• For the six-month period ended April 30, 2019, CAC 2000 Ltd. reported a profit of $3.07Mn (EPS: $0.02) which represents a 94.3% drop relative to $53.65Mn (EPS: $0.42) which was recorded for 2018.
• The deterioration in performance can be attributed to a fall-off in revenues (17.2%), whilst a decline in interest income (71.3%), together with losses experienced in other operations of the business amounting to $2.53Mn contributed to an upswing in net finance costs of 206% above the prior year. Growth in general administrative expenses of 8.5% also contributed to performance.
• The stock has fallen 24.6% since the start of the calendar year. CAC 2000 Ltd closed yesterday’s trading session at $12.76 and currently trades at a P/B of 3.36x earnings which is below the Junior Market Distribution Sector average of 3.70x.

 (Source: CAC 2000 Ltd Financials)

• A visiting International Monetary Fund (IMF) Mission concluded that economic growth strengthened in Guyana in 2018 with broad-based expansion across all major sectors.
• According to a report from the Washington-based organization, real GDP grew by 4.1% in 2018, up from 2.1% in 2017, led by the construction and services sectors. “Inflation remained steady at 1.6% at end-2018, on the back of stable food prices and exchange rate”, the IMF said.
• The IMF said that for 2019, the mission projects real economic growth of 4.4%, driven by continued strength in the construction and services sectors ahead of oil production in 2020, and a strong recovery in mining.
• The IMF cautioned that the authorities here do not foresee any significant spillovers from the crisis in Venezuela at present. However, the influx of migrants into the hinterland and rural areas could put socio-economic pressures on the local communities.

(Source: Guyana Chronicle)

• Dominican Republic’s Stock Market is growing at a brisk pace but needs a “push” to compete with that of other economies. The statement is by Santiago Camarena, executive vice president of Alpha Inversiones, one of the leading securities traders.
• Despite recognizing that the country still has “all the products in the world,” Camarena stressed that Alpha is promoting the stock market so that the customer begins to find investment products which are in turn are tailored according to their needs.
• The executive expects that once the regulations of Law 249-17 of the Stock Market are approved, private companies will venture into initial public offerings (IPO).

 (Source: Dominican Today)

• President Trump said in a tweet Monday night that U.S. immigration agents are planning to make mass arrests starting “next week,” an apparent reference to a plan in preparation for months that aims to round up thousands of migrant parents and children in a blitz operation across major U.S. cities.
• “Next week ICE will begin the process of removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States,” Trump wrote, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “They will be removed as fast as they come in.”
• Large-scale ICE enforcement operations are typically kept secret to avoid tipping off targets. In 2018, Trump and other senior officials threatened the mayor of Oakland, Calif., with criminal prosecution for alerting city residents that immigration raids were in the works.

(Source: Washington Post)

• India is slapping back at the United States with new tariffs on $240Mn worth of American goods starting Sunday.
• Apples, almonds, lentils, walnuts and some chemical products will be hit with levies of up to 70%.
• The long-threatened move is retaliation for President Trump’s move to take away India’s preferred trade status, which he made two weeks ago over objections to its protectionist policies.
• The tariffs come just days ahead of a scheduled meeting between Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the G-20 summit.

 (Source: New York Post)

• The April 2019 survey indicated expected inflation of 4.5% for the calendar year 2019, which was higher than the March 2019 survey outturn of 4.2%. The expected inflation 12 months ahead increased to 4.7% relative to the previous survey outturn of 4.5%.
• The perception of inflation control decreased marginally in the April 2019 survey relative to the March 2019 survey.
• Respondents anticipate that the currency will appreciate by 1.2%, 0.7%, and 0.7% over the 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month horizons respectively.
• The majority of respondents continued to believe that the Bank’s Policy rate will remain the same over the next three months.
• In the April 2019 survey, the Present Business Conditions Index decreased marginally to 127.9 relative to 128.9 recorded in the previous survey. The Future Business Conditions Index also decreased to 145.0 relative to 153.5 in the previous survey.

 (Source: BOJ)

• Economic activity in Trinidad & Tobago (T&T) will undergo a modest expansion in 2019 as energy production continues to rise.
• However, T&T will face headwinds from contractionary fiscal and monetary policy and slowing global growth, which will weigh on consumption and investment.
• Fitch Solutions maintain its forecast for real GDP to expand by 1.3% in 2019, following a growth estimate of 1.0% in 2018.

 (Source: Fitch)

• The Government of the Republic of Ghana has pledged to support Guyana in the development of its Oil and Gas Industry through capacity building. President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, offered his support on Tuesday when he led a high-level delegation into bilateral talks with President David Granger and his ministers at State House.
• President Akufo-Addo gave a clear commitment to have Oil and Gas experts from Ghana travel to Guyana to assist in the development of the Oil and Gas Industry with a majority of the expense being covered by the Ghanaian Government. An agreement was also signed to abolish the visa requirement for citizens desirous of traveling between the two countries.
• The President spoke about the establishment of a Ministry of Energy, and that it is going to require an expanded level of talent of persons and their skills. U.S oil giant, ExxonMobil, has made 13 oil discoveries to date in Guyana.  And with these significant developments in the budding Oil and Gas Sector, President Granger has said that a Minister of Energy would become a necessity; however, it will not be established before 2020.

 (Source: Guyana Chronicle)

• The U.S. budget deficit widened to US$738.6Bn in the first eight months of the fiscal year, a US$206Bn increase from a year earlier, despite a revenue boost from President Donald Trump’s tariffs on imported merchandise.
• The shortfall was 38.8% more than the same period a year ago, the Treasury Department said in its monthly budget review released on Wednesday. So far in the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, a revenue increase of 2.3% hasn’t kept pace with a 9.3% rise in spending.
• As Trump ratcheted up the trade war with China with higher levies on imports from the Asian nation, the U.S. recorded US$4.9Bn in customs duties in May, bringing the total to US$44.9Bn in the first eight months of the fiscal year – almost double the same period a year earlier. Trump has repeatedly boasted that the U.S. is taking in billions in dollars through the tariffs, though importers in America are actually paying the levies.
• The deficit is forecast to reach $897 billion this fiscal year, from US$779Bn last year, and rise to more than US$1Tn in fiscal 2022, according to the Congressional Budget Office. In May, the fiscal deficit increased to US$207.8Bn, up 41.5% from the same month last year. The forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists was US$202.5Bn.

 (Source: Bloomberg)

• Suspected attacks on two tankers off the coast of Iran saw oil markets erupt out of their recent slump on Thursday and kept traders gobbling up ultra-safe government bonds, gold, and the Japanese yen.
• Brent surged as much 4% after reports of the attacks added to already heightened tensions between Iran and the United States. The area is near the Strait of Hormuz through which a fifth of global oil consumption passes from Middle East producers.
• The crude spike helped Europe’s oil producers pull European stock markets higher and lift Wall Street futures.
• There were also some stellar gains in the telecoms sector as Germany dished out new 5G mobile network licenses to some new entrants.  
• Given that oil was at five-month lows on Wednesday, people were taking precautions in case it might escalate into something more serious, CMC Markets senior analyst Michael Hewson said.

 (Source: Reuters)