Dongbu and Hanjin groups will be under tighter scrutiny from financial authorities as the two conglomerates show possibilities of financial troubles

2013-11-11 16:10

Dongbu, Hanjin on watch list

Regulator detects signs of financial distress at firms
By Kim Rahn
Dongbu and Hanjin groups will be under tighter scrutiny from financial authorities as the two conglomerates show possibilities of financial troubles, officials said Monday. Although the groups have struggled to solve liquidity shortages, the authorities plan to spur them on in joint efforts with creditor banks. According to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) Monday, Dongbu and Hanjin agreed with their creditor banks this year to improve their financial structure. Read more of this post

Cash-strapped Korean local gov’ts seek to offload property

Cash-strapped local gov’ts seek to offload property

Cho Han-phil, Ji Hong-gu, Woo Sung-duk

2013.11.11 18:07:18

South Korea’s local authorities in financial woes have decided to put their property holdings up for sale. The move seems inevitable for local governments grappling with tax revenue shortfall and difficulties in raising capital for next year’s budget. Local governments plan to sell their property worth a total of around 1.3 trillion won ($1.2 billion, an estimate), according to the Maeil Business Newspaper’s analysis on the 2014 budget plans of city and province municipalities Monday.  Read more of this post

Cookers, chips and consoles: high-tech Japan’s odd parts

Last updated: November 10, 2013 1:30 pm

Cookers, chips and consoles: high-tech Japan’s odd parts

By Jennifer Thompson in Tokyo

Nostalgic portfolios highlight reluctance to restructure

Decades before the PlayStation and the Walkman saw the light of day, engineers at Sony flirted with the mundane rather than the high-tech. A primitive wooden rice cooker and electrically heated cushions were among the roll of household products manufactured by the Japanese electronics maker. Rivals such as Panasonic, Toshiba, Hitachi and Sharpfollowed suit, regarding their ability to offer a broad range of products and components as a source of strength. Read more of this post

U.S. popcorn makers could face long, expensive road to lose trans fats

U.S. popcorn makers could face long, expensive road to lose trans fats

Fri, Nov 8 2013

By Curtis Skinner

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Microwave popcorn makers could face a long and difficult task ridding their snacks of trans fats, if a U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposal to ban the additives goes into effect. Just ask Orville Redenbacher. Redenbacher’s, a division of ConAgra Foods Inc, spent six years changing its leading line of popcorn, company scientists said on Friday, a day after the FDA made its proposal, which the government said would save 7,000 lives a year. Read more of this post

Japanese companies see Taiwan as bridge to China

November 10, 2013 6:30 pm

Japanese companies see Taiwan as bridge to China

By Sarah Mishkin in Taipei

When Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten decided to expand overseas, it looked first to Taiwan, whose close ties with Tokyo have long made it attractive to Japanese companies eager to escape slow growth at home. “You know how bad the economy has been in Japan – it has only recovered recently,” said Ejiri Yuichi, Rakuten Taiwan’s chief executive, of an economy that has been struggling to restart inflation after years of overall meagre growth. With real wages largely flat, “especially in the service industry, it has indeed been a difficult time”, he said. Read more of this post

Full and timely disclosures important for capital market

Updated: Monday November 11, 2013 MYT 10:40:38 AM

Full and timely disclosures important for capital market

BY RISEN JAYASEELAN

FULL and timely disclosures are the essence of a well-functioning capital market. Without such accurate information, investors will be disadvantaged. The recent case of Ranhill Energy and Resources Bhd indicates that the authorities take this seriously and rightly so. The fine imposed by the Securities Commission (SC) on Ranhill, the company, and its head honcho Tan Sri Hamdan Mohamad, is referred. Read more of this post

Why central bankers’ composure is pure theatre

Why central bankers’ composure is pure theatre

Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and Bank of England know extricating from stimulus policies is fraught with danger

Central bankers like to project a sense of serenity. The markets may be traumatised and the politicians may be panicking, but nothing fazes the technocrats in charge of our money. They are headmasterly figures: slightly detached but with their fingers on the pulse. That’s the image. In reality, the central bankers are in a funk about the health of their nations’ economies and the challenge of extricating their institutions from the stimulus policies that have been responsible for what has, so far, been a tepid global recovery. Read more of this post

Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater On The Fed’s Dilemma: “We’re Worried That There’s No Gas Left In The QE Tank”

Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater On The Fed’s Dilemma: “We’re Worried That There’s No Gas Left In The QE Tank”

