According to Afi analysts, the trend in crude prices is being clearly affected by the fact that there are continuous upward revisions to crude supply worldwide, while demand is not picking up with the same intensity. Oil futures are currently pricing in long term levels of around 55-60 bpd, 20 bpd lower than at the start of 2015.
Peter Lundgreen via Caixin | On October 14, the German government lowered its GDP growth forecast for this year from 1.8 percent to 1.7 percent. Despite this, the economic minister, Sigmar Gabriel, expressed his expectation of higher economic growth next year.
JM Martí Font via Macropolis | Spain is not Portugal, although we cannot completely rule it out. Brussels and Frankfurt want Spain to look like Germany. A grosse coalition will reassure the markets, guarantee the prevalence of budgetary orthodoxy and, on the surface, maintain at least the status quo, something very important to the European institutions, the financial powers and the European political class who doesn’t like changes.
Benjamin Cole via Historinhas | Westerners love to hazard guesses on China and that is what they are, guesses. Even a Mandarin speaker in Hong Kong (with whom I recently conversed), with family on the mainland and employed at a large private-equity fund, professes no special insights into opaque China. But China’s central bank, The People’s Bank of China, appears to have eschewed the advice of Western central bankers, and gunned the money presses this summer. Moreover, the PBoC tactic looks to be working.
Keith Weiner via TrumanFactor | Unless you’re living under a rock, you know that we have an administered interest rate. This means that the bureaucrats at the Federal Reserve decide what’s good for the little people. Then they impose it on us. In trying to return to freedom, many people wonder why couldn’t we let the market set the interest rate. After all, we don’t have a Corn Control Agency or a Lumber Board (pun intended). So why do we have a Federal Open Market Committee? It’s a very good question.
UBS | A recent appearance on CNBC put us in the position of defending Apple’s uniqueness. Anchor Joe Kernen argued that the history of computing is one of disruption, so how could Apple’s stock ever be worth $1 trillion? Our price target has never reached $1 trillion, but the point remains that to be a successful investment Apple needs to grow to an unprecedented size based on sustained differentiation.
Emilio Ontiveros | The Spanish economy grew more than its European counterparts and current tailwinds such as low oil prices also favour it over the rest of the member states. But the country still has a lot to do to become a major league player.
Caixin | Last month, the G-20 summit held in Turkey endorsed the G-20/OECD Principles of Corporate Governance. As a G-20 country, China is on board with the standards, too. That means Chinese companies, especially state-owned enterprises, must adhere to the principles.
Nick Malkoutzis via Macropolis | There are probably a number of officials in European capitals, and perhaps Washington, who have been scratching their heads over the past few days after the Greek government indicated that it would prefer the International Monetary Fund not to be involved in the country’s bailout.
Samantha North | The time is ripe for governments to start monitoring their digital reputation just as they monitor it in the real world. The Digital Country Index has been recently released for the first time. This new tool categorizes online search terms to form a picture of the world’s true levels of interest in countries.