From Drugs to Insider Trading, Yakuza Gangsters Branch Out

From Drugs to Insider Trading, Yakuza Gangsters Branch Out

By Hiroshi Hiyama on 5:44 pm December 1, 2013.

Tokyo. Japanese mobsters driving flash cars purchased with bank loans. Executives bowing in apology for loaning millions to those underworld figures. And high-level officials vowing to squash the crime syndicates, known as yakuza. Japan Inc. is engulfed in its worst mob scandal in years and it’s shining a rare light on the links between big business and shadowy organized crime groups usually known for lowbrow ventures like extortion and loan sharking. Read more of this post

india has decided not to go ahead with a proposal that sought to prevent foreigners from owning a majority stake in domestic makers of “rare and critical” drugs

India Backs Off on Restricting Foreign Pharmaceutical Investment

Commerce Minister Says Not Going Ahead With Proposal

RAJESH ROY And KENAN MACHADO

Updated Nov. 29, 2013 10:42 a.m. ET

NEW DELHI–India has decided not to go ahead with a proposal that sought to prevent foreigners from owning a majority stake in domestic makers of “rare and critical” drugs, the commerce minister said Friday. A government agency had proposed to ensure the supply of cheap generic drugs locally by limiting the percentage of ownership that a foreign investor could hold. Read more of this post

Bajaj Fin may rejig management to abide by RBI’s banking norms; Currently Bajaj Group is the only NBFC that has shown interest in converting into a bank, which has a sizeable auto business

Bajaj Fin may rejig mgmt to abide by RBI’s banking norms

Just a day after the Tatas opted out of the race for a banking licence, its Pune-based rival business family Bajaj reiterated its commitment and intent on converting from a non-banking financial company into a full-fledged bank. In an exclusive interview with CNBC-TV18, Rajiv Bajaj, director, Bajaj Auto said its finance arm – Bajaj Finance– may undertake an organisational restructuring to ensure that there is no ‘conflict of interest’. Bajaj said that the firm was in a dilemma since currently the auto division of the finance company finances 30 percent of Bajaj Auto’s total domestic sales. This could get impacted if the NBFC becomes a full-fledged bank raising questions of a possible ‘conflict of interest’ . Read more of this post

Oil supply: The cartel’s challenge; Shale gas and eased sanctions on Iran will test Opec’s ability to curb output and buoy prices

December 1, 2013 4:37 pm

Oil supply: The cartel’s challenge

By Ajay Makan and Neil Hume

Shale gas and eased sanctions on Iran will test Opec’s ability to curb output and buoy prices

At a private dinner early in November a group of executives from one of the world’s largest commodity traders was asked to predict the price of oil in a year’s time. Without exception the forecasts, scribbled on place cards without consultation, were for Brent crude to fall well below the $100 a barrel level it has traded above for most of the past three years. Those predictions reflect a growing consensus in the oil market. From US shale to aneasing of sanctions on Iran, the coming years are expected to provide a huge boost to global output, inverting the structure of the oil market in which supplies have long been rationed by a handful of producers. Read more of this post

That ‘Made in U.S.A.’ Premium; Retailers and manufacturers say consumers’ stated desire for clothing produced in the United States is often outweighed by a preference for the lower prices of foreign-made goods

November 30, 2013

That ‘Made in U.S.A.’ Premium

By STEPHANIE CLIFFORD

The designer Nanette Lepore is a cheerleader for New York City’s garment district. Most of her contemporary women’s clothing line, which sells at stores like Saks Fifth Avenue and Bloomingdale’s, is made locally. Her company occupies six floors in a building on West 35th Street and uses, among other businesses, six nearby sewing factories, a cutting room and even a maker of fabric flowers in the neighborhood. She organizes “Save the Fashion District” rallies, writes about the danger of losing local production and lobbies lawmakers in Washington to support the American fashion industry.  Read more of this post

Testing times for China: Homemakers are turning into ‘scientists’ as companies cash in on the food safety crisis

Updated: Friday November 29, 2013 MYT 9:24:52 AM

Testing times for China

BY THO XIN YI

Homemakers are turning into ‘scientists’ as companies cash in on the food safety crisis.

