More bad news about the dollar. Just today it has depreciated further to “three-year lows.” This has resulted in US crude oil jumping to a 2 ½ year high and rising Asian stocks “as investors bet that the easy U.S. monetary policy will continue to drive money to riskier assets.” It is anticipated that the… Continue Reading
Surprising Maltese Status It might be somewhat of a shock to those not-in-the-know that Malta – a tiny portion of land found in the Mediterranean Sea measuring approximately 300 sq km – is pretty big when it comes to economic and welfare aspirations and successes. Yet apart from its somewhat modest… Continue Reading
Republicans United on Budget Plan The House of Representatives agreed on a budget plan last week (at a vote of 235-193) for 2012 which will involve “slashing trillions of dollars in government spending while cutting taxes.” This looks like it’s fantastic news, but since there is no such thing as a free lunch, who is… Continue Reading
Things aren’t looking good again. We keep hearing about the global economic crisis but were hoping that the recovery from it was well underway. Unfortunately, when looking at the stats, this doesn’t seem to be the case. Oil prices are increasing, sovereign debt burdens are becoming unsustainable and along with lack of certainty vis-à-vis the… Continue Reading
Preventive Global Economic Crisis Measures It was bad enough that we had to endure the worst global economic crisis since the Second World War, but what would be even worse would be not learning from it. So what can be done today? Measures need to be taken now to ensure a continual “tracking of economic… Continue Reading
Alcoa Inc. Up and Down US Stock traders might want to think twice before acting following the International Monetary Fund’s estimate slash for US economic growth. This led to a general plummet in stocks – such as Alcoa Inc. – yesterday at closing. However, the company did have some good news having a first quarter… Continue Reading
For best results, merge. It seems that the chair of South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (Kim Seok-dong) is considering the merger of two securities companies, Daewoo Securities and Woori Investment & Securities (no. 2 and 3 investment banks by market capitalization). Hopefully this would lead to the creation of a “giant with global potential.” This… Continue Reading
Banking Rules Insufficient Financial leaders who have recently signed on new banking rules may be counting their chickens before they’ve hatched. According to the IMF, such rules are not going to be able to help vis-à-vis the global financial crisis. So what is the solution? The IMF is setting out “new tools” through which to… Continue Reading
Republicans are likely to have a tough time sticking to budget if they put into plan their idea of cutting government spending by nearly $6 trillion over the next ten years. Barack Obama would certainly have a thing or two to say to the creator of this idea, Paul Ryan (House Budget Committee Chairman) about… Continue Reading
HSBC Bank Bermuda Named “Best Bank” HSBC Bank Bermuda was just named Best Bank in Bermuda (2011) by Global Finance magazine. According to Joseph D. Giarraputo, the magazine’s publisher, “We recognize these banks for their outstanding accomplishments.” It seems like customers at HSBC Bermuda Bank were extremely satisfied with the service received. Of course, such… Continue Reading