globalEDGE Blog Archive November 2016

Today, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will be conducting a highly anticipated meeting regarding the future production of oil and its prices. The main issue the meeting will focus on is the amount of oil supplied by members of OPEC, with an emphasis on the leading oil producing countries in the group. Investors are anxiously awaiting the outcome of the OPEC decision to potentially cut oil production globally. Outcomes of the previous meeting conducted in Algiers seemed hopeful, as the majority of OPEC members agreed to cut as much as 2 percent of their total oil production.

Hacking is defined as using a computer to gain unauthorized access to data or information in a system. Often times the information is used for the financial gain of the hacker. Hackers have come to be a major drain on the global economy. It is estimated that for all of 2016 they will cost the global economy $445 billion. Data hackers have stolen information from many Fortune 500 companies, with one member of a major cyber security firm stating the all 500 Fortune 500 companies have been hacked. Small business are not safe from hackers either. Home Depot and Target are both international corporations that have had their information compromised after small third party company contractors were hacked, allowing the hackers access to the bigger companies' databases.

globalEDGE provides a wealth of information on international business and a variety of interactive educational tools for use in the classroom or in executive training. One section that has been extensively used in a classroom setting is the Online Course Modules. The modules offer a structured way of viewing information pertaining international business through narrated slides. The modules cover several aspects of international business such as how to do business in several regions, importance of culture and ethics in conducting international business, the legal framework of international business, and a module series on exporting that has been produced in cooperation with the U.S. Commercial Service. The modules also include quizzes, case studies, and references for further study.

Canada is the world's 12th largest coal producer, contributing close to 10% of greenhouse gas emissions overall. However, Canada plans to fully phase out coal power by the year 2030. Canada's largest province, Ontario, phased out coal power in 2014, so the remaining four provinces that still use coal-fired electricity will be the next in line.

The globalEDGE Business Beat features brief audio segments covering a wide range of international business topics. Hosted by Dr. Tomas Hult of Michigan State University, the Business Beat helps keep listeners up to date with global business news. In last week’s segments, Tomas discussed the U.S. Department of Education’s CIBER program, entrepreneurship, the customer service aspect of marketing, and Michigan State’s marketing and management programs. You can also check out the Business Beat archives, where you can view past segments by date or specific speaker.

In North America, there are currently two very contradicting states between the Central Banks of Canada and the Federal Reserve of the United States. According to a senior central bank official, the Bank of Canada will not respond mechanically to any future move by the U.S. Federal Reserve to raise interest rates. Deputy Governor Timothy Lane spoke to an audience in Waterloo, Ontario and stated that “tighter monetary policy in the U.S. would lead to higher market interest rates globally, producing a tightening effect for Canada.”

East Asia is home to three of the biggest economic powerhouses in the world: China, Japan, and South Korea. Thus, the well-being of the global economy often depends on the region's pecuniary health. Central banks already hold the utmost power in this regard; yet, in recent times, each nation's bank has led endeavors to consolidate further economic control. The effects of these measures, along with last week's global market shakeups, have paved a path of economic uncertainty. Here is a look at recent developments in East Asian central banks.

In conjunction with our blog series on central banking policy throughout the world, today we turn our attention to Central America and the unique fiscal and monetary landscape that is often an afterthought when examining the world economy. For the purposes of this blog, when referencing Central America, we are incorporating Mexico and all other continental countries of North America that are south of the United States of America. While Europe, Japan, and the US are locked into low interest rate environments, Central America offers a unique landscape for central banking.

Despite the trade agreement disputes, political instability, and concerns about the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union, the European economies have continued to grow slowly and steadily. During the months of July through August in the third quarter, GDP rose 0.3%, consumer prices rose up to 0.5%, and economic growth as well as inflation occurred as predicted. Global economic growth is based on the productive potential of a country, and the Eurozone economy has, for the past few months, experienced a steady yet sluggish growth.

