By Andrei Skvarsky. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, KPMG, PwC and EY arouse a lot less interest among job seekers worldwide than one would have expected what with their prestige and lavish salaries, a study by the MoneyTransfers.com company suggests. Online reviews of Amazon by current and former employees of the e-commerce giant are looked up… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Views
Russian industry back to pre-Covid output levels – Matrix Capital chief
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s industry returned to its pre-pandemic output levels in the second quarter of 2021 and the country’s economy as a whole is likely to do so by the end of the year, according to the head of Russian investment boutique Matrix Capital. Russian industry’s resumption of pre-Covid production levels is shown by… Continue Reading
Russian financier upbeat about Kazakhstan’s ‘undervalued’ Halyk Bank, about Kazakh economy
By Andrei Skvarsky. Kazakhstan’s biggest lender, Halyk Bank, is “fundamentally undervalued”, a distinguished Russian financier has said, citing upbeat statistics released by the Kazakh institution. For the first quarter of 2021, Halyk reported a year-on-year net profit that was 5 per cent up on the first three months of 2020 and higher than consensus forecasts.… Continue Reading
Rouble volatility in Q2 mainly caused by OPEC+ output deal delay – Matrix
By Andrei Skvarsky. The Russian rouble’s unusual volatility in the second quarter of 2021 was chiefly caused by uncertainties over the then inability of the OPEC cartel and other key oil producing nations to agree output volumes because of a dispute that was only settled by July 18, according to Russian investment firm Matrix Capital.… Continue Reading
Belgium has Europe’s best job opportunities for LGBT+ people – Reboot
By Andrei Skvarsky. Belgium is the European country with the best employment and career opportunities for LGBT+ people while the labour markets of Cyprus and Lithuania have some of Europe’s scantiest offers to make to members of sexual and gender minorities, a study by digital PR company Reboot suggests. Luxembourg is the second- and Denmark… Continue Reading
Ether arouses more interest in U.S. than anywhere else – Invezz
By Andrei Skvarsky. The Ether cryptocurrency arouses much more interest in the United States than anywhere else in the world, a study by investment intelligence company Invezz suggests. There are 11 European countries in Invezz’s ranking of the world’s 20 nations showing the greatest interest in ether and sifted from 155 countries covered by the… Continue Reading
Sberbank: assets held abroad not easy to get in Russian bankruptcy cases
By Andrei Skvarsky. Receivers and creditors in Russia often come up against legal and other hurdles in trying to seize assets that insolvent debtors have abroad, according to a senior manager at Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank. About 5 per cent of Russia’s businesspeople own money or property abroad, mainly in the United States, France and… Continue Reading
GUEST POST: How to invest in the booming SPAC space
By Sylvia Jablonski, chief investment officer of Defiance ETFs, a New York-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs) sponsor and investment advisory.* Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) are formed to take other companies public, and in 2021 they overtook the traditional initial public offering (IPO) route as the numerically more popular way for growing businesses to become publicly… Continue Reading
ActivTrades: Inflation concerns a key world stock market factor
An analyst at London-based financial broker ActivTrades has argued that mixed developments in global stock markets this week are “broadly a reflection of lingering inflation concerns”. Investors expect an early rise in inflation in the United States because of the current successful vaccine rollouts there, technical analyst Pierre Veyret said in a statement. On the… Continue Reading
Financial literacy in UK not very high – Uswitch survey
By Andrei Skvarsky. A survey by British price comparison service Uswitch suggests that the average Briton is not too savvy about financial terminology with about one-fifth of the British failing to fully understand the term “pension” and about a quarter not being completely sure what “interest rate” means. Investment jargon is a set of financial… Continue Reading
Interest in cryptos high in U.S., Asia but Europe less excited – Invezz.com
By Andrei Skvarsky. The United States is the country most interested in cryptocurrency and there is wide-scale interest in crypto in Asia but Europe is far less excited, according to online investment intelligence company Invezz.com. India is in second place as regards interest in cryptocurrency, according to an Invezz.com study that evaluated the degree of… Continue Reading
Cashless society idea disliked in the West but popular in Asia – MoneyTransfers.com
By Andrei Skvarsky. The idea of complete replacement of banknotes and coins with electronic money is by and large rejected by Western society but has majority support in larger Asian nations, research by the MoneyTransfers.com consultancy and polling company YouGov suggests. Just a quarter of Americans would like the United States to go cashless, according… Continue Reading
ActivTrades: Pound’s good showing reflects expectations of ‘big economic rebound’ in UK
London-based broker ActivTrades attributes sterling’s current steady winning of ground from the U.S. dollar and euro to generally successful anti-COVID vaccinations in Britain, which have enabled the government to set a roadmap to lifting COVID-related restrictions by June. The scrapping of restrictions is expected to bring about a “big economic rebound”, an outlook that “is… Continue Reading
ActivTrades analyst: U.S. rates unlikely to rise, so dollar likely to edge down
A key analyst at London-headquartered financial brokerage ActivTrades on February 23 reiterated his earlier forecast that interest rates in the United States are unlikely to rise any time soon and that this would make the dollar edge down. “Any hints” to a Federal Reserve plan to raise interest rates in reacting to rising inflation could… Continue Reading
ActivTrades analyst: U.S. labour market data likeliest cause of dollar’s Feb 19 drop
The U.S. dollar’s further slide in the morning on February 19 after losses the day before was most likely a reaction to rather bleak statistics on employment in the United States, argues Ricardo Evangelista, senior analyst at London-based foreign exchange broker ActivTrades. According to Evangelista, the greenback’s February 18 dip was attributable to a Federal… Continue Reading
