Weekly Market Update - 27 June 2022
Baker Hughes Rig Count
In a clear sign that high oil prices are encouraging increased exploration activity, the Baker Hughes drilling rig count rose to 753 from 740. This gauge has been on a very steadily rising trend for 18 months now, even if it remains well below the previous pre-pandemic peak.
Source: Baker Hughes
Macron Loses Majority
Less than two months after he was re-elected president, Emmanuel Macron has lost control of the French National Assembly following a strong performance by a left alliance and the far right.
He had called on voters to deliver a solid majority. But his centrist coalition lost dozens of seats in an election that has left French politics fragmented. The prime minister he had only recently appointed, Elisabeth Borne, said the situation was unprecedented.
A storm broke over Paris as she returned to her Matignon residence from a long meeting at the presidential Élysée palace to say that modern France had never seen a National Assembly like this one. "This situation represents a risk for our country, given the risks we're facing nationally and internationally," she said. "We will work as of tomorrow to build a working majority." That seems a stretch when the two other biggest groups in the Assembly are not remotely interested in collaboration. Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire was adamant that France was not ungovernable, but said it was going to require a lot of imagination.
Source: BBC
Sri Lanka Economy In Tatters
Sri Lanka’s economy has “completely collapsed” and an agreement with the IMF is the only path to revival, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told parliament Wednesday. Along with food, electricity and gas shortages, he said the country was now unable to purchase imported fuel, even for cash, due to heavy debts owed by its petroleum corporation. “We are now seeing signs of a possible fall to rock bottom,” he said. In case you missed it, Ruth Pollard wrote about how Sri Lanka is just a small preview of a global default crisis.
Source: Bloomberg