May, 2017

• 29 May

  OPEC wins hedge funds back with jump in oil bets

  

  Bloomberg Hedge funds are giving OPEC some credit again. Following four weeks of growing pessimism, bets on rising West Texas Intermediate prices jumped the most this year just as Saudi Arabia and Russia were mustering support for the deal they struck in Vienna last week, US Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. What happens to US stockpiles will be key ...

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• 29 May

  Oil trades below $50 as market pessimism on OPEC deal lingers

  

  Bloomberg Oil traded below $50 a barrel after OPEC underwhelmed investors with its production-cut extension deal. Futures fell 0.2 percent in New York. Prices closed 1.1 percent lower last week after OPEC agreed to extend limits on crude output through the first quarter of 2018. Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said the oil-cuts strategy is working and that global ...

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• 29 May

  Iraq may consider hedging crude production

  

  LARNACA / Reuters Iraq may look at hedging part of its crude oil production, the head of the OPEC member’s oil marketer SOMO said, as a way to protect government revenue against the risk of oil price volatility. “It is in our strategy in the future that maybe we will consider hedging part of Iraqi crude … SOMO is floating ...

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• 29 May

  A path forward in Syria and Iraq, post-IS

  

  The Manchester terror attack by an alleged IS ‘soldier’ will accelerate the push by the US and its allies to capture the terror group’s strongholds in Mosul and Raqqah. But it should also focus some urgent discussions about a post-IS strategy for stabilizing Iraq and Syria. For all President Trump’s bombast about obliterating the IS, the Raqqah campaign has been ...

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• 29 May

  For Tata, tea break’s over and now its time to sweat capital

  

  India’s $103 billion Tata Group, the maker of Tetley Tea, went on an extended beverage break in October last year, when it acrimoniously fired its chairman. The ensuing battle for control was distracting, but ultimately proved to be a storm in a teacup. Now that the saga is over, Tata Sons Ltd, the group’s unlisted holding company, is going back ...

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• 29 May

  When intelligence isn’t shared, criminals win

  

  British police were justifiably furious when evidence from their investigation into the Manchester terrorist attack found its way into news reports. The leaks undermine the investigation and the confidence of victims and witnesses, whose cooperation is crucial. The immediate consequence is that Manchester police have stopped sharing information about their investigation with U.S. officials, who are widely believed to the ...

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• 29 May

  TPP can succeed without the US

  The U.S. signed the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal last year, then decided not to implement it. The 11 other signatories have given themselves until November to decide whether to go ahead anyway. They shouldn’t need half that long. The deal as it stands is far better than none. Contrary to warnings from some quarters, America’s absence needn’t kill the agreement. ...

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• 29 May

  Jobs are Modi’s central mission, and he’s failing

  

  Three years ago, Narendra Modi was sworn in as prime minister of the Republic of India amid much hope and tremendous expectation. A good portion of the population remains optimistic that he’ll fulfill his promises to unshackle the Indian economy. But Modi’s tenure cannot yet be judged a success for one central reason: He’s signally failed to create jobs for ...

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• 29 May

  Less soured debt is the least of this bad bank’s worries

  

  As recently as two years ago, owning shares in a bad bank charged with cleaning up nonperforming loans in China probably seemed like a good bet. Not so any more, at least for China Cinda Asset Management Co. The Beijing-based firm’s costs are rising and soured-loan growth has leveled off, or in some cases, dropped at the banks Cinda purchases ...

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• 29 May

  Don’t count on innovation to overcome stagnation

  

  Innovation, everybody hopes, will rescue the world from economic stagnation. I’m not so sure. The extent to which an innovation is significant depends on the degree to which it alters existing activity or the performance of a function. It must create related and ancillary activities that in turn lead to employment, wealth and other discoveries in a virtuous cycle. It ...

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