Author: Steven Sahiounie

Iraq’s central bank announced this week that the country’s trade with China may soon be settled directly in yuan, according to Reuters. The report says the move is an attempt to improve access to foreign currency. The regulator has been taking urgent steps to compensate for a dollar shortage in local markets, which prompted the cabinet to approve a currency revaluation earlier this month, the news agency said. “It is for the first time that imports would be financed from China in yuan, as Iraqi imports from China have been financed in (US) dollars only,” the government’s economic adviser, Mudhir Salih, told…

Berlin reportedly bought nearly 30% of its coal imports from the sanctioned country last year Russia retained its position as Germany’s largest coal supplier last year despite sanctions that banned imports of the fossil fuel from the country in mid-2022, Bild newspaper reported on Saturday, citing data from the German Coal Importers Association (VDKi). According to the report, Germany bought a total of 44.4 million tons of coal in 2022 – an 8% increase from the year before. While imports of the fossil fuel from Russia plunged by 37% compared to the 2021 figures, the country still delivered roughly 13…

Tokyo is planning to impose new sanctions on Russia, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced during a virtual G7 summit on Friday. The new package of restrictions will focus on trade, expanding the list of Russian organizations to which exports will be prohibited, according to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It will also increase the range of products banned for export to Russia and is expected to include drone parts. Tokyo also plans to freeze the assets of more Russian individuals, organizations and financial institutions. No further details on the new measures or the date on which they will…

Consumer prices in the US rose by 0.6% month-on-month in January following a 0.2% increase in December, according to a report released by the Commerce Department on Friday. On an annual basis, prices increased by 5.4%, up from a 5.3% increase in December. Meanwhile, the personal consumption expenditures price index – the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure – rose by 5.4% compared to a year earlier. Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, was up 4.7% year-on-year. January’s price readings exceeded forecasters’ expectations, slashing hopes that the Fed may choose to stop its rate-hike campaign. Since last March,…

Nvidia stock rose more than 8% in extended trading on Wednesday after the company reported slightly higher revenue and net income than Wall Street expected, despite a year-over-year decrease in both categories. Here’s how the chipmaker did versus Refinitiv consensus expectations for the quarter ending January: Nvidia reported $0.57 in GAAP net income per share. Nvidia forecast $6.5 billion in sales in its first quarter, higher than the $6.33 billion expected by Wall Street. Although both revenue and earnings were down from last year’s $1.32 per share and $7.64 billion in sales, Nvidia has increasingly been seen by investors as one of the…

Reaching maximum employment will help close the racial wealth gap, according to AFL-CIO chief economist and Howard University economics professor William Spriggs. In an interview with CNBC, Spriggs said the impact of discrimination against Black employees is less acute when the labor market operates at full employment. “When we have a really poor labor market, white high school dropouts do better than Black people with associate degrees,” Spriggs explained. “When the labor market tightens,” on the other hand, “Blacks with associate degrees do better than white high school dropouts.” While Black Americans do withdraw from the labor market when the…

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his staff met Wednesday with California Governor Gavin Newsom to tour Tesla’s new engineering headquarters. Sources close to the governor told CNBC the meeting at Tesla’s engineering office in Palo Alto, California focused on the company’s efforts to create jobs and expand in the state. The expansion will focus on hiring engineers proficient in research development and artificial intelligence. Tesla is taking over the lease for the office space, previously occupied by Hewlett-Packard. The plans will help accelerate efforts to produce autonomous driving and robot technology. “This was HP’s original headquarters, and so I think it’s…

Intel cut its quarterly dividend by more than 65%, from 36.5 cents to 12.5 cents, the chipmaker announced Wednesday, weeks after the company implemented a wide-ranging set of cost cuts. Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said on a call with analysts that the company’s board was cautious in weighing the first dividend cut since 2000. He added Intel intended to resume growing the dividend “over time.” “The board and I continue to view the dividend as a critical component to the overall attractiveness of Intel,” he added. Intel shares were largely flat at Wednesday’s open after the news. Gelsinger insisted on the call that both…

European markets were lower on Wednesday, as investors gauge the global economic outlook and await the minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s latest monetary policy meeting. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed 0.3% lower, with most sectors recording declines. Mining stocks dropped 2.1% and banks fell 1.6%, while media stocks gained 1.4%. EUROPEAN MARKETS TICKER COMPANY PRICE CHANGE %CHANGE .FTSEFTSE 1007930.63-47.12-0.59.GDAXIDAX15399.8900.FCHICAC 40 Index7299.2600.FTMIBFTSE MIB27101.53-307.81-1.12.IBEXIBEX 35 Idx9172.700 European markets eased by 0.2% on Tuesday, while U.S. stocks had their worst day of the year so far, amid fears that the Fed will keep rates higher for longer than previously thought. U.S. stocks wavered on Wednesday, as the market struggled…

The Jan. 31-Feb. 1 meeting ended with the Fed raising its benchmark overnight interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point WASHINGTON – The minutes from the Federal Reserve’s last policy meeting are expected on Wednesday to detail the breadth of debate at the U.S. central bank over how much further interest rates may need to rise to slow inflation and cool an economy that has remained stronger than expected despite monetary tightening. The Jan. 31-Feb. 1 meeting ended with the Fed raising its benchmark overnight interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point, a return to a…