Tyler Durden on 11/10/2013 18:21 -0500

“The Fed’s real dilemma is that its policy is creating a financial market bubble that is large relative to the pickup in the economy that it is producing,” Bridgewater notes as the relationship between US equity markets and the Fed’s balance sheet (here and here for example) and “disconcerting disconnects” (here and here) indicate how the Fed is “trapped.” However, as the incoming Yellen faces up to her ‘tough’ decisions to taper or not, Ray Dalio’s team is concerned about something else – “we’re not worried about whether the Fed is going to hit or release the gas pedal, we’re worried about whether there’s much gas left in the tank and what will happen if there isn’t.” Read more of this post

Canada’s housing market teeters precariously; Analysts warn nation is on verge of ‘prolonged correction’

November 10, 2013 8:37 pm

Canada’s housing market teeters precariously

By Anjli Raval in New York

Robert MacFarlane, a long-time crane operator, surveys his empire from the top of one of Toronto’s flashy new apartment buildings. “I can see more than 50 tower cranes,” said Mr MacFarlane, whose bird’s-eye photography from the country’s tallest crane has gained him online notoriety as interest in Toronto’s property sector escalates. These cranes – which can offer clues to bubble-like conditions – emerged in response to lofty demand for condominiums from investors and homebuyers taking advantage of Canada’s ultra-low interest rates. Read more of this post

Cadillac Needs About A Decade To Become A Top Global Luxury Brand

Cadillac Needs About A Decade To Become A Top Global Luxury Brand

BEN KLAYMAN, REUTERS 43 MINUTES AGO 278

DETROIT (Reuters) – General Motors Co’s <GM.N> new Cadillac marketing chief believes it could take as long as a decade to build its reputation as a global luxury brand. Uwe Ellinghaus, a former marketing executive with German luxury automaker BMW AG <BMWG.DE>, will assume his duties on January 1, but was introduced this week as the person responsible for shaping Cadillac’s image around the world. Read more of this post

Commodities: Destination Africa; Trading houses are looking at the vast potential that lies in meeting the continent’s surging consumer demand

November 10, 2013 2:49 pm

Commodities: Destination Africa

By Javier Blas in Lagos, Nigeria

Trading houses are looking at the vast potential that lies in meeting the continent’s surging consumer demand

At the food processing plant he runs in Lagos, Mukul Mathur describes the thousands of miles that his tomatoes travel. At first, their odyssey betweenNigeria and California appears unremarkable in an age of globalisation. Mr Mathur would seem to be just another trader buying raw materials in Africa and selling them to distant, wealthier markets. But he actually runs a supply chain at odds with old, colonial-era trade routes. Read more of this post

As Plenum Starts, an Economist Sees Crisis Ahead; Wu Jinglian argues that predatory officials and rent-seeking bureaucracies will suffocate essential innovation and productivity improvements

NOVEMBER 8, 2013, 12:54 AM

As Plenum Starts, an Economist Sees Crisis Ahead

By CHRIS BUCKLEY

The Chinese state news media has hailed a Communist Party conference on reinvigorating the economy as a triumph even before it opens Saturday. But beforehand, one of the country’s most prominent economists has delivered a warning: China faces a crisis unless big economic changes are accompanied by a political overhaul. Wu Jinglian is one of China’s best-known liberal economists and at 83 has the demeanor of a wizened professor. Yet he is also a policy insider whose books and speeches are widely read in China. Read more of this post

Portrait of Deng as Reformer in 1978 Plenum Ignores History

NOVEMBER 9, 2013, 3:44 AM

Portrait of Deng as Reformer in 1978 Plenum Ignores History

By CHRIS BUCKLEY

China’s Communist Party leader, Xi Jinping, wants the late Deng Xiaoping’s magic. Mr. Xi will lay out proposals for economic rejuvenation at a leadership conference that started Saturday, and state-run media have likened the event to a historic meeting in 1978 when, they say, Mr. Deng began an era of market “reform and opening up.” But anyone looking for inspiration and instruction from Mr. Deng should beware: the conventional account of the 1978 meeting is a compound of selective memories, and a deceptive guide to how China’s steps to economic transformation really happened. Read more of this post

No Quick Fixes for China’s Overwhelmed Organ Transplant System

NOVEMBER 10, 2013, 7:15 PM

No Quick Fixes for China’s Overwhelmed Organ Transplant System

By AUSTIN RAMZY

Suffering from bile duct cancer and with no family to support him and little money for treatment, Xu Bao, 35, vowed that if he suffered an early death he would give something back to society. He decided that he would donate his corneas to fellow Chinese waiting for transplants. It was a remarkable gesture in a country where organ donations are rare, and executed prisoners have been the main source of transplant organs. Local news media in Hefei, the city where Mr. Xu was being treated, gathered at his hospital bedside in April to report as he signed documents declaring his intentions. Representatives from two organizations, the Red Cross Society of China office in Mr. Xu’s home province of Anhui and the Aier Ophthalmology Hospital, came to finalize the arrangements. Read more of this post

