HSBC: ECB far from adjusting Monetary Policy

Although signs of stabilization are emerging in the eurozone, the European Central Bank (ECB) is still far from exiting or scaling back its monetary stimulus policies, said the HSBC in a report on Monday.

"There have been a few tentative signs of stabilization, or at least less deep recessions, in most of the eurozone. Among the purchasing manager's index (PMIs), the export orders for Spain and Italy have recovered strongly. However, the kind of recovery we are forecasting is still feeble," said the HSBC in its quarterly report.

The political and economic challenges for the eurozone remain enormous and with the U.S. Federal Reserve making noises about starting to normalize policy, the ECB's task of keeping monetary policy appropriately loose for the monetary union has just recently got harder, highlighted the HSBC.

"Growth is still not coming back, unemployment rates are rising to socially unacceptable levels and debt projections continue to be revised up. The limits to austerity are being reached and populations and politicians are becoming more vocal in saying so: Portugal is the most recent example," the report said.

The HSBC forecast that the eurozone GDP growth would be only 0.6 percent in 2014, 0.5 percentage point lower than the ECB's expectation.

OECD: U.K. Economy on course for Growth

The British economy is on course for above trend growth, according to statistics released Monday by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The OECD released Composite Leading Indicators (CLIs) for the Britain which stabilized at 100.7 (above 100.1 shows growth) in May.

This remains inside the 100.7-8 range followed by the British economy throughout this year, and was up 1.25 percent year-on-year.

CLI's are designed to anticipate turning points in economic activity relative to trend, and typically indicate the direction of the economy between six and nine months ahead.

Dr. Howard Archer, chief European and British economist with IHS Global Insight, said, "The OECD reported that the May reading for the leading indicator for the Britain points to growth close to its trend rate."

China's CPI 2.7% although PPI -2.7%

China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, grew 2.7 percent year on year in June, up from 2.1 percent in May, the National Bureau of Statistics said Tuesday.

The growth was below the government's full-year target of 3.5 percent.

The NBS attributed the acceleration mainly to rises in food prices, which surged 4.9 percent month on month in June.

The rise was slightly above the market forecast of around 2.6 percent, according to Tang Jianwei, a senior analyst on macroeconomics at Bank of Communications.

On a monthly basis, the growth of the CPI in June edged up 0.6 percentage point from May, compared to a decline of 0.3 percentage point in May from April.

The data also show that China's producer price index (PPI), which measures wholesale inflation, fell 2.7 percent year on year in June, marking the 16th straight month of decline and pointing to continued weak market demand.

The PPI fell 2.9 percent year on year in May, marking the steepest drop in seven months.

Source: Xinhua

Precious Metals prices

Gold Price Futures           3months          US$ 1,251.33

Silver Price Futures          3months          US$     19.32

Natural Gas market distortions because of local subsidies

Natural gas reserves are abundantly available in the GCC countries and of all fossil fuels, natural gas is surely the cleanest one. Moreover, specific technologies (e.g. combined cycle power plants) exist that allow gas to have better energy transformation efficiencies than other fuels. However, as all gas turbine based applications have significant efficiency losses in hot climates, specific research for these technologies to be used in the GCC environment would be beneficial. Gas can also be used for a/c with better overall well-to-appliance efficiencies than traditional electricity based appliances. As for other energy carriers, however, the below cost pricing of natural gas leads often to shortages and non-availability of gas in many GCC countries. In fact, only Qatar enjoys absolute abundance of natural gas. Other GCC countries, such as Abu Dhabi or Oman, though exporters of LNG, face a shortage of gas for domestic purposes. Artificially low domestic gas prices have discouraged the exploitation of known but expensive gas reserves (generally very deep and sour gas reservoirs); they also encourage long distance exports of LNG to liberalised markets rather than short distance exports to regional neighbours, as would be economically sound under normal market conditions. As a result, we see distortions, for example the UAE and Oman exporting gas to the Far East and at the same time importing gas from Qatar for domestic use. This situation cannot continue very long; Qatar is unhappy because of the low price it receives for the gas and refuses to consider increasing capacity. It also refuses to consider exporting gas to Bahrain and has shelved a project to export gas to Kuwait. The region needs to urgently address these distortions, although energy pricing is a politically sensitive issue. Administrative gas prices should be progressively abandoned in favour of a competitive market based on a network of pipelines connecting all regional production and consumption centres.

