Executive Insights

RBS has advised clients to brace for a “cataclysmic year” and a global deflationary crisis, warning that major stock markets could fall by a fifth and oil may plummet to $16 a barrel. The bank’s credit team said markets are flashing stress alerts akin to the turbulent months before the Lehman crisis in 2008. “Sell…

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 167.65 points, or 1.02%, to 16,346.45, putting it more than 10% below its record close last May and back in correction territory. The blue-chip barometer had been up by almost 140 points earlier in the session. The Dow finished the first week of trading in 2016 down 6.19% -- its worst…

Billionaire financier George Soros is warning of an impending financial markets crisis as investors around the world were roiled by turmoil in China trade for the second time this week. Speaking at an economic forum in Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo, he told an audience that China is struggling to find a new growth model and…

U.S. junk bonds are trading down on Wednesday, following global stocks lower as investors fret about North Korea’s possible nuclear test, China’s slower-growing economy and a fresh plunge in oil prices. Some energy companies were among the biggest losers on the day, including bonds from Range Resources Corp and California Resources Corp. A Range Resources…

Gold hit a four-week high on Wednesday, extending gains for a third session, as persistent concerns over the Chinese economy battered stock markets, while tensions simmered in the Korean peninsula and the Middle East. The metal is closing in on key chart levels, including the December high at $1,088.70. A sustained push above $1,088 would…

Gold rose on Tuesday as a wave of risk aversion due to growth worries in China and rising tensions in the Middle East triggered demand for the metal. Spot gold was up 0.6 percent at $1,080.43 an ounce by 1234 GMT. On Monday, the metal jumped as much as 2.2 percent to a four-week high…

Asian markets tumbled Monday on the first day of trading in 2016, with declines so steep in mainland China that authorities halted trading there for the rest of the day. Analysts cited a number of reasons for the selling, including China’s disappointing manufacturing data, reported earlier Monday, and the coming removal of a ban on…

The U.S. economy is faring better today than at any point since the Great Recession ended in the middle of 2009. Jobs growth is strong and accelerating and the unemployment rate is below its historical average. The stock market remains near all-time highs, and the Federal Reserve appears confident enough in the economy’s strength to…

Gold prices surged past 3 1/2-month highs Wednesday morning as investors further discounted the possibility of a rate increase by the U.S. Federal Reserve this year and the precious metal benefited from Chinese investors fleeing stock-market falls in Asia. Gold prices rose to $1,174.60 a troy ounce during European morning hours, the highest since June…

Investors fear a "black swan" catastrophic event in the financial markets right now more than ever before. At least according to the CBOE Skew Index, which measures the prices of far out-of-the-money options on the S&P 500. Its goal is to determine the benchmark's tail risk or the "risk of outlier returns two or more…

Gold rose to its highest level since early July on Monday as expectations that the Federal Reserve will postpone an expected U.S. interest rate hike beyond the end of the year pressured the dollar to three-week lows against a currency basket. The dollar index was down 0.1 percent on the day, stung by doubts that…

Last week's scare over a possible government shutdown may have been just the warmup act for a much bigger threat to force the Treasury to default on trillions of dollars of debt. The shutdown was narrowly averted by a last minute deal in Congress that angered its most conservative members and prompted House Speaker John…