Saudi Arabia Said to Ban Betting Against Its Currency
Pressured by plunging oil prices and costly wars in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia moved to stamp out speculation that it might be forced to break the link between its currency and the dollar. Authorities this week ordered banks to limit traders’ ability to bet against against the riyal, whose peg to the dollar has […]
Bitcoin: Is the crypto-currency doomed?
A high-profile Bitcoin developer has said the crypto-currency has failed and he will no longer take part in its development. Mike Hearn, a Zurich-based developer and long-time proponent of Bitcoin, surprised many this weekend when he published a blog calling Bitcoin a "failed" project. Mr Hearn, who had until recently been working on new software […]
Stocks for the long run?
Are equities always the best investment for the long run? It is the message that is usually sold to individual investors. The message is based on theory; equities are riskier than government bonds so should offer a higher return (the equity risk premium, in the jargon) to compensate investors. And the message seems to be […]
A cocktail of risks
Worries about the Chinese economy continue to dog global markets. Famous economists and investors are making grim predictions. Is 2016 the year of doom and gloom? Having trouble? Click here » The Economist
No Hiding From Debt Slump
Many investors blame the escalating weakness in corporate credit on falling commodity prices. But that’s only one piece of the story, one that ignores a collapsing credit cycle amid a much broader global slowdown. Standard & Poor’ said on Tuesday that the outlook for corporate borrowers worldwide was the worst since the global financial crisis, […]
China’s stockmarket crashes—again
ONE of the many oddities of the topsy-turvy world of Chinese finance is that red is green and green is red. In most countries “going into the red” means losing money; stocks that are falling are often depicted in red on ticker boards. In China, however, red is auspicious and so is the colour for […]
Hopelessness and determination
The Paris agreement will not stabilise the climate; but the efforts it makes possible could still achieve a lot. “The test of a first-rate intelligence”, F. Scott Fitzgerald, a sometime Parisian, once wrote, “is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time.” By this standard, the 195 countries that gathered […]
At Theranos, Many Strategies and Snags
Elizabeth Holmes’s blood-testing ambition has long collided with technological problems. The night before a big meeting with a Swiss drug company in 2008, Theranos Inc. founder Elizabeth Holmes and a colleague sat in a Zurich hotel, sticking their fingers with a lancet. They drew drops of their own blood to try the company’s testing machine, […]
2015 in Graphics
Our favorite work of the year — so far. Bloomberg Business
America lifts its ban on oil exports
For decades, the word “market” has been a misnomer for global trade in oil. Not only has the business been manipulated by an international cartel, OPEC, with varying degrees of success. Since 1975 America has also distorted it by banning the export of almost all crude oil. On December 18th Congress voted to put an […]
The case for and against an interest-rate hike
Should the Fed raise rates? On December 16th, the Federal Reserve, the American central bank, will take what could be a historic decision: the first interest-rate increase since before the iPhone was invented. The last time the Fed raised rates was in June 2006. The credit crunch and financial crisis followed soon after and rates […]
Never Mind $35, The World’s Cheapest Oil Is Already Close to $20
As oil crashed through $35 a barrel in New York, some producers were already living with the reality of much lower prices. A mix of Mexican crudes is already valued at less than $28, an 11-year low, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Iraq is offering its heaviest variety of oil to buyers in Asia […]
Time’s Person of the Year – Angela Merkel
Fairy tales are where you find them, but any number seem to begin in the dark German woods where Angela Merkel spent her childhood. The girl who would grow up to be called the most powerful woman in the world came of age in a glade dappled by the northern sun and shadowed by tall […]
Third Avenue Redemption Freeze Sends Chill Through Credit Market
Investors who piled into the riskiest corners of the credit markets during seven years of rock-bottom interest rates are getting a reminder of how hard it can be to cash out. With outflows from U.S. high-yield bond funds running at the fastest pace in more than a year, Martin Whitman’s Third Avenue Management took the […]
The Chinese renminbi joins the IMF’s reserve-currency basket
Passing through the Suez Canal became easier earlier this year, thanks to an expansion completed in August. Now it is about to become a little bit more complicated. Transit fees for the canal are denominated in Special Drawing Rights, a basket of currencies used by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as its unit of account. […]