The European experience in its pursuit of a single, transparent and competitive gas market may be of interest to the GCC countries, which can learn from it. Europe with its highly developed gas industry and gas infrastructure has accumulated over the last decades extensive experience which gas companies and research institutes can share with the GCC partners, to develop a mutually beneficial cooperation as far as technology and markets are concerned. This includes especially distribution and end-user technology, safety, commercial and tariffication issues and, in general, management of gas retail networks and service to small consumers.

There is huge scope for switching from oil to gas in domestic GCC markets. In addition to gas, substitution of LPG for oil should also be investigated. Use of LPG for transport, domestic needs or even power generation in locations not served by pipelines holds important potential for reducing domestic consumption of petroleum products, reducing CO₂ emissions, and making more petroleum products available to the international market.

Source: Clean Energy. Net  EU-GCC

China’s “overinvestment” problem may be greatly overstated Part I

China’s “overinvestment” problem may be greatly overstated

THE IMF says so. Academics and Western governments agree. China invests too much. It is an article of faith that China needs to rebalance its economy by investing less and consuming more. Otherwise, it is argued, diminishing returns on capital will cramp future growth; or, worse still, massive overcapacity will cause a slump in investment, bringing the economy crashing down. So where exactly is all this excessive investment?

"Most people point to the rapid growth in China's capital spending and its unusually high share of GDP. Fixed-asset investment (the most widely cited figure, because it is reported monthly) has grown at a breathtaking annual rate of 26% over the past seven years. Yet these numbers are misleading. They are not adjusted for inflation and they include purchases of existing assets, such as land, that are inflated by the rising value of land and property. A more reliable measure, and the one used in other countries, is real fixed-capital formation, which is measured on a value-added basis like GDP. This has increased by a less alarming annual average of 12% over the past seven years, not that much faster than the 11% growth rate in GDP in that period.

The level of fixed-capital formation does look unusually high, at an estimated 48% of GDP in 2011.  By comparison, the ratio peaked at just under 40% in Japan and South Korea. In most developed countries it is now around 20% or less. But an annual investment-to-GDP ratio does not actually reveal whether there has been too much investment. To determine that you need to look at the size of the total capital stock—the value of all past investment, adjusted for depreciation. Qu Hongbin, chief China economist at HSBC, estimates that China's capital stock per person is less than 8% of America's and 17% of South Korea's . Another study, by Andrew Batson and Janet Zhang at GK Dragonomics, a Beijing-based research firm, finds that China still has less than one-quarter as much capital per person as America had achieved in 1930, when it was at roughly the same level of development as China today.

This paper proposes a possible framework for identifying excessive investment. Based on this method, it finds evidence that some types of investment are becoming excessive in China, particularly in inland provinces. In these regions, private consumption has on average become more dependent on investment (rather than vice versa) and the impact is relatively short-lived, necessitating ever higher levels of investment to maintain economic activity. By contrast, private consumption has become more self-sustaining in coastal provinces, in large part because investment here tends to benefit household incomes more than corporates.

If existing trends continue, valuable resources could be wasted at a time when China’s ability to finance investment is facing increasing constraints due to dwindling land, labor, and government resources and becoming more reliant on liquidity expansion, with attendant risks of financial instability and asset bubbles. Thus, investment should not be indiscriminately directed toward urbanization or industrialization of Western regions but shifted toward sectors with greater and more lasting spillovers to household income and consumption. In this context, investment in agriculture and services is found to be superior to that in manufacturing and real estate. Financial reform would facilitate such a reorientation, helping China to enhance capital efficiency and keep growth buoyant even as aggregate investment is lowered to sustainable levels.

In contrast to claims cited above suggesting that Chinese investment levels are too low, among other things the paper argues that although investment levels as measured by capital stock per capita are obviously lower in the poor inland provinces in China than they are in the richer coastal regions, in fact investment in the former areas may be less productive than investment in the latter areas. This implies that the regions with less capital are also less able to absorb additional capital efficiently.

Should this be a surprise? For those who argue that China is poor because capital stock per worker in China is much lower than in the advanced countries, and that China should aggressively increase investment to close the gap, the findings in this paper ought to be surprising. If the further an economy is from US levels of capital stock the more appropriate it is to increase investment, then investment in the poor inland regions should have a higher return than investment in the richer coastal regions".

