“Cyber Attack….”

cyber_attack

Cyber Attack

Hackers infiltrated computers in a number of countries in a fast spreading attack that affected British hospitals and organisations from Spain, Russia, Ukraine and Taiwan. A ransomware message sent to a hospital (a type of malicious software that blocks access to a computer system until a sum of money is paid) demanded a payment of $300 in bitcoin (a digital currency) for files that were encrypted to be decrypted. On Friday, hospitals in the UK urged people with non-emergency conditions to stay away after the cyberattack affected the UK’s National Health Service. Forty-five NHS organisations were hit.

Oil

Oil prices surged on Monday after a joint commitment from the energy ministers of Saudi Arabia and Russia to extend the existing oil production cut agreement till March 2018. The US which is not part of the agreement continued to pump from shale fields, inventories seem to be falling down from the record level in March. Two OPEC members, Libya and Nigeria were exempt from reducing output.    Libya’s crude production has risen to more than 800,000 barrels a day as fields restart, the most since 2014, while Nigeria’s 200,000 barrel a day is ready to export again after being shut down since February 2016.

The New French Cabinet

 The new French Prime Minister is Edouard Philippe who is the mayor of the port city of Le Havre and a member of parliament from the center-right Republicans party. Both the prime minister and the President together on Tuesday were choosing their cabinet. Macron is the first president to be elected without the support of the major political parties and is looking to elect a mix of men and women, with political backgrounds and technical experience.  On Wednesday the French President gathered his newly formed government for his Cabinet meeting which is a mix of 22 prominent and unknown figures, both from the left and the right, with women filling half of the positions.

UK

The UK inflation continued with its upward trend due to the price of air fares, clothing and energy. Upward pressure also came from electricity prices which jumped 2.5 percent, while clothing and footwear increased by 1.1 percent.  According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), consumer prices rose 2.7 percent from a year earlier which is the fastest pace since 2013.  However, wages did not keep up with the pace of prices.  Furthermore, figures from the ONS show that the cost of fuel and raw material prices jumped an annual 16.6 percent in April.  The sterling climbed above the $1.30 level which is the largest milestone achieved after the Brexit vote after a report on retail sales showed that the volume of goods sold in stores and online rose 2.3 percent.

President Trump and the Comey Memo

On Tuesday a memo written by the FBI director James Comey alleging that President Donald Trump asked Comey to drop an investigation on former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn has surfaced. Flynn was caught up in the Russian probe.  This raises questions as to whether the President wanted to influence the FBI’s work.  The latter is investigating interference by Russia in the 2016 election. Robert Mueller has been named on Wednesday as special counsel in charge of Justice Department taking over from where Comey left. The turmoil over the President Trump’s administration has filtered into the financial markets as US stocks fell the most since March and gold and bonds are in demand as a safe haven asset. Volatility has also returned to the Asian equity markets and shares across Europe also extended declines as investors take account of any developments of US politics and the affect of President Trump on economic plans.

Antonella Mercieca

Client Relationship Manager

Source:

Bloomberg, Reuters

Date:

May 19th, 2017


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