In recent months, the focus on the price of soybeans has revolved around tariffs and the ongoing trade war. Investors believe that the ongoing trade war will reduce the imports of soybeans from the United States. Indeed, the amount of soybeans in storage the US has increased as imports from its biggest customer have reduced. […]
South Africa is the second largest economy in Africa with a GDP of more than $349 billion. It is second after Nigeria, which has a GDP of more than $375 billion. The country’s GDP per capita is about $6,100 compared to Nigeria’s $1,600. The country’s economy is mostly based on agriculture, mining, finance, and trade. […]
The Nasdaq index is the biggest index following technology companies’ stock prices. The index is made up of the biggest technology companies in the world like Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, and Google among others. The combined market cap of the companies in the index is more than $10 trillion. This month, the hopes of a deal […]
On Friday, Donald Trump announced that the government shutdown was temporarily ending. This brought to an end the longest shutdown the country has ever seen. However, investors believe that the government may be shut again as differences between the democrats and republicans grew. In this round of shutdown, the democrats emerged as the winner as […]
This will be an important week for the market as traders expect key information. The following will be the most important things to pay close attention to this week. Federal Reserve On Wednesday, the Fed will conclude its two-day monetary policy meeting. The bank will then release the first interest rates decision of the year […]
Wheat is an important crop in the world because of the role bread play’s in people’s lives. Around the world, billions of people eat wheat in one way or another on a daily basis. Yet, wheat is unlike other plants like corn and soybeans. This is because wheat is rarely grown on a small scale […]
The European Union was formed with the goal of creating a large zone that would create more opportunities for the people in the region. It was also created to create a bigger voice on global issues. To a large extent, the latter has been achieved because EU is represented in all major global deliberations. However, […]
This week, focus among investors has been on Europe where Brexit negotiations are taking place. The World Economic Forum (WEF) is also taking place in Switzerland while in France, talks to end the yellow jacket protests are ongoing. Today, investors will pay a close attention to Brussels, where the European Central Bank (ECB) may be […]
The Japanese yen declined in overnight trading after Bank of Japan released its interest rates decision. The bank left interest rates unchanged and lowered its inflation rate target. As expected, the central bank left rates in the negative territory and didn’t show signs that it will hike this year. The country has maintained negative interest […]
Platinum is an important precious metal in the automotive industry. It is used as a catalytic converter in vehicles. As a converter, the metal is used to reduce carbon emissions in automobiles. Indeed, most of the palladium is used for this purpose. The metal is found deep inside the earth’s crust and is mined by […]
Soybeans are some of the most important agricultural commodities in the United States. They are planted in a number of states such as Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota. In recent months, the price of the soybeans has been in focus as the world has been engaged in a trade dispute. This is because China is the […]
The sterling has been one of the most watched currencies this year. This is because of the ongoing Brexit uncertainty in the United Kingdom. As you recall, Theresa May has been negotiating a Brexit deal with the European Union for the past two years. The deal was supposed to make it easier for the two […]
The EUR/JPY cross is an important one because of the size of the underlying economies. The combined EU economy is the second largest in the world after the US while Japan is the third largest independent economy after the US and China. This week, investors will focus on the two economies as the respective central […]
On Friday, Canada released the consumer prices data that beat the consensus estimates. The numbers showed that in December, the CPI increased by an annualized rate of 2.0%, which was higher than the consensus estimate of 1.7%. This was a positive indication for the Canadian economy that is facing a number of challenges, including the […]
Interest rates are very important in the world today. They are special tools that central banks have to influence the monetary policy of their countries. After the financial crisis, the world’s largest central banks decided to bring interest rates to zero. The goal for this was to stimulate growth by making cost of borrowing relatively […]
This week, attention turned to the United Kingdom where the Brexit debate continued. On Tuesday, the house of commons voted against the deal that Theresa Maya has spent two years negotiating. The outcome of the vote was expected. After the vote, the opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn tabled a vote of no confidence against the prime […]
Japan is the third largest economy in the world after the United States and China. It has a population of almost 130 million people and a GDP of more than $4.8 trillion. The country is famed for its industrial base and its large companies that dominate the world. These include Nissan, Toyota, and Mitsubishi. Japan […]
For decades, coffee has been an important staple for American and Western consumers. In the United States, people consume an average of three cups of coffee every day. This has made coffee companies among the biggest in the US. Companies like Starbucks and Dunkin Brands have market valuations of more than $85 billion combined. In […]
Every quarter, companies in the United States are mandated by law to release their earnings. This period, which is commonly known as the earnings season provides very important opportunities that market participants can take advantage on. This is because stocks tend to make major moves before and after the season. For example, Apple’s stock has […]
This has been a tough week for Theresa May. On Tuesday, the prime minister’s Brexit proposal suffered the biggest loss by UK government in parliament. This led to calls for her to resign. Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn immediately tabled a motion of no-confidence against her. Yesterday, the members of parliament voted on this bill and […]
Last year, US stocks had a difficult year with the main indices ending the year in bear territory. Technology stocks such as Apple declined sharply as investors started to worry about their growth prospects for the year. Apple was particularly hurt as investors worried about its growth at a time when the demand for its […]
The world is currently facing tremendous risks. In the United States, the government has been shut down for almost a month. In Europe, populism is rising with countries like France and Germany being casualties. The emerging markets too are not at ease. Worse, the global economy is going through a slowdown. Another key issue that […]
Yesterday, British parliamentarians held a vote on a deal that Theresa May negotiated with the European Union. As expected, the members of parliament voted against the deal by a larger margin than had earlier been expected. More than 400 members rejected the deal. This decision presented the country with a major challenge, seven weeks before […]
On June 26th, 2016, the United Kingdom went to the voting booth to decide on the future of the country. Before the vote, the consensus among close watchers was that the voters would vote to remain in the European Union. When the final vote was tallied, it showed that most of the voters were opposed […]
This week, traders will continue to look at the United States, which has seen a partial government shutdown go on for more than three weeks. This makes it the longest shut down in history. It has been caused by the disagreements between the legislative and executive arms of the US government on border wall funding. […]
This week, the government shutdown in the United States continued for the third week. It has now become the longest shutdown ever and there doesn’t seem to be a way forward. The shutdown is mostly because of the United States president who has said he will not sign any funding package without his border wall. […]
The USD declined sharply in overnight trading after the Federal Reserve released the minutes for the December meeting. In the meeting, the Fed raised interest rates by 25 basis points. This was the fourth rate hike in the year. The hike came at a time when the economy was going through major challenges. After rising […]
Switzerland is an important economy in Europe. The country has a GDP of more than $678 billion and a population of more than 8.4 million people. This makes it a very wealthy country. The country is known for its luxury watches and its financial sector. It is known for its industrial ability with companies such […]
Last year, the Canadian dollar, also known as the Loonie was the worst-performing currency among the G10 currencies. It declined by more than 8% against the USD. This happened as the Canadian economy weakened slightly as the price of crude oil declined. This year, the currency has returned to a positive territory, gaining sharply against […]
Last year, when the Donald Trump administration announced new tariffs on Chinese goods China retaliated by imposing higher tariffs on American goods. The most affected were agricultural products like soybeans and corn. China also stopped buying these products because they were more expensive than those from other countries. As a result, the low demand and […]
