Materialism is destroying China’s interest in reading books

Materialism is destroying China’s interest in reading books

By Helen Gao, The Atlantic 2 hours ago

BEIJING—In a chapter from his essay collection China in Ten Words, Yu Hua, an acclaimed Chinese writer, recounts the following anecdote from his childhood: In the wake of the Cultural Revolution, Western classic novels, previously denounced as “poisonous weed,” started to reappear in the remote village where he lived. Because of the shortage in supply, however, villagers had to purchase these books with ration tickets issued by the local bookstore. On the day the tickets were distributed, Yu arrived at the bookstore at dawn. A line was already snaking out from the entrance, formed by hundreds of villagers who had waited all night long. At 8 a.m., the bookstore owner announced that only 50 ration tickets were available. Yu remembered feeling as if “someone had poured a bucket of icy water over his head in the dead of winter.” The 51st person in line, staring at people ahead of him leaving with brand new copies of Anna Karenina and David Copperfield, looked so crushed that the number “51″ soon became a village slang for bad luck. Read more of this post

Everbright Securities “Fat Finger” Trading Error Roils Shanghai Stock Market

Everbright Securities Trading Error Roils Shanghai Stock Market

Everbright Securities Co. (601788), the state-controlled Chinese brokerage that’s part of a group including financial firms and hotels, is probing a trading error that roiled the country’s stock market yesterday. The China Securities Regulatory Commission is investigating a surge in the Shanghai Composite Index (SHCOMP) caused by large share purchases by Everbright, the regulator said in a statement yesterday. All other operations are normal, China’s fifth-largest brokerage by market value said in a statement to the bourse. Read more of this post

Chinese Retailers Are Paying People To Make Their Stores Look More Popular

Chinese Retailers Are Paying People To Make Their Stores Look More Popular

ANDREA FENN, JING DAILY AUG. 16, 2013, 4:10 PM 1,063 1

Social recommendation in China is a much older invention than the “Share” button of social networks. But its significance might be also about to change.

While strolling down High Street, whenever deafened by barkers and blinded by neon signs, Chinese passers-by have infallibly resorted to a most social way of guiding their shopping behavior: picking the store with the longest queue outside. Read more of this post

China’s new economic zone fails to draw HK property tycoons

China’s new economic zone fails to draw HK property tycoons

5:07am EDT

By Yimou Lee and Michelle Chen

HONG KONG (Reuters) – A much-hyped land auction in a developing free-trade zone in southern China failed to attract any of Hong Kong’s powerful property developers, signaling growing investor caution towards the ambitious $45 billion project. More than 50 journalists vastly outnumbered the two mainland bidders present on Friday, with developer China Resources Land Ltd (1109.HK: Quote, Profile, Research,Stock Buzz) beating Shimao Property Holdings Ltd (0813.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) with a bid of 10.9 billion yuan ($1.8 billion) for the commercial site in the southern boom town of Shenzhen where the zone is located. Read more of this post

China’s Leader Embraces Mao as He Tightens Grip on Country

August 16, 2013, 10:31 p.m. ET

China’s Leader Embraces Mao as He Tightens Grip on Country

JEREMY PAGE

WUHAN, China—On a visit here in July, Chinese President Xi Jinping went to a lakeside villa where Mao Zedong spent summers in the 1950s enjoying such luxuries as a swimming pool and air conditioning. Opening a new exhibition there that makes no mention of the millions who died under Mao’s leadership, Mr. Xi declared that the villa should be a center for educating youth about patriotism and revolution. A week earlier, he went to a village from which Mao attacked Beijing in 1949. There, Mr. Xi vowed that “our red nation will never change color.” It isn’t just Mr. Xi’s rhetoric that has taken on a Maoist tinge in recent months. He has borrowed from Mao’s tactical playbook, launching a “rectification” campaign to purify the Communist Party, while tightening limits on discussion of ideas such as democracy, rule of law and enforcement of the constitution. Read more of this post

China’s elderly care market opens wider for investors

China’s elderly care market opens wider for investors

Saturday, Aug 17, 2013

Yang Yao

China Daily/Asia News Network

Foreign and private investors are being encouraged to invest in the elderly care market, a move top policymakers say can help boost domestic demand and create jobs. The government will simplify procedures and slash administrative charges to allow non-governmental groups to run homes for the elderly, according to a statement issued after an executive meeting of the State Council, presided over by Premier Li Keqiang, on Friday. “We encourage social investors to establish professional elderly care institutions and support overseas investors to invest in senior care,” the statement said. “Market access will be widened.” Read more of this post

