Market News

Catalan election on 21st December gave voters another chance to express their view as to whether the region will persist with its drive for independence or remain within Spain. The vote was called in October when the Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy fired the Catalan government …..

On Sunday the trading in bitcoin futures started on Cboe Global Markets Inc. This is a milestone in the digital currency world which has been spurred in part by bitcoin’s rise this year. What are futures contracts? Futures contracts derive their value …..

On Monday a lunch was scheduled between Prime Minister Theresa May and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. A deal on what will happen to the Irish border after Brexit remains difficult.

Concentrated efforts by producers to clear the surplus of oil are starting to pay off. It has taken OPEC and Russia almost 11 months of production cuts to clear up some of the oversupply. According to OPEC data, excess inventories in developed nations this year have been drained by 183 million barrel ….

Theresa May’s government acknowledged that the UK economic outlook is deteriorating and unexpectedly set aside an extra GBP 3 billion to prepare for all Brexit outcomes. In his opening Budget speech in Parliament on Wednesday, Philip Hammond who is the Chancellor of the Exchequer …

Venezuela is suffering from defaults on more than $60 bn of international bonds after missing several interest payments. S&P Global Ratings declared Venezuela to be in default after it missed two interest payments on its debt.

Trump is on an eleven day trip in Asia where this week he visited Japan, South Korea and China. On his first stop he warned the nations against challenging the US and said he will push for freedom in the region and for fair trade in his meetings with other leaders.

At least eight people were killed and several more were seriously injured when a suspected terrorist ploughed a truck down a bicycle path in lower Manhattan blocks from the site of the World Trade Center before an officer shot and arrested him.

On Thursday in an ECB meeting policy makers decided to scale back bond buying to EUR 30 billion a month starting from January to September 2018. This is a step towards ending a program that has spent more than EUR 2 trillion trying to revive the euro-area inflation. This will take the ECB holding to a total of at least EUR 2.55 trillion.

European leaders have met this week in Brussels. Brexit is not the biggest talking point to be discussed as focus will be turned to other topics and challenges such as the situation in Spain, the relations with Turkey and the Iran Nuclear deal, French Trade Brake, North Korea and Migration Money, Russian Gas Pipeline and the future of the EU.

The Catalonia secessionist leader Carles Puigdemont on Monday faced increased pressure to abandon plans to declare the region’s independence from Spain. France and Germany have expressed their support for the country’s unity.

At least 59 victims were dead and 527 were injured in the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history. All this happened in an outdoor music festival in Las Vegas Nevada. The gunman identified as Stephen Craig Paddock, a 64 year old retired accountant from Mesquite Nevada killed himself before officers went in.