Commodities
Ruble was trading at 81.16 per U.S. dollar on Feb 23, the day before Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a special military operation, sending troops into Ukraine. After the U.S. and Europe imposed sanctions on Russia, it triggered a massive devaluation of the country’s currency. It was so bad that Russians lined up at ATMs […]
... written on Apr 07 2022President Joe Biden has ordered a major release of oil from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve for the next six months. In an effort to bring down high fuel costs, the U.S. will free up to 180 million barrels, translating to 1 million barrels of oil per day. The fact that this is the largest release […]
... written on Apr 03 2022Are you a numismatist? Individuals who find thrill in collecting old and rare coins are constantly on the lookout to add new pieces to their collections. Precious metal companies, including Lear Capital, offer an extensive range of premium gold coins that spark the interest of investors and numismatics. These pieces from the Liberty and Indian […]
... written on Apr 02 2022Is Ukraine, armed with billions of dollars worth of American weapons, really winning the war against Russia? It depends. If you restrict yourself to reading Western news media, then Ukraine is indeed winning. How can Ukrainians not win when the media keep reporting that thousands of Russian helicopters, aircrafts, drones and whatnot are dropping from […]
... written on Mar 31 2022Russia has a brilliant plan to boost its currency, which experienced a sudden collapse after the U.S. and Europe imposed economic and financial sanctions on Moscow due to Ukraine invasion. The “Ruble” plunged to its record low of 151 to a US dollar on March 7. But even before the latest plan is executed, the […]
... written on Mar 29 2022Can the Russian invasion of Ukraine be avoided in the first place? Definitely, but the conflict was never about Ukraine to begin with. Russia was engaged in a bold brinkmanship game with the United States and NATO over their respective sphere of influence. And Ukrainian President Zelensky was foolish enough to believe that Russian Vladimir […]
... written on Mar 17 2022Forget US$100 crude oil. We have passed that. Crude oil has already hit US$130 a barrel. Chances are the commodity will stay above 100 bucks as long as the Russia-Ukraine war does not de-escalate. And it appears the worst is yet to come. When will the Western powers realize that sanctions will not work on […]
... written on Mar 08 2022China is arguably the biggest winner in the current Russia-Ukraine war. And if it’s true that senior Chinese officials told senior Russian officials in early February not to invade Ukraine before the end of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, as claimed by the New York Times (which has been rubbished by Beijing), it means Beijing […]
... written on Mar 04 2022Colgate-Palmolive CEO Noel Wallace has warned American consumers to get ready to pay 10 bucks for a tube of toothpaste. Consumer goods companies like Colgate has started increasing prices last year as a result of rising war material costs and labour shortages due to the Covid-19 pandemic. But the Russia-Ukraine war will certainly escalate the […]
... written on Mar 02 2022Putin might be a mad dictator to the Western countries, but he is not crazy, let alone stupid. On the contrary, he could be smarter than the U.S. and NATO, based on his political chess game so far. He tactically recognized the independence of two self-proclaimed and pro-Russian republics in eastern Ukraine, before sending troops […]
... written on Feb 25 2022
