April, 2017

• 10 April

  Venezuela political crisis fails to die down

    Protests have become a staple in Venezuelan life. Venezuela, once one of the richest in Latin America, plunged into the political crisis soon after President Nicolas Maduro took the helm of the country following the death of ex-president Hugo Chavez in 2013. The latest round of protests erupted after the Supreme Court’s attempt to seize the power of the ...

  Read More »
• 10 April

  India is losing faith in free-trade agreements

  

    Till fairly recently, it looked like two massive new agreements would compete to define the future of world trade. The Trans-Pacific Partnership, backed by the US, would try to move the global trade architecture toward new norms, with harmonized regulations at its centre. Meanwhile, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), backed by China, would drastically reduce remaining tariffs across ...

  Read More »
• 10 April

  China has smarter places to park money than car garages

  

    If there’s one message to take away from Asian buyers’ heated interest in French parking lot operator Indigo, it’s that investors remain hungry for yield and assets are scarce. But those steering away from their traditional targets in the hope of infrastructure-like returns from car spaces should be wary. With fewer car parks being built in city centers, parking-lot ...

  Read More »
• 10 April

  How Spotify grew up before going public

  

    It’s unconscionable in 2017 that the only publicly traded music streaming company is still Pandora Media Inc., an Internet radio provider which went public in 2011 and is trading below its initial public offering price. Hopefully, Spotify Ltd. will rectify the situation this year, even if that means it has to use a back door to an exchange listing. ...

  Read More »
• 10 April

  Clean-energy builders selling ‘yieldco’ stakes to get cash

  

    Bloomberg Two years ago, solar and wind developers couldn’t get enough of a security that helped finance their clean-energy projects. Now, a growing number are considering cashing out. The industry created publicly traded securities, known as yieldcos, to raise capital for new construction, which attracted shareholders eager for dividends from the sale of electricity. Fifteen US and European companies ...

  Read More »
• 10 April

  Investors optimistic over oil market rebalance in summer

    Bloomberg Summer may be a few months away but oil investors are already getting their hopes up that American drivers will do their part to rebalance the market. Hedge funds increased bets on higher West Texas Intermediate crude prices for the first time in six weeks, shrugging off rising US supplies, as the coming driving season is expected to ...

  Read More »
• 10 April

  Oil set for longest gain this year as Libyan field shut

    Bloomberg Oil headed for its longest run of gains this year as Libya’s biggest oil field was said to have suffered another outage while Russia signaled it’s weighing an extension of OPEC-led production cuts. Futures gained for a fifth day in New York after advancing 3.2 percent last week following a US military strike on Syria. Libya’s Sharara field ...

  Read More »
• 10 April

  Egypt inflation accelerates at slowest pace in five months

  

    Bloomberg Egyptian consumer prices showed some signs of stability in March, signaling that the surge in inflation triggered by the central bank’s decision to abandon currency controls five months ago could be easing. Annual inflation in urban areas accelerated to 30.9 percent compared with 30.2 percent in February, according to data released by the official statistics agency, CAPMAS on ...

  Read More »
• 10 April

  China probes top insurance regulator for violations

  

    Bloomberg China’s anti-graft agency is probing the nation’s top insurance offi- cial Xiang Junbo as the govern-ment steps up a bid to rein in financial risks amid an economic slowdown. Xiang, chairman of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, is under investigation on suspicion of “severe” disciplinary violations, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said in a statement on its ...

  Read More »
• 10 April

  Hong Kong home prices near peak as risks mount

  

    Bloomberg Hong Kong housing prices are close to their peak and economically “unsustainable,” said Cusson Leung, managing director at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.’s Asia Pacific equity research unit. Price increases in the world’s most expensive home market have outpaced Hong Kong’s gross domestic product growth “significantly” since 2009, and any external shocks could trigger tighter liquidity in the ...

  Read More »