ARTICLES

EMEA

Risk of Default on Foreign Debt in Zambia - October 27, 2018
Last month, Xi Jinping, China’s president, announced that China would offer $60 billion in new funding to Africa. These funds will be used to finance public infrastructures in the target countries, in order to foster economic development; however, they come with some warnings, first of which is China’s interest in using such loans to control resources and political systems, in view of its global ambitions.

Saudi Aramco's secret accounting data unveiled - April 21, 2018
One of the most important secret of the Business world was unveiled on April 13th, with Saudi Aramco that has released detailed accounting information for the first semester of 2017 to the international news agency Bloomberg.

Sky, how it is becoming a new world leader - April 17, 2018
Only a few hours before the Easter weekend began, Sky and Mediaset announced a resounding deal that is going to change multimedia offer balances in Italy.

EU Digital Tax - April 4, 2018
The European commission proposed their plan to levy a tax on tech companies not where their headquarters are, but based on the location of their users.

Elliott and Vivendi Fight for Telecom Italia’ s Board - March 30, 2018
In the middle of march, Elliott - the activist hedge fund run by the billionaire Paul Singer - started to climb the Italian largest telecoms company, building a position of almost 6 per cent.

Sanofi to acquire Ablynx for €3.9 billion - March 27, 2018
The French pharmaceutical company Sanofi has agreed to buy the Belgian biotech company Ablynx for 3.9 billion euro, beating Novo Nordisk and realizing its second big deal of the year after having purchased Bioverativ.

Greece: the 2018 bailout program - March 24, 2018
It is a fact that Greek economic crisis has been in the centre of discussions on an international level for a long time...

The 2018 Private Equity Outlook - March 1, 2018
The Private Equity industry has been booming during the past year and, after the first months of 2018, it showed that I will not slow down its growth. Buyout volumes were up 27 per cent year on year in 2017, according to Thomson Reuters, and are expected to accelerate this year, propelled by a record $1.1tn of cash.

How the new Euribor may help families with variable rate mortgages - December 18, 2017
The new way of calculating the Euribor will restrain the fluctuation of interest rates and reduce the risks of variable rate mortgages.

Catalan Referendum: the effects on the market - November 8, 2017
The unconstitutional vote of October the 1st has created an instability on the markets and on YTM (yield to maturity) of Spanish bonds. However, the effects predicted before the vote were worse and we can’t be sure about future development.

PIR – boom: the dramatic surge of the croesus of the Italian financial market - October 31, 2017
The theme of investing in the “real economy” is a very timely one. The Italian government has addressed this issue by introducing the so-called “PIR”, Piani Individuali di Risparmio (Individual investment Plans), by means of the law No 232 of December 2016.

Will Alitalia file for bankruptcy again? - May 21, 2017
Troubled Italian airline Alitalia has been in a long-running battle against bankruptcy and has been through multiple bailouts and restructurings, but never managed to compete with the booming low-cost carriers in Europe.

Credit Suisse’s $4bn share issue: the tip of a much wider strategic plan - May 18, 2017
Over its centenary history, Credit Suisse has become one of the biggest universal banks worldwide, operating in about 50 countries with more than 47,000 employees. Credit Suisse Group AG’s shares are listed on the Swiss Exchange (SIX), with a market capitalization of about 31.975 billion Swiss francs.

About Saudi Aramco's IPO - Apr 1, 2017
Saudi Arabian Oil Company, commonly known as Saudi Aramco, is a Saudi Arabian national petroleum and natural gas company based in Dhahran. Over the past 80 years it has become a world leader in hydrocarbons exploration, production, refining, distribution and marketing.

Straight out of the liquidity trap: an overview of ECB’s upcoming monetary policy - Mar 24, 2017
Given the financial turmoil occurred in 2008, the ECB decided to step in cutting interest rates. Over the following years, the main refinancing operations rate reached 0%, the marginal lending facility rate 0.25% and the interest rate on deposit facility -0.4%.

Deutsche Bank: Staying Alive - Mar 20, 2017
€10.2bn in 2010, €3bn in 2013 and €8.5bn in 2014: three times since the great financial crisis, Deutsche Bank has turned to its shareholders for cash.

HSBC navigates turbulence - Mar 14, 2017
Disappointment spreads among investors as HSBC fails to meet analysts’ expectations causing the lender’s shares to shrink on the 28th of February.

Who’s Nex(i)t? Netherland’s getaway from the EU - Mar 12, 2017
In recent years the Netherlands have expanded their economy as much as to become one of the most strong and profitable in the European Union.

