The financial world experiences ups and downs every day. In order to give readers an insight into what is happening in the stock markets, “Delfi Bizness” offers a summary of the events of the week (02.05-02.09).
It promises the listing of state-owned enterprises
“The good thing is that Latvian society has money, but we need to find a mechanism for how this money gets to the result that is as productive as possible,” emphasized Mārtiņš Kazāks, president of the central bank, at the opening of the capital market conference of the Bank of Latvia. During the discussions of experts and officials, hopes emerged that in the next few years Latvian residents will be able to become shareholders in our domestic companies more often.
Thus, the stock market will develop, which will attract more and more private companies and foreign investors, and this will allow Latvia to reduce the economic gap between us and our closest neighbors that has arisen in recent years. The Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance promised that the shares of state-owned companies will be listed on the stock exchange in the next few years.
“Delfi Bizness” collected the most important and interesting insights from the conference organized by the Bank of Latvia.
Find out more.
El Salvador Bitcoin
Digital coins have not helped alleviate poverty in El Salvador, but crypto-enthusiast, populist President Najib Bukele has zeroed in on a second term. UN data show that in 2022, at least 27% of El Salvador’s 6.3 million inhabitants lived in poverty. Data from the World Bank show that although poverty decreased last year, it is generally higher than it was in the country before the Covid-19 pandemic.
In addition, in 2022, El Salvador experienced several natural disasters that had an impact on the economy and society. How is the Central American country doing now, which decided to declare “Bitcoin” as its national currency in 2021?
Find out more.
Stock indices have skyrocketed
In the first month of the year, the major stock indices reached their all-time highs. Accelerated GDP growth, improved manufacturing performance and strong results from semiconductor companies provided grounds for further optimism.
Bond indices, on the other hand, did not live up to expectations, as market participants became more cautious about annual interest rate forecasts. The head of the US Federal Reserve System, Jerome Powell, strongly indicated that interest rates will not be lowered in March, but the head of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, said that credit costs in Europe will not become lower until the summer, writes Taras Buka, Head of Investment Management of “Luminor”.
Find out more.
Short news from the world
- Keep approaching records. The stock markets experienced positive dynamics this week, with all major world indices showing increasingly better results. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1% to 38,726.33 on Thursday, the Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 0.1% to 4,997.91, and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.2% to 15,793.72 points. London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.4% to 7,595.48 on Thursday, Paris’ CAC 40 rose 0.7% to 7,665.63, and Frankfurt’s DAX rose 0.3% to 16,963. 83 points.
- Bitcoin is crawling. The world’s largest and most popular cryptocurrency “Bitcoin” has resumed a significant rise after a couple of weeks of stagnation. During the week, the value of the cryptocurrency increased by 3 to 4 thousand US dollars per coin, exceeding the 46 thousand dollar mark.
- Disney buys video games. The US entertainment giant “Disney” announced that it is going to cooperate with the publisher and developer of video games “Epic”. The Mickey Mouse company has bought a part of the Epic company. The deal is estimated at $1.5 billion.
- Chinese stocks rise. The CSI 300 index of China’s leading companies experienced the best week since the start of 2022, rising by 3.5%, Bloomberg reports. This is largely due to the government’s support measures, rather than a rapidly growing interest of foreign investors in the shares of Asia’s largest country, which have fallen in value over the past 12 months.
- Expect a good year. In Europe, 57% of company managers expect an increase in revenues this year, while a third think that they will remain at last year’s level, representatives of the consulting company “EY” informed LETA agency, referring to the “CEO Outlook Pulse” opinion survey of company managers. The mood of entrepreneurs in Europe is less optimistic than in the world as a whole, where 64% of business leaders expect an increase in revenues this year, and an increase in profits – 63%. Likewise, a third expects these indicators to remain at last year’s level.
- Earns well. The net profit of the Estonian “Merko Ehitus” group, which includes the Latvian construction company “Merks”, increased to 46 million euros last year from 34.6 million euros in 2022, according to the company’s statement to the Tallinn Stock Exchange.
- Earning badly. Group of wireless data transmission equipment manufacturing company “SAF Tehnika” 2023/2024. in the first half of the financial year worked with a consolidated turnover of 14.309 million euros, which is 34.8% less than in 2022/2023. in the first half of the financial year, as well as suffered a loss of 950,550 euros compared to the profit a year earlier, according to the company’s unaudited financial report submitted to the “Nasdaq Riga” stock exchange.
Price fluctuations
Latvia’s next success story may come from the crypto world
Although blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies are currently more associated with risky investments, there are also many opportunities for startups and various service providers. Executive Director of the Latvian Blockchain Development Association Reinis Znotiņš explains in the “Future Capital” program that our country, thanks to the favorable attitude of the supervisors, is becoming an attractive place to build “web3” technology companies.
“Future capital” portfolios
In 2021, the host of the program “Nákotnes kapitāls” Konstantin Kuzikovs started investing 50 euros a week. He invests in stocks included in the “S&P 500” index, that is, in large, billion-dollar US companies. Kuzikovs also started investing in Latvian government savings bonds. On the other hand, his colleague Raivis Vilūns invests in cryptocurrencies, companies traded on the Baltic Exchange and crowdfunding platforms. Investors have also joined the “robot” – “SEB’s” automated tool that invests money in exchange-traded electronic funds (ETFs). This is how all three portfolios fared last week:
- Konstantin Kuzikov: +6.3%
- Raivis Viluns: +12.47%
- “SEB Roboinvestors”: +12,47%
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2024-02-09 22:04:08
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