Author: News Room

By Howard Schneider WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Interest rates eventually should fall back to levels seen before the outbreak of COVID-19, with advanced economies again within sight of the “zero lower bound” and developing countries seeing rates in steady decline, the International Monetary Fund said in a new analysis of whether the “natural” rate of interest was changed by the pandemic. Though rates are high now as major central banks battle inflation, “when inflation is brought back under control, advanced economies’ central banks are likely to ease monetary policy and bring real interest rates back toward pre-pandemic levels,” IMF analysts said…

By Barani Krishnan Investing.com — After treading water or sliding for four straight sessions, oil rallied on Tuesday for the first time since traders got excited over talk of new OPEC+ production cuts, with crude prices gaining almost 2% ahead of the release of weekly U.S. inventory data. New York-traded  West Texas Intermediate, or , settled up $1.79, or 2.2%, at $81.53 per barrel.  WTI’s session high of $81.57, however, fell short of the  $81.81 peak achieved in the heat of the OPEC+ announcement on April 4 that it was taking off another 1.7 million barrels daily from global output…

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The logo for Goldman Sachs is seen on the trading floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, New York, U.S., November 17, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly By Chris Prentice and Kanishka Singh NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A Goldman Sachs & Co (NYSE:) unit has agreed to pay $15 million to settle U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) charges that it failed to make proper disclosures and communicate fairly to swap customers, the regulator saidon Monday. In 2015 and 2016, Goldman opportunistically sold clients on so-called “same-day” swaps at times that financially benefited the…

The Bank of England said Megan Greene will replace Silvana Tenreyro as an external member, for a three-year term starting in July. Greene is currently global chief economist at Kroll and according to the central bank “has a broad understanding of financial markets internationally and significant experience of advising leaders on the potential impacts of global macroeconomic developments.” Tenreyro, one of the most dovish monetary policy committee voters, has been on the central bank since July 2017. External members are allowed to serve two three-year terms. Read the full article here

One year after credit-reporting firms removed certain medical debt from U.S. consumers’ credit reports, 70% of the debt is no longer visible on their reports. Last year, the three major credit bureaus in the U.S., Equifax EFX, +1.55%, Experian EXPN, -0.90%, and TransUnion TRU, +1.33%, said they would stop counting certain medical debt in credit reports. The proposed change was a major overhaul in how medical debt was factored into an individual’s financial performance. Last year, as MarketWatch has reported, the three credit bureaus announced that they would stop including medical debts in collections before being paid, but that came…

Just how much pressure American car buyers can bear is going to be a question automotive investors will wrestle with in 2023. It feels almost impossible that the answer will end up being positive for automotive-related stocks, though the consumer’s resilience up to this point has been something to behold. The percentage of people paying $1,000-plus a month for their personal transportation hit a record in the first quarter: 16.8% of consumers who financed a new vehicle are paying four-digit figures, according to auto industry data provider Edmunds. That compares with 15.7% in the fourth quarter of 2022 and 10.3%…

U.S. stock indexes traded mostly higher on Tuesday as investors cautiously looked ahead to March’s inflation data due Wednesday that could determine the Federal Reserve’s next interest-rate move, as well as to the start of the corporate earnings reporting season on Friday. How are stock indexes trading The S&P 500 SPX, +0.30% rose 14 point, or 0.4%, to 4,123 Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.53% added 176 points, or 0.5%, to 33,763 Nasdaq Composite COMP, -0.12% dropped 3 points, or less than 0.1%, to 12,081 On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 101 points, or 0.3%, to 33,587, the…

One day after China simulated “joint precision strikes” on Taiwan during military exercises around the island, Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu condemned Beijing’s actions in an exclusive interview with CNN and warned that “they seem to be trying to get ready to launch a war against Taiwan.” “Look at the military exercises, and also their rhetoric, they seem to be trying to get ready to launch a war against Taiwan,” Wu said. “The Taiwanese government looks at the Chinese military threat as something that cannot be accepted and we condemn it.” Asked if Taiwan has any sense of the timing…

A debate is emerging among top Federal Reserve officials about whether to plough forward with another interest rate increase amid diverging opinions over the magnitude of a potential credit crunch stemming from the recent banking turmoil. Austan Goolsbee, president of the Chicago Fed, called for “prudence and patience” in setting monetary policy, in prepared remarks ahead of a speech at the Economic Club of Chicago, saying it was unclear how much regional banks might pull back on lending following the implosion of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank last month.“Given how uncertainty abounds about where these financial headwinds are going,…

In 2022, Euronav NV (NYSE:EURN) reported revenue of $855 million, up 104% YoY, driven by hiked spot rates. According to Figure 1, EURN’s VLCC average spot rate increased from $11300/d in 2021 to $27600/d in 2022. Also, its Suezmax spot rate increased from $11100/d in 2021 to $31200/d in 2022. It is important to know that EURN’s VLCC 2022 average time charter rate which didn’t change so much compared to 2021, was 55% higher than its VLCC average spot rate. The company’s loss of $339 million in 2021 turned into a profit of $203 million in 2022. Considering the net…