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May 31, 2005
by Brian Turner
News that the Chicago purchasing managers’ index fell to 54.1 in May, down from 65.6 in April and well below the expected May figure of 62 carried more influence with investors Tuesday than did data indicating higher consumer confidence.
This took yields on 10-year US Treasury bonds to a 3-month low of 3.994 percent before rebounding to a late afternoon yield of 4 percent, a ...
by Brian Turner
Export-oriented European stocks gained an advantage with the decline of the euro after France’s rejection of the European Union constitution.
Under this circumstance, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 hit a three-year high of 1,110.68 before settling down to a 0.1 percent loss for the day to close at 1,105.55 after the release of disappointing economic data by the United States.
Elsewhere in ...
by Brian Turner
The euro fell again on Tuesday on continued reverberations from France’s “no” vote on the European Union constitution, one consequence of which was the naming of Dominique de Villepin as the new prime minister of France.
Villepin is seen as opposed to economic reform, is known to be an opponent of the war in Iraq, and has a reputation for being “confrontational”. ...
by Brian Turner
Crude oil futures fell on Tuesday, feeling the effect of a strong US dollar.
July delivery IPE Brent had fallen 24 cents in late afternoon trading to $50.46 per barrel.
In early afternoon trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate for July delivery also was down, falling 35 cents to $51.55 per barrel. Gasoline futures were ...
by Brian Turner
The strength of the dollar and the slide of the euro in comparison also is affecting the price of gold.
Bullion fell to its lowest level since February on Tuesday with its decline to $413.75 per troy ounce before bouncing back to trade at $415.45/$416.20 per troy ounce, a decline of around $2 for the day.
In the ...
by Brian Turner
State-owned Chinese mining group Minmetals signed an agreement Tuesday with Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile (Codelco), the world’s largest copper producer, to develop copper mines in Chile.
The deal gives financial aid to Codelco to expand its operations while giving China access to more copper at a time when the Asian nation is becoming more dependent on foreign sources for raw ...
by Brian Turner
The European Union announced Tuesday that it will resume World Trade Organization action against the United States over what the EU alleges were illegal subsidies paid to US aircraft manufacturer Boeing by the US government.
Peter Mandelson, EU trade commissioner, also said he had not ruled out action against Japan as well for what have been called indirect subsidies from Japan to ...
May 30, 2005
by Brian Turner
Netrank, a UK consultancy firm, is in talks with several pharmaceuticals companies to use software to monitor blogs and internet forums to see what users of the drug makers’ products are saying about them.
The software is capable of finding and identifying thousands of messages a day so that they can be analyzed for positive and negative opinions that could ...
by Brian Turner
Business was pretty much as usual in Europe the day after France voted to reject the European Union constitution on Sunday.
The vote did send the euro down 0.9 percent in relation to the US dollar, a 7-month low.
And, even though this was the expected outcome to the referendum and the effect on markets was not ...
by Brian Turner
An announcement from Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh that his country will soon allow direct foreign investment in the retail sector gave US retail giant Wal-Mart hope that it will soon be able to enter India’s $180 billion retail market.
Asked when “soon” might be, Mr. Singh said that the changes would probably come this year. A senior government official ...
by Brian Turner
China has decided to abandon limits on textile exports to the United States and the European Union after the US and the EU threatened to retaliate by putting quotas on Chinese textile shipments.
China’s commerce minister announced Monday that his country would cancel export tariffs on 81 clothing and textile products beginning on Tuesday.
However, China reserved the option of taking ...
by Brian Turner
According to the director general of the International Air Transport Association, high oil prices are “destroying” the profitability of the world’s air carriers.
In an address to the annual meeting of his organization, he said that US airlines have had the most trouble, with collective net losses of $9.1 billion dollars in 2004.
Much of these losses occurred because they were ...
by Brian Turner
Peru’s president, Alejandro Toledo, is currently engaged in making his country a main focus of Chinese investment in Latin America.
In a trade mission to China, this week, Mr. Toledo hopes to secure Chinese promises to invest in the development of ports, oil exploration, and airlines, as well as to make a deal on lowering tariffs.
He is likely to point ...
May 27, 2005
by Brian Turner
The London Metals Exchange, which has only traded nonferrous metals it the 128 years of its existence, made history as it began trading plastics futures on Friday.
The exchange added polypropylene (PP) and linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) contracts to its portfolio. Trade was light, as it was expected to be on the first day.
September PP opened at $970 pr tonne and ...
by Brian Turner
A plan to cut Germany’s corporate taxes was slowed down on Friday on Green party hesitations concerning the bill. The chair of Germany’s parliamentary finance committee, a Green party member, said that the cut was “inadequately financed.”
The bill, which would cut the federal corporate tax from 25 to 19 percent and the total corporate taxation, including municipal taxes, ...
by Brian Turner
News that King Fahd of Saudia Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter since 1982, had been admitted to hospital for tests sent July crude oil futures higher on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Friday.
King Fahd was admitted Friday night Saudi time suffering from what was described as lung trouble. While the king, thought to be 85 years of age, has handed over ...
by Brian Turner
Shares of Pfizer, the world’s biggest pharmaceuticals group, lost nearly 2 percent of their value Friday on the New York Stock Exchange after the US Food and Drug Administration confirmed that it was looking into reports that 38 men who had used the impotence drug Viagra had suffered vision loss.
Pfizer said that it was in talks with the FDA over ...
by Brian Turner
Investment bank Rothschild and Charles River, a business consultancy, have been hired by independent directors of the China National Offshore Oil Corporation to look at a management plan to bid over $16 billion for US oil company Unocal.
This move indicates an internal split over the deal and that the independent directors are not positive that the bid is in ...
by Brian Turner
Bond prices rose and yields fell again on Friday in the eurozone as investors digested more bad economic news and anticipated a likely “no” vote in Sunday’s referendum in France on the European Union constitution.
One report showed that French business confidence fell in May and another anticipated that German consumer sentiment will be down in June.
Yields on ...
May 26, 2005
by Brian Turner
Crude oil prices were up on Thursday on the expectation that continuing gains in inventories are about to end as summer energy demand increases.
This weekend marks the beginning of the US summer driving season. July contracts for West Texas Intermediate on the New York Mercantile Exchange closed up 3 cents to $51.01 per barrel, the fourth gain in ...
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News that the Chicago purchasing managers’ index fell to 54.1 in May, down from 65.6 in April and well below the expected May figure of 62 carried more influence with investors Tuesday than did data indicating higher consumer confidence.
This took yields on 10-year US Treasury bonds to a 3-month low of 3.994 percent before rebounding to a late afternoon yield of 4 percent, a ...
Netrank, a UK consultancy firm, is in talks with several pharmaceuticals companies to use software to monitor blogs and internet forums to see what users of the drug makers’ products are saying about them.
The software is capable of finding and identifying thousands of messages a day so that they can be analyzed for positive and negative opinions that could ...
The London Metals Exchange, which has only traded nonferrous metals it the 128 years of its existence, made history as it began trading plastics futures on Friday.
The exchange added polypropylene (PP) and linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) contracts to its portfolio. Trade was light, as it was expected to be on the first day.
September PP opened at $970 pr tonne and ...
Crude oil prices were up on Thursday on the expectation that continuing gains in inventories are about to end as summer energy demand increases.
This weekend marks the beginning of the US summer driving season. July contracts for West Texas Intermediate on the New York Mercantile Exchange closed up 3 cents to $51.01 per barrel, the fourth gain in ...