Norway oil fund to undertake structural changes to face new challenges - Mar 7, 2017
Established in 1990 as the Petroleum Fund of Norway, the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global, generally known as “The Oil Fund", has been created to preserve and invest Norway’s oil revenues for the generations to come.

Deleveraging Europe - Feb 25, 2017
European Central Bank had made clear that it was going to step up measures to incentivize banks to resolve the
non-performing loans (NPLs) issue

  Will Brexit negatively influence one of its most thriving fields: Science and Research? - Feb 21, 2017
   UK leaving the EU implies a lot of damaging consequences for Science and Research & Development in the UK,
   and prevents the numerous benefits that membership brought to healthcare and the national economy.

Essilor and Luxottica agree on €50 billion merger - Feb 16, 2017
On the 16th of January 2017, Essilor, the world leading manufacturer of lenses, and Luxottica, the largest
consumer eyewear group, agreed on one of the largest ever European cross-border transactions.

Italy and France: a nice M&A marriage - Feb 7, 2017
Over the last years, the M&A market between Italy and France has seen French companies acting as acquirers of the Italian ones for most of the times

Glencore’s run could continue in 2017 - Feb 5, 2017
Glencore, the Swiss based mining and commodities company, was one of the best performing European stocks of 2016, returning 203.1% YTD (as of 29 December 2016).

To Bailout or not to Bailout, this is the question - Jan 22, 2017
Sometimes old habits never die. This is probably the case of the numerous bail-outs the Italian government has performed so far.

Vivendi's takeover of Mediaset continues - Jan 8, 2017
On Tuesday December 22nd Vivendi chairman Vincent Bolloré announced that the French Group attained a 28.8% stake in Mediaset and it threatens to lift its stake even more, up to 30% of voting rights.

European Banks called to pay the bill for the financial crisis: recent settlements and stands out - Jan 2, 2017
Just in time for the end of the year the US Department of Justice (DoJ), after months of negotiations, came to an agreement for the settlements to be paid by Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse.

Santander gets full control of its Asset Management unit - Dec 18, 2016
Banco Santander has agreed to buy back a 50% stake in Santander Asset Management. Santander already owned the remaining 50% stake, which makes it get back full control of its asset management business.

Do Not Fear The Monster: Google Challenges Brexit - Dec 11, 2016
Google has announced the plan to open a new UK headquarters building in London. The “campus”, as Google fancies to call its offices, will have a cost of about £1 billion.

Sunday has come: what will the Italian banks’ future be? - Dec 8, 2016
On Sunday the 4th, Italians have voted on the constitutional reform proposed by Mr. Renzi, who has decided to resign after the proposal been rejected.

Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum – Good Prospects for European Defence Stocks - Dec 7, 2016
After Donald Trump’s surprising victory in the United States presidential election, the stocks of European aerospace and defence companies were among the major winners of the following trading days.

New banking rules to bring billions of subordinate debt and halter non-EU banks - Dec 4, 2016
The boggart of “too big to fail” banks has been chasing European regulators for years, so another attempt to defeat it was introduced last week (23rd of November, 2016).

Essentra shares shrinks as company warns on profit - Dec 1, 2016
The Britain giant supplier of plastic and fiber products, Essentra PLC, has gone through a bearish year having his market value driven down by one fifth in the last semester of 2016.

Wind - 3 Italia merger takes first step - Nov 26, 2016
Wind and 3 Italia took a decisive step towards their merger that should take effect at the beginning of 2017. After months of long negotiations Hutchison Holdings, parent company of Italian mobile operator 3 Italia

The largest IPO ever: Saudi Armco - Nov 20, 2016
The state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco, is planning to go public. This is expected to be the world’s largest IPO, and Saudi Aramco could thus become the most valuable company with a valuation between 2 and 3 trillion dollars, according to Thomson Reuters.

The moment of truth is coming for Monte dei Paschi - Nov 16, 2016
Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena is to cut 2,600 jobs in the latest plan to return to profitability and achieve the CEO Marco Morelli’s target of €1.1bn net income and 11% return on tangible equity by the end of 2019.

Deutsche Bank in Trouble – Could the Giant Fail? - Nov 10, 2016
Germany’s largest bank, Deutsche Bank, is currently facing major pressure and is subject of speculation regarding its liquidity position and whether the bank can achieve a turnaround or not.

European largest wealth fund to increase its risk profile in 2017 - Nov 2, 2016
Government Pension Fund of Norway, the largest pension fund in Europe, has been urged by an internal committee to shift 10 percent of its investments from bonds to stock.

