News that Russia has dropped its objections to Algeria which currently holds the presidency of OPEC arranging for an early get together to help out its pals Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE is set to liven up the oil market this week with a date now set for Thursday. With WTI at $35.49 on Friday night and the effects of the 9.8 million barrels daily reduction in OPEC production underpinning the price, OPEC+ all have a shared interest in ratcheting the price up to the other side of $40. Shareholders in oil companies either present or future should see some gains in the next weeks.
CNN: The Most Trusted Name in News( their slogan)
The brainchild of mogul Ted Turner, Cable News Network started broadcasting 40 years ago today. It is now worth more than $5 Billion and can be seen in 212 countries having established itself as being in the forefront of world current affairs and in particular the first Gulf War. Bloomberg, the leading financial news service on the other hand was last valued at $22.5Billion in 2008 but as it is privately held it’s current valuation is not easily calculated now, but put it this way Michael Bloomberg is worth USD 60.1 Billion according to Forbes. First mover advantage in the world of global communications does not always succeed…
It was 1977 and I was representing the bank I then worked for at my first lunch at a money broking company. When asked if I would like a Southampton, I quickly racked my brains and other than a large port could not think what my host could possibly mean. Nothing, I concluded and having accepted, was duly served a large glass of port by the butler. At this stage of the lockdown, unopened bottles at the back of the drinks cupboard have, let us put it this way, now graduated to the front. This weekend has been a case in point with The liberation of a dusty bottle of 2005 Vintage Port. Graham’s is one of the oldest of the port houses and dates back to the middle 1600’s and is still part of the Portuguese $500 Million port industry which, while not as fashionable as it was in the 1970’s is enjoying a renaissance particularly among younger drinkers who have no qualms about mixing it with Seven Up. Port and lemonade of course used to be the go to choice for ladies of the night. Just shows that history really does repeat itself: Southampton anybody?!
Discussion and Analysis by Humphrey Percy, Chairman and Founder
Waiting for the Fed Mixed messages have been emerging ahead of tomorrow’s monetary policy decision from the Federal Reserve. Here’s a reminder of the rollercoaster that left the Fed’s September decision as one of its move important post-Covid meetings. In the face of cooling inflation, the Fed begins a relatively aggressive interest rate cutting cycle, […]
48 Hours There has been a noticeable shift in geopolitical risk this week. So how, baring a mild slip lower in EURCHF, have FX markets remained quite so flat? Sure, there have been some contained intraday spikes in some commodity prices but ultimately those legs higher have been thwarted, often in the very same trading […]
Mixed signals It was not long ago that many investment banks were warning clients of the risk of a slowdown in US equities. Having performed exceptionally well in the aftermath of the pause to Trump’s liberation day tariffs, many market participants warned of the inability of equity values to continue to enable price gains. Volatility […]