Finance Minister Siv Jensen has had to fend off lots of criticism since unveiling Norway’s revised state budget for this year. Her decision to dip NOK 7 billion deeper into the country’s huge Oil Fund fueled claims that interest rates are now more likely to rise for a third time later this year, but Jensen […]
Euronext relishes Oslo Børs takeover
May 14, 2019
The French boss of the pan-European stock exchange Euronext said he planned to celebrate the takeover of the Oslo Stock Exchange (Oslo Børs VPS) with beer and ice cream during Norway’s Constitution Day festivities on Friday. Euronext prevailed in its bid for the exchange after the finance ministry deemed both Euronext and Nasdaq of the […]
200-year-old ‘Børs’ basks amid bidding
April 15, 2019
The Oslo Stock Exchange (Oslo Børs) could mark its bicententennial on Monday by basking in both bright spring sunshine and enormous investor attention. At the ripe old age of 200, the exchange is still so active and attractive that international suitors are eagerly bidding to take it over. As newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) reported before […]
Interest rates rise on a strong economy
March 21, 2019
Norges Bank raised its key policy rate on Thursday in a move that was widely expected but also debated. Norway’s central bank board ultimately decided that economic growth is stronger than expected, and the country’s currency immediately strengthened on the news. The quarter-point rate rise to 1 percent was modest and at least may cheer […]
Central bank chief backs oil industry
February 15, 2019
NEWS ANALYSIS: Norway’s oil industry and its supportive Norwegian government have won backing from the country’s central bank chief to keep on pumping and looking for more offshore oil and gas reserves. In an annual and much-followed speech Thursday evening, Øystein Olsen also opted against commenting on how the government spends Norway’s oil revenues, for […]
Oslo Stock Exchange attracts new suitor
January 30, 2019
Oslo’s small but strong stock exchange known as Børsen has attracted another prospective buyer. Now it’s US-based NASDAQ, billed as the second-largest stock market in the world, that’s making an offer the Oslo exchange’s board can’t seem to refuse. It follows an offer made by the European stock exchange Euronext just before Christmas, and sweetens […]
Bankruptcies hit a new 25-year high
January 7, 2019
More than 5,000 Norwegian stock-held companies declared bankruptcy last year. It’s the highest number since 1993, and it puzzles analysts because Norway’ economy is otherwise doing well. “We have some problems explaining the high bankruptcy numbers for 2018,” Per Einar Ruud of the data and analysis company Bisnode told newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) on Monday. […]
Prospects bright for Norway’s economy
January 3, 2019
Norwegian economists agree that New Year prospects are bright for the country’s economy in 2019. They predict economic growth of 2 percent, low interest rates, lots of activity in the oil and oil service sectors and even a “perfect” real estate market. “Oil investments will shoot up, and that yields positive impulses for the rest […]
Stock exchange takeover hailed
December 24, 2018
A constallation of several European stock exchanges called Euronext is offering to take over the Oslo Stock Exchange for NOK 6.2 billion. While its director Bente Landsnes calls the bid “surprising,” major investors seem to support it, with 49.6 percent already agreeing to sell their stakes. Svein Støle, one of the biggest investors on the […]
Oil price dives as do shares, krone
December 20, 2018
Shares traded on the Oslo Stock Exchange fell another 2.5 percent on Thursday, while the price of Norway’s North Sea crude oil remains in what many analysts were calling a “free-fall.” That, along with fears of higher interest rates in the US, has also sent Norway’ currency, the krone, to its weakest level against the […]
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