Author: Steven Sahiounie

The loss of spending power last year was driven by soaring inflation, official statistics show Real earnings in Germany decreased by an average of 4.1% in 2022 compared with a year earlier, according to preliminary data from the statistics agency Destatis released on Tuesday. A drop in real earnings refers to a situation where wage increases are unable to keep up with rising inflation, thus reducing spending power. Last year was the third consecutive year in which real wages declined in Germany. “High inflation has led to the largest loss in real earnings for employees since the beginning of the…

Türkiye’s stock exchange announced on Wednesday it was suspending trading of equities for the first time in 24 years, following a market rout triggered by two massive earthquakes. The benchmark Borsa Istanbul 100 Index (BIST 100) was suspended after a 7.09% drop at the start of trading. The index, which entered bear-market territory on Tuesday, is headed for its worst weekly performance since the 2008 global financial crisis. Meanwhile, the banking sub-index (.XBANK) declined 6.03% as trading was halted. “Our stock exchange has decided to halt trading in equities, futures, and options markets,” Borsa Istanbul said in a statement after two…

Resources Minister Madeleine King says Labor will not be adopting Greens-based climate policies which are “economy-wrecking”. She said the Labor government is committed to achieving net zero by 2050. “We will continue to make sure this economy keeps working and to be frank, we all know that parts of this country will continue to need gas for at least a very medium term,” she said during Question Time. This article was originally published by Sky News.

Bitcoin has been one of the most talked about topics in the finance world for the past few months. As more trading volume comes in and a growing number of investors enter the market, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to predict where Bitcoin’s price will go next. On 2nd February, Cathie Wood, CEO of ARK Investment Management, revealed that they had not expected businesses and governments to adopt bitcoin as quickly as they have. She and her team were surprised by the speed at which it has been embraced. Wood maintains her belief that Bitcoin will experience drastic growth in the near…

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has confiscated over $260,000 worth of NFTs and cryptocurrency after a tip-off by pseudonymous blockchain sleuth ZachXBT. According to a forfeiture document published by the agency on February 4, the FBI has seized several assets from Chase Senecal, a resident of Brunswick, Maine, including 86.5678 ETH ($116,433) and two NFTs: Bored Ape Yacht Club #9658 ($95,495) and Doodle #3114 ($9,361). The agency also seized an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Watch valued at $41,000. ZachXBT, a self-described crypto sleuth, made the seizure possible after conducting a thorough investigation of Chase Senecal, also known as HZ online. “After…

Tech giants Apple and Google have reported lower-than-expected revenue and profits for the last three months of 2022, as online retail behemoth Amazon warned of uncertainty in the months ahead. Apple, the world’s biggest company in terms of market value, blamed falling sales of its flagship iPhone on production disruptions in China. Apple’s revenue was $117.1bn for the three months that ended December, down 5.4 percent from a year ago. Profit after tax was $30bn, but both sales and profit were below analysts’ expectations. China is the main manufacturing centre for Apple’s iPhones and the strict curbs imposed in line with Beijing’s…

The good times are back on Wall Street. Stocks have surged since the start of the year. The Nasdaq is up nearly 15% this year after posting its best January since 2001. And it’s not just stocks: bonds have risen and even bitcoin has made a roaring comeback, though all markets fell a tad on Friday. This is all after a miserable 2022, when markets were hit hard by fears about surging inflation and about how the Federal Reserve was fighting it, with the biggest increases in the country’s interest rates since the early 1980s. Today, hope has replaced that fear. Inflation…

The EU country reopened coal-fired plants to generate electricity after Russian supplies stopped. Coal consumption in Finland surged 10% last year compared to 2021 as the country boosted its use in power generation and heating, Statistics Finland said on Wednesday. The highest increase was recorded in the second quarter of 2022 when coal reserves jumped by 23% compared to the previous year amounting to 1.49 million tons, and consumption surged by more than a quarter on an annual basis. “The consumption of hard coal as a fuel in the generation of electricity and heat and in manufacturing amounted to 2,015…

The country has been ramping up output despite Western sanctions, official statistics show. Production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Russia increased by 8.1% last year to a record 32.5 million tons, the Federal Statistics Service Rosstat reported on Wednesday. Data showed that in December the figure was down by 4.8% compared to the same month in 2021, at 2.8 million tons. It was 0.4% higher than in November 2022. According to the report, 11.5 million tons of LNG was produced at the plant of the Sakhalin-2 project. The statistics service said the main reason for the record production was…

Local refiners are reportedly using UAE dirhams to pay for most of the Russian oil bought from Dubai-based traders Indian refiners are now using Emirati dirhams instead of US dollars to pay for most of the Russian oil they purchase via traders based in the United Arab Emirates, Reuters reported last week, citing sources familiar with the matter. The Indian authorities have not supported the measures against Russia adopted by the G7 in response to the conflict in Ukraine. The steps are aimed at cutting Moscow’s energy revenues. A $60-per-barrel price cap on Russian seaborne oil exports was introduced by…