Nearly everyone believes that oil prices will trend higher and higher, allowing increasing amounts of oil to be extracted. This belief is based on the observation that the cost of Continue Reading
LONDON (Reuters) – As food begins to flow into Bashar al-Assad’s Syria after several months of disruption, some of the president’s close allies stand to make substantial profits from the secretive trade, according to trade and opposition sources with knowledge of the situation. While civil war grinds on, Syria is facing its worst wheat harvest in three decades and Assad has been scrambling to bolster depleted food supplies. Using front companies and shipping lines, a discreet commercial and logistical network is now emerging, which aims not only to procure food commodities but to generate big returns for members of Assad’s inner circle, trade sources familiar with the matter say. The sources declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the trade in time of war. Rami Makhlouf, Assad’s cousin and top financial ally, together with Ayman Jaber, another prominent figure subject to international sanctions, are among those involved […]
LONDON (Reuters) – As food begins to flow into Bashar al-Assad’s Syria after several months of disruption, some of the president’s close allies stand to make substantial profits from the secretive trade, according to trade and opposition sources with knowledge of the situation. While civil war grinds on, Syria is facing its worst wheat harvest in three decades and Assad has been scrambling to bolster depleted food supplies. Using front companies and shipping lines, a discreet commercial and logistical network is now emerging, which aims not only to procure food commodities but to generate big returns for members of Assad’s inner circle, trade sources familiar with the matter say. The sources declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the trade in time of war. Rami Makhlouf, Assad’s cousin and top financial ally, together with Ayman Jaber, another prominent figure subject to international sanctions, are among those involved […]
CARACAS, Venezuela — The transportation minister appeared on live television from an auto-parts store, trumpeting prices that had been slashed in half, at least. A top regional official, broadcasting from another shop, boasted that prices of toys and other goods had been cut to the bone. From an appliance store, the commerce minister called on shoppers to buy washers and dryers at new, low-low prices. This week, the entire cabinet of President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela has been waging a battle against soaring inflation like a socialist version of Crazy Eddie, the onetime electronics chain store famous in New York for its goofy 1980s ads that trumpeted its “insane” prices. It is all part of a fever-pitch campaign to quell frustration with the economy by forcing retailers to slash prices, giving a much-needed shot of adrenaline to Mr. Maduro’s government just weeks before municipal elections that opponents want to […]
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A) reported a stake in Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) valued at about $3.7 billion as Warren Buffett ’s company disclosed its largest new holding since adding International Business Machines Corp. in 2011. Buffett’s company owned 40.1 million shares of Exxon on Sept. 30, Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire said today in a regulatory filing. The world’s biggest oil company by market value closed at $93.22 today in New York . It rose to $93.90 in extended trading at 5:14 p.m., after the filing. Berkshire has benefited this year as its stock picks rallied along with the broader market, affirming a strategy of favoring equities instead of bonds amid near record-low interest rates. Buffett has tracked Exxon and bought its stock in the past, holding a stake in the Irving, Texas-based energy producer as recently as 2011. Exxon Mobil “is undervalued, in his opinion, and pretty much being ignored […]
A Brazilian conglomerate unveiled a proposal Thursday to build a multibillion-dollar natural-gas refining complex in West Virginia—the biggest such development in the state as it tries to profit from the region’s drilling boom. The proposed project by Odebrecht Group, a privately held São Paolo-based engineering, construction and petrochemical company, would include a plant known as an ethane cracker, where natural gas is turned into ethylene, a chemical-industry feedstock. The complex would also include three plants to produce polyethylene, which is used to make numerous products, from plastic bags to pipes. Odebrecht said the project is subject to securing both financing and long-term contracts to obtain ethane through pipelines, as well as regulatory approvals. A company spokeswoman declined to provide further details on the project’s cost or timing. Drilling in the Marcellus Shale and Utica Shale—massive natural-gas deposits beneath parts of West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio—have made Appalachia one of […]
FRANKFURT—The euro-zone economy barely expanded in the third quarter, raising fresh concerns that the region faces a mix of stagnation, weak prices and high unemployment that threatens to hold back activity for the foreseeable future. Gross domestic product in two of the bloc’s three biggest economies—France and Italy—contracted. Growth in Europe’s largest economy, Germany, slowed sharply. Euro-zone GDP expanded 0.1% from the previous quarter, or 0.4% at an annualized rate, the European Union’s statistics agency Eurostat said Thursday. That is down sharply from roughly 1.2% annualized growth in the second quarter. The euro-zone economy contracted for six-straight quarters from late 2011 through the first three months of this year. Germany’s GDP increased 1.3% in the third quarter from the preceding period on an annualized basis, according to calculations by J.P. Morgan matching economists’ forecasts. That marked a significant slowdown from the second quarter, when German GDP swelled 2.9% annualized, […]
FRANKFURT — The euro zone economy marked time in the third quarter of the year, growing just 0.1 percent from the second quarter, disappointing hopes that the region was finally recovering after five years of recession or very slow growth. The economy of the 17-country currency bloc stagnated as output slowed in Germany, Europe’s largest economy, and declined in France, the second largest, Eurostat, the statistical agency of the European Union, reported from Luxembourg. On an annualized basis, Europe’s 0.4 percent growth compares poorly with the United States’ annualized 2.8 percent third-quarter growth and the 1.9 percent Japan reported Thursday. China, the world’s fastest growing major economy, expanded at a robust 7.8 percent rate in the third quarter. The overall European Union, made up of 28 countries, grew 0.2 percent from the second quarter, and 1 percent on an annualized basis, Eurostat said. There was some positive news, as […]
BRUSSELS (AP) — Official figures show industrial output across the 17-country eurozone fell a monthly rate of 0.5 percent in September, a decline that may mean economic growth across the region came to a standstill in the third quarter of the year. The fall reported Wednesday by Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office, was larger than expected and means the sector weighed on third quarter growth. September’s fall follows a 1 percent rise in August that only compensated for an equivalent decline in July. The industrial figures come a day ahead of the first estimate for third quarter growth. A run of disappointing figures have reined in expectations – before Wednesday’s data, the consensus in the markets was that the eurozone eked out growth for the second straight quarter, albeit a paltry 0.2 percent. © 2013 The Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, […]
LONDON (Reuters) – The threat of deflation in the euro zone could reverse a major investment trend of 2013, drawing funds out of stocks and into government bonds and cash. Europe is still some way from a negative inflation rate, let alone a Japanese-style deflationary spiral – the policymakers’ nightmare in which falling prices weaken demand, leading to wage cuts and even lower prices. But a warning light is already flashing, with euro zone inflation registering a shock drop last month that prompted an interest rate cut. This year’s "Great Rotation" flows away from bonds have propelled many stock markets to multi-year or record highs and fuelled a rally in property and other relatively high-yielding assets. But it’s a potential money loser in an environment of weak inflation or even outright price declines. With chronic price falls, investors become ultra-risk averse. "Deflation would follow from lower growth than we […]