Source: China Financial Markets M. Pettis

Another Bubble Burst Part II Highly Recommended

A bullish view has "held that emerging market (EM) central banks built up robust international reserve positions (including large quantities of Treasuries) that would be available to backstop their systems in the event of global market turbulence. 
Well, a surge of outflows (and currency market intervention) coupled with a spike in yields is now in the process of depleting reserves much more quickly than anyone had anticipated. There is a clear possibility that we're early in what could be unprecedented flows seeking to exit the faltering EMs. Recalling the 1997 Southeast Asian experience, it was a case of "those who panicked first panicked best". The more reserve positions were depleted, the faster "hot money" ran to the rapidly closing exits. 
As a rough guide, the pain and dislocation associated with a bursting bubble are commensurate with the degree of excess during the preceding boom.
 Timing a bubble's burst is always a challenge (at best) - especially in an environment of epic central bank liquidity support. 
Importantly, the longer the inevitable day of reckoning is delayed the worse the consequences. Years of aggressive market intervention ensured a most protracted period of unprecedented excess - excesses that encompassed virtually all markets and all risk categories. Perhaps Federal Reserve policymaking ensured that the greatest bubble excess and market distortions materialized in perceived low-risk (fixed income and equities) strategies. 

"The danger of mis-pricing risk is that there is no way out without investors taking losses. And the longer the process continues, the bigger those losses could be. That's why the Fed should start tapering this summer before financial market distortions become even more damaging." Martin Feldstein, Wall Street Journal op-ed, July 2, 2013. 

Never have inflated bond prices - artificially low borrowing costs - had such a profound impact on securities and asset pricing around the world. Never have risk perceptions and market risk premiums in general been so distorted by aggressive central bank market intervention. 

The mis-pricing of risk implies market re-pricing risk. And the greater the scope of mis-pricing - in the volume of securities issuance, price level distortions and risk misperceptions - the greater the scope of latent bubble market risks. Mis-pricing also implies wealth redistribution - and this has traditionally been from the less sophisticated to the more sophisticated. Actually, when enormous quantities of non-productive debt are issued at artificially high prices there is initially a perceived increase in wealth (more debt instruments at higher prices). This debt ("bull market") expansion coupled with perceived wealth creation spurs spending, corporate profits and higher equities and asset prices. But when the bubble begins to falter - with re-pricing, market losses, risk aversion and tightened financial conditions - the downside of the credit cycle commences". 

Source: AsiaTimes

U.S. Commercial real State Slow recovery

According to The Wall Street Journal,the U.S. commercial Real State market is having a slow,steady recovery.
"The amount of office space occupied by employers increased by 7.2 million square feet, or 0.2% of the total occupied stock, during the quarter, according to real-estate research service Reis Inc. That was the biggest increase since the economy began slowing in 2007.
Without faster growth, the office-vacancy rate is likely to continue to stay high—and rents relatively low. In the second quarter, the overall U.S. vacancy rate stayed flat at 17%.
The bright spots are cities with strong technology or energy markets. Expanding tech and natural-gas companies are seeking more office space to accommodate their growing labor force.

Kuwait runs several Renewal Energy Projects to save about 15% of petrol and gas for 2030

Kuwait is set to run several renewable energy projects to save about 15 percent of the petrol and gas used to generate electricity by 2030.
Kuwait's daily consumption of oil to generate electricity is 350,000 barrels, with a cost of USD two billion, head of the energy program of the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research Dr Sa'ad Salem Al-Jandal told KUNA on Wednesday, on the sidelines of the 9th session's meeting of the energy committee, which operates under the UN's Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA).
The meetings held by ESCWA are of great importance, and this is the second time the meeting is held in Kuwait, he said. The institute organized workshops yesterday specialized in oil and gas pricing, and its effects on the international oil demands in the current world events, he added.
The scale of dependency on renewable energy sources like solar and wind power relates to oil prices and oil demands, therefore, pricing is important for setting a scale between different energy sources, noted Al-Jandal.
The institute uses renewable energy sources to study them thoroughly and present the results to decision makers he said, also adding that the institute works on gathering detailed information to find ways of applying energy policies, and monitor how these would affect the policies of nations.
 The Gulf states are working on using renewable energy sources mainly in projects related to electricity to reduce the use of oil and make use of it in other fields, and Kuwait is recently suffering from the lack of oil needed for power plants.
The Kuwaiti government is paying huge attention to this issue said Al-Jandal, adding that the institute presented in the workshops, details about the use of oil in Kuwait and ways of using renewable energy sources in vital projects such as Al-Shegaya renewable energy power plant.
The institute aims to develop the techniques used in these renewable sources to make generating electricity easier for power plants, because consuming this huge amount of oil daily will not last, since it affects the country's budget, he explained.
Governments should start preparing to reduce the use of oil, gas, and coal, because these resources will not be available for a long period of time due to the massive consumptions, he warned.
Al-Jandal expected Kuwait's use of electricity to reach 30,000 megawatt by 2030, including the electricity used in manufacturing, which will lead to the consumption of 700,000 barrel of oil a day

