Category: TRENDS ON THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC FRONT

Because China is rushing to tie up global supplies of cobalt, an essential mineral in making electric car batteries, the auto industry must develop its own sources or risk being hobbled if China chooses to hoard the metal, Ivan Glasenberg, CEO of mining and commodity trading giant Glencore, told the Financial Times Future of the...

Taiwan’s tech-heavy TAIEX stock index fell 8.55 percent on 12 May, its worst one-day drop since 1969, according to Bloomberg, before recovering somewhat to close down 4.1 percent on the day, the Financial Times reported. Investors bailed due to global anxieties about surging inflation, coupled with fears that the island nation would report higher COVID...

Despite the world’s gradual economic recovery and oil production rising elsewhere, U.S. oil production will likely decline again this year, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said in its 11 May monthly market report. Producing countries outside OPEC will raise output by only 200,000 barrels a day this year, rising to 700,00, with Brazil,...

Blocks and bottlenecks in shipping systems have combined with consumers’ craving for electronics during the global shutdown to create a shortage of tin, traditionally the most costly of base metals. The price of tin in three-month contracts on the London Metals Exchange has gone up 46 percent to $29,785 a ton, outstripping price hikes for...

After beginning a brisk economic rebound following last year’s draconian lockdown, India’s economy has crumbled back into a second drastic shutdown after the COVID virus resurged, creating what is now the worst outbreak on the planet. “The impact of the second wave is that recovery is going to take a big setback,” CEO Mahesh Vyas...

Financially troubled companies are selling junk bonds at a record clip, the Wall Street Journal reported, with money pouring into the market and finding its way to the riskiest corners in search of high returns. In Europe, investment-grade bonds are largely being bought by the European Central Bank (ECB) in its bond-buying spree to prop...

China’s service sector, which has lagged manufacturing’s economic recovery, posted its best results this year in April, according to the private Caixin China services purchasing managers index. The index rose to 56.3 in April, up 2 points from March, to post its best reading since December, Caixin Media Co. reported. Levels above 50 signal growth;...

Commerzbank, Germany’s third-largest bank, and its employees have agreed on a plan to cut 10,000 jobs. The plan includes early retirement and reduced hours for older workers, retraining for workers whose jobs are eliminated, and severance packages for those who are fired, the Verdi labor union announced on 8 May. The affected workers will not...

Britain’s central bank has raised its growth forecast for the U.K.’s economy this year by almost 50 percent, from 5 percent predicted in February to 7.25 percent now. If realized, it would be the U.K.’s greatest one-year economic expansion in the 72 years the bank has kept records. The brighter outlook has moved the bank...

Supply chains and shipping will be undependable for the rest of this year, Soren Skou, CEO of AP Moeller-Maersk, the world’s largest shipping line, said last week in comments announcing the company’s highest quarterly profit in its 117-year history. The cost of shipping – and profits for Maersk and its competitors – will remain high...