Global interest rates currently span a wide range; from Switzerland, at a negative 0.75%, to Belarus at 28.5%. Overall, 45% of the world’s central banks lowered their rates in the last year, 29% increased their rates, and the remaining 26% left their rates unchanged. Central banks are often nationalized institutions that are usually independent from the government, but whose privileges are established and protected by law.

On the brink of recession, the small, trade-dependent country of Singapore is on track to log its slowest growth rate since 2009. Government analysts expect this year’s growth rate to be between 1 and 2 percent. This grinding halt in economic growth caused the shutdown of an estimated 42,000 businesses in the first six months of 2016. In comparison, 2015 saw the shutdown of only 49,000 businesses.

At the turn of the century in 1800, only 2% of the world’s population lived in cities. Today that percentage is nearly 54%, meaning a majority of the world’s population lives in cities and urban areas. This rapid urbanization, a significant portion of which has occurred in the last 50 years, has created a unique set of challenges and opportunities unlike anything mankind has ever faced.

Medical breakthroughs have sparked the rise of the robotics industry in the arena of medicine. Through technological advancements, robots have been gaining popularity. There are various types of robots, some are made for personal assistance or social use, but they have seen the most significant growth and evolution in industrial automation. Companies in China have been on the rise to implement the use of robotics in the medical industry to develop new products and to meet consumer demands in order to keep up with medical advancements.

While globalization itself is not reversing, according to the Financial Times, it has “definitely lost its dynamism”. In September, trade was interrupted between Asia and the U.S. after South Korean shipping line, Hanjin, filed for bankruptcy. As a result, the company left several dozen of its cargo ships at sea. While it is not being noticed by most people, trade is no longer rising across the globe. Statisticians in the Netherlands found that the volume of global trade was flat in the first quarter, then fell by 0.8% in the second quarter. The total value of U.S. exports and imports fell by over $200 billion last year. So far this year, the amount of trade has fallen by an additional $470 billion. There are a variety of opinions on why the amount of global trade has fallen, but the International Monetary Fund concluded that is it due to the synchronized economic slowdown in both advanced and emerging markets.

The United Kingdom's High Court has ruled that in order for the British government to trigger Article 50, it must receive approval from Parliament. In late June, the U.K. voted in a referendum 52% to 48% to leave the European Union, but does this ruling have the potential to discredit more than 30 million voters?

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., a corporation based in Quebec, is currently in talks to sell Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd., a company that manufactures gastrointestinal drugs. Valeant originally acquired Salix in March 2015 for $14.5 billion. The purchase was part of a growth strategy of buying pharmaceutical businesses with reputable products and cutting their research costs to maximize profits. However, Valeant lost much stock value over the past year due to unethical business activities, including price hikes, unreliable accounting, and secret collusion. Recently, the company undertook major efforts to change its leadership, settle its legal suits, pay off its debts, and re-establish growth. Selling Salix could be instrumental to these plans; just this week, news of the potential sale increased Valeant's stock by 34%. While prospective clients have been mostly kept anonymous, Japan's Takeda Phamaceutical Co. Ltd. has expressed public interest.

In 2016 much of the world’s focus has been on turmoil in the Middle East, the rise of populist governments in the western world, and Brexit. While all of these massive movements have been taking place, one of the biggest economic stories of last year seems to be on the back burner for now, the Greek debt crisis. It wasn’t so long ago that Grexit was a much more real possibility than Brexit. With the overleveraging of almost every aspect of the Greek economy and the rise of a socialist government, many were worried that Greece would be the first southern European domino to fall in a rush of indebted countries leaving the European Union. Although things are quieter in Greece for now, things are still unsteady, and it is not definitive whether Greece will experience an economic resurgence or fall further.

Through October, the Eurozone’s economy grew at the fastest pace of the year. The rally in in United Kingdom government bonds and a higher chance of inflation has caused 10 year government bonds in the UK to now yield more than double the levels they did in August. Due to the interconnected global bond markets, the yields in Eurozone bonds rose as a result. The raise eased pressure on the European Central Bank, whose quantitative easing program prevents it from buying any debt that yields under the deposit rate of -0.4 percent.