Because the ECB has been buying covered bonds for so long, it has been subject to complaints of distortion for several years. One of the most significant distortions created from bulk buying of government bonds and other high quality debt has shown up in Europe’s repo market. Source: FT
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro said on state television that Venezuela would put in place in 2019 a program to sell all its oil production in the Petro cryptocurrency, which the leader is touting as the first state-backed oil-backed digital currency. Source: Oil Price
After Russia agreed on Friday to cut its oil production as part of the non-OPEC group tasked with cutting 400,000 bpd of oil production, Energy Minister Alexander Novak said it would take Russia “months” to get down to its requested level. Source: Oil Price
China’s 2018 crude steel output is expected to set an annual record of 923 million tonnes before slipping back to 900 million tonnes next year, a government consultancy said on Monday. Source: Reuters
