Author: Steven Sahiounie

US financial authorities have taken possession of California’s troubled First Republic Bank. In the latest banking collapse, US financial authorities have taken possession of California’s troubled First Republic Bank, which will be acquired by JP Morgan Chase.  First Republic, the second-largest bank in terms of assets to fail in the United States, has been in freefall since revealing last week that it lost more than $100 billion in deposits in the first quarter, leading its shares to tumble.  The San Francisco-based institution was under intense pressure following the March bankruptcy of smaller banks Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, which triggered…

The RCN strike, which began Sunday evening, is expected to affect half of the British government’s National Health Service (NHS) trusts. Nurses throughout the UK have gone on strike as part of a protest action by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) trade union, in what they call their greatest work stoppage to date, as the country’s cost-of-living problem worsens. Last Monday, the UK government stated that it was seeking a court order to put an end to a planned strike by nurses working for the government-run National Health Service. The strike, which began Sunday evening, is expected to affect half…

The United States Chamber of Commerce has warned that rising scrutiny of American firms in China “dramatically increases” the uncertainties and risks of doing business in the country. The influential business lobby said Friday it was closely monitoring “heightened official scrutiny” of US firms by the Chinese authorities, following the questioning of employees at management consultancy Bain & Company in Shanghai and the shutdown of the Beijing office of due diligence provider Mintz Group. “The services these firms provide are fundamental to establishing investor confidence in any market, including China,” the chamber said in a statement, without naming either company. The events are particularly troubling…

First Republic, which entered a death spiral six weeks ago and was seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation early Monday and taken over byJPMorgan Chase, is the third US lender to fail in two months — and the reason has a lot to do with its well-heeled client base. The banking turmoil that started with Silicon Valley Bank in March set off a panic among depositors and investors, who fled regional bank stocks that had real and perceived similarities to SVB. First Republic, only slightly larger than SVB and catering to a similarly wealthy coastal clientele, immediately had a…

Overall volume of voluntary output reduction is expected to total 1.66 million barrels per day Several members of the OPEC+ group, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, the cartel’s two biggest oil producers, have begun reducing crude output. The cuts, starting from May and lasting until the end of 2023, are expected to support global oil prices. In particular, Saudi Arabia and Iraq have started reducing oil production by 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) and 211,000 bpd respectively. Meanwhile, the UAE, Kuwait and Kazakhstan are slashing production of oil by 144,000 bpd, 128,000 bpd and 78,000 bpd respectively. Algeria and Oman…

Germany’s level of dependence makes decoupling “unthinkable,” the Mercedes-Benz CEO has warned Cutting ties with China would put most of Germany’s industry at risk, the CEO of luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz warned on Sunday. Ola Kaellenius was interviewed by newspaper Bild am Sonntag after returning from a business trip to China, the German manufacturer’s largest and the most important market. There have been growing concerns in Germany and the EU as a whole about the region’s economic dependence on China, which is one of its leading trading partners and the top supplier of raw materials critical for green transition. “The major players…

Electric car sales reached a new peak in the largest markets last year, the IEA says Sales of electric vehicles soared to record highs last year with China being the frontrunner, the International Energy Agency reported this week. Global sales of battery electric cars and plug-in hybrids passed the 10 million mark in 2022, with 60% of the vehicles sold in China, the IEA said in the latest edition of its annual Global EV Outlook. More than half of the electric cars currently on the roads worldwide are in the East Asian nation, the report states. The second largest market…

Australian and Japanese markets are both trading higher even as most Asian markets are closed for the Labor Day holiday Monday. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 was 0.92% higher to end the day at 29,123.18, while the Topix was up 1% to finish at 2,078.06. Japan’s purchasing managers index for April came in at 49.5, its softest contraction in six months, according to the au Jibun bank. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.35% and closed at 7,334.6, as the country saw its factory activity in April contracting at its fastest pace in 35 months, with private surveys from Juno Bank showing its purchasing managers index…

The World Economic Forum said that the global labor market will be affected by some massive disruptions over the next five years, leading to the disappearance of 14 million jobs worldwide. The World Economic Forum, which hosts a gathering of global leaders in Davos, Switzerland, each year, found that employers expect to create 69 million new jobs by 2027 and eliminate 83 million jobs. This will result in a net loss of 14 million jobs, equivalent to 2 percent of current employment. The forum’s report saw that the spread of artificial intelligence will be a positive and negative force, because companies…

The Egyptian Ministry of Supply announced an increase in the prices of ration commodities, starting from May 2023, which includes 32 items of commodities spent on ration cards. Ramadan Al-Shahat, director of the media office at the Ministry of Supply, said that the prices of food commodities have not increased for about four years, and there are 32 food commodities distributed on ration cards. He explained that the Ministry of Supply pumps 4,000 tons of sugar per day, 3,000 tons of oil on a daily basis, and 1,000 tons of rice. The director of the media office at the Ministry…