Sinopec Engineering Largest World Crane

 Sinopec Engineering (Group) Co., Ltd. (SEG) announced Saturday that a crawler crane with the largest hoisting capacity in the world was put into use.

The crane, with the maximum lifting capacity of 4,000 tonnes, successfully lifted and installed a 118-meter-tall, 1,679-tonne propylene tower at an industrial park in Yantai city, east China's Shandong Province.

The crane was jointly developed by the SEG and Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group (XCMG).

The SEG, a wholly owned subsidiary of China's top oil refiner China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec), was launched in September 2012 and started listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on May 23.

Weak Indicators For German Economy

According to the Wall Street Journal slower exports to China and a 1% decline in industrial production in May, makes Germany not the bright spot in the European Union that could lead the euro zone out of its longest postwar contraction.

"The production data come hot on the heels of a surprisingly weak trade report, indicating that Germany's economic recovery remains vulnerable to slack demand from the shrinking euro zone.

German exports of goods in May declined 2.4% on the month and were down 4.8% from May 2012, the federal statistics office said Monday, as euro zone exports slumped 9.6% on the year. At €88.2 billion ($113.1 billion), total goods exports in May hit their lowest level since December 2012, when Europe's largest economy was on the brink of recession".

"Chinese demand currently doesn't compensate for slack euro-zone orders", said Anton Boerner, the president of the BGA federation of German exporters and wholesalers.

Currencies Quotes ETF's

FXA                               0.9118                              Australian Dollar

FXC                               0.94                                  Canadian Dollar

FXE                               127.37                               Euro

FXY                                96.86                               Japanese Yen

FXF                               101.79                               Swiss Franc

Source: Schawb

Precious Metals Quotes

Gold Price   3month Futures           US$   1,234.21

Silver Price  3month Futures           US$       19.07

Bond Quotes

Government Bonds			Price Change	Yield%
U.S. 5 Year			12/32	1.531
U.S. 10 Year			20/32	2.667
U.S. 30 Year			1 1/32	3.650
Germany 2 Year			2/32	0.089
Germany 10 Year			6/32	1.702
Italy 2 Year			3/32	1.936
Italy 10 Year			13/32	4.372
Japan 2 Year			0/32	0.141
Japan 10 Year			-7/32	0.885
Spain 2 Year			1/32	1.897
Spain 10 Year			-10/32	4.662
U.K. 2 Year			0/32	0.391
U.K. 10 Year			1/32	2.485

 Source:  WSJ

Another Bubble Burst Part I Highly Recommended

"US bonds were crushed on Friday on the back of stronger-than-expected payroll data. Long-bond yields jumped 21 basis points (bps) to an almost 23-month high 3.71%. Ten-year yields rose 24 bps to 2.74% - the highest level since August 5, 2011. Yields on benchmark mortgage-backed securities (MBS) surged 30 bps during the session to a 23-month high 3.69%. The spread between 10-year Treasury yields and benchmark MBS widened six on Friday to a one-year high 95 bps. Notably, MBS yields were up 75 bps in 14 sessions and 140 bps since May 1. 

With unprecedented outflows from the bond complex coupled with notable global central bank selling, the bubble in US fixed income would appear in serious jeopardy. And while analysts and money managers will continue talk of a "fair value" range for Treasury securities, for the time being flow of funds analysis trumps valuation. Will foreign central banks continue reducing their enormous holdings of US Treasury and Agency securities? How much leverage has accumulated throughout US fixed income - especially in corporates, MBS and municipal debt? How long until some hedge funds are in trouble? Redemptions coming? Derivative problems? Will investors continue their retreat from US fixed income mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs)? 