ActivTrades: Fed policy may push dollar further down after currency’s slight setback
A key analyst at London-based foreign exchange broker ActivTrades predicts possible further weakness for the U.S. dollar, which was on the back foot during the start of February 18 trade after winning some ground from other major currencies during the first half of the week. ActivTrades senior analyst Ricardo Evangelista bases his forecast on the… Continue Reading
ActiveTrades expects WTI’s Feb 11 price to stay on for a while, is bullish on gold
London-based foreign exchange broker ActiveTrades said it did not believe that WTI oil, after going up for a few days and staying between $58 and $58.50 per barrel on February 11, was currently strong enough for a further rise. However, the price might get a boost from potential future stimulus measures by central banks, according… Continue Reading
RenCap: Russian GDP to grow faster than most analysts expect
By Andrei Skvarsky. Investment bank Renaissance Capital predicts economic growth of between 2 and 6 per cent for 2021 for the majority of former Soviet republics and expects Russia to end the year with a gross domestic product increase of 3.8 percent. The Russian percentage is higher than the consensus forecast, RenCap’s economist for Russia… Continue Reading
ActivTrades: Pound doing better than dollar, euro, due to good start of UK Covid vaccination
London-based foreign exchange broker ActivTrades has reported the British pound to have done better than the dollar or the euro in early January 27 trading, attributing this to perceived investor optimism brought about by Britain’s successful start of Covid-19 vaccination. Markets see the successful roll-out of the AstraZeneca vaccine in Britain, where coronavirus has killed… Continue Reading
Waning of risk-on feelings getting the dollar up – ActivTrades
London-headquartered financial brokerageActivTrades argues that recent risk-on sentiments in financial markets about U.S. monetary policies are going away and that this explains the current edging up of the dollar versus other principal currencies. With the Democrats having won control of the White House and both houses of Congress, the Federal Reserve is likely to move… Continue Reading
Russia’s Sberbank upbeat about its Islamic finance record
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank’s business areas include Islamic finance, and Russia’s biggest lender has shown good performance in this field in 2020, according to a statement from the bank. Sberbank, which is currently rebranding itself as Sber, has obtained regulatory approval in Russia and the United Arab Emirates for opening a subsidiary in Abu Dhabi,… Continue Reading
U.S. asset manager Castlestone: Biden victory, split Congress super news for stock markets
By Andrei Skvarsky. U.S. asset manager Castlestone Management argues that Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the Unites States’ presidential election and a Congress split between Democrats and Republicans after recent polls will most likely give a powerful boost to American stock markets. Investment in equities normally increases after elections anyway, but, historically, having a Democratic… Continue Reading
RenCap: Ex-Soviet Georgia’s economy making relatively quick recovery from Covid-caused crisis
The former Soviet republic of Georgia is showing a “decent” rate of recovery from the economic crisis caused by Covid-19 despite a significant decline in tourism, one of its main industries, according to analysts at investment bank Renaissance Capital. RenCap economists Sofya Donets and Andrei Melaschenko say in a report they expect the 2020 gross… Continue Reading
Reuters Events, Foss & Co. release whitepaper on tax credit investment advantages
Reuters Events and tax credit specialists Foss & Company have brought out a whitepaper advocating tax credit investing as a form of investment meeting environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria. You may access the whitepaper here. Investing funds made available through tax credits is a major underused strategy but it “could enable companies to significantly… Continue Reading
RenCap: Rouble’s recent weakening predictable
Investment bank Renaissance Capital argues that the weakening of the rouble over the past few weeks has been predictable and is mainly the result of post-lockdown increases in consumption and in demand for imports and foreign currency in Russia. On July 31, the rouble hit its lowest mark in three months, dropping to a little… Continue Reading
Matrix Capital: Russia’s financial system has made quick post-Covid recovery but rest of economy still in trouble
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian asset manager Matrix Capital says Russia’s financial markets have made a remarkably quick recovery from blows inflicted by the Covid-19 pandemic but that the rest of the country’s economy remains in a “very alarming” state. “By and large, financial markets are making an unprecedentedly quick post-crisis recovery, especially if one draws… Continue Reading
EXCLUSIVE: BCS Global Markets banker: retail investment likely to boost Russia’s stock market
A senior figure at investment bank BCS Global Markets argues that Russian retail investment is likely to produce an upsurge in Russia’s stock market because of the total volume of retail deposits in Russian banks, recent interest rate cuts, low taxation, and competent advice from banks and companies. Russia’s stock market is already experiencing an… Continue Reading
Banker explains Lombard Odier’s resilience vs Covid-caused meltdowns
By Andrei Skvarsky. Swiss private banking group Lombard Odier has mainly owed its ability to stay afloat amid market meltdowns caused by the Covid-19 pandemic to not being listed on any stock exchange, to the focused nature of its business and to its level of capitalisation, according to one of its senior managers. Independence –… Continue Reading
RenCap expects less dramatic Russian GDP decrease than generally foreseen
By Andrei Skvarsky. Investment bank Renaissance Capital has reaffirmed its forecast that Russia’s gross domestic product for 2020 will be 2.5 per cent down on 2019, which defies the consensus forecast of a decrease of more than 4 per cent. In reiterating RenCap’s prediction, senior economist Sofya Donets made the reservation that the overall situation… Continue Reading