Russia’s bumper grain harvest raises fears of glut
Russia will begin gathering grain crops this week in a harvest that promises to be large enough to fill home tables and leave a large surplus for export.
But what might be good news for consumers in Russia and around the world will pose a challenge for rival grain producers competing for market share.
Video: South Africa aims for infrastructure boost
All-seater stadia, new airports and a state-of-the-art railway network – more than $5bn has been poured into infrastructure projects as South Africa prepares to host the 2010 football World Cup. As Richard Lapper, the FT’s South Africa bureau chief, explains, most view this expenditure as an investment in the country’s economic future. Those on the margins, however, are less convinced.
Americas markets wrap: Falling metals prices weigh on Brazilian stocks
Latin American markets fell after a day of choppy trading as investors weighed uncertainty over global growth and stability.
“Specific fears about Europe and the banks have morphed into general fear,” Anthony Dwyer, chief equity strategist at Collins Stewart in New York, told the FT. “There’s no obvious resolution on the horizon for China’s slowdown, not for the US unemployment problem, or even the oil spill.”
The re-branding of Vladimir Putin
Is Vladimir Putin, the quintessential hard guy of Russian politics, turning into a liberal softie?
Through two terms as president, now turned prime minister, Mr Putin cut a legacy for himself as a tough autocrat who preached confrontation with the west and Russia’s reliance on oil and gas resources to be an “energy superpower”.
Now that political model looks obsolete, following nearly two years of economic crisis and slow recovery.
Venezuela sets new forex rules, but questions linger
They said it would take Venezuela two weeks to come up with the new currency trading rules for its multi-tiered exchange rate. Instead it took three – not bad for Hugo Chávez’s Bolivarian revolution, whose track record on following through with announcements on time is shaky.
But, then again, the new rules are incomplete.
Most important, they don’t explain how the central bank will determine the value of the bolívar against the dollar in its “free market”, alongside Venezuela’s two other fixed exchange rates.
TNK-BP gas field saga shows difficulties of doing business in Russia
When TNK-BP, the Russian-British oil venture, pushed the unit that owns its vast Kovykta gas field into bankruptcy last week, it was the latest twist in a long-running saga that highlights how difficult it is to business in Russia.
The move is either an act of desperation or a clever trick designed to trigger a sale of the field and win back the $600m investment TNK-BP has put into Kovykta. Either way, it is most unlikely to mark the end of the story.
Serbia and Croatia: caught in the crossfire
With both Greece and Hungary in the financial firing line, it is little surprise that the countries located between Athens and Budapest are trying to keep their heads down. The states of the former Yugoslavia, headed by Serbia and Croatia, the two biggest, have noticed mounting pressure on their currencies, which are all tied to a greater or lesser extent to the euro.
Like small trade-dependent economies elsewhere, they can try to mitigate the impact of the international turmoil but cannot escape it. Serbia today sold €80m from its reserve to limit reverberations on the local dinar. “Since the beginning of this year, we’ve sold €1bn in order to amortise too-large daily fluctuations,” Radovan Jelasic, bank governor, told the FT. “Regional events are having the main impact on exchange rates now.”
Uruguay’s president has just $2,000 to his name
The sworn income statement of José Mujica, Uruguay’s new president, makes interesting reading – especially after Britain’s recent MP expenses scandal.
They show that the blunt-talking 75-year-old former leftist rebel, who was imprisoned for 14 years under his country’s dictatorship, has a personal fortune of just $2,000.
The sections for properties and shares on the statement, filed according to law, are all scored through and the debts sections are also blank.
Market wobbles and scant information won’t halt Agricultural Bank’s leap of faith
Perhaps in normal circumstances you would expect a flood of informed analysis on what could be the world’s largest initial public offering.
But when it comes to Agricultural Bank of China’s impending IPO, scheduled for the middle of July, there is an alarming lack of information from credible analysts or market commentators.
When asked for their opinion on a listing that could raise between $20bn and $30bn, most media-friendly China-watching analysts apologetically decline to comment.
CEE markets snapshot: Equities lower, but currencies show signs of calm
The equity markets of central and eastern Europe were lower on Monday after sharp falls in the US and Asia, but the currency markets were a little more relaxed following sharp losses on Friday on the back of comments from Hungary about the possibility of defaulting on its debt.
The forint gained 0.5 per cent to Ft286.20 against the euro after Hungary’s government agreed to cut spending, and sought to play down the comments from last week that caused so much damage to equity and emerging markets. The Budapest SE index, however, fell 1.7 per cent to 20,924.21.
Second Foxconn wage hike marks wider change in strategy
Being forced to raise wages by the levels that Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn, has done over the past few weeks is usually bad for the bottom line, especially for a company that operates on large volumes and razor-thin margins.
Indeed, some analysts had downgraded Hon Hai – or at least spoke alarmingly of how increasing labour costs would hurt margins – after the world’s biggest contract electronics maker last week said it would increase the minimum wages of its workers by 30 per cent from July 1.
Yet yesterday’s surprise announcement that Hon Hai would now give workers who reach certain performance standards another 66 per cent pay rise from October 1 prompted quite a different reaction.
Asia markets wrap: US jobs and Chinese banks send equities lower
Traders’ fears that Asian markets could have more to lose than most from the stuttering US economic recovery hit sentiment, with exporters left particularly vulnerable.
The appetite for fresh capital at two major Chinese banks also cast shadow over the major indices on the mainland — Agricultural Bank of China, the nation’s fourth-biggest lender by assets, is planning a $30bn initial public offering while the Bank of Communications announced plans to cut its rights issue by a fifth, sending mixed signals to an already fragile market.
The Proton saga rolls on as a potential partner walks away, again
As Oscar Wilde almost said, to lose a buyer once is unfortunate, but three times looks like downright carelessness.
This is the position that Malaysia’s state-controlled carmaker Proton finds itself in today after admitting that talks with Germany’s Volkswagen have been called off for the third time in six years.
Hungary: (mis)managing market expectations
Hungary’s new government still can’t get it right. Ministers did well to act quickly over the weekend and today to contain the damage done by last week’s ill-advised warning from a ruling party official that Hungary could be the next Greece. But the pledge to stick to a sensible 2010 deficit target of 3.8 per cent of GDP were surrounded by a welter of other confusing signals, not least unconfirmed talk of a special bank tax.
The Budapest stock market plunged 9.6 per cent in early trading and shares in OTP, the leading bank, were briefly suspended after falling 10 per cent. Later, sentiment recovered slightly and the market was trading at around 4 per cent lower, with OTP 5.8 per cent down, but investors remained very nervous about the government’s intentions. The forint swung back and forth against the euro and was trading slightly higher in late morning trading at 287.25.
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