Chinese iron ore imports rose to a record-high in December, suggesting that demand from the world’s largest consumer remains robust. The enormous increase coincided with signs of continued inventory restocking at chinese ports.
Regions
Casualties In French Regulator Approved Drug Trial: 1 Brain Dead, 5 Others Hospitalized
Biotrial Private Facility has been conducting trial of a pain killer over 90 volunteers. Six of them have fall sick and one of them has got severe brain injury. Volunteers rarely fall sick while undergoing through such trials, since the drug must go through several tests over animals with wide range of dosage. Paris prosecutors have initiated investigations to unearth the cause behind the regulator approved trial.
Retailing Giants Shut Hundreds of Stores Down In US & Elsewhere, Job Cutting Feared
Walmart and Macy’s have announced shutting hundreds of stores on Friday and thus lingers the list with other retailing giants like Sears and Target. Surprising growth of ecommerce has reduced growth of the departmental stores and shopping malls. With the announcement of the World’s largest retailer, traditional stores have been started to witness the blink of extinction.
Economic Emergency In Venezuela Aims To Keep Maduro’s Anti Poverty Programs Alive
Just Prior to the State of Address to the Congress, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has imposed economic emergency for 60 days. The concerned decree is aimed to allocate funds to keep alive the socialist government’s signature anti poverty programs. If opposition led Congress denies the imposed decree, Maduro will have to appeal to the Supreme Court of justice for its continued effectiveness.
BHP Billinton Writes Down US Shale Assets Worth $7.2 billion, No Surprise For The Investors
Oil and gas market have been tattering due to existing sharp downtrend in price. Many oil companies have been writing down the value of shale assets over the past 20 months since prices started crashing. BHP Billinton Ltd. has also become dependent on bank debts to maintain soaring expenses and plans to cut dividends for the first time in 25 years. Finally, following the industry trend, BHP has announced for writing down US energy assets worth $7.2 billion.
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JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America (BoA) and Wells Fargo earned over $6 billion from ATM service and overdraft fees. For the first time, US government in 2015 allowed banks to disclose details from ATM and overdraft fee revenues. The US banking consumers pay in the range of $4 to $5 to withdraw money from an out-of-network ATM.
The debt burden of South African farmers reached to over Rand 125 billion ($7.5 billion). The total debt of farmers was up 14 percent in 2015 to Rand117 billion. Economists alert that the prevailing slump in commodities markets, tighter monetary, fiscal policy, drought conditions and drop in value of Rand will trigger higher than expected inflation rate.
Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group is said to have agreed to buy a 20 percent stock in Philippines' lender Security Bank Corp for $773 million (36.9 billion pesos), as an effort to strengthen its growth in Southeast Asia.
Technology startups in Africa may get $10 million funding in early 2016 as Silvertree Capital sees the rosy picture. Silvertree Internet Holdings is keen on scaling technology and commerce companies and has already invested $5 million in business building operations and acquisitions. South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya are favored the most among African countries.
The Kenyan government is hoping to control inflation rate with the support from lower oil prices. Lower oil prices are supporting the Kenya's economy as the growth rate is expected to be six percent in 2016 from 4.5 percent in 2015. Inflation rate breached the government's target band of 2.5 percent to 7.5 percent as it reached to eight percent.
American Energy Partners and Argentina state-run energy company YPF have signed a partnership deal on developing the shale resources in the South American country. Argentina government is providing subsidies to attract investments in the energy sector and to enhance business climate in the country.
European car sales rose to 9.2% in 2015. Demand in December is recorded as the strongest one in the entire year. However, Volkswagen is excluded from the strong gain.
Italian Medicine Agency has formulated an advanced strategies in drug spending. The agency has developed an innovative deal with pharmaceutical companies to institute a refund for ineffective medicinal treatment.
Hong Kong dollar dropped to four-year low against US dollar and continue to dive. Its continuous plunge lead to the biggest weekly loss for more than a decade.
