The Economic Hokum of ‘Secular Stagnation’; Blaming the market for the failure of bad government policies is no more persuasive now than it was in the 1930s

The Economic Hokum of ‘Secular Stagnation’

Blaming the market for the failure of bad government policies is no more persuasive now than it was in the 1930s.

JOHN B. TAYLOR

Jan. 1, 2014 5:03 p.m. ET

The evidence continues to mount that government policy has been to blame for the disappointing economic performance in recent years. Yet many don’t want to hear it, and they offer a series of alternative explanations including most recently the re-emergence of a chestnut, “secular stagnation.” Read more of this post

Scarred U.S. consumers a hard sell for traditional retail

Scarred U.S. consumers a hard sell for traditional retail

6:53am EST

By Steven C. Johnson

NEW YORK (Reuters) – If there was one lesson from this year’s holiday shopping season, it is that many traditional retailers are having to work a lot harder to persuade Americans to open their pocketbooks. Read more of this post

Private Equity’s Struggle to Spend It; Buyout Firms’ Biggest Challenge Next Year Could Be Finding Deals in a Crowded Market

Private Equity’s Struggle to Spend It

Buyout Firms’ Biggest Challenge Next Year Could Be Finding Deals in a Crowded Market

RENÉE SCHULTES

Dec. 31, 2013 5:59 a.m. ET

Nothing says froth like an initial public offering for a ski-jacket maker that is 31 times oversubscribed by investors. Yet the pristine conditions that greeted Italy’s MonclerMOV.MI +7.12% when it slid onto the public markets in December had already supported a record $41.3 billion in other private equity-backed IPOs in Europe this year, according to Dealogic. Read more of this post

Mexico’s Amazing Year

Mexico’s Amazing Year

Spare a thought for Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto. After engineering an ambitious reformist pact among Mexico’s three major political parties, he whirled through his first year in office rewriting laws on everything from energy to television and education to elections. Yet Mexico’s economic performance in 2013 was disappointing, and Mexico’s businesses and foreign investors aren’t exactly exuberant. It’s enough to damp a reformer’s spirits. Read more of this post

Loan Monitor Is Accused of Ruthless Tactics on Student Debt

January 1, 2014

Loan Monitor Is Accused of Ruthless Tactics on Student Debt

By NATALIE KITROEFF

Stacy Jorgensen fought her way through pancreatic cancer. But her struggle was just beginning. Before she became ill, Ms. Jorgensen took out $43,000 in student loans. As her payments piled up along with medical bills, she took the unusual step of filing for bankruptcy, requiring legal proof of “undue hardship.” Read more of this post

Latvia brings dirty money trouble to EU; Eurozone creates mixed feelings in Central Europe

Latvia brings dirty money trouble to EU

Eurozone creates mixed feelings in Central Europe

AP, AFP-JIJI

DEC 31, 2013

WARSAW/RIGA – When Latvia adopts the euro on Wednesday, it will bring with it a banking sector that is swelling with suspicious money from Russia and the East — just as the currency bloc is trying to clamp down on such havens. Read more of this post

Glasnost must be embraced by central bankers

January 1, 2014 10:47 am

Glasnost must be embraced by central bankers

By Julian Callow

With the intensification of the financial crisis in 2008, central banks cut rates sharply and rapidly ran into the zero interest rate bound, necessitating a recourse to non-conventional measures. Read more of this post

Fiat is cleverly buying out Chrysler, using Chrysler’s own money

Fiat is cleverly buying out Chrysler, using Chrysler’s own money

By Jason Karaian @jkaraian an hour ago

More than four years after it first bought a stake in Chrysler, Fiat is finally taking full control of the American automaker. The deal is valued at $4.35 billion for the 41.5% of Chrysler that Fiat does not already own. The transaction is expected to close by Jan. 20, according to Fiat (pdf). The markets clearly think Fiat boss Sergio Marchionne got a good deal—the Italian car company’s shares are soaring today: Read more of this post

Billions Vanish in Kazakh Banking Scandal

Billions Vanish in Kazakh Banking Scandal

Kazakhstan’s BTA Bank Accuses Former Chairman of Fraud

CHARLES FORELLE

Updated Jan. 1, 2014 10:38 p.m. ET

Mukhtar Ablyazov’s wife, Alma, with their daughter Madina. European Pressphoto Agency

LONDON—A Ukrainian lawyer named Olena Tyshchenko traveled to the Royal Courts of Justice on the afternoon of July 22 as a bit player in one of the most complex legal dramas ever seen here. Read more of this post

A Few Brave Investors Scored Huge, Market-Beating Wins

A Few Brave Investors Scored Huge, Market-Beating Wins

Gold Bears and Stock Bulls Were 2013’s Victors

GREGORY ZUCKERMAN, ROB COPELAND and NICOLE HONG

Updated Jan. 1, 2014 8:26 p.m. ET

A trader who made more than $100 million from a $10 million bet against gold. A hedge fund that gained 42% after a bullish wager on stocks. A firm that saw returns of 48% thanks in part to soaring Japanese stocks. Read more of this post

