Perspective News

Browsing posts from June 2011

29 Jun

Outlook for Oil

Commodity prices have been volatile in recent weeks, affected by mixed economic data and ongoing concerns about geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and North Africa. Crude oil prices plummeted in early May and, amid the instability, the price of Brent crude underwent its most severe weekly fall on record. Nevertheless, the Organisation of Petroleum[.....]

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20 Jun

EU Insurance Ruling

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that insurers can no longer use gender as a factor when calculating premiums. Europe’s Gender Directive outlawed gender discrimination in the UK from 2008; however, the UK was granted an opt-out when determining insurance premiums. This opt-out has now been ruled as discriminatory and against the principle[.....]

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13 Jun

Global update

Most equity markets ended May in negative territory, with the global MSCI World index falling 2.5% in US dollar terms. Continued worries over Europe’s sovereign debt crisis and, in particular, mounting fears Greece might default on its debt pulled down share prices around the world. Elsewhere in the eurozone, Portugal reached an agreement on a[.....]

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07 Jun

Inflation update

The annual rate of inflation increased to 4.5% during April, compared with 4% in March. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) reached its highest level since October 2008. Inflation registered a month-on-month rise of 1% during April – only the second time that prices have risen by as much as this in a single month. However,[.....]

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