China’s stock exchanges, Shanghai and Shenzhen, can be hard nuts to crack—at least for anyone who is not Chinese. H-shares, shares of Chinese companies traded on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, are attracting increasing interest from foreign investors. They are inexpensive at the moment compared to China’s A-shares, but that shouldn’t last much longer—now may be the time to act.
Precious metals are viewed as safe investment havens, especially when other options suffer volatility; and perhaps surprisingly the metal leading the commodity pack so far in 2017 is palladium, used primarily by manufacturers of gasoline and hybrid vehicles. But before draining your bank account to invest in the precious metal, consider some factors that may make it not the wisest choice for the long-term.
The US dollar is the world’s reserve currency, the representation of US economic might on the global stage and the de facto currency unit for the overwhelming majority of financial assets.
On August 8, US bank Goldman Sachs reported that the amount raised by cryptocurrency and blockchain start-up companies through early-stage venture-capital funding had been surpassed by that raised by ICOs (initial coin offerings) during the months of June and July.
Chile has been one of South America’s mainstays, lauded as possibly the continent’s wealthiest and most stable country. But the Chilean economy, the health of which is heavily dependent on copper exports, has suffered greatly since the decline of the commodity super-cycle in 2014-15, and credit-rating agencies are showing no mercy—making life even more difficult for the country’s incumbent government.
The fears that caused a downturn in Mexican stocks are beginning to lift, revealing resilient and buoyant performance as the country’s main stock index, Mexbol, hits record highs. The run-up to the US presidential election stoked fears amongst international markets as the Republican candidate
Just when the US coal industry had been persuaded that its glory days were over, President Donald Trump came to the rescue with his Energy Independence Executive Order. Coal executives rejoiced, but even the president may not be able to save an industry that is being battered by something more serious than “clean” government regulations, and that is competition from alternative power sources.
Malaysia—beset by scandal, political turmoil, dropping oil prices and falling currency—hasn’t appeared to be the land of opportunity to investors in recent years. But 2017 has brought hope of a turnaround to this Southeast Asian emerging-market economy, with factors such as improved trade performance, infrastructure development and a stabilizing currency resulting in renewed investor confidence on the nation’s markets.
Stock markets have undergone some fairly seismic structural changes over the last 10 years or so. Arguably the most ground-breaking of these changes has been the advent of exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
The threat of catastrophic consequences from rampant global warming has given rise to a relatively new financial instrument, the green bond, issued by governments and institutions that are successfully combining healthy financial returns with equally healthy measures to tackle environmentally unhealthy carbon emissions. These investments are now regarded as an integral part of the global effort to combat climate change.