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The International Energy Agency estimates that China has just surpassed the United States in overall energy consumption. What opportunities does this present for investors? Robust growth in China’s energy consumption Consumption of energy in China has doubled over the past decade, and the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that the country has just surpassed the
Swiss pharmaceutical firm Novartis’s pending bid to acquire majority ownership of Alcon, an eye care products maker, in a deal valued at about $40 billion, stood out against a backdrop of only 3% mergers-and-acquisitions growth across industry sectors globally for the first half of 2010. While we aren’t likely to see many more large-scale mergers,
What are the potential implications for consumer-sector stocks? At the margin, we think the impact of increased regulation and taxation on financial services companies could be negative — particularly for businesses that touch the consumer directly, such as credit card companies. Anything that slows economic growth, increases uncertainty, or decreases confidence is negative. What are
Under the Dodd-Frank Act, many derivatives will move from over-the-counter trading to exchanges or electronic trading systems. What will this mean for Putnam funds? The Act sets the broad outlines for regulation, which will be implemented through the new powers of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission in greater detail
China’s GDP soared 11.9% in the first quarter of 2010. And that growth is likely to continue to have a significant impact on certain commodities that China must import. How does China’s growth affect natural resources? China imports a significant share of the world’s commodities. China ranks third in the world in thermal coal reserves.
On the heels of the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy in late 2008, the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve Board (the “Fed”) rolled out a number of unprecedented programs designed to inject liquidity into the financial system. The mortgage purchase program began in conjunction with the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or “TARP,” and both were designed to