The indie bookstore resurgence: Amazon may have the bargains, but independent booksellers are trading in the importance of real-life community

The indie bookstore resurgence

September 20, 2013: 11:19 AM ET

Amazon may have the bargains, but independent booksellers are trading in the importance of real-life community — and are seeing an uptick in business.

By Verne Kopytoff

FORTUNE — John Evans, co-owner of Diesel, a small California bookstore chain, gives an emphatic “no” when asked if he’s crazy for opening a new store this summer near San Francisco. After all, bookstores are doomed, right? Amazon (AMZN) is shoving them into extinction. E-books are taking over. Well, not so fast. After years of steep decline, independent bookstores have turned the corner — to a point. Sales grew 8% in 2012 and are on track for similar gains this year, according to the American Booksellers Association. The uptick is welcome news for the industry, which has been in turmoil throughout recent memory. Read more of this post

Electric bicycles: Sales are booming, but large-scale urban hire schemes remain some way off

Electric bicycles: Sales are booming, but large-scale urban hire schemes remain some way off

Sep 21st 2013 | PARIS |From the print edition

BICYCLE fairs come thick and fast at the end of summer in Europe. Eurobike closed on August 31st in Friedrichshafen, Germany; the Salon du Cycle in Paris on September 16th. And how the market is changing: for all the hype over the latest rugged mountain bike, the whirr of electrically assisted wheels is clearly audible. Although electric cars have struggled to gain purchase (their sticker price is unalluring and they stop dead if not recharged), sales of cycles using batteries to augment a rider’s own efforts are growing quickly. Faster ones with more sophisticated electronic controls, a bit like those popular in China, may also be gaining ground. Read more of this post

Why Land Reform Efforts Remain on the Back Burner in China

09.19.2013 17:17

Why Land Reform Efforts Remain on the Back Burner

Despite recent optimism a breakthrough had been made on rural land, disagreements among policymakers continue to stall progress

By staff reporter Wang Su

(Beijing) – Lawmakers are deliberating reforms that could revolutionize China’s land system. On September 2, a news report regarding reforms to the land system sent waves through the nation. The report said that the government would allow the trading of rural cooperative land designated for construction purposes. Officials are planning to set up pilot areas in 18 provinces and municipalities and 28 lower-tier administrative regions in which citizens will be allowed to buy and sell property rights of collective construction land on open markets. The day after the news broke, stock markets reacted. Over ten stocks related to land concept hit upper trading limits that day. A Shenyin and Wanguo Securities report indicated that land prices will be reappraised across the nation following this major development in land reforms. Read more of this post

Wang Jianlin, China’s richest man and the chairman of property and entertainment conglomerate Wanda, is breaking ground on a 30 billion yuan, or $4.9 billion, film studio, which he promises will be the world’s largest

September 21, 2013, 9:32 p.m. ET

China’s Wanda Group Breaks Ground on $4.9 Billion Film Studio

Chairman Promises It Will Be World’s Largest

LAURIE BURKITT

QINGDAO, China—Wang Jianlin, China’s richest man and the chairman of property and entertainment conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group Corp., is breaking ground on a 30 billion yuan, or $4.9 billion, film studio, which he promises will be the world’s largest. The “Qingdao Oriental Movie Metropolis,” set to open in 2017 in the eastern Chinese port city of Qingdao, will include a 10,000 square-meter film studio and 19 smaller facilities, along with a theme park similar to Universal Studio’s in Miami, Wanda said in a statement Sunday. The project will also include a permanent auto show, a yacht center, an international hospital, as well as hotels and bars, the statement said. Read more of this post

Paris In China: Tianducheng Is An Eerie, Abandoned City Of Lights Clone

Paris In China: Tianducheng Is An Eerie, Abandoned City Of Lights Clone

The Huffington Post  |  By Lisa_Miller Posted: 08/07/2013 7:48 am EDT

Take a look at this picture for a second. You know where that is, right? That’s Paris, obviously. There’s the Eiffel Tower, and there are some of those quaint Parisian fountains and buildings. Yeah? Nope. In fact, that shot was taken nearly 6,000 miles from the City of Lights. So… what’s the deal? That’s actually Tianducheng, a luxury real estate development and Paris look-alike that’s located in Hangzhou, China. Tianducheng lacks much of what Paris has to offer though — including people. The development is now more or less abandoned, giving it an even eerier, ghost-town feel. Read more of this post

