2015/06/04 - LEAP/E2020 Press Review on the Global Systemic Crisis

Investments : Currencies, still a rollercoaster

Global currencies will continue to fluctuate with the various quantitative easings. Nevertheless, with growth gradually returning in Europe (even before the effects of the ECB’s QE ) and which is, quite the reverse, absent in the US , the Dollar should gradually lose ground against the other currencies. This is especially true in the long term, with the US’ return to the ranks as we anticipate in this GEAB issue, the US currency’s safe haven status will fade , especially when the country’s setbacks are known (the latest bad news to date: Chicago’s credit rating cut to junk and threatens to derail the municipal bond market with Puerto Rico’s help ). With the US gradually falling into line, its currency will return to a normal exchange-rate. Therefore, within two years, the Euro will trade at 1.40 to the Dollar again. Meanwhile, the speculators still seem determined to try and achieve Euro to Dollar parity, so beware of heavy bumps on the road...(Read more in our latest GEAB bulletin)

GEAB by LEAP

L'OCDE revoit à la baisse ses prévisions de croissance mondiale

La faiblesse de l’investissement sape la force de nombreuses économies. Mais une lueur d’espoir surgit dans la zone euro. L’OCDE a nettement abaissé mercredi ses prévisions de croissance mondiale pour 2015 et 2016, sur fond notamment de contraction aux Etats-Unis et de ralentissement en Chine, et appelé à accroître les investissements pour stimuler l’économie...

Liberation

Rathin Roy: Ideas changing minds, not money changing hands

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has got off to a wonderful start with the commentariat. Its membership now includes all major Asian economies plus a raft of European economies. The United States has also done its bit to talk up the AIIB, by voicing its displeasure at the alacrity with which the UK and Germany have joined the bank. In contrast, the BRICS-led New Development Bank (NDB) is being viewed as a sideshow, even a non-starter...

Business Standard

How Wall Street is explaining high stock valuations

With share valuations at historic highs, there is a lot of hand-wringing about market bubbles, but a closer look at the factors surrounding those high stock valuations suggests it is more a time for caution than panic...

Market Watch

EU and US broker early elections in Macedonia

EU-brokered talks in Macedonia have reached agreement on early elections, amid Russian complaints on outside interference. The EU’s enlargement commissioner, Johannes Hahn, announced the deal in Skopje on Tuesday (2 June) after a nine-hour meeting with leaders of the four main political parties and with the US ambassador...

EUObserver

The Silly Reason the Chinese Aren’t Allowed on the Space Station

Geopolitics can be child’s play—literally. How else would you describe the did-not! did-too! brawl that can result when one country crosses another country’s invisible line in the playroom that is the South China Sea? How else would you describe the G-8 canceling its playdate in Sochi after Russia climbed over the fence to Ukraine’s yard?

Time

Greek ‘truth’ committee probes legality of EU bailouts

With Greek leaders in 11th-hour talks on the country’s second bailout, Greek MPs are investigating the legality of the bailouts and whether Greek debt has to be repaid...

EUObserver

En Colombie, les FARC et le gouvernement ont entamé des opérations de déminage

Le gouvernement colombien et la guérilla des Forces armées révolutionnaires de Colombie (FARC) ont entamé les opérations de déminage dans le nord du pays, ont fait savoir des responsables cubains et norvégiens, garants du processus de paix en cours, vendredi 29 mai..

Le Monde

China firmly opposes ‘US interference’

Senior Chinese officials have spoken harshly about US interference in the South China Sea situation as China talked about its commitment to regional stability at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore over the weekend...

China Daily

Ireland risks breaking EU fiscal rules in 2016 – watchdog

Ireland is under considerable risk of breaking European Union-imposed fiscal rules next year under budgetary plans that endanger a return to ill-fated policies of the past, the country’s independent fiscal watchdog said on Thursday...

Reuters

Squalor and death in Egypt’s prisons

For Abdullah Elshamy, an Egyptian journalist who spent more than 300 days in jail and more than one month in a solitary confinement cell at the notorious Scorpion wing of Cairo’s Tora prison, the death in detention of two leading Muslim Brotherhood members in less than one month comes as little surprise...

Deutsche Welle

Russia says Ukraine agrees to fill gas storage for transit flow

Ukraine has agreed to pump enough gas into its storage facilities to maintain pressure in the system for Russian gas to reach Europe in winter, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Wednesday. Around 40 percent of Russian gas exports to the European Union traverses Ukraine...

Reuters

Qatar Airways confirms interest in Italy’s Meridiana

Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Hamad Int’l) is considering acquiring a stake in Italian carrier Meridiana(IG, Olbia) with a due diligence currently being undertaken the Chief Executive Officer of the Qatari carrier, Akbar al Baker, has revealed...

CH Aviation

FBI extends FIFA scrutiny to World Cup host bids of Russia, Qatar

The FBI’s investigation of bribery and corruption at FIFA includes scrutiny of how football’s governing body awarded World Cup hosting rights to Russia and Qatar, a U.S. law enforcement official said...

Reuters

 ---------------------------------------------

This special Press Review reviews articles from the French and Engligh-speaking international online media relating to the unfolding global crisis.

It is delivered freely on a weekly basis to 60,000 recipients worldwide.

Subscription / Contact: centre@europe2020.org