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June 27, 2005
by Brian Turner
Board members of the European Central Bank on Monday again called current interest rates in the eurozone “appropriate” and said once more that rate cuts would not be forthcoming, despite continuing rumors to that effect.
One board member said that decreased rates could be “damaging” because they would bring property price inflation.
Meanwhile, a survey of business confidence in ...
by Brian Turner
Crude oil prices rose to record highs again on Monday as a new worry was added to already existing concerns over oil supplies with the election of Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad as the new president of Iran.
The second-largest oil producer in OPEC, Iran has been having trouble bringing its output to over its current level of 4 million barrels per day. ...
by Brian Turner
British Airways announced on Friday that it will increase its fuel surcharge to passengers beginning on Monday.
The BA announcement was followed shortly by a similar announcement from Virgin Atlantic, which will rise to £24 per flight leg, and other airlines are expected to follow their example soon.
The surcharge on BA long haul flights originating in the UK will go ...
by Brian Turner
Brazil is threatening to break the patent on an anti-retroviral drug for the treatment of AIDS if Abbot Laboratories, the holder of the patent, will not lower the price of the drug.
At the same time, the Brazilian government is in talks with two other US drug companies, Merck and Gilead Sciences, over the prices of their AIDS drugs. ...
June 24, 2005
by Brian Turner
South Korea is looking at the possibility of suspending Deutsche Bank from engaging in derivatives trading for three months on accusations that the bank had not adequately advised state-run companies of the risks involved in investing in derivatives.
The allegations emerged from a tax investigation into foreign private equity funds operating in the Asian nation.
The investigation, by ...
by Brian Turner
Orders for durable goods in the United States were lower than expected in May but the housing market remained healthy, according to new data.
According to one analyst, the slowdown in new durable goods orders implies a coming production slowdown, although this could be compensated for by orders that have not yet been filled.
Orders were up 5.5 percent ...
by Brian Turner
Six former British colonies in the Caribbean that are traditional exporters of sugar to Europe, complain that they were not included sufficiently in arrangements made by the European Union to cut sugar subsidies.
This week, a proposal was made to cut the guaranteed sugar prices that the EU pays by 39 percent, with only a two-year adjustment period.
While ...
by Brian Turner
In Japan on Friday, two government officials expressed fears that rising oil prices could hurt Japan’s recent economic growth.
Economics minister Heizo Takanaka said that while there are signs that the nation’s economy is showing signs of coming out of a “soft patch,” oil price rises are putting that recovery at risk.
In separate ...
by Brian Turner
Oil prices were up again on Friday as West Texas Intermediate contracts for August rose 42 cents to $59.84 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after rising up to $60 per barrel earlier in the day.
WTI prices have risen 37 percent so far this year and are quoted at over $60 per barrel until June of next year. ...
by Brian Turner
The New York equities markets ended the day and the week on a down note on Friday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.2 percent on the day, to 10,297.84, with a 2.1 percent loss on the week.
The S&P 500 declined by 0.8 percent for the day to 1,191.54, capping a 1.5 percent loss for the week. ...
June 23, 2005
by Brian Turner
The euro was once again affected on Thursday by speculation about whether or not interest rates will fall.
This was especially after Sweden dropped its interest rates on Tuesday and after Wednesday’s release of Bank of England meeting minutes that showed two monetary policy committee members had voted for a UK interest rate cut earlier in the month.
Despite all ...
by Brian Turner
The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 0.4 percent to 1,150 on Thursday when investors appeared to ignore continuing high oil prices.
The technology sector was instrumental in the rise. German semiconductor group Infineon was up 2.4 percent to €7.98 on reports that the company was considering a spin-off for its memory chip division, although the report was ...
by Brian Turner
Gold hit a 3-month peak of $442.10 per troy ounce at one point on Thursday and was trading at around $441.50 in late trading in London, up about $4 from its Wednesday afternoon price in New York.
3-month copper fell $48 on the London Metals Exchange to close at $3,310 as LME stockpiles dropped a further 375 tonnes to 32,675 ...
by Brian Turner
Prices for West Texas Intermediate crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange had risen $1.36 at mid-day on Thursday to $59.45 per barrel for August deliveries, while September 2005 to March 2005 contracts were all trading at over $60 per barrel.
Meanwhile, in London, Brent crude August contracts on the International Petroleum Exchange had gone up ...
by Brian Turner
According to the International Federation for the Music Industry (IFPI), over one-third of all music CDs sold in the world last year were pirated.
The IFPI, which represents over 1,400 record labels, also said that sales of pirated CDs amounted to more than legitimate sales in 31 countries around the world in 2004.
This was the case even ...
by Brian Turner
Yields on government bonds rose in the United States, the eurozone, and the UK on Thursday, but in Japan, prices increased and yields fell.
In Japan, 10-year government bonds lost 4 basis points to yield 1.225 percent in response to rallies on global bond prices in recent days.
In the US, 10-year bonds gained 1.9 basis points to ...
by Brian Turner
In testimony before the US Senate finance committee on Thursday, Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said that trade sanctions against China would not benefit the United States.
On the contrary, Mr. Greenspan said that the tariffs recently proposed against China would not preserve US jobs because less imports from China would only mean more imports from other low-cost markets in ...
June 22, 2005
by Brian Turner
After the US department of energy released its weekly report on oil stockpiles in the United States on Wednesday, crude oil prices fell by nearly a dollar per barrel.
IPE Brent August delivery contracts were down 92 cents to $56.58 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 95 cents to $58.09 per barrel.
Prices on ...
by Brian Turner
Prices were up and yields were down on US Treasury bonds in late morning trading on Wednesday as speculation about possible interest rate cuts in Europe increased the demand for US debt.
In addition, rising oil prices were seen as a possible restraint on economic growth, which would tend to aid bond prices.
A third factor in Wednesday’s price gains ...
by Brian Turner
In mid-day trading in New York on Wednesday, sterling had lost 0.4 percent in relation to the US dollar to $1.822 and remained unchanged at £0.666 against the euro.
Sterling’s fall in relation to the dollar came on news that the Bank of England had come closer than had been believed to cutting interest rates this month as ...
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Board members of the European Central Bank on Monday again called current interest rates in the eurozone “appropriate” and said once more that rate cuts would not be forthcoming, despite continuing rumors to that effect.
One board member said that decreased rates could be “damaging” because they would bring property price inflation.
Meanwhile, a survey of business confidence in ...
South Korea is looking at the possibility of suspending Deutsche Bank from engaging in derivatives trading for three months on accusations that the bank had not adequately advised state-run companies of the risks involved in investing in derivatives.
The allegations emerged from a tax investigation into foreign private equity funds operating in the Asian nation.
The investigation, by ...
The euro was once again affected on Thursday by speculation about whether or not interest rates will fall.
This was especially after Sweden dropped its interest rates on Tuesday and after Wednesday’s release of Bank of England meeting minutes that showed two monetary policy committee members had voted for a UK interest rate cut earlier in the month.
Despite all ...
