Julius Baer Research | US natural gas prices surged more than 5% yesterday in part driven by slowing production and warm weather forecasts suggesting increased power demand. The official monthly statistics released yesterday showed a sequential decline of natural gas production in March, confirming the view among analysts that the shale oil drilling downturn will weigh on associated natural gas supplies.
The main European electricity companies will invest nearly €85 billion over the next four years to speed up their strategic transformation to enable them to deal with the foreseeable drop in coal and gas prices. The companies plan to turn their strategies around, focusing more on renewable energies, networks and regulated activities.
UBS | With 1Q16 results over it is time to take stock. European banks are down 18% YTD against a market 5% lower, with continuing hair-raising volatility in parts of the banks index. Our estimates changed surprisingly little during results: interesting considering the bearishness of many investors we meet.
UBS | A below -consensus payroll print and a 37,000 increase in the pace of initial claims reported in May have caused some to question the health of the US labor market. We examine why these worries are unfounded and how, if anything, these signs of “weakness” may actually be sig ns that wage growth could soon begin to accelerate.
Nearly 5 months of 2016 have passed and, after flirting with the 10,000 level, the Ibex 35 index closed at 8,700 last week, accumulating a 9% drop over the year so far. This shows that the stock market has become the most reliable expression of the lack of confidence in the world of money, although confidence is a concept which is too intangible and a mix of factors which are often not very solid.
F. Barciela /F.G. Ljubetic |The stock market valuations of new technology firms have reached dizzy heights in the US over the last few years. And it doesn’t look as if their stratospheric rise has stopped. Google, now Alphabet, has a stock market value of 491 billion dollars, while Apple’s is 484 billion. Facebook is worth 345 billion dollars and Amazon 337 billion.
Isolux is a Spanish midcap which operates in the construction business and in the maintenance of large infrastructures in over 40 countries. It has been forced to reach an agreement with its principal creditors to avoid bankruptcy.
The Corner | The Basel committee intends to impose new capital requirements on the banks relating to off-balance sheet assets. The purpose of the international organisation’s move is to mitigate the risk of a bailout of financial products like investment funds and/or securitisations.
The steel industry’s current crisis led the OECD to celebrate a summit in Brussels. The objective was to reduce capacity in the industry but, according to some sources, no agreement has been possible. China is not prepared to cut its production or its exports.
F. Barciela / F. Gil Ljubetic | If there had been a recovery in the Ibex 35 companies previously, it’s clear that this has stopped or slowed in the January-March period. Amongst those which have already presented first quarter results, very few have given investors much of a reason to be happy.