Erdogan Resignation Call Chokes Lira Prop-Up Plan: Turkey Credit

Erdogan Resignation Call Chokes Lira Prop-Up Plan: Turkey Credit

Turkish central bank Governor Erdem Basci’s attempt to buy himself time to boost the lira amid a corruption probe took a beating after a third minister resigned and urged Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to do the same. Read more of this post

Emerging Markets Go to the Polls; Elections in Brazil, Elsewhere Add Uncertainty for Investors

Emerging Markets Go to the Polls

Elections in Brazil, Elsewhere Add Uncertainty for Investors

NEELABH CHATURVEDI And SERENA RUFFONI

Jan. 1, 2014 10:26 a.m. ET

For emerging-market investors, 2013 was a year of stomach-turning gyrations induced by the words of global central bankers. For 2014, add another dash of uncertainty: elections. Read more of this post

Denver Real Estate Booms as Ski Slopes Trump NYC Bustle

Denver Real Estate Booms as Ski Slopes Trump NYC Bustle

Lyndsey and Sameer Lodha had their pick of cities to call home after Sameer, a former equities trader who’s now a hand surgeon, got several job offers upon completing his residency. Read more of this post

Bond Funds Post Record $80 Billion in Redemptions in 2013

Bond Funds Post Record $80 Billion in Redemptions in 2013

Bond mutual funds in the U.S. posted record investor withdrawals of $80 billion this year as investors fled fixed income in anticipation that interest rates will rise further. Read more of this post

Bitcoin Is a High-Tech Dinosaur Soon to Be Extinct

Bitcoin Is a High-Tech Dinosaur Soon to Be Extinct

For all the regulatory crackdowns on Bitcoin in recent weeks, the cryptocurrency’s advocates remain unfailingly optimistic. Bitcoin is the future, they tell us; it heralds a future where private, stateless currencies will dethrone the dollar and other monetary dinosaurs. Read more of this post

Anger of factory workers poses a challenge for Cambodia’s Hun Sen

Anger of factory workers poses a challenge for Cambodia’s Hun Sen

Thursday, 02 January, 2014, 9:26pm

Reuters in Phnom Penh

Opposition party taps into resentment among 350,000 low-paid toilers to demand election re-run

Cambodian garment factory workers Then Any and Vong Pov are not showing up for work any more. Read more of this post

Batista’s Losers Shout and Sue as OGX Meltdown Casts Pall

Batista’s Losers Shout and Sue as OGX Meltdown Casts Pall

The 23-story Serrador building rises gracefully in downtown Rio de Janeiro, a rounded granite-and-glass art deco masterpiece that conjures the opulence of another era. Completed in 1944 and named for Spanish cinema-house promoter Francisco Serrador, it once held a luxury hotel with a nightclub that attracted a mix of Rio elites and visiting American movie stars. Read more of this post

As 2014 Dawns, Fortunes Hinge on Central Bankers

As 2014 Dawns, Fortunes Hinge on Central Bankers

Investors See Little to Shift Attention Away From Monetary Policy

TOM LAURICELLA

Jan. 1, 2014 11:40 a.m. ET

The new year kicks off much where 2013 began, with investors riding waves of money pumped into global financial markets by the world’s major central banks. Read more of this post

‘Credit Cassandras’ say strong demand for risky bonds is a sign of frothy markets

January 1, 2014 7:00 pm

2014 outlook: Sugar high

By Tracy Alloway and Michael Mackenzie

‘Credit Cassandras’ say strong demand for risky bonds is a sign of frothy markets

As snow fell in New York City on a December afternoon, waiters bearing trays of cookies fanned out among the group of bankers and investors gathered at the New York Athletic Club. The sweet biscuits were courtesy of Leonard Tannenbaum, chief executive of Fifth Street Management, who had a message for those attending the financial conference. Read more of this post

5 of Canada’s biggest market winners and losers in 2013

5 of Canada’s biggest market winners and losers in 2013

John Shmuel and David Pett | January 1, 2014 7:00 AM ET

We take a look at five of the best- and worst-performing stocks in the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX 60 index during 2013.

BEST

By John Shmuel

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. (VRX/TSX)

Annual return: 110.01%

Canada’s largest publicly-traded drug company was also the biggest winner on the S&P/TSX 60 Index in 2013. Valeant Pharmaceuticals International’s stock price more than doubled for the year as investors rewarded the company for its active and profitable acquisition streak. Valeant’s most recent deal, on Dec. 16, was an offer to buy U.S.-based medical-device company Solta for a 40% premium. RBC analyst Douglas Miehm gave the deal a big thumbs up, saying it showed Valeant’s ongoing efforts to expand its business. He also hiked his price target for Valeant to $120 from $117 following the announcement. Adding further allure for investors heading into 2014, Valeant’s management in October said they continue to hunt for profitable acquisitions and that Valeant would even be open to a “merger of equals.” Read more of this post