A few data points are in order. Since the end of 2007, Rest of World (ROW from the Fed's Z.1) Treasury holdings have jumped $3.325 trillion, or 140%, to $5.701 trillion. Over this period, "official" central bank Treasury holdings were up $2.233 trillion, or 134%, to $4.059 trillion. I have previously highlighted the extraordinary expansion of central bank international reserve assets (as accumulated by Bloomberg). Since the end of 2007, international reserves have inflated $5.061 trillion, or 84%, to $11.122 trillion. The Fed's $85 billion monthly QE suddenly doesn't seem as powerful. 

Ongoing selling by foreign central banks could be driven by two key dynamics. First, one would think (thinly capitalized) central banks would seek to contain losses on their outsized bond holdings. Keep in mind that the higher bond yields jump, the more individual central banks will need to monitor the scope of losses and the degree of capital impairment. Second, "developing" central banks will most likely be forced to sell Treasuries and other bond holdings to fund investor and "hot money" flows exiting their markets and economies". 

Source: Asian Times

Abu Dhabi's and Dubai's Real Estate Markets Recovery

The recovery of Abu Dhabi's real estate market is nearly two years behind rival emirate Dubai and will not see any upturn until at least 2014, according to a report from real estate agent Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL).

“With an increase of 65 percent in the number of transactions in 2012, the Dubai real estate sector will continue to shift up a gear in 2013, experiencing a broader based recovery on the back of continued economic growth,” said Alan Robertson, CEO of JLL MENA.

Forecasts showed that the number of new residential and hotel units in the UAE capital will continue to rise in 2013, while a recent glut of office space coming onto the market in recent years will see the 2013 supply decline. Around 550,000 sqm of office space will come on stream this year, compared to 570,00 sqm in 2012.

By comparison 68,000 sqm of retail space is expected to come into the market, up from 42,200 sqm in 2012. This is a result of a lack of space handed over in 2012, while 2013 will see the launching of a number of large mall projects.

“2013 will see an increase in confidence and sentiment in the Dubai market generally. The market will experience a broader based recovery, with all sectors seeing some pockets of rental growth in 2013,” said Craig Plumb, Head of Research at JLL MENA.

Oil by train shipping after weekend accident

"The deadly train derailment in Quebec this weekend is set to bring intense scrutiny to the dramatic growth in North America of shipping crude oil by rail, a century-old practice unexpectedly revived by the surge in shale oil production.

At least five people were killed, and another 40 are missing, after a train carrying 73 tank cars of North Dakota crude rolled driverless down a hill into the heart of Lac-Megantic, Quebec, where it derailed and exploded, leveling the town center.

 Crude oil shipments on North America's rail network  has widely been expected to continue growing as shale oil output races ahead far faster than new pipelines can be built. 

Hauling some 50,000 barrels of crude, the train was one of around 10 such shipments a month now crossing Maine, a route that allows oil producers in North Dakota to get cheaper domestic crude to coastal refiners. Across North America, oil by rail traffic has more than doubled since 2011; in Maine, such shipments were unheard of two years ago.

Apart from the human toll, the disaster will draw more attention to environmental risks of transporting oil.

Much is at stake: Oil by rail represents a small but important new source of revenue for big operators like Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd and Warren Buffett's BNSF, which have suffered a drop in coal cargo. It is also a flexible and cheaper option to more expensive European or African crude for refiners like Irving Oil, which confirmed on Sunday that the train was destined for its 300,000 bpd plant in Saint John, New Brunswick.

And for producers like Continental Resources Inc which have pioneered the development of the Bakken fields in North Dakota, railways now carry three-quarters of their production; new pipelines that can accommodate more oil are years away.

Saturday's train wreck may also play into the rancorous debate over the $5.3 billion US Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the U.S. Midwest, which is hinging on President Barack Obama's decision later this year.

Obama said last month that approval for the line would ultimately depend on its impact on carbon-dioxide emissions. An earlier draft report from the State Department suggested that rejecting the project would not affect emissions because crude would still be shipped by rail".

China's next Economic Indicators

China's GDP growth is estimated at 7.5 percent in the second quarter, from 7.7 percent for the January-March period, according to analysts' forecasts.

An economic slowdown may prompt the government to roll out more reforms after the Chinese economy last year expanded at the slowest pace since the Asian financial crisis in 1997.

