Month: March 2020

The Federal Reserve took drastic action on Thursday as the stock market meltdown accelerated, pledging to inject as much as $1.5 trillion into U.S. markets to cull the growing panic sparked by the Coronavirus pandemic. The Fed noted in a statement, “These changes are being made to address highly unusual disruptions in Treasury financing markets associated with the coronavirus outbreak,” adding that the operations “will be adjusted as needed to foster smooth Treasury market functioning.” The Fed originally announced an offer to purchase just $500 billion in a so-called three-month…

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Several democratic presidential candidates have proposed fracking bans, but oil companies have room to breathe easily knowing that killing off fracking in the US is a bit too big of a bite for any political party to handle. But as environmental issues continue to remain front and center in the media, fracking has become a rather easy target that offers political candidates a juicy platform from which they can woo voters. But is their plan to ban fracking really feasible? And doesn’t the American shale patch already have enough–and bigger–enemies?…

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After a brief respite following reports of central bank economic stimuli in the United States and the UK, crude oil slumped once again after on Wednesday, President Donald Trump instituted a 30-day travel ban on most European countries because of the coronavirus pandemic. At the time of writing Brent crude was trading down by more than 8 percent at $32.71 a barrel, with West Texas Intermediate at $30.27 a barrel, also down by more than 8 percent. In a televised address from the Oval Office, Trump said, “We will be…

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The world’s top oil exporter Saudi Arabia is going after Russia’s oil market share in Europe with deeply discounted Arab Light crude at up to three times the usual volumes, people with knowledge of European refiners’ operations told Bloomberg on Thursday. The Saudis, OPEC’s de facto leader and top producer, are aiming to grab market share from Russia in the oil price war it launched on Moscow to punish it for refusing to back deeper OPEC+ production cuts last week. And Europe is a key battleground in the new oil…

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The Council on Foreign Relations has canceled a roundtable called “Doing Business Under Coronavirus” scheduled for Friday in New York due to the spread of the infection itself. CFR has also canceled other in-person conferences that were scheduled from March 11 to April 3, including roundtables in New York and Washington and national events around the U.S. The CFR’s confabs are joining a long list of canceled or postponed gatherings, including the annual New York auto show. The Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association said Tuesday that the car show will…

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