Submitted by Ronan Manly, BullionStar.com
German precious metals group Heraeus Precious Metals (HPM), part of the Heraeus industrial group, has just announced the full acquisition of Swiss precious metals refining group Argor-Heraeus. Heraeus is headquartered in Hanau, just outside Frankfurt. Argor-Heraeus is headquartered in Mendrisio in the Swiss Canton of Ticino, beside the Italian border.
Submitted by Gordon T. Long of MATASII
SELF INFLICTED ABUSE
Welcome to a new financial quarter.
As part of the usual review of last month and Q1 asset performance, it is worth nothing one surprising element of Q1 we showed over the weekend, namely that the VIX index had its lowest average quarter since Q4 2006.
OPEC’s progress in reducing the oversupply in global oil markets relied on contributions from Nigeria and Libya in March, two countries that are exempt from the group’s deal to rein in production.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries pumped 32.095 million barrels a day, down 200,000 a day from February, according to a Bloomberg News survey of analysts, oil companies and ship-tracking data. Supply from Nigeria and Libya dropped by a combined 210,000 barrels a day to 1.55 million and 620,000 a day, respectively.
Both VIX (equity protection) and CDX (credit protection) decoupled notably from equity indices late last week and today it appears investors are catching on today...