Oil prices fell in May 2023 upon the demand for fuel in top global oil consumers. The consumers like the United States and China offset the bullish sentiment on tightening supplies from the organization of the petroleum exporting countries plus (OPEC+) cuts and renewal in the U.S. buying for reserves.

According to Reuters data, Brent crude futures fell 26 cents to USD73.91 a barrel by 0638 Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). The United States West Texas Intermediate Crude also fell 20 cents, USD69.34 a barrel.

In the second week of May 2023, Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate Crude fell for a consecutive week. It is the most extended stripe of weekly declines since September 2022, which concerns the United States, which could enter a…

Google has announced two new pixel smartphones in its input/output (I/O) opening keynote in May 2023. The first one, Google Pixel 7A, is affordable, and the other one, Pixel Fold, is almost four times the price of the Pixel 7A. Pixel 7A is Google's first foldable smartphone with a 7.6 inches screen when it is flipped open. This foldable and flip-open feature of Pixel Fold brings it closer to the iPad mini's 8.3 inches screen.

Google started the "made by Google" Pixel smartphones in 2016. But even after having attractive prices for the pixel smartphones and good reviews for them, the company could never crack the smartphone market just by selling a small fraction of the devices alongside the market leaders like- Samsung, Apple, and Xiaomi…

The global banking system is a crisis hit due to many geo-political problems. Gold is the only asset that has given good returns to investors more than their expectations. Due to instability in the global economy, gold prices rose, which is an all-time high till date.

The price of gold reached INR 61,490 per 10 grams on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX). In the first quarter of 2023, when the stock market was even more volatile due to global economic conditions, gold as a commodity gave stellar returns among all other asset classes. Even gold's charm was intact among the retail investors irrespective of its high price.

In the financial year 2022-2023, the gold price was INR 52,000 in April 2022, and the price has risen to INR 60,000 by…

Food is the most significant contributor to inflation in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). In Venezuela, the inflation rate is high for the food of Latin America, as per the data by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United States (FAO). Venezuela saw an increase of 110.4 percent in the inflation rate until September, and Argentina also saw the second highest rate, 86.8 percent.

According to FAO, the three countries with low food inflation rates for the same period are Bolivia at 2.2 percent, Panama at 5 percent, and Ecuador at 7.1 percent. Also, FAO said that the average annual food inflation in the region was 43.9 percent in September 2022, but it did not exceed 23 percent globally.

The LAC region is still experiencing…

Airbnb (ABNB), a service that lets property owners rent out their spaces to travellers , observe a fall , fall in its stocks as  it expects bookings and average rates of stocks to decline in the second quarter of 2023 when compared to 2022.

In the company's earnings call, the second quarter of 2023 turned out to be a bit tough competition to the stock rates in 2022. But the company is focusing overall on the stable demand for the rest half, as said by Airbnb's CFO.

The Airbnb stock also fell as much as 15 percent in the pre-market trade in May 2023. If we compare the impressive numbers from the company’s earnings report and Wall Street’s expectations as compiled by Bloomberg, the revenue scales up to USD 1.8 billion versus USD 1.79…

U.S Fed decided to stay strong and to keep raising the interest rates to fight against the inflation. Fed chairman, Jerome Powell in a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), announced a hike of 0.25 percent recently by bringing the target range for the federal funds rate to reach 5 percent to 5.25 percent. It is highest since 2007.

Again, the Fed was also forced to balance the risks of shaky banking sector against the risks of allowing the inflation to flare up. The FOMC also decided to stay firm in its decision regarding the hike in federal funds. The Fed admitted in order to gain confidence, saying the conditions in the sector has improved broadly since March in 2023. It also added that the U.S. banking system was…

Around 2.5 percent of the world's population consumes cannabis, compared to 0.2 percent of people consuming cocaine and 0.2 percent consuming opiates. Currently, cannabis abuse has grown more rapidly than opiates and cocaine.

Recently, a study predicts that the use of cannabis worldwide will increase by more than one billion users by 2027. Most people among the lot will choose for the non-intoxicating and low-THC varieties marketed under the name of CBD.

If we go by the numbers, CBD users should spend around USD 24 on the respective products in 2023. All these numbers of users indicate a very casual use of the product. The per capita revenue for CBD is expected to rise to USD29 by 2027. Also, the expenditure of medical cannabis and…

iPhone sales are growing day by day. Thus, it is making the business grow as Apple noted better results than expected for the second fiscal quarter, May 2023. For the initial three months of the year, USD 24.2 billion is posted in net profit on revenue of USD 94.8 billion in April.

Apple's CEO, Tim Cook, said the company is pleased to report a high record in services and a March quarter recorded good again despite the challenging macroeconomic environment. He added that the company's services revenue climbed to USD 20.9 billion for the first quarter of 2023. Apple faced the opposite situation in the smartphone market by reporting the shipments of smartphones declining globally by almost 14 percent year-over-year.

As per Counterpoint…

Wind and solar power are regaining their position in the energy field with high-rising hopes day by day. It accounts for almost 39 percent of global electricity combined with renewables and nuclear in 2023.

According to the reports by Ember's Fourth Annual Global Electricity Review, wind, and solar energy accounted for around 12 percent of global electricity in 2022. There has been significant growth in this power production over the past twenty years, as per the reports. The data also said in 2022, solar energy added a record 245 TWH of generation, and wind added a record 312 TWH. Together, they accounted for 80 percent of the world's increasing need for electricity in 2022.

But again, other fossil fuels and coal are also needed to meet…

With the prices reaching 5 percent over the years, the inflation in the United States cooled down to its lowest point in almost around two years in March 2023. In comparison to February 2023 the pries rose by 0.1 percent. It is less than the month-on-month increase recorded in the months of January and February.

According to the reports, the food prices remained unchanged overall from February and the home food fell by 0.3 percent. Also, the energy prices decreased by 3.5 percent in these months and 6.4 percent over the years. The offset can be seen by the rising prices for housing by 0.6 percent since February 2023. It is more than 8 percent of what it was in 2022 around the same time being.

As the information says, due to the rise in…

The interest rates of central bank in advanced economies started to rise again from the zero percent territory. With global economy changing interest rates also kept on varying.

Due to rampant inflation, potential returns are diminished in 2022 completely and thus. Creating savings that are effectively lowering. In thirty-four advanced economies the real interest analysed by the International Monetary Fund was placed at -5 percent in 2022. The real interest remained positive in the emerging economies but fell to 1.2 percent.

According to the IMF reports, the April 2023 economy is experiencing similar changes. Also, IMF added, it expects the real interest rates in some advanced economies to achieve their older status. The major problem…