The birth of Italy’s third largest lender - Oct 28, 2016
The merger between Banca Popolare di Milano (BPM), one of Italy’s strongest lenders, and Banco Popolare, which ranks among the weakest banks in terms of exposure to bad loans, was finally approved last Saturday after the vote of the shareholders of BPM.

Brexit: an overwhelming catastrophe over the UK? - Oct 25, 2016
June 23rd, 2016 was an historical date in the history of the European Union. 51,9% of the British citizens voted to leave the EU– which led to the “Brexit”.

UniCredit to announce €10 billion capital increase - Oct 22, 2016
Little by little, UniCredit, Italy’s biggest lender by total assets is working on plans to shore up its balance sheet and strengthen its position both in Italy and in the Eurozone.

Saudi Arabia’s Liquidity Issue - Sep 29, 2016
The kingdom of Saudi Arabia is currently facing growing concerns with respect to the amount of liquidity circulating in the economy. Authorities are struggling to find a way to boost liquidity levels in an attempt to improve figures which are at their lowest level since the financial crisis.

Carbon Emissions Trading: Financial Instruments vs. Global Warming - May 3, 2016
The market for permits to emit greenhouse gases (GHG) was quite turbulent this year. From the beginning of the year the prices for carbon emissions allowances have dropped drastically to less than €5 per metric ton in February.

Is Nigeria going the same way as the Zimbabwe did a decade ago? - Apr 23, 2016
The Zimbabwean dollar was abandoned as a currency in 2009 after achieving a peak annual inflation of 7.3x 1022% in the last quarter of 2008. Nigeria, a large oil exporter and the most populous country in Africa, has seen large increases in prices as the government attempts to control the currency markets.

Atlas: the bank rescue fund for Italy - Apr 17, 2016
Lately Italian banks are having troubles because of the huge amount of non-performing loans (NPLs) on their balance sheets.

Campari toasting to the tune of old-fashioned cocktails - Apr 7, 2016
Founded back in the 1860, the Italian spirit producer is going to complete another acquisition, following the strategic pattern that it has recently undertaken.

The case of negative interest rates in the Eurozone - Mar 24, 2016
Originally the idea behind the negative interest rates was to flee from the deflation stage in an economy, which Europe feared in 2014.

HSBC: "Hedge Brexit with the Swiss franc" - Mar 20, 2016
According to HSBC’s currency strategists, lead by David Bloom, “Brexit would be a colossal event for Europe. We believe it would drive the pound weaker by 15%-20%, and would likely drag the euro lower with it”

Insurers vs QE - Mar 19, 2016
Nowadays everyone talks about how the low interest rates environment is affecting banks and their profitability: this is probably due to the fact that they are the most known players in the financial business, and therefore exposed to the mood of the market and the interest of the press.

Morals or Money? Russia’s bond deal followed by ECB concerns - Mar 17, 2016
After nearly a year of EU and US sanctions had been imposed on the Kremlin in 2014, Russia has decided to finally start its first issuance of sovereign debt.

Brexit: implications and a possible trading strategy - Mar 15, 2016
Brexit! June 23rd! Referendum! These are the three big words that are shocking financial markets these days. Since UK Prime Minister David Cameron announced the UK’s EU referendum, volatility has spiked across markets

The good old gold: Deutsche bank point of view - Mar 1, 2016
Probably if you ask to your grandparents where to invest safely money, they will cite for sure gold in their answer.

London Boerse: On the road for a European stock Exchange? - Feb 26, 2016
The London Stock Exchange shares jumped on Tuesday’s afternoon after Reuters reported the company managing the City’s Exchange was engaged in merger talks with Deutsche Boerse.

What’s happening to the “most solid” European bank? - Feb 11, 2016
Yesterday shares of Deutsche Bank hit their lowest level ever over fears about the ability of the German Bank to meet obligations on its riskiest bonds. Markets are questioning the solvency of the bank to meet its coupon obligations. Only today the bank jumped 14% after the CEO said he is planning a buyback for DB bonds.

A unique benchmark for European insurers - Jan 18, 2016
Insurers, like banks, need to hold some capital buffers to ensure that they are able to meet customers’ claims even in adverse economic conditions or in case of unexpectedly large payouts

What shall investors expect from UK in 2016? - Dec 22, 2015
The UK has been one of the best performer among the advanced economies in 2015. The economy has grown by about 2.5%, in line with analysts’ estimation for the year. On the edge of 2016, market participants have two major sources of concern for the next year.

