Bitcoin Prices Have Gone Utterly Nuclear In The Last Two Days; Back in February, one Bitcoin was trading at around $20. Today? $95

Bitcoin Prices Have Gone Utterly Nuclear In The Last Two Days

Joe Weisenthal | Mar. 28, 2013, 5:30 AM | 4,438 | 18

The price of a Bitcoin, the digital money that’s become the new obsession of gold and silver-types, continues its dizzying assent. Here’s a short term chart. Back in February, one Bitcoin was trading at around $20. Today? $95, having had two huge moves over the last two days.

Looming property taxes in China spark owner panic; South China’s Guangdong Province was first to detail its implementation of the measures on Tuesday

Looming property taxes spark owner panic

English.news.cn   2013-03-27

BEIJING, March 27 (Xinhua) — Pre-opening queues have snaked around Chinese property trading centers in the past few days, with those in line vexed by the uncertain roll-out date of stricter market regulations.

They have been joined by Chinese netizens in feverish discussion of the March 1 announcement by central government that homeowners who sell will face income tax as high as 20 percent of the profit they make on the transaction. With no firm timeline set for the imposition of the measure, which is designed to cool the red-hot property sector, many are racing to sell.

Consequently, property agencies throughout the country have been inundated by sellers and buyers in a dilemma over the future heavier taxes.

Prior to the new rules, income tax was 1 percent to 2 percent of sale price.

South China’s Guangdong Province was first to detail its implementation of the measures on Tuesday. Read more of this post

Tiny Dolls Get Big Personalities in Hopes of Boosting Sales; Fisher-Price is revamping its Little People line of preschool dolls with an older appearance, personality traits and back stories. Will the move bring licensing riches?

March 27, 2013, 7:17 p.m. ET

Tiny Dolls Get Big Personalities in Hopes of Boosting Sales

By ANN ZIMMERMAN

The redesigned Little People dolls, on sale this summer, will have distinct personalities. From left to right: artistic Sofie, energetic Eddie, shy Mia, silly Kobe and twirly Tessa.

Little People dolls, a staple of the toddler playroom for more than half a century, have a problem: No one remembers their names.

Their maker, Fisher-Price Inc., is trying to change that. It hopes more memorable names lead to add-on riches like television shows and songs.

The visual changes in the figures—their first in 15 years—might seem subtle. They will be a tad taller (about 2½ inches high), thinner and less babyish looking. The dolls will wear updated clothing and hairstyles. No longer holding pets or playthings or snack food, their arms will be set in more expressive poses.

Most important, says the company, the painted plastic figures will have full-blown, identifiable personalities: Eddie is active and athletic. Mia is the shy, feminine one. Tessa loves to twirl like a ballerina. Read more of this post

China Tightens Regulations on Wealth Management

Updated March 27, 2013, 11:08 a.m. ET

China Tightens Regulations on Wealth Management

By DINNY MCMAHON And AARON BACK

‘Shadow banking’ in China was worth $3.7 trillion in 2012 according to Standard & Poor’s estimates. Qiang Liao of the S&P tells the WSJ’s Jake Lee why these risky investments are being sold across the country.

BEIJING—China moved to rein in wildly popular but opaque investment products that form a key plank of the nation’s shadow-banking system, after the high-profile failure of one product offered a glimpse of the risk they pose to the financial system.

The rules issued Wednesday by China’s banking regulator came as China’s four biggest state-run banks said they had more than 3 trillion yuan ($467 billion) worth of such products outstanding at the end of last year, their fullest disclosure yet of their exposure to the products and a move signaling their own caution toward their proliferation.

They are called wealth-management products, which some Chinese regulators have said are sold with limited oversight or disclosure of what they contain. They are typically short-term investments that banks market as a high-yield alternative to bank deposit rates, which are kept low by the government. About half are invested in low-risk assets such as government and corporate bonds and money-market products, according to research firm Cnbenefit. But many others are backed by everything from loans to developers to accounts receivable to valuables such as gold and jewels. Read more of this post

BRICS “Big Five” find it hard to run as a herd

Published: Thursday March 28, 2013 MYT 8:39:00 AM

BRICS “Big Five” find it hard to run as a herd

DURBAN: At a summit in South Africa on Wednesday, Vladimir Putin likened the BRICS nations – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – to Africa’s “Big Five” game beasts of trophy hunting lore – the lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard and rhinoceros.

The Russian president’s comparison captures the dilemma of these muscular emerging global powers, which together present a formidable potential economic and political counterweight to the developed West, but individually could hardly be more different.

