With Xi Jinping giving a key note speech at the Asian economic forum, the talks of the tension are quiet for now. Luftahnsa has a strike problem and Russian welthiest are under sanction attack.
Xi Jinping took floor on Boao Forum in Asia.
Being right in the middle of the possible Asian-American trade war and growing tensions between the two countries, Xi Jinping took the floor at the Boao Forum which has been taking place in Asia. Chinese President took the possibility to address the growing tension and express his concerns over the “Cold War tendencies” in the world all the while not speaking out a single name, including Trump’s.
Boao Forum is the “Asian answer to Davos economic forum” and Chinese leader was its keynote speaker this year. Taking as the central topic current relations between China and the USA Jinping was very politically correct with no pointing fingers and simply offering new solutions for the current situation. Although Xi confirmed the plans to implement into life everything that Trump’s administration is worried about: import increase, lowering the foreign ownership limits, expansion of intellectual property protection and so on.
Xi assures that in the modern world the politics which resemble Cold war times is unacceptable and that with the humanity developing openness and understanding are more valued.
Lufthansa cancels flights because of the strike.
About half of the Lufthansa 1600 flights are going to be cancelled today because of the strike today. 58 out of them are long distance flights.
German trade union Verdi has warned the company about the strike, so all the changes in the timetable should be settled. Although it is, of course a major inconvenience for the passengers. Strike is going to influence working days of ground personnel in Frankfurt-am-Mein, Munich, Cologne and Bremen. According to Lufthansa about 90 thousand passengers will suffer due to the strike.
Verdi is representing interests of the personnel, working for the governmental transportation brunch. They demand a rise in salary for their members by 6 percent, or 200 euro per month. Lufthansa’s officials have already expressed their disturbance about the strike, saying that the interest of the trade union should not touch the lives of the passengers who will suffer because of the cancellation. All those who suffered because of the strike and can’t fly today can exchange their tickets during the next 7 days. Lufthansa is hoping to renew regular work tempo by tomorrow, April 11.
American sanctions push on Russia’s wealthiest.
Russia’s alleged meddling in the US elections in 2016 is pushing on the country, even though the investigation is still on-going, and no official accusation was taken against Russia. But American sanctions against the country are very much there and new are being imposed with the horrifying frequency. Last sanctions package was delivered not so long and had a devastating effect on the 27 of the wealthiest men in Russia.
Bloomberg Billionaires Index includes 27 Russian “oligarchs” and 26 of them have suffered considerable losses because of the sanctions. With that Potanin – the richest on the list lost almost $2.30 billion, Alekperov and Vekseberg lost $1.4 and $1.3 billion respectively.
Losses on the Moscow exchange were felt by the ruble (Russian national currency) as well. After the announcement of the sanctions the exchange rate RUS-EUR fell lower than 73 rubles per dollar – that is the lowest point for the Russian currency in 1.5 years. Greenback was also growing compared to ruble: 59.84 rubles per dollar was the exchange rate on Sunday with the greenback being 1.5 rubles more expensive.
New list of sanctioned people also included VTB bank’s Kostin head. After the publication VTB’s stocks fell 10 percent.
Stocks, currencies and crude overview.
Markets and traders were both awaiting the moment of the keynote speech of Chinese leader that took place during Asian economic forum. The speech shed light on the situation and brought hope to the traders, as the trade war talks are calm for now.
Stoxx Europe 600 went up 0.7 percent.
S&P 500 Index gained 1.3 percent.
MSCI All-Country World gained 0.3 percent.
MSCI Emerging Markets went up 0.7 percent.
Dollar went lower by 0.05 percent against the basket of six major currencies. Euro has he same performance - $1.2316.
Yen is 0.3 percent lower – 107.11 yen per dollar.
WTI oil is on the highest point in a week - $64.25 per barrel. After 1.3 percent gain.
Gold went down 0.2 percent - $1.333.77 per ounce.
