by James

Markets are highly agitated by recent movements in the US treasury curve. Indeed, it has demonstrated a rare level of volatility with the 10 year rising some 70 bps in just two weeks. The technical concerns are that the market will be unwilling to finance the $2 trillion of Treasury issuance planned for this year, that [...]

by Markus

Astonishing new video produced by MSFT labs (March09). Projecting how the world of technology could look like in 10 years. Despite the narrative that any crisis carries the core of future innovation, it might take more than 10 years to see the casted technologies turning into reality. Nonetheless an inspiring & well done video of MSFT [...]

by James

The Russian equity market has soared a remarkable 100 percent since January. At the same time, investors may have noticed a curious silence from the nation’s once-raucous investment management community. Considering how the RTS Index fell in 2008, this newfound discretion is welcome. What is the outlook for the market for the remainder of the [...]

by James

  Emerging and developed markets again diverged last week, in what was generally another strong period for global risk takers. The two key events of the week excellently illuminate the difference between these two international economic groups: India’s Sensex index soared 14.1% on the week, after the incumbent administration won a clean victory in the [...]

by Jürgen

Sunday, the IEA will announce at the G8 that global electricity consumption will probably plunge 3.5% in 2009. This leads mostly towards a double conclusion: 1. The energy sector is going through hard times. and 2. The recession is really deep. Whereas there is no doubt about the latter – neither about the fact that [...]

by Jürgen

During a short intervention in the FT, Anton Milner – CEO of the world’s largest solar cell producer Q-Cells – gave the impression that solar power will soon enter a new era given that ‘grid parity’ will be achieved in Italy. Grid parity being “the Holy Grail of solar power, where costs of producing photovoltaic [...]

by Markus

by Jürgen

After the stress tests conducted in the US during the past weeks, it’s time to go through the global results coming from the stress test from international business school IMD, included in its annual IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2009. The IMD WCY analyzed how well 57 surveyed economies are equipped to tackle the recession and improve their competitiveness. One of the most apparent findings is that countries with population of less than 30 million are better placed to face the economic slowdown and benefit quicker from any recovery.