Author: Steven Sahiounie

amed economist Paul Krugman has opined that the cryptocurrency era might be nearing its end based on the fact that his most recent anti-blockchain piece attracted very little crypto bro outrage.  In a recent New York Times op-ed published on Dec. 1, Krugman argues that the term “crypto winter,” which is widely used by the media to describe the ongoing crisis, might be an understatement. According to the Nobel Prize-winning economist, the brutal comedown that the cryptocurrency industry experienced this year feels like Fimbulwinter, the extremely harsh multi-year winter that precedes the end of the world in Norse mythology.  Further…

Cryptocurrency markets are holding relatively steady after a few days of rallying, with the global crypto market cap sitting at $853.21B, a 0.18% decrease over the last day. Bitcoin is down slightly and still failing to break above $17,000, currently hovering below the important resistance at $16,946.86 and down 0.23% over the past 24 hours. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were falling on Friday, weakening after a stronger-than-expected US jobs report for November , It’s a stark reminder of the relationship between equities and crypto. The main news today affecting risk asset markets such as stocks and cryptos is the federal jobs report…

The most recent earnings reports from Canada’s big banks are showing signs that the Canadian economy is slowing down ahead of a potential recession, with some signs of optimism.The Big Six banks – RBC, TD, CIBC, Scotiabank, BMO and National Bank – all released their Q4 2022 reports this week. Five out of the six saw their profits dip compared to last year and three fell short of their earnings expectations.Michael Morrow, managing director of mergers and acquisitions and capital markets at financial firm BDO Canada, says high inflation, lower capital markets activity and rising loan-loss provisions are all putting…

India is set to overtake Japan and Germany to become the world’s third-largest economy, according to S&P Global and Morgan Stanley.S&P’s forecast is based on the projection that India’s annual nominal gross domestic product growth will average 6.3% through 2030. Similarly, Morgan Stanley estimates that India’s GDP is likely to more than double from current levels by 2031.“India has the conditions in place for an economic boom fueled by offshoring, investment in manufacturing, the energy transition, and the country’s advanced digital infrastructure,” Morgan Stanley analysts led by Ridham Desai and Girish Acchipalia wrote in the report.“These drivers will make [India] the world’s third-largest…

Money is being re-directed away from millions of Australians’ bank accounts. It’s been a long time coming.Cast your mind back to May, when the Reserve Bank raised interest rates. It was the first cash rate hike by the RBA since October 2009.The bank had to make the move. Inflation was building and the forces behind it weren’t going away.While the decision made headlines, it was largely inconsequential for households and their budgets at the time.That is, nothing happened to bank accounts that afternoon, or the next day, or the next week for that matter. Life continued as normal.Fast forward to…

Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada gestures to speak during an Upper House Budget Committee session in Tokyo on Thursday. | BLOOMBERGREUTERSDec 3, 2022SHAREJapan is set to earmark ¥43 trillion ($295 billion to $318 billion) for defense spending over five years starting in the next fiscal year, which begins in April, three sources with knowledge of the matter said Friday.That would be a jump from the current five-year defense plan for spending ¥27.5 trillion, stoking worry about worsening one of the industrial world’s worst debt burdens, which amounts to twice the size of Japan’s annual economic output.The new numbers marked a compromise between the…

The shift to new suppliers will come in a matter of months, according to the plane maker. Major aircraft manufacturer Airbus expects to cut its reliance on Russian titanium supplies within months, Michael Schoellhorn, chief executive of the group’s Defence & Space division has said on Thursday, as quoted by Reuters.The company has reportedly expanded supplies of the vital metal from alternative exporters in an effort to shun supplies from Russia as part of broader EU sanctions on the country.“We are in the process of decoupling from Russia when it comes to titanium. It will be a matter of months,…

sThe EU’s looming restrictive measures against Russian supply may force the energy alliance to slash production further The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) could impose deeper cuts in oil output this week as the organization weighs the impact of the looming EU sanctions on Russian crude, CNBC reported Friday, citing analysts.The group of oil-producing nations, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, is expected to meet on Sunday to decide on the next phase of their production policy. The meeting will be held a day before the European Union’s latest anti-Moscow sanctions kick in. The bloc…

Brussels claims it will use proceeds of what it confiscates to rebuild Ukraine. EU lawmakers are looking for legal ways to confiscate Russian assets that have been frozen as part of Western sanctions and to use these to help Ukraine. The issue of a legal seizure of Russian state and private assets held abroad has been debated for months by EU officials. However, the bloc’s desired mechanism is not easy to apply, as in most EU nations seizing frozen assets is only legally possible when there is a criminal conviction. “In the short term, we could create, with our partners,…

Shipments top 50 million tons in the first ten months this year, according to the head of Rosneft. Russia has this year become the second most important supplier of coal to China, the head of oil giant Rosneft Igor Sechin announced at the Russia-China Energy Business Forum on Tuesday. “Deliveries of high-quality Russian coal to China in [those] ten months of 2022 amounted to 53 million tons. This is about 23% of total imports to China, second place after Indonesia, which supplies 134 million tons,” Sechin said. According to the CEO, in order to further increase coal supplies to Asia,…