Who is interested in Yahoo? - Dec 8, 2015
The day after the news was announced that Yahoo management is considering the sale of internet business, potential buyers have emerged. Many of them: from media to telecoms giants and private investment companies.

Coffee break with Jody Vender - Nov 28, 2015
Jody Vender is one of the pioneers of private equity and venture capital in Italy. Born in 1950, he graduated in Economics at Bocconi University in the 70s and he started a successful financial career in Milan, in the 80s, when capital markets were monopolized by stockbrokers and nobody was willing to invest on new ideas

The Netherlands re-enters the prestigious AAA class - Nov 24, 2015
Two years after being out of the best-rated league countries in the euro area, The Netherlands is back after S&P’s re-awarded AAA rating.

German debt trades at a record low yield - Nov 22, 2015
On Wednesday November 18, Germany broke a record selling its two-year government debt at a yield of minus 0.38 per cent. According to analysts, this move reflects the expectation of further monetary easing by the European Central Bank in the next months.

AB InBev and SABMiller making history of M&A deals - Nov 13, 2015
The global beer giant AB InBev two days ago announced a formal offer to acquire SabMiller for the equivalent of 112 billion euro.

French hands on Telecom Italia - Oct 29, 2015
Telecom Italia boom today in the Milan stock market. Its stock rose 8.7% to close the day at a price of €1,261, reaching also an 11% increase during the day. This incredible growth follows the news of the entrance in the society of the French billionaire Xavier Niel, founder of Internet operator Iliad.

AMERICAS

Wells Fargo - The scandal-hit US Bank - May 11, 2018
Wells Fargo, US’s third-biggest bank by assets, has been in the eye of the storm for quite a long time now. Indeed, since the beginning of September 2016, the bank was hit by several scandals concerning the cross-selling of products without customers’ knowledge.

T-Mobile and Sprint all-stock merger - May 10, 2018
On April 29, 2018, T-Mobile and Sprint, respectively third and fourth-biggest US wireless carriers, announced an agreement to merge, creating a giant nearly as large as AT&T or Verizon Wireless. Under the terms of the deal, the merged company will be led by John Legere, current T-Mobile CEO and take the T-Mobile name, and will have more than 127m wireless subscribers in the country.

Procter & Gamble Acquires Its Way Out of Turnaround - May 5 , 2018
P&G reached an agreement with German Merck KGaA to acquire the latter’s consumer health business for €3.4 bn in an all-cash deal. The acquisition would enable the American company to expand its portfolio of consumer-health products, amid difficult times marked by fierce competition and decreasing gross margins.

Is paying for results ready to take off in developing countries? - May 2, 2018
One year after the launched in Colombia of the first Social Impact Bond ever issued in developing countries, mixed finance alternatives continue to develop to address developing areas’ challenges.

US tech export ban on China’s ZTE: the trade war continues - April 30, 2018
According to the ban imposed on ZTE, the US government stopped ZTE’s purchase of any type of item from the US. American companies are estimated to provide around 25-30% of the components used in ZTE’s equipment.

The AT&T challenge - 9 April 2018
The TV-program distributor AT&T has agreed, in October 2016, to acquire the TV-program producer Time Warner for an $85 billion deal. The proposed merger, though, is still facing strong opposition.

Blackstone is ready to acquire Thomson Reuters F&R unit - April 6, 2018
On 30th January Thomson Reuters announced an agreement to sell its Financial & Risk unit to the private equity fund Blackstone. The value of the business has been estimated around $20 billion. Blackstone will acquire 55 percent of the business, while the other 45 percent will remain under Thomson Reuters’ control.

How expectations of rising rates influence corporate high yield bonds - April 3, 2018
Expectations of increasing interest rates in the United States are increasing the outflows from funds investing in junk bonds. Renewed fears of higher rates in the US triggered a wave of redemptions from funds specialized in HY bonds, with net outflows in February over 10 billion, the worst in the past two years.

Innocence Lost. Facebook's datagate scandal - March 30, 2018
This week has certainly been not one to remember for US Big Techs and Facebook is the primary responsible, kicking off an unfortunate chain of events. The discovery that Cambridge Analytica - the data company hired by Mr Trump’s campaign - had obtained Facebook data harvested from about 50m people, has raised questions regarding data use and protection of privacy.