Online shopping provides way round China’s ban on giving gifts

Online shopping provides way round China’s ban on giving gifts

Hsieh Ai-chu and Staff Reporter

2013-09-21

Buying gifts through online shopping was popular in China during this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival as the country’s government prohibited the use of public funds to be spent on festival gifts. People’s Daily reported that the volume of gifts purchased with government money was down compared to previous years. Yet the practice, linked to the culture of giving face in order to consolidate influential relationships could not be fully curtailed as gift givers found ways to present their gifts in a more discreet manner. Read more of this post

Nine ways to make money ‘Chinese style’

Nine ways to make money ‘Chinese style’

Staff Reporter

2013-09-21

Chinese investment web portal Eastmoney.com has come up with the nine most impressive ways the nation’s entrepreneurial spirit manifests itself in a country where laws are not universally applied and where looking after oneself and one’s own trumps other ethical considerations. Here are the top tips for making money “Chinese style”:

1. Selling tax invoices

To avoid taxes, many enterprises in China collect tax invoices or sales receipts to deduct expenses, with some companies even requiring their staff to provide tax invoices of equivalent value before they can receive their end-of-year bonus. The sale of tax invoices and receipts has become a growing underground industry, with some vendors reportedly making several thousand dollars a month in this way. Read more of this post

Marketizing China’s Elder Care Conundrum; Rising demand for nursing homes and other senior care services has forced policymakers to seek market solutions

09.20.2013 17:23

Marketizing China’s Elder Care Conundrum

Rising demand for nursing homes and other senior care services has forced policymakers to seek market solutions

By staff reporter Lan Fang

(Beijing) — Weaving market forces into the complex tapestry of health care services for China’s growing population of senior citizens – including the poor and feeble – has emerged as a definitive goal for government policymakers. “Marketization” was stressed by the State Council, China’s cabinet, in a policy document released in mid-September that focused on the need to “accelerate development of the senior care service industry.” Read more of this post

Leading mainland beverage maker JDB Group has been dubbed “China’s Coca-Cola” because of its business model, which is similar to that of the American giant, and its huge success in its home market

Herbal drink giant’s recipe for home-grown success

Saturday, 21 September, 2013, 12:00am

Celine Sun in Beijing celine.sun@scmp.com

With its focus on its only product initially, JDB’s red-canned beverage has become so popular that the company is dubbed ‘China’s Coca-Cola’

Leading mainland beverage maker JDB Group has been dubbed “China’s Coca-Cola” because of its business model, which is similar to that of the American giant, and its huge success in its home market. Over the past six years, the fast-growing company has unseated Coca-Cola to become the top seller of canned beverages on the mainland. And most of its success comes from a single product – a traditional herbal tea – much as Coca-Cola achieved with its homonymic product for more than a century. Read more of this post

How long can the Communist party survive in China?

September 20, 2013 7:04 am

How long can the Communist party survive in China?

By Jamil Anderlini

As the economy slows and middle-class discontent grows, it is the question that’s now being asked not only outside but inside the country. Even at the Central Party School there is talk of the unthinkable: the collapse of Chinese communism

Tucked away between China’s top spy school and the ancient imperial summer palace in the west of Beijing lies the only place in the country where the demise of the ruling Communist party can be openly debated without fear of reprisal. But this leafy address is not home to some US-funded liberal think-tank or an underground dissident cell. It is the campus of the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the elite training academy for the country’s autocratic leaders that is described in official propaganda as a “furnace to foster the spirit of party members”. Read more of this post

Dual release of iPhone 5S in US, China puts scalpers out of business

Dual release of iPhone 5S in US, China puts scalpers out of business

Staff Reporter

2013-09-21

The number of scalpers seeking to make money from Apple’s latest iPhone 5S has decreased significantly as most buyers are targeting the gold version of the smartphone. The fact that the smartphone was released in China and the United States simultaneously has also reduced scalpers’ leverage in raising prices, according to Chinese web portal Tencent. The iPhone 5S and 5C were released on Friday in the US, Australia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, France, Germany, Japan, Singapore and Britain, nine days after Apple unveiled its latest models to the world. Read more of this post

Wealthy Asians snub bank capital bonds

Wealthy Asians snub bank capital bonds

Fri, Sep 20 2013

* Private banks reduce leverage for bank hybrids

* Fears of fallout in case write-downs are triggered

* Clients turn to corporate perpetuals instead

By Christopher Langner

SINGAPORE, Sept 20 (IFR) – Tougher lending policies are threatening to drive Asia’s private-banking clients away from bank capital and towards corporate hybrids. Private bankers said they are reducing the margin loans, or leverage, they make available to buyers of loss-absorbing capital instruments that expose investors to the risk of permanent principal losses. “They are seeing that some of these bonds will trade to zero if the loss-absorbing features are triggered,” said one fixed-income specialist at a private bank. “If my collateral may be completely gone, I will give zero leverage, as well.” Read more of this post

