Auction house Christie’s summed up the results of the year and said that he was able to achieve the best annual turnover in its entire 256-year history – $ 8.4 billion. It is 17% higher than last year’s result and more than its main competitor – home Sotheby’s, which also showed a record sales of $ 8 billion.
Auctions brought Christie’s $7.2 billion, another $1.2 billion was earned on private sales. The auction house, headed by CEO Guillaume Cerrutti, was able to achieve these outstanding results, despite the difficult macroeconomic situation in the world caused by rising inflation and instability on the world political stage.
Cerutti referred to the “stability of the art and luxury markets, the extraordinary success of some of the major collections, including the unforgettable sale of Paul Allen, and the expertise and hard work of the entire auction house team. Allen was one of the co-founders of Microsoft on a par with Bill Gates. In 2009, he signed a “Giving Pledge,” according to which most of his fortune would go to charities upon his death. Allen passed away in 2018, and his art collection, which included masterpieces from Botticelli to Van Gogh, sold for a record $1.7 billion in 2022.
Among the best deals of the year was the record sale of the Shot Sage Blue Marilyn portrait of Marilyn Monroe by American pop art classic Andy Warhol. It went under the hammer for $195 million and set a record as the most expensive work of any artist sold at auction.
The number of buyers from North and South America increased this year at Christie’s auction, while Asian collectors bought less frequently.
Nevertheless, according to French billionaire François Pinault, whose holding company Artemis owns the Christie’s house, Asian buyers played a “decisive role” in the overall success of record sales of the Allen collection.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has decided to increase humanitarian aid to Africa and Asia by an additional 21,000 tons of corn or wheat, and also changed the terms of their delivery from CIF (sender pays cargo insurance) to FOB (delivery of goods before loading on board the ship).
According to the representative of the Cabinet of Ministers in the Verkhovna Rada Taras Melnychuk in his Telegram channel, the relevant decision was taken at a government meeting on Friday.
Earlier, in November, the government passed resolution No. 1313, approving the allocation of 900 million UAH to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine (MIA) for its constituent State Emergency Service (SES) to purchase in Ukraine and subsequent delivery to the Republic of Sudan, Republic of Yemen, Republic of Kenya and Federal Republic of Nigeria of up to 64 thousand tons of corn or wheat grain. In addition, Ukraine undertook to send at least 125 thousand tons of wheat and corn (quality not lower than the 3rd class).
Thus, taking into account the decree adopted on 23 December, the four countries will receive from Ukraine up to 210 thousand tons of grain.
Ukraine in January-November this year, Ukraine has reduced the export of semi-finished products of carbon steel in physical terms by 70.6% compared to the same period last year – up to 1 million 824.586 thousand tons.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS), in monetary terms, exports of semi-finished products of carbon steel during this period decreased by 69.4% – to $ 1 billion 147.436 million.
In addition, Ukraine imported 5,558 thousand tons of such products in January-November, which is 84.7% less than in January-November 2021. In monetary terms, imports decreased by 84.9% to $3.634 million.
As reported, Ukraine in 2021 decreased exports of semi-finished carbon steel products in volume terms by 9.5% compared to 2020 – up to 6 million 776.44 thousand tons. In monetary terms, exports of semi-finished carbon steel products for the year increased by 48.8% – to $4 billion 93.02 million. The main exports were shipped to Italy (30.90% of deliveries in monetary terms), Turkey (12.77%) and the Dominican Republic (8.02%).
In addition, Ukraine imported 38.97 thousand tons of such products in 2021, which is 2.6 times more than in 2020. In monetary terms, imports increased by 3.9 times – up to $25.95 million. Imports were from the Russian Federation (97.73% of supplies), Turkey (1.15%) and Uzbekistan (1.08%).
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that the Netherlands decided to allocate EUR2.5 billion as aid to Ukraine.
“Had an important conversation with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. Thanked him for the decision to allocate 2.5 billion euros to help Ukraine fight the aggressor,” Zelensky wrote in Telegram on Friday.
“We appreciate the support of the Netherlands! And further work together to strengthen defense capabilities, energy sustainability, the restoration of critical infrastructure,” the head of state added.
The U.S. dollar is getting cheaper against the euro, is stable against the pound and getting stronger against the yen.
Traders are focusing on the November U.S. Commerce Department report on Americans’ income and spending, which includes the dynamics of the Consumer Price Index (PCE and Core PCE) closely monitored by the Federal Reserve (Fed).
The Core PCE core inflation index, which excludes changes in food and energy prices, rose 0.2 percent in November from the previous month, the same as in October, experts polled by Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal predicted. In annual terms, the index increase is expected to slow to 4.6% from 5% a month earlier.
On the eve of the U.S. Department of Commerce significantly improved its estimate of U.S. GDP growth in the third quarter – up to 3.2% in annualized terms from the previously announced 2.9%. This supported the dollar as traders took it as a signal that the Fed will raise the rate higher than expected to curb economic activity and inflationary pressures, Trading Economics said.
The euro/dollar pair was trading at $1.0610 as of 7:50 a.m. Friday versus $1.0598 at the close of the previous session.
The pound to dollar rate was at $1.2043 against $1.2045 the day before.
The value of the U.S. currency in a pair with the yen rose to 132.69 yen against 132.35 yen in previous trading.
Statistics from Japan, released on Friday, showed an acceleration in overall inflation in the country in November to 3.8% on an annualized basis – the highest since January 1991.
Consumer prices excluding fresh food (a key indicator tracked by the Bank of Japan) rose 3.7% year on year last month after climbing 3.6% in September. The rate of growth was the fastest since December 1981. In doing so, the figure exceeded the country’s central bank’s 2% target for the eighth month in a row.
The ICE-calculated index showing the dollar’s performance against six currencies (euro, Swiss franc, yen, Canadian dollar, pound sterling and Swedish krona) lost 0.06% in trading, while the broader WSJ Dollar Index lost 0.02%.
Export of goods in Jan-Sep 2022 to most important positions and in relation to same period of 2021
SSC of Ukraine