Will Petro cryptocurrency be enough to save Venezuela? - March 28, 2018
Nicolás Maduro, Venezuelan president, announced three months ago that Venezuela would launched its own new cryptocurrency named “Petro”. Through the launch of the national cryptocurrency, Maduro hoped to get around the financial sanctions imposed by the USA and Canada.

DropBox: another unicorn goes public - March 26, 2018
DropBox, the online storage and syncing company, filed for an initial public offering on the 27th of February. The company co-founded in 2007 by Drew Houston was ready to go public seeking for a valuation of $7-$7.9 billion, below its $10 billion valuation given in earlier funding rounds.

Keurig - Dr. Pepper: The Caffeine Merger - March 17, 2018
JAB Holding has announced its acquisition of Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (NYSE:DPS) for $18.7bn in cash, in what has been defined as the “largest acquisition in the non-alcoholic beverage industry”.

Market concerns rise as Gary Cohn resigns - March 14, 2018
This past Tuesday the White House announced that the President’s head of National Economic Council, Gary Cohn, will resign. The news came as Trump announced he plans to push forward a 25% tariff on imports of steel and 10% on aluminum, a policy of which Mr. Cohn has been in clear disapprove of.

Upgrading Costco: Walmart's Sam's Club Closures Driving Costco's Outlook - March 11, 2018
Sam's Club is an American chain of membership-only retail warehouse clubs owned and operated by Walmart (NYSE: WMT). On Jan. 11, 2018, Walmart announced its plans to close 63 Sam's Club in various locations.

Vista Oil&Gas fulfils its special purpose with the acquisition of Petrolera Entre Lomas - March 10, 2018
On February the 19th of 2018, Vista Oil & Gas announced the purchase of a 99.7% share in Petrolera Entre Lomas (Pelsa), for $700m.

Do US investors have reason to fear an inflation hike? - March 7, 2018
Last Wednesday the Bureau of Labor Statistics has released the latest tables related to the consumer price index (CPI), showing the changes in the prices of everyday items. The CPI rose 1.9 per cent from last year

A Four-Way Deal: Fox, Sky, Disney and Comcast - March 4, 2018
Comcast Corporation, the world’s largest media conglomerate by revenue, has just announced its plans to acquire all of UK broadcaster Sky Plc for £22.1 billion ($30.9 billion), in a time when the latter is more wanted than ever. This news comes after a complex period involving some of the largest players in the industry.

The State Of The China-United States Relationship - March 1, 2018
China is the most populated country in the world and, by nominal GDP, its economy is second only to that of the United States. Therefore, it is no surprise that the former President George W. Bush considered the relationship between China and the United States to be “the most important bilateral relationship of the 21st century.”

Regulating Google - December 2, 2017
Regulation is becoming an increasing source of concern for the tech sector. Over the past 10 years, Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Alphabet (Google’s parent company) have grown to become, together with Microsoft, which successfully maintained its leading position, the world’s five largest companies by market capitalisation.

Venezuela's descent into default - December 1, 2017
Venezuela’s economic position is highly at risk lately, due to a $60 billion debt.
On November 14th, Standard and Poor’s announced that Venezuela defaulted on its bond payments.

US corporate taxation reform: how is it going to affect the financial markets and who will be the winners? - November 27, 2017
The US tax reform has represented, from the beginning of his election campaign, one of the milestones of Trump’s policy, pledging to considerably “lower the business tax rate” and to cut taxes for everyone, “especially for the middle class”.

Foot Locker Inc. - What investors might be overlooking - November 13, 2017
Foot Locker Inc. [NYSE: FL] is a leading retailer in the athletic shoes and apparel market, with more than 3,300 specialty stores across the globe.

Kraft Heinz and Unilever: when an M&A does not succeed - April 2, 2017
When rumours of a bid made by the giant Kraft Heinz, the food conglomerate backed by Brazil’s 3G and Warren Buffet, to acquire Unilever turned real, Unilever shares jumped 14 per cent to a record high and putting them on track for their biggest one-day rise since 1987.

Dr. Donald and Mr. Trump - Mar 26, 2017
A harsh conflict between economic theories broke out in the Oval Office. Proud nationalists tried to convince the U.S. President to contrast globalization while, on the other side, liberalism from Wall Street claimed the benefits of US free-trade agreements.

Snap jumps in debut even if concerns over growth threaten the rally - Mar 18, 2017
Snap Inc., the parent company of Snapchat, had a great day on its debut on the New York Stock Exchange.
The stock opened at $24 and then closed the day at $24.51, resulting in a 44% premium relative to the IPO price.