A discord between Korean and Chinese creditors over the fate of STX Dalian may develop into a political dispute between the two countries

2013-09-17 16:17

Korea, China at odds over STX

By Choi Kyong-ae
A discord between Korean and Chinese creditors over the fate of STX Dalian may develop into a political dispute between the two countries. Chinese creditors have asked their Korean counterparts to share the financial burden of putting the moribund shipyard back to normal but Korean banks called the request a “tall order” as their exposure to the shipyard is very small compared to Chinese banks, according STX officials, Tuesday. Read more of this post

Problems deferred become millstone for Indonesia

Problems deferred become millstone for Indonesia

September 21, 2013

Tim Colebatch

Indonesia has been one of the five strongest sources of global growth since the GFC hit in 2008. But now its failure to reform its economy and tackle its infrastructure backlog has seen it take a dumping on global markets, as its economy slows, and inflation and its trade deficit rise. And with a new parliament and president to be elected in 2014, the future of one of the world’s biggest developing economies could be clouded for some time, the Australian National University’s annual Indonesia update has been told. Read more of this post

Willis Group, MSG, United Rentals, Ashland, and Millennium & Copthorne Hotels find fans at a value-investing congress, while critics target K12 and LifeLock as stocks to short

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2013

A Wealth of Stocks to Love…or Hate

By ANDREW BARY | MORE ARTICLES BY AUTHOR

Willis Group, MSG, United Rentals, Ashland, and Millennium & Copthorne Hotels find fans at a value-investing congress, while critics target K12 and LifeLock as stocks to short.

Even as the Standard & Poor’s 500 was heading for record levels early last week, a group of investors found plenty to recommend at the ninth annual Value Investing Congress in New York, including Willis Group Holdings , MSG , United Rentals , and Ashland. There also were a few short recommendations, including K12, the online-education company, and LifeLock, the provider of identity-theft-protection services. Read more of this post

Sharpe Ratio Shows Rupiah Is Worst Carry Trade Bet: Asean Credit

Sharpe Ratio Shows Rupiah Is Worst Carry Trade Bet: Asean Credit

Indonesia’s rupiah is delivering the developing world’s worst carry trade returns this month and Barclays Plc says volatility won’t end just because the U.S. Federal Reserve is maintaining stimulus. The currency’s Sharpe ratio, which measures returns adjusted for price fluctuations, was 0.18, the least among 23 emerging markets tracked by Bloomberg. That compares with 13 for the Philippine peso and the Thai baht’s 12, placing them in the top 10. One-month implied volatility in the rupiah almost tripled to 17 percent this year, at least double the readings for Thailand and the Philippines. Read more of this post

The paradox of over-production in a world of QE

The paradox of over-production in a world of QE

Izabella Kaminska

| Sep 20 17:40 | 14 comments | Share

The Fed’s taper no-show this week resulted in a plethora of commentaries and articles flagging the risks of the world’s collective addiction to QE. To name a few:

1) Felix Salmon noted the dangers of the growing QE multiple — the incremental sugar hit the market gets from every anticipated unit of QE.

2) Tyler Cowen didn’t like that very much either.

3) Gillian Tett, meanwhile, suggested that all that QE does in its current form is provides credit for existing infrastructure and capacity, rather for new investment.

4) And HSBC’s chief economist Stephen King argued that QE only exacerbates the conditions that lead to savings glut conditions, which arguably created the crisis in the first place.

Either way, the idea that the economy is now somehow dangerously addicted to QE is a pervasive theme, and QE bashing is becoming the definitive vogue in town.  Read more of this post

The Case for Cash: Once shunned, putting cash on the sidelines now looks shrewd to some investors

September 20, 2013, 10:53 a.m. ET

The Case for Cash

Once shunned, putting cash on the sidelines now looks shrewd to some investors. Brett Arends explains

BRETT ARENDS

A FRIEND WAS recently considering a potential investment for her portfolio and asked a simple question: Is it better than any of the alternatives that are currently out there?  My answer surprised her: The real question is whether it’s also better than any of the alternatives that you are likely to see in the next year or two. For most mainstream investment professionals—including many of those with some pricey clients—that kind of an argument is near-sacrilege. It means, they say, trying to “time” the market. Their advice is usually along the lines of investing everything, everything, immediately, in the (high fee) products they make available. But this is flawed thinking. If the events of the last 15 years have shown anything, it is that turmoil and financial bargains seem to come along with great frequency. If there are no compelling opportunities on offer at the moment, wait a while. One will be coming along soon—in the next great panic about Europe, or emerging markets, or U.S. subprime mortgages, or gold, or China, or commodities, or high oil prices, or low oil prices, or inflation, or deflation or something else entirely. Read more of this post