CHARACTERS in Chinese martial arts fiction use silver needles to test the dishes served to them when they are afraid of being poisoned. It is said that the needles will turn black if the food has been tainted. In real life, there are consumers in China who rely on test kits to ensure that the food products they consume are safe. Their paranoia is fuelled by the food safety problems that have emerged, including fake meat, tainted milk or “gutter oil”, which refers to reproduced waste oil collected from the drains, oil refined from low-quality pork or overused oil. Read more of this post

Pure speculation: Where will China’s ‘mother investor’ trend lead?

Pure speculation: Where will China’s ‘mother investor’ trend lead?

Staff Reporter

2013-12-01

Chinese housewives with disposable incomes have been nicknamed “mother investors” by the investment sector for their boldness and high-stake speculating, such as their frantic buying of gold bullion and jewelry earlier this year amid low gold prices, which scared off Wall Street profiteers. Now, the mothers are having a good look at the virtual currency bitcoin as their next target, the Chinese-language Securities Daily reports. Read more of this post

Over half of China’s new bitcoin traders are women

Over half of China’s new bitcoin traders are women

Staff Reporter

2013-11-30

The number of bitcoin traders in China increased dramatically in November as the virtual currency’s va ue rose to US$1,100. More than half of the new traders are women, according to Chinese bitcoin trading platform Huobi and the Beijing Morning Post. Huobi CEO Li Lin said the makeup of Chinese bitcoin traders changed a great deal in November. In the past most were people working at the IT or financial sectors, while newcomers over the past month have been from every walk of life and over half of them female. Read more of this post

China’s crackdown on luxury gifts raises industry fears

November 29, 2013 5:27 pm

China’s crackdown on luxury gifts raises industry fears

By Adam Thomson in Paris

For the past few years, as financial chaos tore through the US and a sovereign debt crisis crushed growth in Europe, the world’s luxury goods groups have done the best business in at least a decade. The reason? China. Between 2010 and last year, brands from the comparatively small and exclusive Hermès to the bling of Louis Vuitton have seen the mix of China’s emerging wealth and its population’s love of all things luxury fatten an entire industry – during the leanest times almost anyone can remember. Read more of this post

Editorial: Asean Can’t Afford To Let AEC Fall Flat

Editorial: Asean Can’t Afford To Let AEC Fall Flat

By Jakarta Globe on 4:46 pm November 30, 2013.
The 21st century has been described as the Pacific Century as the economic center of gravity shifts east. The rise of China coupled with the strong growth of India and the nations that form the Association of Southeast Asian Nations has generated a great deal of optimism. Asean is a central clog in this new landscape. A market of 500 million consumers, it is seen as an important region, both in terms of geopolitics as well as economics. The region is rich in natural resources, has a large manufacturing base and straddles major sea lanes. Read more of this post

Thai Protesters Plan to Oust Yingluck as Two Die in Bangkok

Thai Protesters Plan to Oust Yingluck as Two Die in Bangkok

Anti-government protesters are set to step up their drive to oust Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra today after violence overnight left at least two people dead and the central bank warned that the unrest is hurting the economy. Two people were killed and 45 were injured in clashes between pro- and anti-government supporters near Ramkhamhaeng University, Amnaj Anartngam, assistant police commander, said in a televised briefing today. Demonstrators in Bangkok plan today to seize the prime minister’s office, police headquarters and other government offices including the foreign and commerce ministries, according to anti-government protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban, who’s seeking to paralyze the administration. Read more of this post

China’s anti-monopoly probe may be positive for MediaTek: analyst

China’s anti-monopoly probe may be positive for MediaTek: analyst

CNA
December 2, 2013, 12:01 am TWN

TAIPEI — Taiwanese chip designer MediaTek Inc., which supplies chips mostly to Chinese phone makers, might benefit from a recent anti-monopoly probe in China into its rival, Qualcomm Inc., according to a foreign brokerage analyst. Qualcomm, the world’s largest maker of chips for smartphones, disclosed Nov. 25 that China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) had opened an investigation into the company related to China’s Anti-Monopoly Law. Read more of this post

Based on history, investors should now be looking for cheap stocks whose issuers’ fortunes could revive.Why GM, Safeway, Hewlett-Packard, Owens Illinois, and others fit the bill

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2013

Time to Muscle Up With Turnarounds

By JACK HOUGH | MORE ARTICLES BY AUTHOR

Based on history, investors should now be looking for cheap stocks whose issuers’ fortunes could revive.Why GM, Safeway, Hewlett-Packard, Owens Illinois, and others fit the bill.