Comeback of inflation in the United States? - Mar 15, 2017
Several signs indicate that inflation will pick up in the United States. If the fiscal and trade policies promised by Donald Trump during his presidential campaign will be implemented.

Chinese investor accused of insider trading of DreamWorks shares - Feb 13, 2017
Due to a leak of information the SEC accused a Chinese investor of being guilty of insider trading. The trader
earned $29m exploiting non-public data.

Walgreens and Rite Aid: a losing battle? - Feb 11, 2017
At the end of October 2015 Walgreens Boots Alliance announced its intention to buy Rite Aid for a tie-up worth
$9.4 billion.

21st Century Fox - Sky: a new giant media company - Jan 5, 2017
On December 15th , 2016 Twenty-First Century Fox announced it has reached an agreement to take full control of Sky, by purchasing the remaining 61% stake it did not already own.

The Federal Reserve interest rate hike: markets reaction and economic implications - Dec 22, 2016
On December 15th, 2016, the Federal Open Market Committee has decided by a unanimous vote to raise the benchmark interest rate, by 0.25 percentage points, to a range of 0.50% - 0.75%.

¿Mercado Libre? - Dec 6, 2016
The Republic of Cuba, currently undergoing a slow and painful modernization process, just lost its “Líder Máximo”. Fidel Castro, aged 90, reportedly passed away on Friday, November 25th.

Markets reaction to US presidential elections - Nov 22, 2016
On November 8th Donald Trump was elected President of the United States. This was quite a bit of a surprise since polls were forecasting a Clinton presidency for the country.

Oracle seals $9.3Bn Acquisition of NetSuite - Nov 12, 2016
On July 28, 2016, Oracle announced it had offered to purchase NetSuite for $9.3 billion USD. Some days ago, November 7th, Oracle Board announced to have obtained 53% of adhesions to its offer.

Blockbuster Deal: AT&T and Time Warner - Nov 6, 2016
The mega-deal, announced on Saturday Oct 22nd, would bring together the world’s largest telecommunications company ($146.8 billion in consolidated revenues in 2015) and one of the world’s leading media groups.

When Giants Hold Hands: The Case of DowDupont - Nov 3, 2016
In October 2016, Citigroup upgraded both Dow Chemical (DOW) and DuPont (DD) from Neutral to Buy and defined DowDuPont as “the stock to own in 2017.”

Twitter: as Free as a Bird - Oct 30, 2016
After nearly a month of rumors about the potential takeover of Twitter, now it seems like the company is left to sort its issues all by itself.

Brazil's comeback from the greatest recession in over 100 years - Oct 23, 2016
Throughout the year, Brazil’s inflation hit a 12-year high of 10.71%, the Central Bank’s benchmark Selic Rate was set as 14.25%, people from all over the world visited the country during the Rio ’16 Olympic Games.

Snapchat IPO: good bye Unicorn? - Oct 17, 2016
A couple of days ago the Wall Street Journal reported that there are rumors of Snap Inc. going public, probably by late March 2017 and the company has just chosen its book runners leaders.

More surveillance leaks and the Yahoo deal - Oct 13, 2016
After former CIA analyst Edward Snowden revealed in 2013 that the NSA is spying on every American’s internet usage and telephone records, we realized that we are not aware of all the surveillance that is going on.

You think WhatsApp is great? Get to see what Google’s “Allo” is about! - Sep 24, 2016
Just when you might have taught that the battle for messaging apps was over, with Facebook’s being crowned the clear winner, Alphabet Inc. launched today its last offense, named Allo. The company from Mountain View claims that “messaging is not a solved problem”.

Fed Rate Hike: Yes vs No - May 12, 2016
As a ship sailing in the storm waiting for captain’s directions, global markets last week have been reacting wildly to several controversial news making Janet Yellen and all her colleagues of main worldwide central banks spend sleepless nights.

Sometimes they come back: Argentina’s bonds - Part II - May 10, 2016
Argentina issued $16.5bn in 3, 5, 10 and 30 years denominated bonds, increased from the planned emission of $15bn, among exceptional interest on the markets with the demand peaked $70bn.

The Future of Coal Industry - May 7, 2016
Recently the planet got much hotter. Certainly, this does not sound like fresh news to anyone. However, data do not lie. We are not going to live on the Earth over the next decades if temperatures keep on rising.

The political revolt against Free Trade - Apr 29, 2016
The Second World War taught us an important lesson. Economic competition condemns state-nations to destroy themselves militarily. Since 1946, global economic integration has been a great concern to policymakers.