"We maintain our Q2 GDP growth forecast of 7.5 percent, which is lower than the 7.7 percent in Q1," said Barclays China economist Chang Jian on Monday.

Chang said the manufacturing PMIs confirmed a further slowdown in industrial activities. She forecast year-on-year industrial production growth to drop to 9 percent in June.

HSBC PMI readings indicated manufacturing, which accounts for 40 percent of China's GDP, contracted in May and June.

China International Capital Corporation Ltd said in an earlier report that the economic growth rate for the second quarter will be 7.5 percent due to weak investment, exports and overall demand.

China plans to release June inflation figures on Tuesday and trade numbers on Wednesday, while GDP growth in the second quarter is due on July 15.

China has targeted 7.5 percent economic growth and 3.5 percent inflation this year.

Its economic growth eased to a 13-year low of 7.8 percent in 2012. The government cooled the inflation rate to 2.6 percent year on year in 2012 from 5.4 percent in 2011.

Source: Xinhua

China:Japanese to stop hurting feelings of Countries that where invaded during World War II

  Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should face up to history and stop hurting the feelings of people in countries that Japan invaded in World War II, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman urged on Monday.

Hua Chunying made the comments at a daily news briefing in response to a question regarding Abe's words on history.

"Every country has pride in its history so what is important is to have mutual respect," Abe told a television show on Sunday.

"We are shocked at what the Japanese leader has said," Hua said, adding that it was 76 years ago to the day (July 7, 1937) that Japan launched an all-out war against China, known as the Lugouqiao Incident.

It is undeniable that Japan's invasion into and colonial ruling of its neighboring countries in Asia imposed great pain and disaster on the people there, Hua said.

What Japan should do is not "take pride in" but look up to and carry out self-questioning about the history of the invasion, she said, adding that the Japanese side should stop using history as a tool to hurt the feelings of Asian people.

Source: Xinhua

Japan with a Current Account Surplus

Japan had a current account surplus for the fourth consecutive month in May, as growth in direct investment income outweighed a trade deficit triggered by a rise in fossil fuel imports, government data showed Monday.

Source:  NewsonJapan

Lending Pick Up in Japan

Japanese bank lending marked its biggest annual increase in four years in June, suggesting the central bank's aggressive monetary stimulus and brightening economic prospects are spurring fund demand for fresh investment.

Source: NewsonJapan

Eike Batista Cansado de Guerra

"A renúncia de Eike Batista da presidência e do conselho de administração da MPX, empresa de energia do conglomerado criado pelo empresário, é mais um capítulo da crise que assola o outrora homem mais rico do Brasil, à luz de perspectivas menos otimistas para o futuro da economia do país.

Em fato relevante divulgado na quinta-feira, a MPX informou ao mercado que uma assembleia geral será convocada em breve para deliberar sobre a saída de Batista e a alteração da denominação social da companhia. Uma oferta de ações inicialmente prevista também foi cancelada e substituída por um aumento de capital privado.

Por trás da decisão, há uma tentativa de acalmar o mercado e interromper a sangria que já lhe custou grande parte de sua fortuna.

Por ser um de seus ativos mais valiosos, a MPX tem importância vital no plano de reestruturação do conglomerado EBX, que reúne quase duas dezenas de empresas criadas pelo empresário.

A intenção inicial seria vender a MPX e a MMX (mineração) para amortizar parte das dívidas de outras companhias do grupo.

Mas segundo o jornal Valor Econômico, estaria em curso um plano maior, de desmembramento do conglomerado, que incluiria a venda de empresas inteiras, diluições de participações e renegociações de dívidas.

A Batista caberia "uma participação minoritária nos maiores empreendimentos ou uma ou outra empresa de menor expressão do grupo", informa o diário em uma reportagem publicada na quinta-feira.

Decepção

No início da semana, a forte queda das ações da OGX (petróleo) puxou para baixo o desempenho da Bovespa, a bolsa brasileira, que se descolou dos mercados internacionais.

Os investidores reagiram mal ao anúncio de que a empresa interromperia a produção nos campos de Tubarão Azul, na Bacia de Campos (Rio de Janeiro), no ano que vem por inviabilidade econômica.

A declaração contribuiu para aumentar ainda mais a crise de confiança que vinha pairando sobre as empresas de Batista, na esteira da deterioração do cenário macroeconômico brasileiro".

Source:   BBC Brazil