The leverage ratio measures the ability of a bank to absorb losses. This ratio is important because soundness of a bank is put to test during a financial crisis and strong banks usually tend to weather storms than weak banks. During the 2008-09 crisis, many small banks in the US failed due to this factor. From …
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Tax avoidance by large US firms is a major issue that gets very little attention in the media. Heavy lobbying (lobbying is legal, bribing is illegal) by these firms ensures that the regulators and politicians perpetually turns a blind eye to the issue. Every year billions of dollars in taxes owed never reach the state’s …
The economies of Australia and Canada are similar in many ways. For instance,both are resource-based economies. While Australia is dependent on China for the export of minerals such as iron ore Canada is the largest trading partner of the US and exports natural resources like Crude Oil, Natural Gas, Timber, etc, to the US. I wrote …
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Emerging markets used to be a hot destination for investors a few years ago. Nowadays these markets have become more of submerging markets with equities hit hard due to the collapse in commodity prices and other factors. Countries that are major oil exporters such as Brazil, Russia, etc. are suffering with the fall in crude …
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FTSE 100, the benchmark index of the UK equity market peaked at 6,930 in December, 1999. After 17 years, the index closed at 6,125 yesterday, which is lower than where it was in 1999 – when the dot con mania was at the highest level. Does that mean the index has gone nowhere since 1999? Or …
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