Making sense of the USD and Fed rate hike cycles
Dec 15, 2015 02:43 am UTC| Insights & Views
The Federal Reserve is widely expected to lift interests on 16 Dec for the first time since Jun 2006. It remains unclear whether this will be positive or negative for the US dollar, as measured by the DXY (USD)...
What's the real risk from consumer drones this holiday season?
Dec 15, 2015 00:00 am UTC| Insights & Views Technology
This holiday season, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is estimating that over one million small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUASs) drones, to the rest of us will be sold to consumers. But as hordes of novice pilots...
Janet Yellen's Goldilocks rate rise: lining up the politics and economics
Dec 14, 2015 23:58 pm UTC| Insights & Views Central Banks
On Thursday morning, the Federal Reserve is expected to announce its first increase in US interest rates for nearly a decade. Since the onset of the global financial crisis, the bellwether federal funds rate has been...
How emissions trading at Paris climate talks has set us up for failure
Dec 14, 2015 18:13 pm UTC| Insights & Views Business Nature
The Paris Agreement has mostly been greeted with enthusiasm, though it contains at least one obvious flaw. Few seem to have noticed that the main tool mooted for keeping us within the 2℃ global warming target is a...
Why soft climate deals are better than tough ones
Dec 14, 2015 17:18 pm UTC| Insights & Views
The Paris climate talks have been heralded as a historic deal. But while they have been praised for the very feat of reaching an agreement and for setting an ambitious aim to keep warming below 2℃ and endeavouring to limit...
What low interest rates have done for the world – and the likely effects of a rise
Dec 14, 2015 16:36 pm UTC| Insights & Views Central Banks
With the US Federal Reserve seemingly set on raising interest rates, its time to take stock of what low rates have done for the world. And what the prospects are when this era of low interest rates comes to an...
Why the actions of South Africa's president have rendered him a lame duck
Dec 14, 2015 16:23 pm UTC| Insights & Views Politics
Mayhem is the only word that can describe President Jacob Zumas shock reversal of the appointment of almost-minister of finance Desmond van Rooyen. Markets welcomed the move to a well-known and trusted Pravin Gordhan, the...
Johannesburg in a time of darkness: Ivan Vladislavić’s new memoir reminds us of the city’s fragility
Economist Chris Richardson on an ‘ugly’ inflation result and the coming budget
Biden administration tells employers to stop shackling workers with ‘noncompete agreements’
IceCube researchers detect a rare type of energetic neutrino sent from powerful astronomical objects