Author: Press Room
By Shariq Khan BENGALURU (Reuters) – Oil benchmarks jumped 6% on Monday, the day after the OPEC+ group jolted markets with plans to cut more production, raising fears of tightening supplies while some warned of reduced demand if oil refiners flinch at paying higher prices for crude. settled higher by $5.04, or 6.3%, at $84.93 a barrel, after touching its highest since March 7 at $86.44. West Texas Intermediate crude settled up by $4.75, or 6.3%, at $80.42 a barrel after rising to a two-month high during the session. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia,…
By Leika Kihara TOKYO (Reuters) – The Bank of Japan must be ready to issue central bank digital currencies (CBDC) that coexist with various other forms of money to offer the public a safe digital payment system, its governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Tuesday. The central bank will start a pilot programme in April to test the use of a digital yen, joining a growing number of countries seeking to catch up with front-runner China in launching a CBDC. “Ensuring the coexistence of CBDC with various other forms of money … is something that we need to and will in…
By Asif Shahzad ISLAMABAD (Reuters) -Saudi Arabia has told the International Monetary Fund it will provide financing to Pakistan, Pakistani junior finance minister Aisha Ghaus Pasha said on Thursday, a critical step needed to secure IMF funding. Saudi Arabia’s $2 billion pledged in external financing support to Pakistan is one of the final conditions for an IMF deal that Islamabad needs to avert a default. “Apparently Saudi Arabia has committed to IMF, and IMF has indicated to us that there has been a correspondence from them,” Pasha told reporters in Islamabad. The IMF’s resident representative did not immediately respond to…
Unless you’ve been involved in a lawsuit, you may not know about structured settlements. You may have heard of them on late night TV. “It’s your money,” some TV ads will exclaim. “Cash in your structured settlement and use your money now!” These TV ads are from factoring companies that buy up lawsuit structured settlements, but how do you get one in the first place? If you are a successful plaintiff in a lawsuit, your contact with structure settlements may be personal. You may have received one, be evaluating one now, or have considered one but opted for cash. Even…
Key News Asian equities were largely higher less Mainland China though Hong Kong, Australia, and the Philippines were closed for Easter Monday. China stocks eased after Friday’s gains as ChatGPT-like tech stocks were hit with profit taking, sending the STAR Board lower by -2.74%. Ten new companies listed today in Mainland China under the new listing standards, which include no limit on stock movement for the first five trading days. The top-performing IPO was Shenzhen CECport Technologies (001287 CH), which gained a mere +221%. The new standards are not necessarily “looser,” though streamline the IPO process, which should increase the…
Central banks accumulated gold at the fastest pace on record in the first two months of 2023, according to a report by the World Gold Council’s (WGC) Krishan Gopaul. In January and February, central banks collectively bought a net 125 tonnes of the metal, the highest amount for the year-to-date period since banks became net buyers in 2010. The countries reporting the largest purchases in the first two months were Singapore (51.4 tonnes), Turkey (45.5 tonnes), China (39.8 tonnes), Russia (31.1 tonnes) and India (2.8 tonnes). The Central Bank of Russia published an update on its gold reserves for the…
Artist, writer, and social welfare advocate (and agitator in a good sense) Molly Crabapple recently had an article in The Nation called “The Revolution Against Shady Landlords Has Begun.” It’s an ongoing movement in New York City by many renters and advocates to change laws that would give some leverage to tenants in a housing crisis. As of 2017, almost two-thirds of all housing units in the city were rented by tenants. Half of those tenants spent at least 30% of their income on housing, a figure from city government that defines the category of being rent-burdened. A third of…
From what we can tell, Social Security is sending clawback bills to tens of thousands of Americans for mistakes it made. Social Security’s policy is cruel and unusual. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder and president of Economic Security Planning, Inc. Social Security is clawing back benefits it claims it paid by mistake over years if not decades. Terry Savage and I are collecting these horror stories. Send Terry yours at [email protected]. Below is a story we just received. From what we can tell, Social Security is sending clawback bills to tens of…
Artprice.com has released their report, “The Art Market in 2022” and, at 72 pages, it is a comprehensive look at the global art market, which is especially interesting to professional advisors to collectors of Art. For those who do not have the time to read through the report, here are some of the high points: THE GLOBAL ART MARKET: Despite a 19% contraction of the S&P 500 Index in 2022 and a generally precarious global context in terms of public health and energy costs, more than one million artworks appeared at auctions in 2022, of which almost two thirds (65%)…
During the onset of the pandemic, the flexibility to work remotely coupled with record-low interest rates had many home buyers toying with the idea of moving to vacation home markets as shifting priorities and preferences altered where and how people wanted to live. Vacation home sales skyrocketed during the second half of 2020 and through 2021. Page views of for-sale listings soared in metro areas typically considered vacation destinations, such as the Jersey Shore area; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Key West, Florida; Lake Tahoe, Nevada; Cape Cod, Massachusetts; and Park City, Utah. Today, it’s a different story. A scarcity of…
