Institutional Investor (June 1)
Nearly a decade after the financial crisis, financial institutions still face challenges. However, the “savvy” ones are simplifying their structures and realizing efficiency gains. “For the past nine years, investments have poured into regulatory compliance and reporting initiatives. The rapid development of disruptive technologies such as robotics and artificial intelligence is helping firms automate many of those processes and redirect their energy toward growth activities. Big data, analytics and digital technology shed light on what they do best—and most profitably—and enhance the customer experience.”
Tags: AI, Analytics, Big Data, Challenges, Customers, Digital technology, Disruptive technologies, Efficiency, Energy, Financial Crisis, Growth, Investments, Profit, Regulatory compliance, Reporting, Robotics, Savvy
Bloomberg (March 17)
“Even with the dollar’s rally since 2014, U.S. manufacturing is benefiting from the world’s strongest rate of productivity, a flexible labor market, cheap energy and from having a big domestic market.” The lingering belief that it’s radically cheaper to move production to China is a misconception. “Labor costs adjusted for productivity in China are only 4 percent cheaper than in the U.S.”
Tags: China, Dollar, Energy, Flexible, Labor market, Manufacturing, Productivity, Rally, U.S.
Institutional Investor (March 16)
All eyes are on the Federal Reserve. Not because anybody expects them to change interest rates at today’s meeting, but because everybody wants a glimpse of the future. “Concerns over volatility around the globe and fragility in some sectors, notably energy and industrials, suggest that the Fed may signal a moderation of the pace of tightening…. A slower path for rates seems plausible as core inflation appears to be manageable.”
Tags: Concerns, Core inflation, Energy, Fed, Fragility, Industrials, Interest rates, Moderation, Tightening, Volatility
Financial Times (December 21)
“A surge of deals in the pharmaceuticals, energy and consumer sectors has pushed merger and acquisition activity to an all-time high, surpassing 2007’s peak — but dealmakers have admitted that bond market turmoil and geopolitical instability are their biggest worries for 2016.”
Tags: 2016, Bond market, Consumer sectors, Deals, Energy, Geopolitical instability, M&A, Pharmaceuticals, Turmoil
Wall Street Journal (November 25)
In the U.S., “the pressure on corporate profits may last longer than expected.” Many have attributed the contraction in corporate profits to temporary trends, namely “the weakness in the commodities sector, which is ravaging profits at energy companies, and the strong dollar, which is putting pressure on multinationals.” Though reassuring, “the problem with those dismissals is that oil may not be done going down, and the dollar may not be done going up.”
Tags: Commodities, Contraction, Corporate profits, Dollar, Energy, Multinationals, Oil, Pressure, Trends, U.S.
Financial Times (May 19)
“More than $100bn of spending on new projects by the world’s energy companies has been slowed, postponed or axed following the oil price plunge, evidence of the drastic industry action that will curb output in coming years.” The revisions affect 26 major projects worldwide and, taken as a whole, will “delay future production” by up to 1.5 million barrels a day, the equivalent of nearly 2% of global oil production in 2013.
Tags: Delay, Drastic, Energy, New projects, Oil, Output, Postponed, Production, Spending
Institutional Investor (May 5)
“The long-lasting oil price slump is reverberating through macroeconomic data points and this earnings season.” Oil and gas exploration companies are getting hammered. And “the impact of lower investment and employment in the energy sector was also reflected in disappointing first-quarter U.S. GDP data.”
Tags: Earnings, Employment, Energy, Exploration, GDP, Investment, Macroeconomic, Oil price, Reverberating, Slump, U.S.
Washington Post (January 19)
The drop in oil prices is hitting Venezuela, Russia and Iran hard. These “three troublesome nations” rely on energy exports for 68-95% of their external revenue. Venezuela now “appears on the edge of a political chasm. Putin will try to fend off domestic upheaval with more foreign aggression. And Iran will make a fateful choice between forging a lifeline to the United States and Europe and consciously embracing isolation and harsh austerity.”
Tags: Aggression, Austerity, Chasm, Energy, Europe, Exports, Iran, Isolation, Oil prices, Putin, Russia, U.S., Venezuela
The Economist (January 17)
“The fall in the price of oil and gas provides a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fix bad energy policies.”Governments around the world should “seize” this chance.
Tags: Energy, Gas, Governments, Oil, Opportunity, Policies, Price
Los Angeles Times (January 15)
“For too long, carbon dioxide has dominated the discussion of greenhouse gases.” Methane and other short-lived gases need more attention. Methane “is 80 times more potent at trapping heat than carbon dioxide for 20 years after it is released, and 20 times more potent over 100 years.” Reducing methane leaks would not only be good for the environment, it would also boost energy self sufficiency. In the U.S. alone, 6 million homes could be powered by the methane that is currently “lost through wells and leaky pipes.”
Tags: CO2, Energy, Environment, Greenhouse gases, Methane, Self sufficiency, Short-lived gases, U.S.