Roger Lowenstein: The Long, Sorry Tale of Pension Promises; How did states and cities get into this mess? It’s a simple case of human frailty; where to go from here

September 20, 2013, 8:35 p.m. ET

The Long, Sorry Tale of Pension Promises

How did states and cities get into this mess? It’s a simple case of human frailty; where to go from here

ROGER LOWENSTEIN

Fifty years ago, the auto industry suffered a massive pension bust. The numbers back then were small, but pension failures are never about the numbers—they’re about human frailty. People are tempted to promise more than they can deliver. Today, cities and states across the country are way behind on the promises they made to their employees. Several—including Detroit—are in bankruptcy. Back in 1963, Studebaker, an independent auto maker in South Bend., Ind. was struggling to compete with the Big Three. Desperate to stay afloat, the company had increased the benefits it was promising to its retirees four times in the 1950s and early 1960s. What was desperate about this? Pension benefits aren’t paid out of thin air; sponsors are supposed to set aside a sum of money proportional to the benefits that will eventually come due. If the money is invested prudently, the fund will have enough assets to meet its obligations. Read more of this post

For Migrants, New Land of Opportunity Is Mexico; With Europe sputtering and China costly, the “stars are aligning” for Mexico as broad changes in the global economy create new dynamics of migration

September 21, 2013

For Migrants, New Land of Opportunity Is Mexico

By DAMIEN CAVE

MEXICO CITY — Mexico, whose economic woes have pushed millions of people north, is increasingly becoming an immigrant destination. The country’s documented foreign-born population nearly doubled between 2000 and 2010, and officials now say the pace is accelerating as broad changes in the global economy create new dynamics of migration. Rising wages in China and higher transportation costs have made Mexican manufacturing highly competitive again, with some projections suggesting it is already cheaper than China for many industries serving the American market. Europe is sputtering, pushing workers away. And while Mexico’s economy is far from trouble free, its growth easily outpaced the giants of the hemisphere — the United States, Canada and Brazil — in 2011 and 2012, according to International Monetary Fund data, making the country more attractive to fortune seekers worldwide. Read more of this post

Jobless recoveries are here to stay, economists say, but it’s a mystery why

Jobless recoveries are here to stay, economists say, but it’s a mystery why

By Jim Tankersley, Published: September 20

The U.S. economy just hasn’t looked like its old self lately, especially when it comes to regaining the jobs lost during a recession. It looks a lot more like 1980s-era Europe — slow to rebound and hire after a downturn, leaving workers to flail for years in a weak job market. The United States is stuck in its third consecutive “jobless recovery,” stretching back to the rebound from the 1990 recession. And Americans might need to get used to them: A major new study from economists at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of California at Berkeley suggests that vintage Europe is the new American normal for recessions and recoveries. But even after an exhaustive series of tests, the economists still can’t explain what has gone wrong. Read more of this post

Jeremy Grantham called the Internet bubble, then the housing bubble. What alarm bell is the chief investment strategist at GMO ringing about now?

September 20, 2013, 10:31 a.m. ET

Our Chat With Jeremy Grantham

He called the Internet bubble, then the housing bubble. What alarm bell is Jeremy Grantham, the chief investment strategist at GMO, ringing about now?

IAN SALISBURY

JEREMY GRANTHAM’S GOT A TRACK RECORD that’s impossible to ignore—he called the Internet bubble, then the housing bubble. While moves like those have earned the famed forecaster the nickname “perma-bear,” in early 2009 he also told clients at GMO, his $100 billion, Boston-based money-management firm, to jump back into the market. It was the same week that stocks hit their post-Lehman low. Now, however, the outspoken Yorkshireman, who is chief investment strategist at GMO, is making headlines with a new prediction: Dire, Malthusian warnings about environmental catastrophe. To hear him tell it, the world is running out of food. Resources will only keep getting more expensive. And climate change looms over it all. Indeed, at times he sounds like someone Greenpeace would send door-to-door with a clipboard. (He’s not above likening the coal-industry spin to the handiwork of Goebbels.) If it were anyone else, Wall Street would probably laugh him off. But because it’s Jeremy Grantham, they just might listen. Read more of this post