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’Stock up on bread now— at least until it rains again
The most well-known wheat crisis to date is the 1972 “Great Grain Robbery,” in which the Soviet Union combated a catastrophic drought that depleted their wheat supply by buying all the available surplus of wheat in the United States. This Soviet spending spree triggered food price hikes worldwide.
BREAKING: Russian-Irish spy ring eyed ‘global gold market’ in…Jersey?
The stuff of cheap thrillers, this one:
That’s from this complaint – part of a fast-developing spy story, allegedly involving various Russians, some of whom are said to have been operating under Irish names.
No need to worry about Belarus gas
Russia and gas disputes go hand-in-hand.
And the latest dispute of this nature is focused on Belarus.
Russia’s Gazprom claims the country owes it $192m in unpaid gas payments. On Monday, therefore,
Statistic abuse, Moscow edition
Believe it or not — with Greece and China having been suspected at various points of economy with the truth, yet another sovereign state has been accused of fiddling its statistics.
This time round it is Russia.
Russian (currency) might
Here’s the rouble versus the euro, courtesy of Reuters:
The Russian currency has appreciated by about 10 per cent over the past three months. Received wisdom puts this down to the rising price of crude,
The oligarch list
From Finans magazine, a list of rich Russians. Commentary (in Russian) here and an unsatisfactory Google translation is available here.
Note the toppling of Roman Abramovich, replaced by Vladimir Lisin,
Sino-Russian finance
A date for Asian diaries:
Event: Russia – Capital Raising and Investment Summit – Hong Kong
When: April 12 – 14
Where: The Four Seasons, HK
Keynote Speaker: Ronald Joseph Arculli, chairman of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd.
A rush to trade in Russia?
Take a look at the following charts of Russia’s Micex index, the RTS index and the same RTS index as denominated in dollars:
Notice anything interesting with the volumes?
On the Micex,
The scale of sovereign short-selling
The sovereign debt most targeted by short-sellers is not what you might expect, according to DataExplorers.
We’re not entirely sure of the methodology here, but the short-selling specialist has presented this interesting chart.
Putin on those ‘rich, tasteless’ Russians
Vladimir Putin has been taking part in an annual question-and-answer session with Russian citizens on Thursday, and while we couldn’t possibly comment on what’s prompting his forthright commentary, we have to say some of the things he’s been saying have been,
Russia mulls cross-border ‘Tobin’ tax
Russia is considering ways to discourage speculative currency traders from driving up the ruble exchange rate, including a tax on cross-border currency transactions, reports the WSJ citing a central bank official.
Russia signals return to debt markets
Alexei Kudrin, the Russian finance minister, on Thursday visited London to woo investors ahead of Russia’s return to international debt markets for the first time in 10 years. Moscow is seeking up to $17.8bn in eurobond financing next year to cover deficit spending and fund a recovery from an economic contraction of nearly 11% in the first half of this year.
Russia drops BNY Mellon suit
Russia dropped a $22.5bn lawsuit against Bank of New York Mellon on Thursday after agreeing an out-of-court settlement in a case related to a decade-old money laundering scandal. A judge in Moscow’s arbitration court said Russia’s federal customs service,
Russia looks to raise $18bn
Russia is to launch its first international bond in a decade to bolster its public finances and take advantage of surging demand for emerging market debt. Russia, which last issued a bond aimed at international investors in 2000,
Renault gets a Russian bear hug
Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin appears to have forgotten his recent comments about reducing the state’s role in the economy.
As the The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday:
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Friday that Renault SA’s stake in OAO AvtoVAZ could be diluted unless the French company helps bail out the failing Russian auto maker.
Russia throws another currency on the barbie
In further dollar diversification news, Reuters reported on Tuesday that Russia might consider adding either the Australian or Canadian dollar to its currency reserves.
Such news would normally be considered a negative for the greenback — implying as it does some degree of a switch out of US dollars by the Russians.
Eyeing cash-and-carry bond issues
As has been duly noted by analysts, newspapers and commentators in the last few weeks — the dollar is emerging as the world’s new favourite ‘carry-trade’ currency. (Although, some have suggested it should really be the Great British Kroner.)
With that in mind,
Privyet privatisation
Just as Russian coffers look set to receive a bundle of assets via distressed corporate equity swaps from companies fallen upon hard times, it appears the Russians may also be simultaneously preparing for a large wave of new privatisation.
Da, Goldman, da
Goldman Sachs. North Korea. Russia.
It sounds like a conspiracy theorist’s dream, but after placing a big fat (albeit theoretical) ‘buy’ on North Korea on Monday, the investment bank has on Tuesday,
Russia’s matryoshka banks
You never know what’s next inside a matryoshka doll. Thanks to the financial crisis, the same might be applicable to Russian banks’ balance sheets too.
Because of the diverse collateral pledged by Russian companies to guarantee loans,
Dmitry Medvedev: Russian bear
It’s only 2009, but already the (somewhat obtuse) campaigns for the 2012 Russian presidency by Putin and Medvedev are well underway, as the the following piece in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday made clear:
The SDR effect on the dollar, and gold
Here’s a small sample of what the world’s central banks are doing with their newly inflated SDR reserves.
Mexico, via Bloomberg:
The $4 billion in special drawing rights Mexico is getting from the International Monetary Fund is providing the central bank more room to continue selling dollars while reaching its goal of ending this year with international reserves around last year’s levels,
Emerging market consumers not persuaded by plastic
Plastic in the form of credit cards, that is.
The Business Standard reported on Tuesday that in India, “the annual growth in credit card balances has fallen to an all-time low”:
According to the Reserve bank of India (RBI) data,
China and Russia lead oil deals
Oil companies from emerging economies are responsible for more than half the sector’s biggest mergers and acquisitions by value this year, according to a PwC report. Emerging economy buyers, led by Chinese and Russian companies,
Move over, Amero; presenting the “united future world currency”
What is Russia playing at? Talk of upsetting the global world order (at least as currency reserves go) has largely been reported as China’s domain, but Dmitry Medvedev is giving his neighbours a run for their money – literally.
More dollar deliberations
Wednesday’s dollar dive (as illustrated below by the movements of the dollar index) is, according to some reports, being put down to yet more rather non-dollar friendly signals from China.
Specifically,
Russian market sell-off deepens
Russian equity markets dropped further on Tuesday, extending losses this month to more than 20% in a sell-off that has underscored the country’s record as one of the world’s most volatile markets. Russia’s shares have led a slide across most emerging market assets this month.
Sell the rouble
Interesting note on Russia from Barclays Capital on Tuesday (emphasis FT Alphaville’s):
Our understanding of the flows story has been that the massive run-up in the stock market was onshore driven – data show very limited participation on the part of foreign investors.
Three (deadly) Russian bears
This is a bear bear, reputedly Russian…
Here’s a stock market bear – the MICEX index – which is definitely Russian…
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