Archives for August 2019

“General Motors, which was once the Giant of Detroit, is now one of the smallest auto manufacturers there,” Trump tweeted on Friday. “They moved major plants to China, BEFORE I CAME INTO OFFICE. This was done despite the saving help given them by the USA. Now they should start moving back to America again?”

General Motors, which was once the Giant of Detroit, is now one of the smallest auto manufacturers there. They moved major plants to China, BEFORE I CAME INTO OFFICE. This was done despite the saving help given them by the USA. Now they should start moving back to America again?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 30, 2019

His words followed Bloomberg’s report that GM is now third behind Ford and Fiat Chrysler in the number of union workers it employs in the United States.

Trump, who promised to revive the US manufacturing sector on the campaign trail, pledged to cut regulations and taxes to make it more attractive for companies to work in the US.

Also on rt.com ‘You better get back in there soon’: Trump vows to get tough with General Motors over plant closures

Back in January 2017, he threatened American automakers with a 35 percent tariff on cars produced outside the US. The president met the chief executives of the big three American car manufacturers – General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler – to urge them to build more cars and create more jobs in the country.

For more stories on economy finance visit RT’s business section

Article source: https://www.rt.com/business/467631-trump-slams-gm-china/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

“They never should have taken rates to zero in 2008 and held them there for 7 years,” the veteran broker told RT. “Zero interest rates and quantitative easing have created problems in our economy that will take generations to fix. However, the healing will never get underway if the Fed goes right back to zero (which is where they are headed).”

According to Schiff, it’s impossible to build a viable economy on the back of artificially low interest rates. “All it accomplishes it to push up asset prices, creating bubbles and malinvestments that hurt the economy. Relying on low interest rates for growth makes it certain that recessions will ensue when monetary policy tightens.”

Also on rt.com US recession ‘the biggest concern’ amid Washington-Beijing trade conflict, warns Standard Chartered

A sustainable economy can only grow on the foundation of market-set interest rates, says Schiff, who predicted the 2008 financial crash. According to him, “the Fed is not causing the recession; they are just unable to delay it any longer.”

READ MORE: Trump says Fed ‘biggest problem’ for US economy, calls Powell ‘golfer who can’t putt’

For years, the expansion has been fueled by artificially low interest rates, but “the party is finally coming to an end.” Runaway government debt and the Trump tariffs provided the final push to tip us back toward an inevitable recession, Schiff said.

For more stories on economy finance visit RT’s business section

Article source: https://www.rt.com/business/467628-us-recession-coming-fed/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

The agreement between the two parties was signed during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Russia in June, when he met his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and took part in the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

The network became operational at the VDNKh (All-Russian Exhibition Center), one of the major attractions in the Russian capital, on Thursday. Functioning on the 28GHz and 4.9GHz frequency bands, it will test so-called Smart City technology, designed to improve security and urban services management, as well as helping to develop the transport system, according to MTS.

Also on rt.com Russia enters super-fast communication era with launch of first 5G zone in Moscow

5G also makes some futuristic movie-like applications realistic, for example, you can make a “holographic” phone call, the head of Huawei’s division in Russia, Zhao Lei, said. It also speeds up development of self-driving transport in the city and other future technologies, according to Eduard Lysenko, head of the Department of Information Technologies of Moscow.

While the super-fast network is now available only around one pavilion of the historical complex, by 2020 the pilot zone is expected to expand and cover almost the whole of the VDNKh area.

“According to our forecasts, we expect a sevenfold increase of 5G traffic in Moscow by 2025,” said Igor Egorov, MTS’s Moscow region director.

Also on rt.com Huawei’s smartphones will not have Google apps

Meanwhile in Kronshtadt, a city in Kotlin Island, not far from St. Petersburg, is to become the first city in Russia where the next-generation network covers almost the entire population, according to MTS.

Those who have 5G-capable smartphones will enjoy super-fast internet, as the first phone connected to the network demonstrated an internet speed of 1.2Gbps. In reality, it means that it will take you around one minute to download a full HD movie.

The first 5G zone was launched in Moscow earlier this month, covering the famous Tverskaya Street. Swedish telecom company Ericsson provided the equipment for the network, which is run by Russian mobile operator Tele2.

For more stories on economy finance visit RT’s business section

Article source: https://www.rt.com/business/467619-mts-huawei-5g-russia/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

Data from the World Gold Council shows that in the first half of this year, the banks bought a record 374 metric tons of gold worth $15.7 billion.

