With Russian elections looming this weekend, the world is going on. Market and oil are recovering and gaining to the great joy of investors but bad news are awaiting China and Canada.
China is in the list of countries prone to banking crisis.
Bank for International Settlements has issued a list of the countries, most prone to the banking crisis in the recent future. Canada, Hong Kong and China – these are the countries, economical problems of which can bring their economy to the critical state.
Canada, although had the fastest tempo of growth last year, has its share of problems with maxed out credit cards and household loans. The latter seems to be the problem in all of the countries on the list.
China takes all the warning quite seriously and, for example the credit-to-growth domestic product gap became smaller. This may indicate that the actions of the government trying to reduce risks in financial sector work.
Reducing the risks is the main direction of work for Chinese government but some of the officials are just not as soft with the policies that may be another reason for the study to target China.
Elections in Russia this weekend – another 6 years of Putin?
March 18 is the date that has Presidential elections in Russia set on it. In the next 6 days there is still chance for the candidates to woo as much people to vote for them as possible. But everyone understands – no one has as much chances to win as Vladimir Putin – current Russian president who is now looking at his 4 term.
Next 6 years may be the last in the era of Putin as his age will then be restricted by the constitution. While first years of Putin’s regime put Russia quite firmly on the world map, now the situation is totally different. 2014 changed everything – annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and Russian launch of war at the Eastern part if Ukraine – Donbass – cause oil prices to go down and the economic growth of Russia was erased.
For now, almost 1/3 of the population lives behind the mark of poverty. Small business sector is dead and gas sales volumes are not nearly as big. But Putin’s popularity is still at high numbers. Will his next term happen, and, if so, will the situation both inside and outside the borders change for better?
Will there be peace for North Korea?
North Korea is known as the most closed up country in the world. And each next piece of news, coming out of the country is more disturbing than the previous one. It is known for a fact that there are still prisoner camps, tortures and death penalties for the things which are considered ordinary in the rest of the world. But after the Olympic games where North Korea took place the situation has rapidly changed.
Kim Jong Un’s officials say that the leader of the North Korea is ready for as much as signing a peace treaty with the USA. Un himself has proposed a meeting with American president in hopes to talk with Trump about the treaty, nuclear disarmament and diplomatic relations between the countries.
According to Koh Yu-hwan – South Korean scholar “There were agreements between the U.S. and North Korea to open up discussion on a peace treaty, but they never materialized. The U.S. wants a peace treaty at the end of the denuclearization process, while for the North, it’s the precondition for its denuclearization.”
Stock, currencies and crude overview.
Nikkei 225 Stock Average went up by 1.7 percent.
S&P/ASX 200 Index from Australia is stronger by 0.6 percent.
MSCI Asia Pacific has grown by 1.5 percent.
S&P 500 Futures rose 0.4 percent.
Dollar is more or less steady, so no big jumps or falls for the world currencies.
Yen is stronger by 0.2 percent – 106.64 yen per dollar.
Euro is 0.1 percent heavier - $1.2319.
Pound is surprisingly steady - $1.3858.
WTI didn’t change over the weekend - $62.05 per barrel.
Gold is 0.1 percent down - $1.322.39 per ounce.