China’s “Childish” Bond Market Crosses Tipping Point

China’s “Childish” Bond Market Crosses Tipping Point

Tyler Durden on 08/16/2013 17:59 -0400

That China faces a number of serious economic (and potentially social) problems is no surprise and as Guggenheim’s Scott Minerd notes, trying to predict when persistent structural problems will lead to a shock for markets is extremely difficult (as we noted here). However, from a symbioticcollapse in the previously ‘virtuous’ bond-market-to-banking-system relationship, to the drying up of easy credit for all but the largest (and least over-capacity) firms, it appears that China’s private sector leverage has crossed the tipping point that signalled crises in the US, UK, Japan and South Korea. Although the recent data (believe it or not) show signs of a stabilization in the Chinese economy, the elevated debt burden should continue to cast doubt over its growth sustainability and the “childish” and non-transparent nature of China’s bond market offers little or no hope for a free market solution. Read more of this post

A police investigation into allegations of fraud by Shanghai’s largest insurance dealer has stirred the insurance market and created jitters over the possible loss of customers’ insurance contracts

08.16.2013 16:26

Probe Launched over Insurance Dealer for Sales Fraud

Shanghai Fanxin Insurance Agency Co. found by insurance regulator to have sold unauthorized fixed-income agreements

By staff reporter Wang Shenlu

(Beijing) — A police investigation into allegations of fraud by Shanghai’s largest insurance dealer has stirred the insurance market and created jitters over the possible loss of customers’ insurance contracts. The Shanghai branch of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission said on August 15 that insurance sales agent Shanghai Fanxin Insurance Agency Co. was found selling unauthorized fixed-income financial agreements. Shanghai police have launched a formal investigation into the company’s alleged misconduct, said the regulator. Rumors have circulated in the market since August 14 that Chen Yi, general manager of Fanxin has fled to Canada with 500 million yuan. Caixin learned from a source close to the company that Chen is no longer the legal representative of the company and has left the country as the company is facing financial turmoil. Read more of this post

Indian Markets Battered by Signs of End to Easy Money; Stocks Fall 4%, Rupee at New Low, as Investors Question Economic Prospects

Updated August 16, 2013, 7:19 p.m. ET

Indian Markets Battered by Signs of End to Easy Money

Stocks Fall 4%, Rupee at New Low, as Investors Question Economic Prospects

SHEFALI ANAND in Mumbai and PRABHA NATARAJAN in New York

Indian shares fell sharply Friday as investors questioned whether the now-fragile economy of the world’s second most-populous country could withstand an end to global easy-money policies. The Bombay Stock Exchange’s S&P BSE Sensex index lost nearly 4%, its largest one-day drop in almost two years, while the Indian currency, the rupee, hit an all-time low against the U.S. dollar. Traders said an immediate trigger for the selloff was Thursday’s better-than-expected U.S. employment report—which was seen as raising the odds the U.S. Federal Reserve would more quickly tighten the monetary taps. Read more of this post

Reviving the Spirit of Independence Day in Indonesia

Reviving the Spirit of Independence Day

By Zakky Ramadhany on 11:55 am August 17, 2013.
The roads and alleyways of Cempaka Putih Barat, a North Jakarta neighborhood, are mainly deserted with most of its residents still spending Idul Fitri with their families in their hometowns. But by noon on Saturday — Independence Day — those who chose to stay will begin to flood the streets, carrying bamboo poles painted red and white. “The most important thing is to find solid bamboo suitable to be used as the flagpole, then paint the wood to make it look more beautiful. This is done to celebrate Independence Day,” said Nursaleh, a resident of the area, who is in charge of organizing the neighborhood’s Independence Day celebration every year. Read more of this post

Indonesia imitates India’s costly growth obsession

Indonesia imitates India’s costly growth obsession

Fri, Aug 16 2013

By Andy Mukherjee

SINGAPORE (Reuters Breakingviews) – Indonesia is failing to learn from India’s economic misery. That makes it a candidate for a disorderly decline in the currency, runaway inflation and financial instability. The country’s central bank, which has tightened monetary policy by just 75 basis points this year, left the benchmark interest rate unchanged at 6.5 percent in its August 15 meeting. It also asked banks to rein in credit if they don’t have adequate deposits. While the warning is welcome, it’s not a substitute for raising the price of money. Read more of this post

Layoffs Taboo, Japan Workers Are Sent to the Boredom Room; Facing a sluggish economy and increasing competition, Japan’s prime minister and major companies want to reduce longstanding restrictions on dismissing full-time workers

August 16, 2013

Layoffs Taboo, Japan Workers Are Sent to the Boredom Room

By HIROKO TABUCHI

TAGAJO, Japan — Shusaku Tani is employed at the Sony plant here, but he doesn’t really work. For more than two years, he has come to a small room, taken a seat and then passed the time reading newspapers, browsing the Web and poring over engineering textbooks from his college days. He files a report on his activities at the end of each day. Sony, Mr. Tani’s employer of 32 years, consigned him to this room because they can’t get rid of him. Sony had eliminated his position at the Sony Sendai Technology Center, which in better times produced magnetic tapes for videos and cassettes. But Mr. Tani, 51, refused to take an early retirement offer from Sony in late 2010 — his prerogative under Japanese labor law. So there he sits in what is called the “chasing-out room.” He spends his days there, with about 40 other holdouts. “I won’t leave,” Mr. Tani said. “Companies aren’t supposed to act this way. It’s inhumane.” Read more of this post

“Beer is for children, Vodka is for real men.” The world’s top brewers once bet big on Russia’s famous love of drinking, investing hundreds of millions of dollars there. But now the Kremlin’s campaign against alcoholism has sapped the life out of the party.