Reform, Ahoy? A Newspaper Heralds New Horizons for the Chinese Ship of State

NOVEMBER 8, 2013, 4:29 AM

Reform, Ahoy? A Newspaper Heralds New Horizons for the Chinese Ship of State

By DIDI KIRSTEN TATLOW

A leading Beijing newspaper has published a hefty, 96-page report titled “Reform: Setting Off Again” the day before hundreds of China’s Communist leaders were to begin a four-day meeting to discuss the country’s future. In an image freighted with symbolism, the cover of the supplement in The Beijing News on Friday showed a fully-rigged tall ship in choppy waters sailing straight into the future. To its left are rocks, threateningly close. The only way it can safely turn is right, or it could put distance between itself and the rocks by forging ahead, a set of choices that left some wondering if this was a political message. The Beijing News didn’t return calls seeking an interview with the artist or comment from the newspaper. Read more of this post

Iskandar’s property investment appeal ‘likely to decline’

Iskandar’s property investment appeal ‘likely to decline’

SINGAPORE — The clock is ticking for Singaporeans who want to buy a mass-market home in the booming Iskandar region, as foreigners will only be able to buy properties in Malaysia priced above RM1 million (S$390,000) from next year.

BY LEE YEN NEE –

4 HOURS 25 MIN AGO

SINGAPORE — The clock is ticking for Singaporeans who want to buy a mass-market home in the booming Iskandar region, as foreigners will only be able to buy properties in Malaysia priced above RM1 million (S$390,000) from next year. At that threshold, Singaporeans will not be able to buy the sort of property that they have been snapping up in droves. As a result, the region’s position as a top investment destination may take a hit, said analysts. Read more of this post

The Singapore Exchange (SGX) is mulling new rules on penny stocks after last month’s meltdown in these counters caused huge losses to some investors

SGX looking at new penny stock rules

Monday, November 11, 2013 – 06:00

Anita Gabriel

The Straits Times

SINGAPORE – The Singapore Exchange (SGX) is mulling new rules on penny stocks after last month’s meltdown in these counters caused huge losses to some investors. SGX chief executive Magnus Bocker acknowledged that the saga, which wiped out billions of dollars in market value, has harmed the bourse’s reputation. “Is it reasonable to trade stocks that are denominated in a few cents? I don’t think so. Some markets in the world have rules on how low the price of a stock can be,” he told The Straits Times on Wednesday. Read more of this post

Dengue dread spreads to Singapore’s Orchard Road’s offices, homes

Dengue dread spreads to Orchard’s offices, homes

Monday, November 11, 2013 – 08:37

My Paper

SINGAPORE – The Orchard Road lights are up and ready to usher in the Christmas festivities. But an unwelcome visitor is threatening to spoil the party. The number of dengue cases in the Orchard Cluster continues to climb, hitting 82 on Friday. What’s more, the threat no longer seems limited to the Orchard Gateway construction site, as an increasing number of individuals working and living in the area have started falling prey to the mosquito menace. Read more of this post

Biting the hand that feeds: India’s small towns favor opposition

Biting the hand that feeds: India’s small towns favor opposition

4:07pm EST

By Krishna N Das and Shyamantha Asokan

KASBA BONLI, India (Reuters) – Kasba Bonli is a newly prosperous market town in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan and it should be a perfect advertisement for the ruling Congress party’s pro-farmer policies. Instead the buzz in the bazaar is for the opposition. In just a few years, handouts for farmers by Congress have helped turn the once-deprived village into a thriving retail centre, selling everything from glittery bangles to satellite dishes. Read more of this post

Hong Kong Luxury Property Prices Choked by Tightening

Hong Kong Luxury Property Prices Choked by Tightening

Hong Kong businessman Raymond Chiu says he has perfect credit and is prepared to spend about HK$16 million ($2 million) on a 1,000-square-foot apartment in the city’s Mid-Levels residential area. There’s just one catch. The government requires a 50 percent down payment. That’s “really putting us off,” said Chiu, 45, who owns an information technology consulting company. “I run a business so cash flow is important. It’s frustrating because this is non-negotiable, though I have perfect credit history.” Read more of this post