The question is whether the BRICS five can run as a herd or hunt as a pack on the global stage, transforming their diverse but collective strength into real institutions and coordinating structures to project their voice in the world. Read more of this post

Three small Spanish banks post multi-billion euro losses

Three small Spanish banks post multi-billion euro losses

Wed, Mar 27 2013

MADRID (Reuters) – Three small Spanish banks reported multi-billion euro losses on Wednesday, showing the scale of the country’s problems with its property market.

The three banks – Banco CEISS, BMN and Caja 3 – which have all been rescued by the government, had to take big write-downs on bad property loans and assets.

Spain has forced its banks to recognize their property losses to try to clean up the sector after the country’s property boom collapsed in 2008.

Banks without a strong enough capital base, such as CEISS, BMN and Caja 3, turned to the state for support, forcing Spain to take 41 billion euros in European aid for its banking sector. Read more of this post

Analysis: Southeast Asia ready to build, but will investors come?

Analysis: Southeast Asia ready to build, but will investors come?

Wed, Mar 27 2013

By Stuart Grudgings and Neil Chatterjee

KUALA LUMPUR/JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia is seeking European investors for $9 billion worth of water, road, air and seaport projects in what will be a litmus test of Southeast Asian countries’ ability to seize on ripe financial conditions to upgrade decrepit infrastructure.

Easy global liquidity and investors’ eagerness to tap one of the world’s few fast-growing regions should create a sweet spot for the region to fill the $600 billion in infrastructure needs the Asian Development Bank identifies over the next decade.

But infrastructure experts say a shortage of projects offering compelling returns, coupled with stifling bureaucracy and regulatory uncertainty, threatens to undermine the ambitious plans of Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. Read more of this post

South Koreans in Farm U-Turn as Chaebol Era’s Rapid Growth Ends

South Koreans in Farm U-Turn as Chaebol Era’s Rapid Growth Ends

Lee Geun Hong is a rare example of wealth in South Korea’s countryside, known for its shrinking population and decades-long farming slump. Driving a Mercedes rather than a Hyundai, the former Samsung Heavy Industries Co. executive says that may soon change.

“The future for farmers is very bright,” the 60-year-old Lee said while pruning trees in a greenhouse at his farm in Sangju, overlooking the Nakdong River about 160 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of Seoul. “But those who stick to conventional ways will remain poor.”

Lee moved to Sangju from Seoul in 2007 after 18 years at the world’s second-biggest shipbuilder and a stint running his own cafeteria. He earns about $180,000 a year, more than six times the average rural income, selling blueberries online to cut out the middleman, and grows organically to appeal to Korean consumers he calls “the pickiest in the world.”

The number of people leaving cities for rural areas is at a record high in South Korea, as government subsidies to boost agricultural production coincide with slowing economic growth. The most successful bring investment and skills that are boosting margins — the number of farmers and agricultural associations earning at least 100 million won ($90,000) rose for a fourth year to 17,291 in 2012, the farm ministry said.

“The trend may help the national economy by re-channeling surplus labor to rejuvenate farming areas,” said Jun Kwang Hee, a professor of sociology at Chungnam National University. “We now live in an era where the economy is growing without creating many jobs. Your career at companies ends at 50, but you are very young at 50 and even at 60 in the countryside.” Read more of this post

Saudi Riches Don’t Reach Entrepreneurs as Bankers Shun Startups

Saudi Riches Don’t Reach Entrepreneurs as Bankers Shun Startups

When Saleh Al-Zaid decided it was time to expand Twitmail.com, the Saudi Arabian entrepreneur figured it wasn’t even worth trying to get a bank loan.

“Saudi banks don’t want to take the risk with early stage startups,” Al-Zaid said over coffee and donuts in Riyadh. Instead, the 28-year-old obtained 1 million riyals ($267,000) from an investor in local venture-capital group Oqal, financing a trip to Silicon Valley for training. He left his part-time job, and now his website, which helps Twitter users share e- mails, has 400,000 visitors on a busy day.

The banking blind-spot may be an obstacle for King Abdullah’s efforts to create jobs and diversify the economy away from oil, which brings 90 percent of government revenue. The kingdom, the world’s biggest crude exporter, is investing $500 billion on industry, transportation and housing, a program Abdullah expanded after watching revolts sweep across other high-unemployment Arab countries two years ago.

The Saudi plan is for private business to take over the growth baton from government spending. Smaller companies may struggle to play their part so long as they’re constrained by a lack of financing. Just 2 percent of Saudi bank loans go to small and medium-sized businesses, compared with an 8 percent Middle East average that’s itself low by global standards, according to the International Finance Corp., the World Bank’s private lending arm.

“In a country like Saudi Arabia, where relationship banking is very important, there has been a tendency for banks to focus on big corporates,” said James Reeve, an economist at Samba Financial (SAMBA) Group in Riyadh. “Some observers feel the needs of small and medium-sized businesses have been overlooked.” Read more of this post