Author: Steven Sahiounie

U.S. government debt prices were higher on Monday, after data released last week hinted at a slowdown in job growth. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note slipped to 3.363%, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond dipped to 3.584%. The 2-year note yield, meanwhile, fell about 4 basis points to 3.933%. Prices move inversely to yields. Last week, the Labor Department released nonfarm payroll data for March, showing that the U.S. economy added 236,000 jobs over the period. The number was in line with expectations, but down from 326,000 new hires in February. “March’s jobs growth was the…

Asia-Pacific markets were mostly higher on Monday as some investors returned from a long Easter weekend. South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.87% to end at 2,512.08 and led gains among the benchmark indexes in the region. The Kosdaq index also advanced 0.88% to finish at 887.78. Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 0.42% higher at 27,663, with the Topix was up 0.56% to end the day at 1,976.53. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite was down 0.37% to 3,315.36, while the Shenzhen Component fell 0.8% to 11,871.93. Australian and Hong Kong markets remained closed due to a four-day Easter holiday till Monday. India…

Japan’s new central bank governor Kazuo Ueda said on Monday he will communicate closely with the government and guide monetary policy flexibly, warning of high uncertainty over the economic outlook. Ueda faces a bumpy road as slowing global growth clouds prospects for a sustained pickup in inflation and wages, a prerequisite for phasing out his predecessor’s controversial monetary stimulus. “Given high economic uncertainty, the BOJ will communicate closely with the government and guide monetary policy flexibly,” Ueda told reporters after meeting with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to receive his official appointment letter. Ueda also said he agreed with the prime…

The 25 wealthiest individuals have lost a combined $200 billion in net worth, according to an annual ranking The planet’s wealthiest 25 people have had a rough year, with their aggregate net worth plunging by $200 billion, according to Forbes’ 2023 World Billionaires List released last week. They are still worth a combined $2.1 trillion, the rating shows. Both the number of billionaires and their combined wealth were down, with 254 people losing their billionaire status. The remaining 2,640 billionaires lost a combined $500 billion, according to the report. Among those leaving the club were FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and…

Venezuela wants to strengthen trade cooperation with Moscow for a number of products Venezuelan coffee producers plan on ramping up coffee supplies to the Russian market, Roman Frolenko, the head of the Russian-Venezuelan Chamber of Commerce, told RIA Novosti on Friday. The official explained that Venezuelan coffee was not being promoted as highly as Colombian coffee, even though “Venezuelan coffee is of very high quality.” According to him, the only issue with the supply chain is logistics. Once those are resolved, more Latin American products will appear on the Russian market in general. “There are also avocados, mangoes, seafood – shrimp, in…

Mikhail Zadornov, a former Russian finance minister, said the impact of the next global crisis will be much greater than the 2008 global financial crisis because geopolitics hangs over the economy. Zadornov added, in an interview with “Novosti” correspondent: “The impact of this upcoming crisis will be much greater than it was in 2007-2009, when the crisis was of a purely economic nature.” Zadornov, a well-known economist, believes that the reason for this lies in the imposition of geopolitical affairs on economic relations. According to him, the current crisis is characterized by turning into a direct political confrontation, that is,…

Reuters reported today that Saudi Aramco has guaranteed the supply of full oil shipments for next May to at least four customers in Northeast Asia, despite the reduction in oil production within the framework of “OPEC +”. The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, the UAE’s ADNOC, has also told three buyers in Asia that it will fully meet delivery commitments for the month of June. This coincides with the decline in demand for hydrocarbons in the Asian region next May due to the temporary closure of many refineries for maintenance. A week ago, 7 countries in “OPEC +” announced simultaneously…

Oil prices rose, in trading today, Monday, supported by the production cuts announced by countries in the “OPEC +” group, starting next May. By 09:55 Moscow time, US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 0.12% to $80.80 a barrel. Brent crude futures rose by 0.04% to $85.15 a barrel, according to Bloomberg data. Despite the rise in black gold prices thanks to the “OPEC +” cuts, fears of an economic recession in the world limited the gains. This article was originally published by RT.

In recent days, the ruble has declined against the major currencies in the Russian market, but experts expect the Russian currency to compensate for some of its losses in the coming period. By 12:20 Moscow time, the dollar exchange rate rose by 80 kopecks (rule = 100 kopecks) to 81.99 rubles, while the euro’s exchange rate rose by two kopecks to 89.46 rubles. Last week, the Russian currency recorded 83 rubles against the dollar and exceeded the level of 90 rubles against the European currency, the euro. Experts believe that the exchange rate of the dollar at the present time…

Russia remains the largest supplier of crude to India for the sixth month in a row, as imports rose to a new high of 1.64 million barrels per day in March 2023, according to the oil analytics company Vortexa. The company said that “purchases from Russia doubled last March compared to 0.82 million barrels of oil per day that were purchased from Iraq, which was the largest oil supplier to India in the years 2017-2018.” The company added that “purchases from Russia increased slightly, on a monthly basis, from 1.62 million barrels per day in February 2023 to 1.64 million…