WTO Cuts National Trade Growth Forecast

In a prospectus published ahead of a huge bond sale, Saudi Aramco revealed for the first time how much money it makes. Saudi Arabia’s state oil firm reaped $356bn in revenues last year. Annual net profit came to $111bn, almost twice that of Apple, the world’s most valuable listed company. The prospectus also confirmed how important Saudi Aramco is to the country’s economy. Oil accounted for 63% of the state’s revenue in 2017 and 43% of the kingdom’s GDP.

Saudi Arabia’s cut in oil output has helped drive up the commodity’s price in recent months. Brent crude traded around $70 a barrel this week, the highest level this year.

The World Trade Organisation released an estimate for global trade in 2018, which grew by 3%, well below the 3.9% that the WTO had forecast in September. It expects the growth in trade to fall to 2.6% this year. The organisation blamed tariffs and related retaliatory measures, but also weaker economic growth, volatile markets and tighter monetary policy in developed countries. It warned governments that it would be a “historic mistake” to forget the “fundamental importance” of the rules-based trade system.

A preliminary report from Ethiopia’s transport ministry into last month’s fatal crash of a Boeing 737 max 8 passenger plane found that the pilots followed the procedures issued by the manufacturer when the jet started nosediving. The report recommended that Boeing change the max’s flight-control system.

Mark Zuckerberg’s apparent change of heart in calling for more regulation of the tech giants got short shrift. Facebook’s boss said governments should take a more active role in policing the internet in areas such as privacy and elections material. But one leading Democrat tweeted, “Does anyone even want his advice?” given that Facebook is under investigation. Britain’s information commissioner wondered if Facebook would now drop its appeal against the fine it received for the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Following a successful IPO, Lyft’s stock pared back some of its gains, falling below the offer price of $72 a share. The price had closed up 9% on the first day of trading, giving the ride-hailing company a market capitalisation of $22bn.