Oil traders just provided another sign that the market is rebalancing. The WTI calendar spread for the next six months moved from “contango” into “backwardation” Tuesday. To explain, a calendar spread measures the difference in price between any pair of oil contracts with different delivery dates and can explain the current supply-demand balance in the […]
Read moreInterest rates on home loans moved higher again last week, causing both homebuyers and homeowners to back away from the mortgage market. Total mortgage application volume fell 2.6 percent for the week. The weekly seasonally adjusted application index from the Mortgage Bankers Association is now 20 percent lower than the same week a year ago. […]
Read moreThe ocean of money keeps flowing into exchange-traded funds. October notched another record month, adding $56 billion to this year’s total of $388 billion in new money, far and away the biggest year ever, even after just 10 months. U.S.-based ETFs now have $3.2 trillion in assets under management, an increase of 11 percent this […]
Read moreCurrency, United States Finance
Bank of England set to raise rates for the first time in more than a decade
The Bank of England (BOE) is widely expected is raise interest rates from record lows Thursday, but market participants will be closely watching for clues on what the U.K. central bank will do next. This will be one of the BOE’s most significant meetings in some time — not only because of the likely rate […]
Read moreRussian President Vladimir Putin is heading to Iran to sign a joint statement with the country’s leaders Wednesday, Moscow said — a move that signals the Kremlin is prepared to remain close to the increasingly isolated state. Putin is due to meet Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei with […]
Read moreBitcoin surpassed $6,500 on Wednesday to hit a new record high after the CME announced plans to launch bitcoin futures later this year. The price of the cryptocurrency hit a high of $6,552.11 just hours after breaking through the $6,400 barrier, according to data from industry website CoinDesk. Its market capitalization, or the total value […]
Read moreCurrency, United States Finance
Bank of England former policymaker says it doesn’t truly understand the UK economy
A former member of the Bank of England (BOE) told CNBC it’s “unwise” for the central bank to stick to a long-term policy strategy in case it gets wrong-footed by new economic data. On the eve of an expected rate hike by the U.K. central bank, David Miles, a former member of the BOE’s monetary […]
Read moreThe tech giants are too big. But what if that’s not so bad? For a year and a half — and more urgently for much of the last month — I have warned of the growing economic, social and political power held by the five largest American tech companies: Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook and Microsoft. […]
Read moreSoutheast Asian ride-hailing company Grab on Wednesday said users can now pay for goods and services in shops and restaurants using GrabPay, the company’s mobile wallet. The option is currently available in Singapore, but the company’s co-founder, Tan Hooi Ling, told CNBC it will be rolled out simultaneously across Southeast Asia by 2018 if the […]
Read moreSpain’s High Court has summoned Catalonia’s deposed leader to testify in Madrid later this week as the country’s judicial system weighs up whether to proceed with criminal charges against the pro-independence leadership. The court in Madrid issued a summons Tuesday for former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont and 13 other members of his government to appear […]
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