Welcome back. This weekend I’m looking at war fatigue in Europe and the US, and the impact of western sanctions on Russia. But first, thanks for voting in last week’s poll. Some 58 per cent of readers said yes, the European Central Bank would use its new bond-buying instrument to help Italy, and 22 per
Fabio Araujo, Director of the Central Bank of Brazil, has praised the properties of Bitcoin, saying it is a financial innovation using new technologies. To Araujo, Bitcoin was the catalyst for what is today known as Web3. At an event, Araujo also commented about the status of the development of the digital real, stating that
According to the latest data from the Turkish Statistical Institute, the country’s annual inflation rate for the month of July was 79.6%, the highest in 24 years. Rising transportation costs, food and non-alcoholic beverages were some of the product categories that contributed to the overall rate increase. Transportation Costs Rose the Most Turkey’s consumer inflation
Cold shower anyone? The hot water has been turned off in some German leisure centres. In Spain, energy savings measures are starting to bite. Offices, bars and shops are banned from adjusting the thermostat below 27C in summer or above 19C in winter. Temperature restrictions reflect the severity of Europe’s energy shortage. Soaring prices are
Your browser does not support playing this file but you can still download the MP3 file to play locally. The voting process in the contest for a new Tory leader and prime minister was delayed over security concerns, but the campaign continued with Liz Truss looking all but certain to win. We discuss her lines
A parliamentary group in the United Kingdom, the Crypto and Digital Assets All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), recently said it had launched an inquiry that will examine the country’s present approach to crypto and digital asset regulation. In addition to gathering information via evidence sessions, the APPG said it is also open to views from
After touching a new all-time low of N710 per dollar in late July, a new report says the Nigerian currency has rebounded by as much as 10%. After initially blaming speculators, the Central Bank of Nigeria has said importers who fail to remit forex earnings may be contributing to the naira’s depreciation. Naira Depreciation Less
Exactly one month ago today, bitcoin was trading below $20,000 per unit as crypto markets continued to react to growing levels of inflation and central bank policy. However, a month later, the world’s leading crypto token has moved above $23,000, despite consumer prices rising to multi-decade highs. So with this in mind, where could bitcoin
Here we go again. The debate about the Parthenon Marbles in the British Museum — should they, shouldn’t they be returned to Greece, where a sparkling purpose-built museum overlooking the Acropolis from which the sculptures were wrenched by Lord Elgin from 1801-05 sits waiting for them — seems to go on for ever. It was
Even in a city noted for places freighted with the darker chapters of history, Plötzensee Prison is a distinctively grim spot on the Berlin map. The red and yellow brick mid-19th century facility, tucked away in the city’s western reaches near the now abandoned Tegel airport, gained infamy under the Nazis as one of the
Bordeaux Index, the world’s largest fine-wine trader, is toasting surging sales as investors flock to rare vintages in part as a hedge against rampant inflation. Revenues at the fine wine merchant reached £80mn in the six months to June 30, up 37 per cent on the same period last year. That puts the London-headquartered company
In days gone by, Conservatives used to be in favour of conserving things. Liz Truss, whose political identity was formed during the tumult of Margaret Thatcher’s premiership, is in a hurry to challenge orthodoxies, overhaul institutions, and generally shake things up. “There are things I very much care about conserving,” the foreign secretary said, looking
Liz Truss, the Tory leadership frontrunner, has rejected “handouts” as the best way to help households through the worst income squeeze in 60 years, promising instead tax cuts and radical economic reform. Truss, in an interview with the Financial Times, defied the “abacus economics” of the Treasury, insisting she would press ahead with tax cuts
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Vladimir Putin have pledged to deepen economic ties between their countries as Moscow seeks to soften the blow of western sanctions imposed over its invasion of Ukraine. After a four-hour meeting at Putin’s residence in Sochi on Friday, the Russian and Turkish presidents released a joint statement pledging to raise their
Municipals sold off Friday with the front end of the curve being hit the hardest, though damage was felt across the curve. Triple-A benchmarks outperformed a U.S. Treasury rout where yields rose double-digits, and equities were down near the close. Nearly all triple-A benchmark yields were cut six to 10 basis points and UST yields
Retired Wisconsin Capital Finance Director Frank Hoadley — who left an influential mark on the public finance industry as a champion of issuer advocacy and best marketplace practices — died unexpectedly this week. He was 77. Hoadley was traveling with his wife, Elizabeth, in Scotland when he died. “Frank Hoadley was a giant among the
See what steps and techniques you should do to trade for maximum profits and minimum risk.
Rishi Sunak, one of the Conservative leadership hopefuls, has sparked cross-party outrage after he was filmed telling party members in Tunbridge Wells how he had shifted money from “deprived urban areas” to fund projects in the Kent commuter belt. The former UK chancellor’s comments, made in a sun-drenched garden, appeared to cut across the government’s
The Bank of England has come under growing criticism from Conservative MPs who claim the central bank has been too slow in tackling surging inflation. Andrew Bailey, the bank’s governor, warned this week consumer price inflation, which already hit a 40-year high of 9.4 per cent in June, will exceed 13 per cent by the
Cryptocurrencies have failed to break the $1.1 trillion market capitalization resistance, which has been holding strong for the past 54 days. The two leading coins held back the market as Bitcoin (BTC) lost 2.5% and Ether (ETH) retraced 1% over the past seven days, but a handful of altcoins presented a robust rally. Crypto markets’