Concerns that we are in a “lost decade” for global wealth growth have been given further credence by the latest “Global Wealth Report”. In 2000, the top 1 percent owned 49.6 percent of all household wealth, dropping to 45.4 percent in 2009. This figure has since clambered back up to reach 50.8 percent in 2016. Source: CNBC
The biggest U.S. bank said it developed a prototype digital coin that it plans to use to speed up payments between corporate customers. The token, dubbed JPM Coin, is based on blockchain technology, a decentralized public ledger of transactions that offers more speed because it doesn’t rely on a central record keeper. Source: Bloomberg
FCA Group, Ford and Volkswagen led a 4.6 percent decline in European car registrations in January, industry data showed, dampened by an economic slowdown in euro zone economies and consumer jitters over Brexit and trade. Source Reuters
Russia’s Gazprom will start gas supplies to China from Dec. 1, a month earlier than planned, the gas producer said on Friday. Deliveries of gas to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline were due to begin at the end of December 2019, but the project is only expected to reach full capacity in 2025. Source: Reuters