August 16, 2013, 8:28 p.m. ET

Russian Beer Fest Goes Flat for Brewers

Kremlin’s crackdown on alcoholism saps life out of the party

LUKAS I. ALPERT

MOSCOW—The world’s top brewers once bet big on Russia’s famous love of drinking, pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into new plants and distribution networks as they sought to tap a growing taste for beer in a land where vodka long ruled. For years the investment paid off. But now the Kremlin’s campaign against alcoholism has sapped the life out of the party as a flood of new regulations and taxes aimed at turning around dismal life expectancy rates for men has made the beer market go flat, brewers say. Read more of this post

Metal bashing: Insinuations of market manipulation accelerate another upheaval in finance

Metal bashing: Insinuations of market manipulation accelerate another upheaval in finance

Aug 17th 2013 | NEW YORK |From the print edition

THE deepening relationship between America’s judicial system and its biggest banks has reached the world of metals. The Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has reportedly issued subpoenas to Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and others as it investigates complaints that banks and other owners of metals warehouses have been hoarding metals and driving up prices. Private class-action suits filed in federal courts spanning New York, Michigan, Louisiana and Florida have made similar price-fixing allegations, which the banks vigorously deny. Read more of this post

Chief executive officers and chief financial officers in Singapore may soon be legally liable for their certifications that their companies’ financial statements are true and fair

Bosses may face legal liability for financial statements

Saturday, Aug 17, 2013

Michelle Quah

The Business Times

SINGAPORE – Chief executive officers and chief financial officers in Singapore may soon be legally liable for their certifications that their companies’ financial statements are true and fair. This possibility was touched upon by Minister of State for Finance and Transport Josephine Teo at the Public Accountants Conference on Wednesday. Mrs Teo, speaking to an 800-strong crowd of mostly practising accountants, said the profession’s regulator, the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra), is exploring various approaches taken by other jurisdictions to further strengthen the quality of financial reporting – an issue of some concern here. Read more of this post

The west desperately needs more madcap schemes like the Hyperloop; Animal spirits built the the railways, highways and the Panama Canal

August 16, 2013 6:42 pm

The west desperately needs more madcap schemes like the Hyperloop

By Stian Westlake

Animal spirits built the the railways, highways and the Panama Canal, writes Stian Westlake

Silicon Valley product launches are a dime a dozen. But Monday’s announcement was something rather special. Elon Musk, founder of PayPal, Tesla and SpaceX, had promised the world he would publish thedesign for the Hyperloop, a revolutionary new form of transport – and it is hard not to love it. It’s fast. It’s solar-powered. And it’s a bargain: according to Mr Musk, it would cost 10 times less to build than the high-speed railways now beloved of the American and British governments. No wonder the world’s geeks and dreamers have been poring over the space-age sketches. Read more of this post

The FBI Manipulated Some Penny Stocks

15 Aug 2013 at 5:31 PM

The FBI Manipulated Some Penny Stocks

By Matt Levine

The SEC announced securities fraud charges against a fairly random assortment of South Florida crooks today and the message I took away from the assorted complaints is that it’d be a lot of fun to work in the South Florida office of the FBI. Basically the job seems to consist of setting up fake hedge funds and then using them to con people into giving you money, which is pretty much my dream job, and also the dream job of a lot of South Florida crooks I guess. Only in the FBI version the people you’re conning are themselves con men, and the money is illegal bribes, and then you arrest them, so it’s okay. Read more of this post

Price-to-Earnings Ratios Aren’t Always What They Seem; P/E Calculations Based on Differing Views of Earnings Paint Competing Pictures of the Market

BY MARK HULBERT

Price-to-Earnings Ratios Aren’t Always What They Seem

P/E Calculations Based on Differing Views of Earnings Paint Competing Pictures of the Market

MARK HULBERT

“The stock market is overvalued.” “The stock market is undervalued.”

Which one of these statements is true?

Both are, thanks to quirks of the most popular way of measuring a stock’s valuation: the price/earnings ratio.

While no one disagrees about what the “P” is when calculating the ratio, there is no consensus on how to define earnings-per-share. One of the biggest points of dispute: whether to use analysts’ earnings estimates for the coming year or reported company earnings from the previous 12 months. Comparing ratios calculated in these two ways is little better than comparing apples to oranges, according to Cliff Asness, managing partner at AQR Capital Management, an investment firm with $84 billion of assets under management. In an email, he went so far as to say that those who compare P/Es in this way are engaging in a “sleight of hand,” though he allowed that many may “not be aware of the mistake they are making.” Read more of this post