As concerns over trade disputes and global growth boost investors’ appetite for safe-haven assets, gold remains one of the prime secure destinations, says Lukman Otunuga, senior research analyst at FXTM (a global foreign exchange trading platform).

Also on rt.com Going for gold: Russia boosts bullion stockpile by 9 tons in July

“As long as the appetite for risk is dented by global growth fears, trade tensions and uncertainties over Brexit, among many other geopolitical risk factors, gold will remain in the driving seat,” Otunuga told China Daily.

This booming trend is likely to continue in the coming years, according to Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ). It projected that central banks’ acquisitions of the yellow metal are likely to remain above 650 tons per year.

“In the current environment, where uncertainty in emerging-market currencies is high, we see a good reason for countries like Russia, Turkey, Kazakhstan and China to continue to diversify their portfolios,” ANZ strategists said as cited by Kitco.

According to the International Monetary Fund, in terms of foreign exchange reserves, China ranked at the top globally at the end of 2018, with a total of $3.07 trillion. China has been indicated by ANZ as the country with the most potential to step up gold purchases in the coming years.

Global central banks boost gold reserves by record $15.7 billion in shift away from US dollar

“The People’s Bank of China holds nearly 1,936 tons of gold, which equates to only three percent of its total foreign reserve holdings, giving the country plenty of room to increase its allocation,” said ANZ.

It also noted the impressive growth of Russian gold holdings where the country’s central bank has added more than 96 tons of the precious metal since the beginning of 2019.

“Russia’s central bank has been the largest and most consistent buyer of gold in recent years, almost doubling its reserve (from 1,040t to 2,219t) in the last five years. Much of this has been to the detriment of its US debts and currency, and is in response to increased political risks and sanctions by Western countries,” ANZ said.

It added that increased central bank gold purchases have been one of the key factors supporting higher gold prices. The price of the metal has been on the rise, surging above $1,500 an ounce in August and hitting fresh 6.5-year highs. It was trading at $1,525.87 per ounce on Friday.

For more stories on economy finance visit RT’s business section

Article source: https://www.rt.com/business/467615-central-banks-gold-buying/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

It’s been a year since the China-US trade war began, and up until this last week, China had refrained from slapping import tariffs on US crude oil, even as it announced other measures in retaliation to US import tariffs on Chinese goods. Those days are over.

Last week, the trade war finally caught up with US crude oil exports to China. What does this mean for the US oil industry?

Also on rt.com US-China trade talks to restart soon, Beijing wants both back at negotiating table – Trump

For a year now, Chinese refiners and traders have held their collective breaths, scared for the day when the government would finally unleash tariffs on US crude oil imports. Now they’ll have the chance to test their strategies to hedge the risk of buying US oil amid a tariff that caught China-bound tankers out at sea.

China announced on Friday that it would be imposing tariffs on US$75 billion worth of US goods, including crude oil, in two batches beginning September 1 and December 15.

The 5-percent tariff on crude oil — effective this coming Sunday — has caught several tankers carrying US crude oil en route to China. Some of those tankers have already docked or will have arrived by September 1 at Chinese ports, but others won’t make the voyage in time, SP Global Platts reports, citing ship-tracking data.

Energy: The worst performing sector of the decade

For a year now, Chinese buyers have been reluctant to buy US crude oil, fearing that tariffs may come any moment, disrupting their plans and making their oil more expensive. Many of those who have continued to buy oil from America have been hedging risks by having the option for alternative port destinations of the cargoes.

Last month, Chinese imports of US crude were estimated to have been at their highest level since the trade war began, according to customs data cited by Platts. China’s imports for August could also be high because some were rushing to get to China under the wire, before the tariff came into force. Yet, considering that the Chinese announcement came just a week before August ends, many oil tankers won’t make the more-than-55-day voyage in time to avoid tariffs.

Amid the trade war, China’s largest refiner Sinopec is now said to be drafting contingency plans for its US imports since it has a term deal to buy up to four very large crude carrier (VLCC) cargoes — each capable of carrying 2 million barrels of oil — every month. According to Reuters’ sources, the tariff would make US crude $3 a barrel more expensive for Chinese buyers.