More buyers than sellers - Apr 26, 2016
Nothing describes the current state of the housing market better than the phrase “more buyers than sellers”. The imbalance between supply and demand has led to an increase in prices: the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-City composite index is now only 11% off pre-crisis levels.

FED Rates’ hike: is it affordable? - Apr 24, 2016
Nowadays short-term interest rates are very low. Undoubtedly, it is a positive stimulus for the economy as long as borrowers would take advantage of it. Emerging markets too, which retain a huge proportion of debt in dollars, benefit from a weaker currency of the dollar

Student loans and subprime mortgages: is history about to repeat itself? - Apr 22, 2016
Not oil, not China, not the Fed. But the latent issue of the student loan market. A market which has disproportionately grown over the years and whose growth might resemble that of the pre-crisis housing market.

US Inflation: Trade or Trend? - Apr 20, 2016
People who have not approached the world of economics before this decade would find it hard to believe their own eyes if one morning they woke up reading on the newspaper about actual rises in the consumer prices.

US Junk Bond Market: Dead or Alive? - Apr 18, 2016
The $1.3tn US market for high-yield corporate bonds (also called “junk bonds”) has taken a ride on the roller coaster over the last few months.

Game is over for tax inversions - Apr 15, 2016
On April 4th Jack Lew, the American treasury secretary, announced a renewed clampdown on inversions, takeovers that allow American firms to shift their tax domicile to countries with lower corporate tax rates, leaving the American treasury with empty hands.

Sometimes they come back: Argentina’s bonds - Apr 12, 2016
Back to 2000’s Argentina was in the middle of a thunderstorm; an extremely severe crisis, imported from Brazil and Russia, along with widespread unemployment (peaked over 20%) and poverty hit Argentina’s economy so heavily that the period 1998-2002 is called Argentine Great Depression.

Thinking of trading US equity options? Worst time ever - Apr 9, 2016
“We were No. 1, and we’re going to be No. 1 again with a larger lead” declared Nasdaq chief executive Bob Greifeld commenting last month decision of a $1.1 billion acquisition of International Securities Exchange.

An overview of Brazilian economy - Apr 8, 2016
Brazil has been for years considered an emerging markets, pursued by investors for the possibility of high returns, as they often experienced faster economic growth measured by GDP.

Is Latin America ready for the inflation test? - Apr 5, 2016
Latin America’s economy has experienced a sharp deterioration in the second half of 2015. The trend has been mainly driven by Brazil’s path toward recession but is also due to the weak growth in previously performing countries (such as Colombia and Peru).

US inflation concerns - Mar 31, 2016
Undoubtedly, when people expect falling prices, they become less willing to spend and therefore less willing to borrow. Moreover, if consumers become less willing to borrow, hence they become less willing to spend.

More trouble ahead? - Mar 29, 2016
Shares in Valeant lost half of their value on last Tuesday, after the prospect of defaulting on its 30bn of debt was raised by the company, along with the second cut of full-profit targets in five months.

The New Black Plague: Wealth Inequality in the United States - Mar 16, 2016
Wealth inequality is one of the major causes of concern for economic and legal policymakers in the USA at the moment.

Ferrari’s IPO: how the Italian pride went public - Mar 15, 2016
On Thursday we had the great honour to host at our university as guest speakers Davide Tavaniello and Loris Dell’Andrino, respectively Director and Associate Director at UBS Investment Bank.

The oil crash takes its toll on the US shale industry - Mar 14,2016
The last five years represent the fastest expansion of U.S. oil production in history, driven by new technologies like the horizontal drilling through shale rocks.

The Tech-Unicorns' fairy tale - Mar 11, 2016
Recently, in the financial environment, the term “unicorn” started to be utilized with reference to those private companies, mainly tech start-ups, most of which located in the Silicon Valley, which are valued at more than $1 billion.

Debt, Oil and Gold: a Venezuelan story - Mar 7, 2016
These are bad times for Venezuela and its debt: ever lower oil prices mine the country creditworthiness and this risk has been readily priced by the market

The gold rush - Feb 29, 2016
Since the beginning of the year markets high volatility is fostering demand for commodities and government bonds. Billions of dollars and euro are currently moved from equity to safer assets. As you might guess, the commodity winner is…GOLD.

Increases in Chinese Debt lending to South America - Feb 21, 2016
2015 has been a very tough year for South American countries. As a matter of fact, the recessions that many of these countries experienced in the previous year led economists to label this event as the “South American Financial Crisis”.

