Central Banks Risk Asset Bubbles in Battle With Deflation Danger

Central Banks Risk Asset Bubbles in Battle With Deflation Danger

Central banks are finding it’s easier to push up stock and home prices than it is to prevent inflation from falling short of their targets. While declining costs for everything from gasoline to coffee can be good news for consumers, disinflation makes it harder for borrowers to pay off debts and businesses to boost profits. The greater danger comes when disinflation turns into deflation, which leads households to delay purchases in anticipation of even lower prices and companies to postpone investment and hiring as demand for their products dries up. Read more of this post

Philippines Paradise Demolished Drains Vital Tourist Dollars: Southeast Asia

Paradise Demolished Drains Vital Tourist Dollars: Southeast Asia

The Philippines, ravaged by the deadly Super Typhoon Haiyan and a 7.2-magnitude earthquake in the past month, needs to race to rebuild beach resorts and infrastructure to bring back much-needed tourism spending. At least 2,275 people were killed and hundreds of thousands displaced after the Southeast Asian nation was hit by one of the most powerful storms on record Nov. 8. An earthquake on Oct. 15 killed at least 222 in Bohol and Cebu. Both hit in an area dotted with resorts that depends on revenue from divers and beachgoers. Read more of this post

Understanding Japan’s GDP: A Guide for the Perplexed

November 13, 2013, 4:16 AM

Understanding Japan’s GDP: A Guide for the Perplexed

MITSURU OBE

Japan on Thursday will release preliminary data for the third quarter’s gross domestic product. Economists expect the growth rate to have slowed to 1.7% on-quarter in annualized terms in the July-September period, from 3.8% in April-June. The data will serve as a progress report on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s economic policies, and provide a key input into discussions of next year’s budget. Strong numbers would mean the economic recovery remains on track, allowing the government to slowly shift its focus from short-term economic stimulus to medium-term fiscal consolidation. A medium-term fiscal reform target and a sales tax hike to 10%, both in 2015, already loom large in policymakers’ minds. Read more of this post

Throwing-Grandma-Off-Cliff Ads Dim Odds of Medicare Cuts; “Is America Beautiful without Medicare?”

Throwing-Grandma-Off-Cliff Ads Dim Odds of Medicare Cuts

A television ad that aired briefly in August 2012 stands as a warning today for lawmakers who want to cut Social Security and Medicare. A man in a dark suit acting as Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan, then the Republican Party’s vice presidential candidate, pushes a wheelchair carrying a panicked-looking grandmother to the edge of a cliff. He dumps her over the rocky ledge. “Is America Beautiful without Medicare? Ask Paul Ryan and his friends in Congress,” the ad says. Read more of this post

Contractors squeezed as oil budgets tighten; The Thomson Reuters index of 164 global oil services companies is up some 70 percent since 2010

Contractors squeezed as oil budgets tighten

6:31am EST

By Stephen Eisenhammer

LONDON (Reuters) – Under pressure from their shareholders to spend less, international oil companies are demanding cheaper and simpler services, equipment and engineering, a red flag for contract firms which rely heavily on their needs. Contractors have cashed in on the oil boom of the last few years. The Thomson Reuters index of 164 global oil services companies is up some 70 percent since 2010. Read more of this post

Secret Israel Housing Boom Defies Settlement Discord: Mortgages

Secret Israel Housing Boom Defies Settlement Discord: Mortgages

When David and Rivka Wietchner bought a home in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Har Bracha, they swooned over the mountain view, the embracing community and the 375,000-shekel ($106,000) price of a six-room apartment. Two years later, the Israeli parents of three were even more delighted to discover their home would now sell for about 500,000 shekels, or 33 percent more. Boosted by rising demand, home prices are surging in Har Bracha, Hebrew for the Mountain of Blessing, and other remote settlements in the northern West Bank, even though they’re the most likely to be torn down in any peace deal with the Palestinians. Read more of this post