April, 2018

• 17 April

  Macron: Divisions in the 28-nation EU evoke ‘civil war’

  

  Bloomberg French President Emmanuel Macron gave an unabashed defense of the EU in its political heart, urging the bloc to reject nationalism, deepen integration and promote free trade in the face of US protectionism. In his first appearance at the European Parliament since being elected France’s head of state last year, Macron said divisions in the 28-nation EU evoke a ...

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• 17 April

  Merkel plans to meet with Putin as points of conflict multiply

  Bloomberg German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she plans to meet with President Vladimir Putin in the “foreseeable future” after military strikes in Syria widened a rift between Russia and the west. Merkel made the proposal after speaking by phone with Putin earlier on Tuesday, when they discussed Syria as well as the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project from Russia ...

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• 17 April

  Oil steadies as output deal extension stokes optimism

  

  Bloomberg Oil steadied after the biggest loss in more than a week as OPEC’s hints at extending output cuts fanned optimism and investors anticipated a drop in US stockpiles. Futures in New York were little changed after losing 1.7 percent. Kuwait said the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allied producers will discuss prolonging an agreement to curb oil output ...

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• 17 April

  Spending on European wind projects to surge 4 pct to $28.7 billion

  

  FRANKFURT / Reuters Investment in new European wind farms and equipment is expected to increase this year after a sharp drop in 2017, helped by several large project auctions, according to a major industry body. Spending is forecast to rise 4 percent to 23.2 billion euros ($28.7 billion), WindEurope said in its financing report, after a 19-percent decline in 2017 ...

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• 17 April

  Eni plans investments worth billions in Algeria over 3 years

  Oran / Reuters Eni plans “billions” of investments in Algeria over the next three years, the company’s CEO said on Tuesday, as the Italian energy firm said it had agreed to extend its partnership with Algerian state firm Sonatrach. “We need to invest more because Algeria still has a lot of gas,” Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi told anenergy conference in ...

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• 17 April

  Vermilion to buy Spartan Energy for $860mn in stock

  Bloomberg Vermilion Energy Inc. agreed to buy Spartan Energy Corp. for about C$1.08 billion ($860 million) in stock, adding to its production and acreage in southeast Saskatchewan in the largest oil and gas company takeover in Canada this year. Spartan holders will get 0.1476 of a Vermilion share for each Spartan share, Vermilion said in statement. That represents a premium ...

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• 17 April

  Economics tends to advance only one iconoclast at a time

  

  In recent years, a number of economic ideas once considered unassailable have been called into question. The financial crisis and Great Recession throw much of macroeconomic and financial wisdom out the window, and now new evidence is challenging orthodoxy in a variety of areas. For example, recent studies suggests that labour markets don’t work the way economists traditionally believed, and ...

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• 17 April

  The humbling of technology in China

  

  Tech or media? What to many people is an esoteric question could end up making a multibillion-dollar difference to Chinese companies that serve up content ranging from jokes to gossip. Technology firms, those ground-breaking companies with research teams hard at work building moats, are more highly prized than media counterparts that merely provide content. In the S&P 500, for example, ...

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• 17 April

  London’s dream of Shanghai link is a bridge to nowhere

  

  Will you cross a bridge if you don’t know what’s on the other side? Unlikely. That’s the dilemma investors face as they look forward to the London-Shanghai Connect stock trading link that’s scheduled to start by year-end. The program’s timing was announced this week by People’s Bank of China Governor Yi Gang, who also said authorities will quadruple daily trading ...

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• 17 April

  Bank capital rules need more than fine-tuning

  Having spent nearly a decade crafting new capital requirements to bolster the resilience of the country’s largest banks, the US Federal Reserve is getting ready to do some fine-tuning. The rules can certainly be improved — but what’s needed is more than tinkering around the edges. The Fed has two main tools to ensure banks have enough equity capital, the ...

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