Economics

China’s steel industry output continues to rise notwithstanding slowing economic growth, falling prices for steel, and poor profitability at the steel mills. Fitch Ratings believes this paradox can be explained first by the larger steel mills’ priority of maintaining economies of scale and market share...

In spite of increasing volatility in foreign exchange markets, only around half of companies that were surveyed hedge foreign exchange risks in Renminbi transactions...

WTI prices have rallied over $18/bbl from their June lows. However, the rally in WTI prices has failed to keep pace with the rally in Brent prices, which are up more than $24/bbl from their June lows.

Mega companies are bigger than most countries. Quite a few pharma, food, oil and tech companies reach annual revenues of over $50 bln, exceeding the GDP levels of more than 2/3 of the countries in the world. Unusually, these mega companies have performed better than the broad equity markets in the past 12 months.

Management philosophy, sectoral and geographical distribution, growth in emerging countries ... Florence Marty and Olivier Hakim, portfolio managers at LBPAM Actions Euro Focus Emergent reveals the strategy of the fund performing 13.80% at end June 2012...