Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate crude prices slide as production in Russia and Opec member states booms December 6, 2016 A rise in crude output in most major oil-producing regions ahead of a landmark curb to production has driven down the price of the black stuff today. Production among the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries rose to another record high in November, according to a Reuters survey, reaching 34.19m barrels per day (bpd), up [...]
Contracts for difference: What are they and what’s the FCA’s problem with them? December 6, 2016 It's been a tumultuous day so far for spreadbetting firms after financial regulators announced plans to clamp down on the retail trading of contracts for differences (CFD) products. Platform investors ran for the hills in the wake of the news: the likes of IG Markets, Plus 500 and CMC Markets have had between a quarter and [...]
What you need to know about the world’s biggest IPO December 6, 2016 Sometime in the next 12 to 24 months, the world will see probably see the biggest IPO in history, and one that may remain unparalleled for a century or more – the IPO of Saudi oil giant Aramco. Aramco says it has more than 260 billion barrels of recoverable reserves – 10 times the level [...]
Marcus Brookes: How we’ve prepared for the return of inflation December 6, 2016 | City Talk Inflation was already on the rise. Now I expect the policies likely to follow in Donald Trump’s presidency will pile on further price pressure. The deflating effect of QE We have been changing our portfolios over the last year to reflect our view that inflation may be returning to the financial system. Yes, quantitative easing, [...]
No-go zone: With Matteo Renzi set to resign following his defeat in the Italian referendum, should investors stay away from the Eurozone? December 6, 2016 Italy’s referendum will not weaken the European project as much as critics hope, and Trump could help equities, says Will Railton "The vote looks to me to be more about the euro than constitutional change”, tweeted Nigel Farage shortly after the Italian polls closed on Sunday night. Eurosceptics are heralding the resounding result (a 59.1 [...]
Brent crude oil just broke $55 for the first time since July 2015 December 5, 2016 Brent crude oil shot above $55 per barrel today as oil traders continued to celebrate Opec's agreement, after months of in-fighting, to put a cap on production. Global benchmark Brent crude rose as high as $55.33 per barrel in late morning trading, up more than 1.4 per cent, though it dipped 0.3 per cent to $54.30 by the [...]
How low rates affect stockmarket returns December 5, 2016 | City Talk The world has been living with low interest rates for eight years but such periods are not new. Both the US and UK saw rates below 1% for most of the two decades spanning the Second World War, while Japan has been living with sub-1% rates since 1995. Stockmarkets performed very differently in each case, [...]
Gold is now an accepted Sharia investment under new Islamic banking rules December 5, 2016 Gold can now be used as a commodity to back Sharia-based financial products, with rules about using the metal as an investment set out for the first time. The World Gold Council announced the new Sharia gold standard, which sets out the way in which financial institutions can apply Sharia principles in the direct physical handling [...]
The euro makes back losses from pound and dollar as markets react to Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s resignation December 5, 2016 The euro regained its steep losses against the pound and the dollar as the week started with the defeat of Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in his flagship constitutional reform and his immediate resignation. The pound rose above €1.20 in the early hours of Monday morning before falling back to €1.1899 at the time of publication. [...]
Saudi Arabia has surrendered control of the global oil market to US shale December 5, 2016 “Ending wars is very simple if you surrender.” – PJ O’Rourke The new Opec deal to cut oil output – the cartel’s first since 2008 – amounts to nothing less than Saudi Arabia’s surrender to the power of American shale. It has come about due to Riyadh’s belated, horrified understanding that it has utterly lost control over [...]