Wall St drops on dollar fears – New York Report March 24, 2015 US stocks fell for a second session yesterday, with equities keeping a tight range that corresponded with currency fluctuations as traders focused on the dollar’s strength and its possible effect on corporate earnings. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 104.9 points, or 0.58 per cent, to 18,011.14, the S&P 500 lost 12.92 points, or 0.61 [...]
Food and oil prices drag the UK towards CPI deflation March 22, 2015 Could this be the week the UK officially goes into deflation? Office for National Statistics figures out this Tuesday are expected to show that UK Consumer Price Index (CPI) prices dropped 0.1 per cent in February, after hitting record lows of 0.3 per cent last month. Behind the possible entry into deflation is a drop [...]
Oil prices jump while dollar gets hammered after Fed statement March 18, 2015 Oil prices jumped as much as six per cent higher while the dollar experienced its biggest single-day decline in six years after the Federal Reserve's policy statement on interest rates. The benchmark Brent Crude closed at $55.91 a barrel, up $2.40 or 4.5 per cent when it had earlier fallen as low as $42.03 after [...]
Brent oil falls below $53 on oversupply concerns March 18, 2015 Oil prices have been on a slippery slope since a brief rally at the start of this year, and it just got even greasier, after industry data out of the US fuelled oversupply concerns. Brent crude, which is the international benchmark, was trading down 0.9 per cent at $53 dollars per barrel today. Western Texas Intermediate, [...]
Falling oil prices have caused hundreds of job losses at Nexen in the UK and US March 18, 2015 Tumbling oil prices have resulted in job losses at the US and UK branches of Chinese energy firm Nexen Energy. The company announced plans to cut 400 jobs in the US and UK this morning. Broken down, 340 employees will be lost from the North American operation in Calgary, while 60 jobs will be lost [...]
WTI crude oil hits six-year low price falls despite Opec production forecast March 16, 2015 Brent crude oil prices fell 1.32 per cent to $53.95 a barrel today, even though a statement by oil cartel Opec suggested growth in supply could begin to dwindle. Meanwhile, WTI crude slumped to $44.30, a new six-year low for the benchmark. In just over a week, its price has fallen by nearly $10. The [...]
Cheaper oil takes trade deficit to lowest level for over 14 years March 12, 2015 The UK’s trade deficit has dropped to its lowest level since 2000, official figures show. The UK imported £600m more than it exported in January, according to data released yesterday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). It compares to the £2.1bn trade deficit in December. Around half of this fall was due to a drop [...]
Saudi Arabia won’t cut production – because it knows the oil age is ending March 12, 2015 There have been many explanations, including on these pages, for why Saudi Arabia has not cut production to shore up the price of oil. These range from the use of the oil price as a foreign policy weapon – whether to wage economic war against rivals Iran, or to help their US allies bring Russia [...]
Only Iran will resolve this phoney oil war – CNBC Comment March 9, 2015 What is the biggest trade in the markets just now? The one-way bet on European fixed income, with ECB QE set to obliterate anyone who challenges ludicrously low yields? The tech bull position, with the Nasdaq around the highs of 2000? Or could it be the brutal battle being fought in the oil market? Let’s [...]
Cheap oil has potential to give UK extra 121,000 jobs in 2016 March 9, 2015 The UK economy could be set for a massive jobs boost next year, provided oil prices remain subdued, financial services firm PwC said today. An oil price of $50 per barrel would create an extra 121,000 jobs in 2016 compared to if prices had stayed at their mid-2014 level of $108, PWC forecasts. It is [...]
