With continued indications of a global slowdown in economic activity, oil has entered a bear market as oversupplies hurt prices for the second time in a year.
Oil futures has fallen 20% from its peak in 2015 as Brent futures fell over 1% during Tuesday morning trading. WTI futures continued their slide in the U.S., nearing $47 per barrel as losses extended for the second day in a row.
With the recently concluded nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 countries, oil prices have already started heading downward on sentiments that Iran’s crude oil supply would further contribute to the already rising global supply glut. The economic crisis in Greece, OPEC’s high production levels and China’s market turmoil have created more pressure on oil prices, making a price rebound look highly unlikely in the near future.
Despite considerable success in the international arena, many female entrepreneurs still struggle to raise capital. New research suggests that lenders may have an outdated concept of what an entrepreneur looks like.
We recently surveyed 416 Australian female businesswomen, and complemented the survey with focus groups.
People in Indonesia’s capital Jakarta, where public transport is poor and the traffic horribly congested, have eagerly welcomed ride-hailing apps such as Uber for car rides and Gojek for motorcycle rides.
Things are heating up in Australia’s supermarket sector. Woolworths is falling behind Coles. Aldi is taking business from Coles and Woolworths. Everyone is taking strips off Metcash and its independent IGAs. In addition, an emerging band of brave online retailers (Grocery Butler, ShopWings and others) are nibbling at the edges of the lucrative retail grocery pie. Amid this are reports of suppliers clawing back on margins.
A crude and incomplete account? Possibly. However, the fundamental point is that competition is seemingly at work.
When a person thinks of investing, the stock market is likely the first type of investment that comes to mind. In the simplest of terms, a stock is a type of ownership interest in a corporation, and it represents a claim on part of the assets and earnings of that business.
Investment management is a broad term that refers to the buying and selling of investment. Though typically referring to the management of an investment portfolio and the trading of securities within that portfolio, its definition may also include banking, budgeting, and tax management duties. Any individual with an investment portfolio or professional may engage in investment management.
Back in 1980, Alvin Toffler coined the concept of the Electronic Cottage. While this might sound like a feature from Tomorrow’s World, it was essentially the idea that people, particularly those engaged in “knowledge work” – using their brains – would in the future be less bound to a traditional workplace. Technology would increasingly make working from home possible.
One of the ten Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) economic sectors, the utilities sector includes stocks for services such as gas and power. Typical companies in the utilities sector include electric, gas, and water utility providers. Although often referred to as utilities by consumers, telephone, wireless, cable, and satellite services fall under the telecommunications sector.
Telecommunication Services is one of the ten Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) economic sectors. The telecommunication services sector consists of companies offering fixed-line and wireless telecommunication networks for voice and data. Companies like wireless phone service provider T-Mobile, internet service provider EarthLink, and phone service providers like AT&T and Sprint all belong to this sector.
