CNBC

De-facto OPEC leader Saudi Arabia is pushing for the 14-member oil cartel to increase crude production by 1 million barrels per day (bpd) this week. Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said Thursday that as the world is likely to face a large oil supply deficit in the second half of 2018, a substantial production increase from OPEC would be required to prevent a market squeeze. Speaking in Vienna, Austria on Thursday, al-Falih said: “We…

The Bank of England (BOE) has kept its main interest rate unchanged Thursday amid uncertainty over the economy’s wider direction. The central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) was widely expected to hold rates at their current 0.5 percent level, amid falling inflation and lackluster growth data. The MPC voted by 6-3 to keep rates at the current level, with the bank’s Chief Economist Andy Haldane joining more hawkish committee members Michael Saunders and Ian McCafferty…

GE got dealt a major blow this week after getting the boot from the Dow. This looks like a buy to investors with the stomach to endure a bumpy recovery, says one market watcher. “I would be a buyer, but with a caveat,” Boris Schlossberg, managing director of FX strategy at BK Asset Management, told CNBC’s “Trading Nation” on Wednesday. “I would wait for at least two to three weeks for all the closet indexers…

The Greek government is hoping to secure one its most important campaign pledges this Thursday – a deal to make its huge debt pile more sustainable – after years of austerity and bailout programs. Euro zone finance ministers are gathering in Luxembourg Thursday to prepare the end of the third financial rescue deal to Greece, which is due to expire on August 20. This means they will aim to get an agreement on measures to…

Lawmakers have urged Alphabet’s Google to reconsider its ties with Chinese technology giant Huawei because it “could pose a serious risk to U.S. national security” and American consumers. In a letter to the search giant’s CEO Sundar Pichai on Wednesday, both Republican and Democrat lawmakers said they were concerned about Google’s “strategic partnership” with Huawei. The two have a long-standing relationship. Huawei, which is now the third-largest smartphone maker in the world by market share,…

Lawmakers have urged Alphabet’s Google to reconsider its ties with Chinese technology giant Huawei because it “could pose a serious risk to U.S. national security” and American consumers. In a letter to the search giant’s CEO Sundar Pichai on Wednesday, both Republican and Democrat lawmakers said they were concerned about Google’s “strategic partnership” with Huawei. The two have a long-standing relationship. Huawei, which is now the third-largest smartphone maker in the world by market share,…

Whatever the potential outcome, President Donald Trump’s summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore last week was historic, marking the first-ever meeting between a sitting U.S. president and a head of state of the rogue Asian nation. And while the perspectives of South Koreans, the Chinese, the Japanese and even the Russians have been analyzed, little attention has been paid to the community whose intervention enabled South Korea to become a democratic…

The Chinese yuan softened again on Thursday and could be headed for more weakness by year-end. The currency’s move lower came after it sank earlier this week amid fears about the U.S.-China trade dispute. Looking ahead, investors remain nervous, Nizam Idris, head of strategy, fixed income and currencies at Macquarie, told CNBC, citing the difference between traders’ prices and the People’s Bank of China official price level. He said he was watching the spread as…

From licensing her name and image, to having her own ingestible beauty business, Elle Macpherson has learned a lot on her way to becoming a leading businesswoman. In fact, the Australian supermodel likens her time in the corporate world to that of a journey. “If we can see (business) as a journey with all its twists and turns, doubts and disappointments, successes and compromises, then each experience can be a point on that journey and…

Bitcoin made a comeback despite crashing after a recent hack on a South Korean exchange, and two cryptocurrency traders explained why it rebounded. Charlie Lee, the founder of Litecoin, a global decentralized currency that is based on blockchain technology, said it was to be expected. “Whenever there’s an exchange hack, people get scared and the price drops,” Lee said on “Fast Money” Wednesday. “It happens all the time.” “Whenever there’s some bad news like an…