Abenomics Faces Emerging Pressures

Abenomics Faces Emerging Pressures

Trouble in Developing Markets Blurs Growth Picture

TAKASHI NAKAMICHI

Updated Nov. 10, 2013 5:31 p.m. ET

Japan is expected to report this week that its economic-revival experiment hit a speed bump over the summer, with growth for the three months through September likely slowing to less than half the pace recorded in the first half of the year. That doesn’t necessarily mean Abenomics—Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s master plan involving weakening the yen and temporarily boosting infrastructure spending—is faltering. Read more of this post

Japan Inc Weighing Pay Hikes? Little Sign So Far

November 11, 2013, 9:34 AM

Japan Inc Weighing Pay Hikes? Little Sign So Far

By Yumi Otagaki

In what are perhaps the world’s biggest, most public, and protracted labor negotiations, Japan’s top policymakers – from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda on down – have for weeks been pressing the country’s executives to give employees their first base pay increases in years next spring. How’s it going so far? If weekend reports are any sign, not so good. Read more of this post

Kospi Rally Leaves Brokers Behind as Profits Drop: Korea Markets

Kospi Rally Leaves Brokers Behind as Profits Drop: Korea Markets

South Korean brokers are missing out on a rally that sent the nation’s benchmark stock index to its highest level since 2011, as slumping trading volumes contribute to the weakest profits in eight years. Samsung Securities Co. (016360), the country’s biggest brokerage by market capitalization, and five of its local peers are valued at the lowest levels since at least 2007 after falling an average of 15 percent in Seoul this year. Industry earnings have shrunk to the smallest since the first half of 2005, while trading on the Korea Exchange (KOSPI) fell to a six-year low, data compiled by Bloomberg and the Financial Supervisory Service show. Read more of this post

‘Long-Only’ Funds Lose Their Hedge’Long-Only’ Funds Lose Their Hedge

‘Long-Only’ Funds Lose Their Hedge’Long-Only’ Funds Lose Their Hedge

JULIET CHUNG

Nov. 10, 2013 7:02 p.m. ET

What do you call a hedge fund that doesn’t hedge? The latest growth area for the industry. On the heels of a multiyear market rally, a slew of hedge-fund firms are launching “long-only” funds betting that at least some stocks have further to climb. The moves come amid a brutal stretch for short bets against companies, traditionally a key strategy for hedge funds. Read more of this post

Flurry of Stock, Bond Issuance Is a Danger Sign for Markets

Nov 10, 2013

Flurry of Stock, Bond Issuance Is a Danger Sign for Markets

E.S. BROWNING

Just as financial markets were recovering from the Washington turmoil, a new danger signal has started blinking, in the form of a flood of stock and bond issues. Many people see no problem. They find the new-issue action exciting, as the hoopla over last week’s $2.1 billion offering by Twitter Inc.TWTR -7.24% showed. The process fuels entrepreneurship and securities issues are mother’s milk for brokerage firms, generating enormous profits. Read more of this post

Signs Multiply That Sentiment Is Too Upbeat; Surveys of Retail Investors, Advisers, Point to Froth

Signs Multiply That Sentiment Is Too Upbeat

Surveys of Retail Investors, Advisers, Point to Froth

SPENCER JAKAB

Nov. 10, 2013 5:44 p.m. ET

For those worried that irrational exuberance is back, Twitter Inc. TWTR -7.24% ‘s hyped initial public offering provides yet another bit of anecdotal evidence. More quantifiable measures of investors’ mood going into the end of 2013 may support that view, too. A particularly worrisome one is the Investors Intelligence gauge of adviser sentiment. Its last reading showed that 55.2% of respondents were bullish and just 15.6% bearish, tying the highest difference between the two this year. The last time the gap was bigger was April 8, 2011, which preceded the sharpest stock-market correction of the current bull market. Read more of this post

Big Law Mergers Turn Off Clients; Amid a Wave of Megamergers, Legal Experts Say Expertise—Not Size—Matters Most

Big Law Mergers Turn Off Clients

Amid a Wave of Megamergers, Legal Experts Say Expertise—Not Size—Matters Most

JENNIFER SMITH

Updated Nov. 10, 2013 7:42 p.m. ET

When it comes to law firms, bigger may not always be better. A wave of legal tie-ups has created a fleet of supersize law firms with offices around the world, and more are in the works this fall. Partners at cross-border entity Dentons and U.S. firm McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP, for example, are poised to vote on a union that would produce one of the top three global law firms by head count. Recent merger talks between two big U.S. firms—Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP and Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP—could lead to the creation of another big player. But law firms with the urge to merge might check with their clients first. Read more of this post

GM Labels Lose, But So Does Big Food

GM Labels Lose, But So Does Big Food

For the second time, blue-state voters have defeated a ballot initiative to require labeling of genetically modified foods. In 2012, it was California; this week, it was Washington, where a labeling referendum lost 55 percent to 45 percent. Advocates of labeling may as well suspend similar efforts in other states, because it’s clear that, when it comes to persuading voters, they’re no match for Big Food. In Washington, the Grocery Manufacturers Association, Monsanto Co., DuPont Co. and others raised $22 million to fight the measure, almost triple the $8.4 million collected by Whole Foods Markets Inc., Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap, the Center for Food Safety and other advocates of labeling. In California, the food industry similarly outspent its opposition $46 million to $9 million. Read more of this post