Oil prices have fallen dramatically this year as the pandemic decimated global oil consumption. Currently Brent crude is trading under $37 for January delivery. With the fall in crude oil prices oil stocks have been crushed well. Most of the foreign exchange-listed oil stocks have plunged by 50% of more as shown in the table …
Continue reading ‘On the Year-to-Date Return of Exchange-Listed Foreign Oil Stocks’ »
The US equity market accounts for about 40% of the global equity universe. This means the other 60% of investment opportunities exists outside of the US shores. So investors looking to diversify their portfolios and potentially boost their returns on investment must consider adding some foreign stocks. For example, the Spanish stock Exchange has over …
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The automobile industry accounted for about 2.7 million jobs in the EU in 2018. This amounted to 8.7% of the total manufacturing employment. The chart below shows the share of direct automotive employment in total manufacturing by member states of the EU and the UK. The industry accounts for the highest percentage of manufacturing jobs …
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Lockdowns are necessary to control the spread of Coronavirus. But lockdowns have a huge economic cost. In the short term, lockdowns tend to adversely impact economic growth. However the short-term pain is nothing compared to the long-term economic growth that awaits. In addition, lives are also saved with stringent lockdowns. Countries that have understood this …
Continue reading ‘On The Relationship Between Lockdowns and Economic Activity’ »
East Asian countries are beating the Coronavirus while Western countries are struggling to control it even after 9 months. Recently a current US administration official even said “We are not going to control the pandemic” effectively surrendering to the virus. The reason for the stark difference in controlling the pandemic between the East Asian and …
Continue reading ‘Why East Asia is Beating the West in Controlling Coronavirus: WSJ Video’ »