Investments

• Saturday, May 27th 2017 - 08:32 UTC

  Moody's lowers Brazil's credit outlook; Meirelles confident the reform agenda will be approved

  

  Brazil's economy is clearly growing again after a severe recession and will be shielded from a political crisis by widespread support for the government's reform agenda, Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles said, despite the fact Moody's on Friday announced it was lowering the country's credit outlook.

• Wednesday, May 24th 2017 - 08:36 UTC

  World's second largest economy has its credit rating downgraded by Moody's

  

  China has received a downgrade on its credit score, on worries about the future state of the economy. Moody's Investors Services brought down China's long-term local currency and foreign currency issuer ratings by one notch to Aa3 from A1, a move that could lead to a rise in the cost of borrowing for the Chinese government and state-owned enterprises. The ratings agency also changed its outlook for China to stable from negative.

• Wednesday, May 24th 2017 - 07:22 UTC

  US households debt at new record high and manageable, but students loans remain “stubbornly high”

  

  The United States debt level reached a record high this year, surpassing the peak touched just as the worst of the recession was taking hold in 2008, and marking a milestone for households that now lean less on mortgages and more on auto and student loans

• Wednesday, May 24th 2017 - 07:10 UTC

  Record number of investments from overseas in Scotland during 2016

  

  Scotland won a record number of investments from overseas in 2016, although growth was substantially lower than the previous year. There were 122 foreign direct investment deals done over the course of last year, up from 119 in 2015.

• Tuesday, May 23rd 2017 - 11:17 UTC

  Latin American exports rebound in first quarter of 2017 pushed by commodity prices

  

  After four consecutive years of contraction, Latin American and Caribbean exports returned to a path of growth. In the first quarter of 2017, the value of goods exports increased 17% year-on-year, having contracted 2.9% in 2016.

• Monday, May 22nd 2017 - 07:00 UTC

  Venezuela: over fifty people killed in fifty days of protests

  

  A young demonstrator has died from a gunshot wound to the chest, raising to over 50 the number of people killed in fifty days of protests targeting Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, officials said Sunday. The president personally denounced a brutal attack on another man he said had been taken for a government supporter during one of several massive demonstrations across the country Saturday demanding early elections.

• Saturday, May 20th 2017 - 09:02 UTC

  Macri returns from Beijing with US$ 17bn for infrastructure and energy projects

  

  Argentine President Mauricio Macri and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping have signed in Beijing 16 agreements worth at least US$17 billion in areas such as energy and transport infrastructure, confirming the close links between the two countries.

• Thursday, May 18th 2017 - 17:36 UTC

  YPF targets US$ 10 cost per barrel at Vaca Muerta shale deposits, by end of 2018

  

  Argentina's oil corporation YPF plans to match United States costs in developing non conventional energy, by the end of 2018. This refers to the very rich shale deposits of Vaca Muerta, with a target of 10 dollars per barrel and for this purpose it has started a program of experimental drillings.

• Wednesday, May 17th 2017 - 15:53 UTC

  Petrobras performance improving: largest quarterly earnings in two years

  

  Brazilian state-controlled oil company Petrobras reported its largest quarterly earnings in two years as crude prices rose and the government allowed it to sell fuel at a profit in the domestic market. Petrobras posted a 4.5 billion reais net profit (US$ 1.4bn) in the January to March period, reversing a 1.25 billion reais loss (US$ 400 million) in the first three months of 2016.

• Tuesday, May 16th 2017 - 07:32 UTC

  JP Morgan buys new office building in Dublin which can accommodate 1.000 staff

  

  JP Morgan, the US investment bank, has bought a new office building in Dublin that can accommodate up to 1,000 staff. The bank said the purchase reflected its thriving existing business in Dublin, where it employs 500 staff, however the new office may provide space for hundreds of JP Morgan workers that it plans to relocate from London following the Brexit decision.