Oil prices: still far from recovery - Feb 16, 2016
One of the most important aspect affecting the economy and the financial markets in the last weeks is the oil price drop. Today the Brent crude, which is the main international benchmark, is trading at 33.93$ with a more than 70% fall since June 2014.

Would you bet on Argentina? - Dec 4, 2015
If you have recently been following the presidential elections in Argentina, you were not alone: the financial markets have been documenting each development in the just-ended battle for presidency.

Ferrari at Wall Street: after a month the price has dropped - Dec 3, 2015
After about one month from the IPO, rumors and critical views are rising on the run of Ferrari on the circuit of Wall Street. First doubts came over the stability of the price after 30 days of the initial offering, when analysts assigned first evaluation to Ferrari’s share.

Sure about FED rates hike? Take a look at this ETF - Nov 27, 2015
From the time when the financial crisis broke out, the issue of Federal Reserve interest rates has not let investors sleep soundly. Since then, many variables came into play, making it incredibly difficult to forecast a possible outcome and leaving the other central banks resigned to a policy of very low rates.

The Vulnerability in Latin America currencies - Nov 25, 2015
The foreign exchange (FX) vulnerability index, designed by the Dutch Rabobank, measures how currencies move compared to volatility and put them in relation with economic data such as inflation, external debt to GDP and international reserves.

Isn't the dollar strong enough? - Nov 17, 2015
The currency strengthened a lot in the past months, the EUR/USD is at about 1.067. The opposite policies carried out by the two major central banks of the world may push the dollar even further.

A new competitor for Airbnb: Expedia - Nov 8, 2015
Airbnb has just won (investing a lot of money in advertising) the battle of San Francisco against the proposed restrictive rules for the rent of the houses, but have to worry about a possible aggressive competitor: Expedia.

Driverless cars: a wide range of business opportunities - Nov 7, 2015
The transition to fully driverless cars is still far away, but autonomous cars have already started to change human behavior about transportation.

Apple continues to grow and its shares continue to fly - Oct 29,2015
The Cupertino giant, unable to hit another period of record sales: for its fiscal fourth quarter revenues amount at 51.5 billion dollars, with a net profit for the quarter of 11.1 billion, merely about 1.96 dollars per share

ASIA

Air India: flying out of turbulence - Apr 23, 2018
Air India, India’s state-owned national carrier, once soared high. It propelled Asia into the Jet Age and dominated the national market. However, financially-imprudent decisions over many years, coupled with the blitz of new private airlines in the industry, have crippled the airline.

China "not afraid of a trade war" - Apr 2, 2018
That’s how Beijing warned the US after tariffs on over a hundred American products for about 3 billion dollars have been threatened. This happened a few hours after Donald Trump opened trade hostilities against the second largest economy in the world by signing an order that imposes duties on a value of 60 billion imports for about 1,300 Chinese products.

Alipay and WeChat being decisive in the Tech Trade War - Mar 29 , 2018
"I think this is one small battle in a bigger tech trade war between the U.S. and China." This is the comment of Cyrus Mewawalla, speaking to BBC about Apple’s recent move to host Chinese users' iCloud accounts in a Chinese data centre, compelled by new laws.

Mercedes: China’s Geely buys $9 billion Daimler stake - Mar 8, 2018
Li Shu Fu, the billionaire founder of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. has acquired 9.69 percent of Daimler AG for about $9 billion (€7.3 billion) using as funds - entirely raised outside Chine - a combination of debt, equity and financial instruments overseas.

Is the Yen set to take flight? - Mar 3, 2018
It is a hard fact that the yen has been the best-performing major currency this year, with a rise of 6% from the beginning of 2018. It has experienced some set-backs in occurrence of the US elections from which however it has totally recovered, reaching in mid-February its peak value.

Toshiba sells its memory chip business to a consortium led by Bain Capital - Oct 27, 2017
The Japanese tech-giant Toshiba agreed to a ¥2tn ($18bn) deal to sell its memory chip business to a consortium led by Bain Capital. The divestment was necessary after the company got into financial trouble due to severe losses caused by Toshiba’s US nuclear power plant subsidiary. Toshiba had to secure a deal and sell off assets in order to prevent delisting from the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Hong Kong and Singapore: two different paths in the property market - Oct 16, 2017
Hong Kong and Singapore, the two Asian financial hubs and among the most international cities in the world, have something in common that goes beyond their geography and culture: astonishingly high property prices. When house values increase, it is usually good for the economy as a whole and for the pockets of homeowners. But when prices gets too high, they may cause major disruption.