History suggests that it’s an excellent time to shop for turnaround stocks. When an underachieving company cuts costs, pays down debt, wins new customers, or finds other ways to drive profits higher, the result is often a rapid rise in its share price. And such companies tend to lead the market when bond yields rise. That looks likely to happen soon, with the Federal Reserve preparing to scale back massive bond purchases that have held yields down. Turnaround stocks to consider include Delta Air Lines (ticker: DAL),General Motors (GM), Pitney Bowes (PBI), Safeway (SWY), Hewlett-Packard(HPQ), and Owens-Illinois (OI). Read more of this post

The complex market of property: Not many people know that the biggest property players in Malaysia started off doing something else

Updated: Saturday November 30, 2013 MYT 11:57:08 AM

The complex market of property

BY RISEN JAYASEELAN, YVONNE TAN, AND NG BEI SHAN

Jumping on the property bandwagon

NOT many people know that the biggest property players in the country started off doing something else. A good example is Mah Sing Group Bhd, the second largest property company in terms of sales, which began as a plastic manufacturer. And S P Setia Bhd’s roots are in the construction industry. Then there was the wave of plantation companies capitalising on their land bank to become property developers. IOI Corp Bhd comes to mind. Read more of this post

One for all, all for one: Malaysia is what it is today because of the contributions of all races

Updated: Sunday December 1, 2013 MYT 8:53:59 AM

One for all, all for one

BY WONG CHUN WAI

Malaysia is what it is today because of the contributions of all races.

IT’S a mammoth task, really. Six months after the general election, the National Unity Consultative Council has finally been formed. The council has been given six months to organise programmes that transcend race and religion aimed at bringing the nation together. As the Prime Minister himself cautioned during the launch of the council last week, Malaysia is a “complex country”. Read more of this post

Two Bubble Hunters Size Up the World: Jeffrey Gundlach and Robert Shiller see opportunities in stocks and bonds—and massive housing inflation in Norway

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2013

Shiller and Gundlach Size Up the World

By LAWRENCE C. STRAUSS | MORE ARTICLES BY AUTHOR

Jeffrey Gundlach and Robert Shiller see opportunities in stocks and bonds—and massive housing inflation in Norway.

At first glance, Robert Shiller and Jeffrey Gundlach make an odd pair. Shiller, recently awarded the Nobel Prize in economics for his “empirical analysis of asset prices,” is soft-spoken and has the professorial demeanor befitting a Yale academic. Indexes bearing his name for stock valuations and home prices have become part of the nation’s financial lexicon. Gundlach is a brash, sometimes bombastic bond titan. He is CEO of DoubleLine Capital, a Los Angeles asset manager with $53 billion in assets, mostly in fixed income. But the two have plenty in common. Gundlach, for instance, did doctoral work in mathematics at Yale and, like Shiller, has a good eye for bubbles; he spotted trouble in the housing market before it collapsed in 2008. Now, Gundlach and Shiller have launched the DoubleLine Shiller Enhanced CAPE fund (ticker: DSEEX), which Gundlach will manage. The fund is tied to a Shiller innovation—the CAPE, or cyclically adjusted price-earnings ratio. That’s stock prices divided by their average earnings over the past 10 years, adjusted for inflation; the fund gravitates to low-CAPE sectors. We recently sat down with the pair to discuss stocks, bonds, and a monstrous housing bubble—this time in Norway. Read more of this post

Nobel Prize economist warns of US stock market bubble

Nobel Prize economist warns of US stock market bubble

Sunday, December 1, 2013 – 22:28

Reuters

BERLIN – An American who won this year’s Nobel Prize for economics believes sharp rises in equity and property prices could lead to a dangerous financial bubble and may end badly, he told a German magazine. Robert Shiller, who won the esteemed award with two other Americans for research into market prices and asset bubbles, pinpointed the US stock market and Brazilian property market as areas of concern. Read more of this post

Where Factory Apprenticeship Is Latest Model From Germany

November 30, 2013

Where Factory Apprenticeship Is Latest Model From Germany

By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ

GREER, S.C. — For Joerg Klisch, hiring the first 60 workers to build heavy engines at his company’s new factory in South Carolina was easy. Finding the next 60 was not so simple. “It seemed like we had sucked up everybody who knew about diesel engines,” said Mr. Klisch, vice president for North American operations of Tognum America. “It wasn’t working as we had planned.” Read more of this post