Household debt looms large in Korea

Household debt looms large

As U.S. economy shows strength, Korea braces for start of Fed tapering

BY LEE HO-JEONG, LEE EUN-JOO [ojlee82@joongang.co.kr]

Nov 15,2013

While the world monitors when the U.S. Fed might start winding down its stimulus program, concerns are rising over the impact it will have on a Korean economy with massive household debt. Tom Byrne, senior vice president of Moody’s Investors Service, told reporters in Seoul yesterday that he expects economic growth to accelerate. Read more of this post

Foreign food chains target breakfast market in Korea

2013-11-14 17:28

Foreign food chains target breakfast market

By Park Ji-won

While rice has long been the most popular breakfast food in Korean culture, bread is mounting a challenge for that title as more and more people avail themselves to convenient western food, especially on busy mornings. “I usually eat sandwiches in a coffee shop or from the morning menu in franchise hamburger chains because they are quick and easy,” Kim Jong-hoon, 31, an office worker for a major food company, said. The entire landscape of morning meals in Korea has begun to change. Foreign food companies are jumping into the breakfast market, even threatening market-leader McDonald’s. Read more of this post

Abenomics Payday Still Awaits; Spending Worries Weigh on Japan’s Rebound; Abe’s Stimulus Program Has Lifted the Nation’s Economy, but Companies Are Reluctant to Raise Wages

Abenomics Payday Still Awaits

AARON BACK

Nov. 14, 2013 3:48 a.m. ET

Abenomics is at risk of stalling out unless workers start seeing fatter paychecks. So far, it doesn’t look good. The importance of household incomes was highlighted by Japan’s third-quarter gross domestic product growth, which slowed to an annualized rate of 1.9%, compared with 3.8% in the previous quarter. One key weakness: Household consumption rose just 0.1% from the previous quarter. Despite general euphoria around Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s economic plan, regular folks aren’t seeing it in their pay, which, after all, is the ultimate gauge of whether Abenomics will be seen as a success by most Japanese. Read more of this post

Rice Plan Signals End of Era as New World Farmers Beat Old Japan

Rice Plan Signals End of Era as New World Farmers Beat Old Japan

The patchwork of tiny rice paddies that have decorated the terraced hillsides and alluvial plains of Japan for centuries is under threat as the government presses aging farmers to consolidate holdings or switch crops. The gentan system, which has paid landowners to reduce crops for more than four decades, should be dismantled by 2018, the agriculture ministry said in a proposal to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling party this month. The ministry also said it plans to create land banks in every prefecture to connect small holdings into larger tracts. Read more of this post

Returning to Japan, hedge funds bet this time is different

Returning to Japan, hedge funds bet this time is different

Thu, Nov 14 2013

By Tommy Wilkes and Nishant Kumar

LONDON/HONG KONG (Reuters) – Japan, a frustration for the world’s sharpest hedge fund minds for more than a decade, is proving one of the industry’s biggest winners this year. Big names from New York to London have made billions betting that “Abenomics” – the monetary stimulus program launched under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe – would send the yen sliding and stocks surging. Read more of this post

It’s the first arrow of Abenomics that matters; What is really radical is the bold gamble to rid Japan of 15 years of deflation

November 13, 2013 5:26 pm

It’s the first arrow of Abenomics that matters

By David Pilling

What is really radical is the bold gamble to rid Japan of 15 years of deflation

Ayear after Shinzo Abe gave notice of his plan to restore Japan to economic vigour, the prime minister’s first arrow of massive monetary expansion is flying as swiftly as anyone could have dreamt. The yen is sharply down, the stock market up and consumer price inflation is edging towards 1 per cent, though there are doubts about how long the inflationary flame will flicker. In the first six months of this year the economy grew at an impressively fast annualised rate of 4 per cent. No one has seen anything like it in years.

Read more of this post

Ratan Tata critical of India’s domestic investment policy

November 14, 2013 6:59 am

Ratan Tata critical of India’s domestic investment policy

By Victor Mallet in New Delhi

One of India’s best-known industrialists has criticised the obstacles facing investors in India in a rare public comment on the country’s policy shortcomings. Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of the Tata Group and elder statesman of Indian business, made the televised criticism in a remark to David Cameron, UK prime minister, about the group’s substantial investments in Britain. Read more of this post

