Author: Steven Sahiounie

The US has banned the sale and import of new communications equipment from five Chinese companies, including Huawei and ZTE, amid concerns over national security. Other companies listed include Hikvision, Dahua and Hytera, which make video surveillance equipment and two-way radio systems. It is the first time US regulators have taken such a move on security grounds. Hikvision said that its products present no security threat to the US. It said the decision “will do nothing to protect US national security, but will do a great deal to make it more harmful and more expensive for US small businesses, local…

NEW YORK, Nov 28 (Reuters) – The global oil market is signaling a potential shift, as traders and analysts worry about reduced crude demand and an oversupplied market in the coming months. After months of strength, crude futures are flirting with lows not seen all year as top oil consumer China enters additional COVID-19 lockdowns while central banks hike interest rates to combat inflation. Front-month global oil prices in the last week have traded weaker than future-dated contracts, while prices for physical crude grades throughout the world have declined, market participants said. “Differentials are confirming what outright prices have been…

India is pushing ahead with plans to launch an e-rupee, with the aim to have a stable central bank digital currency as concerns about the volatility and oversight risks that have roiled cryptocurrencies globally continue to grow. The Reserve Bank of India rolled out its first pilot scheme for the e-rupee at the beginning of this month, allowing some banks to use the digital rupee to settle secondary market transactions in government bonds. The RBI now plans to start testing the retail uses of the digital form of the Indian rupee. “Since it is a digital form of legal tender backed by…

For people hoping for a crypto-free day on FT Alphaville, we have bad news. Crypto is still doing its Thing. And there are still a lot of questions about what the space looks like in the wake of the FTX implosion (ie beyond the current Lord-of-the-Flies vibes). Around here we obviously hope we can go back to blissfully ignoring it. Purists hope that crypto will simply go back to its decentralised roots and build something beyond tradable JPEGs. But JPMorgan analyst Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou reckons that little may actually change, and centralised exchanges will continue to rule the roost. Panigirtzoglou also…

The Lebanese Prime Minister says his country will not be able to get out of its financial crisis without authorities implementing structural reforms required by the International Monetary Fund. Over the last few years, Lebanon has been witnessing the worst financial crisis in its history amid a shortage of foreign currency reserves which caused the collapse of the Lebanese pound and a steep rise in inflation. Speaking this week, the Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said that a deal with the IMF would help Lebanon attract revenues in foreign currencies through the fund or donor countries. Compounding matters, the outbreak…

Canadian banks are set to reveal how they’re faring in the lead up to a possible recession as they report quarterly earnings this week. As central banks raise interest rates to slow inflation, economic fears have held bank stocks back compared with the overall market, so analysts will be looking to see how well set up the sector is before an expected slowdown next year. Starting with Scotiabank reporting on Tuesday, the results will cover the three months ending Oct. 31. During that period, the Bank of Canada raised its key interest rate twice, bringing its key interest rate to 3.75 per cent. The central bank is expected to hike rates again at its last decision of the year on…

Russian exports of precious metals to China remain relatively small. Imports of Russian gold into China in October amounted to 2.16 tons, marking a seven-year high, business daily RBK reported this week, citing data from China’s General Administration of Customs. In monetary terms, Russian exports of gold in raw and semi-manufactured forms to China reportedly doubled, having totaled $124.6 million. In the ten months through October, Chinese gold imports from Russia amounted to 5.72 tons, which is 1.9 times more than in the same period in 2021. In monetary terms, deliveries in January-October soared 1.8 times to $330 million. Despite…

The new CEO expects to see 1 billion new monthly users within a year. New user signups on Twitter have hit an “all-time high,” the social media platform’s owner, Elon Musk, said in a tweet on Saturday. According to slides from a company talk he posted online, new signups averaged over two million per day in the seven days to November 16, up 66% compared to the same week last year. “I think I see a path to Twitter exceeding a billion monthly users in 12 to 18 months,” Musk said in another tweet early on Sunday. Twitter has been struggling with…

Nearly half of those polled avoid products that are “fun and luxury,” a market research group says. A growing number of Germans are being forced to cut their spending due to inflation and soaring energy costs, a survey by consumer behavior and market research group NielsenIQ shows. The results indicate 52% of German consumers only buy basic-needs products, while some 30% answered they were shopping less altogether. Around 44% said they now avoid products “that are fun and luxury,” and one in three are trying to reduce restaurant visits, opting instead for cooking at home. Only 10% of those polled…

The coming recession will lead to a profound structural shift, Mohamed El-Erian says. There’s a tendency to see economic challenges as temporary and quickly reversible, but this time the world is headed for a profound economic and financial shift rather than just another recession, Mohamed El-Erian has warned. El-Erian is the chief economic adviser at Allianz, and former CEO of the influential bond market player PIMCO. The economist wrote in a commentary for Foreign Affairs magazine that a combination of pressures on supply, central bank tightening, and market “fragility” were all likely to weigh on growth. “Three new trends in…