Sinopec plans to apply for a kind of tax exemption for its imports of US crude oil, sources told Reuters. The Chinese refiner is also considering storing oil from the US in bonded storage, such that hasn’t cleared customs in China yet, or sending it on to other destinations, according to one of the sources to avoid the tariff altogether.

After somewhat higher imports in July and possibly August, Chinese imports of US crude are expected to crash again after September starts and the tariff kicks in, analysts say, though some expect that China will continue to import — albeit at a very low rate — American oil.

According to JLC International, China will likely stop importing US crude oil as of next month.

Also on rt.com China prepares its ‘nuclear option’ in trade war

“As China stops importing its crude, the US will probably have to find more buyers for its still increasing oil production, but finding another market the size of China could prove challenging,” JLC International analysts said earlier this week.

Yet, total American crude sales to the Asian market will not be negatively impacted because other Asian countries have started to show increased appetite for US grades that Chinese refiners wouldn’t want, SP Global Platts reported earlier this week.

According to ESAI Energy analysts, most private Chinese refiners will shun US oil, but some state-owned traders could keep importing US oil at a pace of around 150,000 bpd–200,000 bpd for the rest of this year, as they could seek options such as tariff waivers, storing the oil in bonded tanks, or diverting cargos to other Asian countries.

“Overall, we expect US exports of crude to Asia to grow from 1.2 million b/d in the first half of the year to about 1.3 million b/d for the balance of 2019, regardless of China’s tariff on US Crude,” ESAI Energy says.

This article was originally published on Oilprice.com

Article source: https://www.rt.com/business/467606-trade-war-us-oil/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

“2019 is looking a lot like 2010 with the Fed not raising rates but cutting rates as we slip into recession. More negative interest rates [are] driving gold to its best year since 2010 and now silver is starting to pick up too,” Craig Hemke of TFMetalsReport.com told Max Keiser on the latest episode of the Keiser Report. He suggests there is no better time to invest in the precious metal than now.

“If anything, you just simply have to own gold, gold in all its forms. And as the world realizes that and as assets are allocated to gold and precious metals and the mining shares, things are going to look better for everyone,” the expert believes. He noted that gold appears to be entering the blossoming period of its bull market, as investors are trying to secure the future by turning their backs on the increasingly unstable US dollar.

Hemke emphasizes, however, that the tendency the dollar is witnessing should not come as a surprise, as its days as the world’s reserve currency have been numbered from the start.

“The privilege the US had since the end of WW2 is a transitory thing – before the US the British pound was the reserve currency […] The world has switched that mantel every hundred years or so for centuries and soon it is going to be the US’ turn to switch,” Hemke claims.

He notes that speculation as to what will replace the dollar as the global reserve currency has been going on for some time, with many, like the bank of England head Mark Carney, betting on crypto currencies to take the baton. However, Hemke states that crypto coins need to evolve significantly in order to do it, as “in terms of market cap bitcoin is just a fraction of what even gold is [and] its price would have to be considerably higher than what it is now.”

For more stories on economy finance visit RT’s business section

Article source: https://www.rt.com/business/467556-gold-bull-market-keiser/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

US search giant Google told Reuters that under the current US restrictions on trade with Huawei, the new phones cannot be sold with licensed apps.

This means the next Huawei phone won’t also have access to the Google Play app store, which could leave customers without other popular apps.

Also on rt.com Huawei in talks to use Russia’s Aurora operating system for census

The temporary reprieve that the US government announced last week does not apply to new products such as the Mate 30, Google’s spokesman said. Huawei is just weeks away from launching its next flagship phone.

While US companies can apply for specific products to be exempted from the ban, Google did not say whether it had applied for any such licenses.

“Huawei will continue to use the Android OS and ecosystem if the US government allows us to do so. Otherwise, we will continue to develop our own operating system and ecosystem,” the Chinese telecom said in a statement.

Also on rt.com US ban on technology equipment sales to Huawei pushed back by 90 days

Huawei says it will continue using Android for as long as the US government allows it, but the company is also developing its own operating system called HarmonyOS. The firm also plans to unveil its own mapping service which could become a competitor to Google Maps.

Last Monday, Huawei was granted a 90-day reprieve allowing it to continue buying technology and equipment from American firms. US President Donald Trump said earlier that he does not want the US to continue doing business with the Chinese tech giant, citing a “national security threat.”

For more stories on economy finance visit RT’s business section

Article source: https://www.rt.com/business/467555-huawei-smartphones-google-apps/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS