The falling oil price below $30 per barrel is impacting Canadian economy, which mostly depends upon commodities. Along with oil price, Canadian currency Loonie too declined against the US dollar. The weaker Loonie has eroded the purchasing power of Canada and is making imports costlier. Canada imports vegetables from the US. The surging US dollar made vegetables prices expensive by three folds for Canadian consumers.
Sectors
Tor Project Ended Crowdfunding Campaign on Friday, Generating Over $200,000
The Onion Router (Tor) began as military intelligence research in 1995, before became a volunteer-based project in 2002. Now, the project tried to lessen dependency on U.S. government by launching a crowdfunding campaign.
S3 Ventures Raised $8 Million Series B Fund for Datical
Datical, an Austin-based data management company announced on Thursday of its $8 million Series B funding. The funding was led by S3 ventures with its existing investors Mercury Fund and Austin Ventures.
Indian stock market at bear zone; Asian stocks gain
Despite economy growth rate of over seven percent, the Indian stock markets are suffering from the selloff by foreign investors. The domestic stock markets may enter bear territory soon after the fall in Shanghai and Tokyo markets. The cash-strapped foreign investors are offloading in Indian stocks since November 2015. On the other hand, Asian stocks gaining momentum following the marginal rebound in oil price.
Copper prices dancing to the tunes of China
The stockpiles levels in China, the biggest commodity consumer, are impacting copper prices in the global markets. Copper price is hovering at $4,400 per metric ton and is moving in consolidation phase. Chinese smelters may cut down output and stop increasing capacities this year.
Latest News
Royal Dutch Shell is slashing the headcount as part of the cost cutting exercise. Anglo-Dutch company has decided to cut down 10,000 jobs in the wake of continuous drop in oil prices. The global energy major aims at reduction of costs by $3 billion in 2016 and it already reduced operating costs by $4 billion in 2015. Shell is also banking on synergy advantages from the BG Group Plc merger, which is expected to be completed in few weeks.
Leading risk management software developer, Prevalent Inc. received its first Series B funding last week. Led by Spring Mountain Capital Invest, joined by its existing investor, Fulcrum Equity Partners.
The New York Times has published its first online edition on Jan 22, 1996. Marking the 20th founding anniversary, the news conglomerate has launched ‘History of NYTimes.com’, narrating chronology of the news website’s evolution and further development. The capsule offers video and audio contents including interviews with people related to the evolution.
The subprime online lender company Elevate Credit delays its IPO scheduled on Thursday. Teetering market has been the main reason of the postponement and high risk of online subprime lending service.
Austin-based tech company, Waldo Photos closes its $5 million seed funding on Thursday. The seed funding round was led by California's venture capital firm Upfront Ventures.
The latest food scandal emanating from China revolves on the usage of poppy powder is a banned item by the Food and Drug Administration of China. Five restaurants have been prosecuted and another 30 more are under probe for using ingredients like morphine and heroine in restaurant food. This latest scandal is one in the many high-profile food scandals that has been hitting China in the recent years.
Two of Fiat 500L used by Pope Francis during his visit in U.S. will be auctioned next week in Philadelphia Auto Show. Pope used the car during his historic visit to U.S. last September.
GM with its main Chinese partner have opened a Cadillac plant in Shanghai on Thursday, 21 Jan 2016 to take advantage of the potential growth in the overcrowded luxury market of China. Cadillac plant has capacity to produce 160,000 vehicles annually. Cadillac believe the luxury car market offer a lot margin opportunity notwithstanding pressure in pricing. Shares of GM have been reported trading on NYSE higher by more than 1 percent on Thursday.
Capital outflows from developing markets were higher than it was anticipated last year, according to a report by Institute of International Finance. The reason behind this oceanic change in emerging markets cash flow is China, which dragged out 676 billion US dollar.
