Tag: may 10 2022

Each week, we report instances where the money junky hedge funds, private equity groups and the already big companies swallow another piece of the global economy. Here are some more of what the BIGS have been gobbling up and how the Bigs keep getting bigger and the rich keep getting richer. ICE BUYS MORTGAGE DATA...

SURGING OIL PRICES DRIVE RECORD INFLATION IN GERMANY Prices in Germany shot up 7.8 percent in April, year over year, the fastest since 1981, after setting a record pace of 7.6 percent in March. The increase was driven by higher energy costs. Producer prices in March saw the greatest annual surge since records began being...

TOP 2022 TREND, DRAGFLATION: CHINA’S ECONOMY IS SHRINKING China’s Caixin purchasing managers index (PMI) for service industries plunged to 36.2 in April from 42 in March, IHS Markit reported on 4 May, signaling a growing weakness throughout the nation’s economy. Readings below 50 indicate contraction; the lower the number, the harder the fall. The subindex...

As inflation keeps rising, so too will interest rates. Here is a summary of recent hikes. BANK OF ENGLAND BOOSTS INTEREST RATES AGAIN On 5 May, the Bank of England (BoE) raised its key interest rate for the fourth time in as many meetings, boosting it from 0.75 to 1 percent as inflation raced at...

AP Moller-Maersk, the world’s most profitable shipping line, became even more profitable in this year’s first quarter, booking $19.3 billion in revenue for the period, up 55 percent from 2022’s first three months. The company netted $6.8 billion in profits, more than double the previous quarter’s. However, “we are assuming a slowdown in the second...

The European Commission has proposed banning all imports of Russian oil by the end of this year, the Financial Times reported. To be enacted, the measure would require all 27 member countries to agree.  However, Viktor Orban, Hungary’s autocratic prime minister, has so far opposed any bans on Russian fuels. Also, as a deterrent or...

Interest rates in the 19-nation Eurozone are surging as the European Central Bank (ECB) is halting its multi-year bond-buying program in advance of raising interest rates for the first time in eight years. On 4 May, the yield on Germany’s 10-year government bond—a benchmark for Eurozone rates—topped 1 percent for the first time since 2015....

The number of new orders placed with German factories declined 4.7 percent in March, according to state agency Destatis, far below the 1.1-percent dip that analysts had expected. Orders from within Germany dropped 6.7 percent. Orders from outside the Eurozone plummeted 13.7 percent. German automakers, the foundation of the country’s industry, lost production due to...

Retail sales across the 19 countries using the euro currency slipped 0.4 percent in March, three times more than the 0.1 percent expected by economists Reuters had surveyed. Sales dropped 4 percent in Spain; France and Germany also saw sharp declines. People bought more food, drinks, and tobacco, but less non-food consumer products, motor fuel,...

As many as 70,000 skilled tech workers have left Russia since the Ukraine war began, with another 100,000 expected to emigrate by June, the Russian Association for Electronic Communications told the country’s parliament last month. Ok Russians, a nonprofit group helping people leave the country, estimates that almost 300,000 Russians have left since the war...