Investment world

A top United States policy maker made positive remarks about Bitcoin. St. Louis Fed president  James Bullard  identified positive aspects of cryptocurrency, saying that crypto is “facilitating trade that would not otherwise occur. Some of that’s illegal, but some of that is avoiding costs that would otherwise be there.” Asked whether Bitcoin was a threat to the US dollar, Bullard voiced uncertainty about the potential competition the leading cryptocurrency could pose, saying, “I don’t think so at this point […]. We don’t know how the future’s going to unfold.” “My idea is that there’s a lot of currency competition going on right now,” and he added:  “The dollar has been the winner historically because it’s backed by the largest economy and a relatively stable policy in terms of low inflation and that’s going to be tough to beat. But a lot of people here want to beat it.” Regarding the blockchain, Bullard was much more openly bullish, saying “…we t...

Important economic news related to the Eurozone, the Inflation Rate in Germany and in the Euro-area should move the Euro today, after the important economic data of GDP Growth yesterday. Any soft data on the Inflation Rate in the Eurozone will lower bets on ECB changing its monetary policy in 2018. There are economic releases that have the potential to move also the US and the Australian Dollar, and the Japanese Yen. Overall moderate to high volatility is expected mostly for the Euro versus other currencies. Key economic events to focus on today in the forex market: European Session Germany: Inflation Rate YoY Final, France: IEA Oil Market Report, Eurozone: ECB Non-Monetary Policy Meeting, Inflation Rate MoM, Core Inflation Rate YoY Final, Inflation Rate YoY Final, ECB President Draghi Speech, ECB Coeure Speech, ECB Praet Speech, Switzerland: SNB Chair Jordan Speech Time: 06:00 GMT, 08:00 GMT, 09:00 GMT, 12:00 GMT, 12:30 GMT, 14:30 GMT, 16:00 GMT “The Eurozone consumer pr...

Whatever your net worth, there are a growing number of ways to invest in women's success. Last year State Street launched the SPDR SSGA Gender Diversity Index ETF (SHE), which invests in large-cap U.S. companies that rank high in their sectors for women in senior management. With an annual expense of just 20 basis points, it already has more than $350 million in assets. PAX World Investments offers the three-year-old Ellevate Global Women's Index Fund (PXWEX) in concert with Sallie Krawcheck, the cofounder of ElleVest. There's a 90-basis-point annual charge and $1,000 investment minimum. The fund has $175 million in assets and has beaten the global-equity benchmark MSCI World Index. Motif Investing, an online platform that packages fractional shares of individual stocks into portfolios, allows you to buy into its No Glass Ceiling Motif, for a $9.95 trading fee, with a $250 minimum. It's made up of public companies run by women, including PepsiCo, IBM, Oracle, Lo...

Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc has navigated the storm of headwinds as the insurer returned to profit on the back of increased investment income. This stellar performance means the company is steadfast in its primary objective of maximizing the stakeholders’ wealth. For the year ended December 2017, Mutual Benefit’s posted a profit after tax of N1.02 billion from a loss of N1.34 billion recorded in 2016. The impressive performance was driven by a 174.09 percent surge income from treasury bills of N910.82 million in the period under review. Income from treasury bills form part of investment income of insurers. Some financial institutions made money from short term government securities when yields were between 18 percent and 22 percent from late 2016 to September 2017 as government intensified issuance of treasury bills to fund a budget deficit and curb inflation. However, yields on treasury bills have fallen to an all time low of 12 percent as government launch an aggressiv...

The much talk about and profitable trading in cryptocurrencies has met dead end as Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe stopped local banks from trading or processing their payments. The apex bank Governor, Mr. John Mangudya, said on Monday in Harare that the central bank had not licensed anyone to trade in cryptocurrencies and that dealers and investors did not have the protection of the law. Cryptocurrency such as bitcoins is a digital or virtual currency in which coded techniques are used to regulate the generation of units of currency and verify the transfer of funds.The much talk about and profitable trading in cryptocurrencies has met dead end as Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe stopped local banks from trading or processing their payments. It operates independently of a country’s central bank. Mangudya said that the Reserve Bank had directed all banking institutions not to provide banking services to facilitate any person or entity in dealing with or settling virtual (crypto) currencies. ...

The forex market economic calendar today has several important economic data related to the economies of Germany, Eurozone, UK, US, Canada and Japan, with a focus on the GDP Growth Rate in Germany, Eurozone and Japan. Moderate to high volatility is expected for the Euro, the Japanese Yen and the US Dollar and price action which could move the market may be evident both in the European Session and later in the American Session. Key economic events for today in the forex market to focus on: European Session Germany: GDP Growth Rate QoQ Flash, GDP Growth Rate YoY Flash, ZEW Current Conditions, ZEW Economic Sentiment Index, Norway: GDP Growth Rate QoQ and YoY, Eurozone: Meeting on Iran, Industrial Production MoM and YoY, ZEW Economic Sentiment Index, GDP Growth Rate YoY 2 nd  Estimate, UK: Average Earnings Including Bonus, Unemployment Rate, Claimant Count Change, Employment Change Time: 06:00 GMT, 08:00 GMT, 08:30 GMT, 09:00 GMT The Eurozone GDP Growth Rate and the Indust...

A key fed official says the US should keep its growing debt load in mind as it plans to increase government spending. The US Should Watch Its Debt Before “Things Get Out of Hand” Loretta Mester, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, says the US needs to watch its growing debt pile. In her view the country’s national debt load is on the verge of “getting out of hand”. According to data from GAO, the General Accounting Office, the US national public debt is already sitting at 75% and expected to double over the next 30 years as government spending continues to grow. The International Monetary Fund says the US is the only advanced economy in which debt-to-GDP is expected to grow in the next 5 years. “I think we have to be taking into account the health of U.S. economy, in terms of are we on a sustained fiscal path?” Mester replied. “And I do think that’s something we should be thinking of now as we go forward, and not waiting till things get too far out of hand.” ...