National Oilwell Varco, Inc. (NYSE: NOV) reported a second quarter 2017 net loss of $75 million, or $0.20 per share. Excluding other items, net loss for the quarter was $54 million, or $0.14 per share. Other items totaled $30 million, pretax, and primarily consisted of charges related to severance and facility closures.

Weatherford International plc (NYSE: WFT) reported a net loss of $171 million, or a loss of $0.17 per share, and a non-GAAP net loss of $282 million before charges and credits ($0.28 non-GAAP loss per share) on revenues of $1.36 billion for the second quarter of 2017.

Royal Dutch Shell Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden commented: “Shell’s strong results this quarter show that we are reshaping the company following the integration of BG. Cash generation has been resilient over four consecutive quarters, at an average oil price of just under $50 per barrel. This quarter, we generated robust earnings excluding identified items of $3.6 billion, while over the past 12 months cash flow from operations of $38 billion has covered our cash dividend and reduced gearing to 25%.

“Our solid financial results and strong cash flow are driven by good operational performance with high production efficiency and continued cost improvements. At oil prices around 50 dollars per barrel, we have generated 4 billion dollars in free cash flow, and reduced our net debt ratio by 8.1 percentage points since the start of the year. We expect to deliver around 5% production growth this year, and at the same time realise an additional one billion dollars in efficiencies,” says Eldar Sætre, President and CEO of Statoil ASA.

"In a price environment that remains volatile, Total again delivered an excellent set of quarterly results with adjusted net income of $2.5 billion, a 14% increase compared to a year ago, and operating cash flow before working capital changes of $5.3 billion, a 33% increase, while Brent only increased by 9%. In the first half of the year, the Group generated more than $3.1 billion of cash flow after investments, excluding acquisitions and divestments.

In view of realized and expected labor market conditions and inflation, the Committee decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 1 to 1-1/4 percent. The stance of monetary policy remains accommodative, thereby supporting some further strengthening in labor market conditions and a sustained return to 2 percent inflation.

Industrial production rose 0.4 percent in June for its fifth consecutive monthly increase. Manufacturing output moved up 0.2 percent; although factory output has gone up and down in recent months, its level in June was little different from February. The index for mining posted a gain of 1.6 percent in June, just slightly below its pace in May. The index for utilities, however, remained unchanged. For the second quarter as a whole, industrial production advanced at an annual rate of 4.7 percent, primarily as a result of strong increases for mining and utilities. Manufacturing output rose at an annual rate of 1.4 percent, a slightly slower increase than in the first quarter. At 105.2 percent of its 2012 average, total industrial production in June was 2.0 percent above its year-earlier level. Capacity utilization for the industrial sector increased 0.2 percentage point in June to 76.6 percent, a rate that is 3.3 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2016) average.

Directors underscored that accelerated structural reforms and broader trade relations can help promote a diversified export mix. They also urged the authorities to strengthen property rights, advance privatization, improve governance, and invest in innovation and infrastructure to build the foundations for higher potential growth.

Directors observed that the financial sector has remained sound despite the severe stresses. To make the system more robust, they encouraged actions to further strengthen financial safety nets through enhanced monitoring and an improved crisis management framework. Directors underscored the need for continued vigilance and close monitoring of the health of the corporate sector and its impact on the banking system.

The approval by the IMF Executive Board of the First Review of the program shows the IMF’s strong support for Egypt in these efforts.

From 2012 through the end of 2015, debt was a significant source of capital for the producers included in the analysis, with the addition of a cumulative $55.3 billion in net debt. Since the beginning of 2016, however, these producers have reduced debt by $1.4 billion. The combination of higher equity and lower debt has resulted in the long-term debt-to-equity ratio, a measure of financial leverage, declining from 88% to 80% for the group of companies as a whole between the first quarter of 2016 and the first quarter of 2017.

Total energy investment worldwide in 2016 was just over $1.7 trillion, accounting for 2.2% of global GDP. Investment was down by 12% compared to IEA’s revised 2015 energy investment estimate of $1.9 trillion.

Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 1.4 percent in the first quarter of 2017 , according to the "third" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the fourth quarter of 2016, real GDP increased 2.1 percent.

All in all, in our judgement, the U.S. economic model is not working as well as it could in generating broadly shared income growth.

In view of realized and expected labor market conditions and inflation, the Committee decided to raise the target range for the federal funds rate to 1 to 1-1/4 percent. The stance of monetary policy remains accommodative, thereby supporting some further strengthening in labor market conditions and a sustained return to 2 percent inflation.