Hong Kong’s Economy Is In The Calm Before The Storm

Hong Kong’s Economy Is In The Calm Before The Storm

THE ECONOMIST NOV. 14, 2013, 4:01 PM 1,768 3

Like a cartoon character whose legs continue to pump even after he has run off a cliff, Hong Kong’s house prices have remained buoyant even as purchasing activity in the real-estate sector has crashed to levels not seen since the slump at the start of the millennium. The situation cannot continue indefinitely: sooner or later prices will follow sales down. Property prices more than doubled in Hong Kong between end-2008 and end-2012. Policymakers have taken several steps to try to cool the market, including tightening restrictions on mortgage loan/value ratios and increasing stamp duty in late 2012 and early 2013. However, according to the Hong Kong Rating and Valuation Department (RVD), property prices in September 2013 were still 7.8% higher than in December 2012. Read more of this post

Bull Market in Art Spurs Hunt for Big Returns, Records

Bull Market in Art Spurs Hunt for Big Returns, Records

When an egg-shaped, punctured canvas fetched $20.9 million on Tuesday at Christie’s, it set a record for Lucio Fontana and demonstrated the allure of selling art in a bull market. “Concetto Spaziale, La Fine di Dio” had changed hands for $1.3 million a decade earlier at Sotheby’s (BID) in London. That’s a 32 percent annualized return, better than all but 13 companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index over the same period. Read more of this post

The era of the textbook cartel and $300 textbooks is ending

Friday, November 15, 2013

The era of the textbook cartel and $300 textbooks is ending

Mark J. Perry | November 12, 2013, 4:26 pm

I’ve written before about the unsustainable college textbook bubble, which is illustrated in the chart above. Between January 1998 and September 2013, the CPI for college textbooks has increased by more than 144%, compared to an increase of only 44.4% for the CPI for all items, and an increase of only 0.6% for the CPI for recreational books. In real terms, the cost of college textbooks has increased by more than 69% over the last 15 years, while at the same time the real cost of recreational books has fallen by more than 30%. The reason that the college textbook bubble is on an unsustainable price trajectory and is already starting to show some initial signs of deflating is because of the increasing amount of competition for the college textbook market. For example, here are some alternatives to the best-selling Principles of Microeconomics by Greg Mankiw, which has a list price of $306. Read more of this post

Swiss Bank Decline Makes Way for Italy Mozzarella Makers

Swiss Bank Decline Makes Way for Italy Mozzarella Makers

After eating at 40 restaurants in Ticino in a quest to gauge the quality of mozzarella, Andrea Lamberti’s verdict was clear: it was bad. So he left his native Italy and set up a cheese-making business in the Swiss canton. “When I visited Switzerland for the first time, I immediately knew I’d move here if I ever wanted to start my own company,” said Lamberti, 44, co-founder of Caseificio Oro Bianco Sagl, which produces and imports five kinds of mozzarella cheese in the Italian-speaking region. “In Italy, businesses don’t have the chance to develop. The state destroys companies,” Lamberti, who set up shop in Chiasso in September, said in a phone interview. Read more of this post

Should CEO Pay Be Capped? A Vote May Make It So; Swiss Proposal Aims to Rein In Executive Compensation

Should CEO Pay Be Capped? A Vote May Make It So

Swiss Proposal Aims to Rein In Executive Compensation

NEIL MACLUCAS

Nov. 14, 2013 6:38 p.m. ET

ZURICH—Switzerland will vote next week on a proposal limiting executive pay to 12 times that of a company’s lowest paid worker, the second time this year the country will use the ballot box in an attempt to rein in corporate compensation. On Nov. 24, voters will be asked to approve or reject the 1:12 Initiative for Fair Pay, which organizers say would address a growing wealth gap in Switzerland. The initiative is premised on the idea that no one in a company should earn more in a month than others earn in a year. Read more of this post

Shoppers Can’t Shake the Blues; Results From Wal-Mart, Kohl’s Reflect Stretched Paychecks

Shoppers Can’t Shake the Blues

Results From Wal-Mart, Kohl’s Reflect Stretched Paychecks

SHELLY BANJO

Updated Nov. 14, 2013 6:46 p.m. ET

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. WMT +0.23% offered little reason for holiday cheer, reporting its third straight quarter of poor sales in the U.S. and painting a gloomy picture for the economic recovery. The downbeat outlook from the world’s largest retailer was a reminder that even as U.S. stock prices climb to record heights, many Americans remain caught between high joblessness and hits to their paychecks that are limiting their ability to spend, putting a further drag on an already sluggish economy. Read more of this post

Scotiabank Warns “Yellen Has Ensured An Equity Market Crash Is Inevitable”

