustained protest wave against ...

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• 6 January

  US bond yields pull off lows as Fed embarks on listening tour

  

  Bloomberg Strong data and soothing words pulled markets out of a tailspin last week, and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and his colleagues have plenty of chances next week to bring traders closer to policy makers’ viewpoint on interest rates. Surprisingly robust US labour figures helped close some of the gap between investors and the Fed’s projections, which imply two ...

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• 6 January

  Brexit talks to set pound fortunes

  

  Bloomberg Brexit will return as the dominant driver for the pound next week as Parliament debates UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s divorce deal. Sterling lost over 5 percent in 2018 as fears of a hard exit from the European Union grew, and the currency’s direction this year will depend on whether lawmakers will be able to avoid the UK crashing ...

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• 6 January

  Venezuela taps obscure driller to replace big-name oil firms

  

  Bloomberg With brand-name drillers unwilling to jump in, Venezuela is resorting to a newly formed US company for help in shoring up production from its crude reserves, the largest in the world. Schlumberger Ltd and Halliburton Co, the world’s biggest oil-service providers, have announced over $2 billion in combined write-offs for unpaid bills in Venezuela since the second quarter of ...

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• 6 January

  Texas snaps 2 years of oilfield job growth

  

  Bloomberg Jobs in the Texas oil patch dropped for the first time in almost two years, according to the state’s workforce commission. The number of workers handling exploration and drilling duties fell by 500 to 247,700 in November 2018 compared with the previous month, according to the latest data from the Texas Workforce Commission. Snapping a streak of 23 months ...

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• 6 January

  Brent crude surges in best week since 2016

  

  Bloomberg Brent crude surged to its best weekly gain in more than two years, as encouraging economic news out of the US helped oil markets turn the page on 2018’s price collapse. The global benchmark closed higher, ending the week up 9.3 percent for its best showing since December 2016. Oil rallied alongside the US stock market following a strong ...

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• 6 January

  Renewables surpass coal in Germany

  Bloomberg Renewable energy muscled out coal to become Germany’s biggest source of electricity for the first time last year, helped by a surge in solar panel installations and coal-plant closures. Wind, solar, hydro and biomass produced just over 40 percent of Germany’s electricity in 2018, overtaking coal’s 39 percent share, according to the Fraunhofer Institute. An almost 20 percent increase ...

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• 6 January

  China sets up biggest ultra-high voltage line

  Bloomberg State Grid Corp of China has started up the world’s longest and most-powerful ultra-high voltage power line from its far northwest to the heavily populated east. The 1,100-kilovolt direct-current Changji-to-Guquan project stretches 3,293 kilometers (2,046 miles), the nation’s biggest electricity distributor said in a statement. That’s roughly the distance between Los Angeles and Cleveland. The 40.7 billion yuan ($5.9 ...

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• 6 January

  India panel seeks cheaper loans for hydel projects

  Bloomberg India should provide long-term finance at lower interest rate to all hydro power projects for their viability and to keep tariff competitive with other generation sources, a lawmakers’ panel said in a report. The report recommended promotion of hydro power on the lines of solar energy by making its purchase mandatory in overall consumption. India should categorise hydro power ...

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• 6 January

  India’s path to become world’s 5th-biggest economy is shaky

  

  Bloomberg India’s economy grew at a faster pace than most major nations in 2018, and this year, it’s poised to overtake the UK to become the world’s fifth-biggest. But that journey won’t be smooth. The outcome of a general election due by May is a potential pitfall for a nation already battered by emerging market turmoil and a currency rout ...

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