Investments

• Thursday, February 12th 2015 - 06:02 UTC

  Holdouts open new front in dispute with Argentina: officials dramatic increase in their personal wealth

  

  US holders of defaulted Argentine bonds have stepped up their campaign for full repayment of their loans by detailing how 14 senior Argentine officials experienced “dramatic and often unexplained increases” in their personal wealth during service in the Kirchner administrations.

• Tuesday, February 10th 2015 - 05:45 UTC

  S&P downgrades Venezuela long term credit rating to CCC

  

  Ratings agency Standard and Poor's on Monday downgraded Venezuelan long-term credit ratings to CCC from CCC+, citing falling oil prices and the government's failure to address economic distortions.

• Saturday, February 7th 2015 - 05:33 UTC

  Gauguin's “When will you marry me” painting sold in 300 million dollars

  

  A new record price for an artwork, nearly 300 million dollars, may have been achieved with the sale of a Paul Gauguin canvas by a Swiss collector. The buyer is rumored to be the Qatar Museums.

• Friday, February 6th 2015 - 23:02 UTC

  Qatar Airways takes 10% of IAG, owner of British Airways and Iberia

  

  Qatar Airways has emerged as the owner of a 10% stake in International Airlines Group (IAG), the owner of British Airways (BA) and Iberia. The Gulf airline is already a member of the Oneworld Alliance.

• Thursday, February 5th 2015 - 11:10 UTC

  Cristina Fernandez hails 'strategic partnership' with China; blasts Argentine industry for mistrusting agreements

  

  President Cristina Fernandez expressed her satisfaction for the over 1,000 businessmen that attended the Argentinean-Chinese forum she presided in Beijing and praised the 'strategic partnership' with China. The president also rejected criticism voiced by the Argentine Industrial Union (UIA) against her trip to China and the bilateral deals reached.

• Tuesday, February 3rd 2015 - 00:10 UTC

  Falklands' oil drilling program confirmed; rig from Western Africa on its way

  

  Falkland Oil and Gas Ltd has confirmed that the Eirik Raude rig has commenced mobilization from West Africa to the Falkland Islands for the 2015 drilling program, which will be operated by Premier Oil and Noble Energy.

• Sunday, February 1st 2015 - 21:52 UTC

  First tranche of Chinese loan to build dams in Argentine Patagonia; CFK en route to Beijing

  

  The construction of the Nestor Kirchner and Jorge Cepernic dams in Santa Cruz, Patagonia is finally set to begin now that China has deposited the first 287.7 million dollars tranche of funding for the massive 4.71 billion project, Argentine President Cristina Fernández announced before leaving for a state visit to China.

• Saturday, January 31st 2015 - 10:44 UTC

  Moody's downgrades Petrobras credit rating because of corruption scandal

  

  Moody's Investors Service has downgraded the credit rating of Brazil's state-owned oil company Petrobras because of the widening kickback-corruption scandal affecting the country's largest corporation.The credit rating agency announced its decision late Thursday in a statement posted on its website.

• Saturday, January 31st 2015 - 09:30 UTC

  Despite fourth quarter blip US economy fundamentals remain robust with strong tailwind

  

  US economic growth slowed sharply in the fourth quarter as weak business spending and a wider trade deficit offset the fastest pace of consumer spending since 2006. GDP expanded at a 2.6% annual pace after the third quarter's spectacular 5%, the Commerce Department said in its first fourth-quarter GDP snapshot.

• Thursday, January 22nd 2015 - 11:36 UTC

  Oil price collapse hurting some more than others

  

  U.S. oil and gas rig counts dropped to their lowest level in over four years, falling by an additional 74 units for the week ending on January 16. The lower count provides fresh evidence that low oil prices are forcing drillers to pare back operations and slash spending.