Scotiabank Warns “Yellen Has Ensured An Equity Market Crash Is Inevitable”

11/14/2013 19:20 -0500

Authored by Guy Haselmann of Scotiabank,

FED – Encouraging the Melt-Up Trade, While Regulating Bubbles Away    

The Fed moved ‘all-in’ in 2008/09 when it pushed rates to zero and embarked on QE. Since the Fed basically used its final chips via this action, it became trapped playing ‘this hand’ until the bitter end. The stakes are enormous and grow over time. The only way the Fed can ‘win’ is – as Yellen said today – “to do everything possible to promote a very strong recovery”. Tapering too soon could be calamitous toward this objective. Yet, the longer it continues, the more the risks aggregate.  However, Yellen seemed to calmly indicate today that any unintended consequences or dangers to financial stability are worth the risk. Read more of this post

Prices Start at $80 Million; London Now Has More Homes on the Real-Estate Market Listed for £50 Million or More, Topping All Previous Price Records

Prices Start at $80 Million

London Now Has More Homes on the Real-Estate Market Listed for £50 Million or More, Topping All Previous Price Records

RUTH BLOOMFIELD

Nov. 14, 2013 6:49 p.m. ET

London is making history once again, this time in the realm of real estate: The capital now has more homes on the market listed for £50 million or more than at any other time on record, according to one new study. That’s $80 million for those across the pond. Read more of this post

NY Fed Compares The Current Reach-For-Yield To South Sea Bubble Of 1720

NY Fed Compares The Current Reach-For-Yield To South Sea Bubble Of 1720

Tyler Durden on 11/13/2013 20:08 -0500

When a tin-foil-hat-wearing digital dickweed points to record volumes of cov-lite loans, insatiable demand for Ugandan bonds, and the disconcerting disconnect between record-high median leverage and almost-record-low credit spreads, the mainstream can scoff at their obsessions… but when the NY Fed – once again – highlights the potential froth in credit markets and compares it to the South Sea Bubble of 1720… maybe it’s time to get the hint… Read more of this post

More Americans ditch their passports; Even some boldface names — Tina Turner! — are leaving Uncle Sam behind

More Americans ditch their passports

November 14, 2013: 10:49 AM ET

Even some boldface names — Tina Turner! — are leaving Uncle Sam behind.

By Lynnley Browning

FORTUNE — Time to dump your American passport — and with it, presumably, your bothersome U.S. tax bill. The reason, international tax lawyers say, may have less to do with offshore tax evasion and more with a new generation of sophisticated — and legal — tax planning. Read more of this post

Israel may be start-up nation, but it’s low-tech government

Israel may be start-up nation, but it’s low-tech government

Most of Israel’s services – particularly from the public sector – are far from innovative.

By Orr Hirschauge | Nov. 15, 2013 | 5:19 AM

The year 2013 is on track to set records for Israeli high-tech exits. Some of the more prominent companies sold this year include Waze, Trusteer and Intucell, alongside smaller companies such as Wix. The trend created a feeling of euphoria, fueling the local stock market and driving the total investment in Israeli high-tech to a high in the third quarter not seen since the dot-com days. It would seem that startup nation has never been better off.

Read more of this post

Holding on for tomorrow: How economic uncertainty dulls investment

Holding on for tomorrow: How economic uncertainty dulls investment

Nov 16th 2013 |From the print edition

IT TAKES a cool head to invest. A firm’s decision to build up capacity or spend cash on research pays out tomorrow but must be paid for today. That makes investment returns uncertain, influenced by factors—from oil prices to politics—that firms cannot control. With rich-world investment rates looking anaemic, many wonder why big firms are hoarding cash rather than putting the money to work. According to new research, doubts about the future, some of them self-inflicted, are a likely cause. Read more of this post

Heinz’s plant closure ‘guts’ Ontario’s tomato capital; After 104 years of operation, Heinz says it’s closing its Leamington, Ont. plant, leaving 740 people out of work and dealing a devastating blow to the community

Heinz to close Ontario plant, leaving 740 out of work

Armina Ligaya | 14/11/13 | Last Updated: 14/11/13 7:28 PM ET
If it wasn’t for a simple condiment, the quaint town of Leamington, Ont., situated near the southernmost tip of Canada along the shores of Lake Erie, likely wouldn’t exist. After ketchup-maker H.J. Heinz chose the Ontario location as its first site for expansion outside the U.S. for its burgeoning food empire in 1909, the community slowly grew around it. The factory thrived, even inspired a Stompin’ Tom Connors song. Read more of this post