OCBC / Wing Hang: difficult dollars; one reason OCBC would buy a lender ranked 12th in its home market is that more deposits provide a buffer against the rising cost of money

January 6, 2014 12:46 pm

OCBC / Wing Hang: difficult dollars

Deal marks high tide in the flood of Fed money to Asia

Farewell, cheap money – you will be missed. Few places have enjoyed the flood of easy dollars, courtesy of the Federal Reserve, as much as Singapore and Hong Kong. So OCBC, Singapore’s second-biggest lender, entering exclusivity talks to take over Hong Kong’s Wing Hang looks like a case of two banks, stranded by a receding tide, clinging together. Read more of this post

Malaysians Seen Curbing Spending as Living Costs Surge: Economy

Malaysians Seen Curbing Spending as Living Costs Surge: Economy

Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) — Millions of middle-class Malaysians are grappling with the biggest increase in state controlled electricity and gasoline costs since 2008, threatening consumer spending growth and reasserting the country’s reliance on exports this year. Read more of this post

World-Beating Debt Burden Is No ‘Serious Threat’ to Denmark

World-Beating 321% Debt Burden Is No ‘Serious Threat’ to Denmark

Danish central bank GovernorLars Rohde said most of the nation’s households would survive a jump in interest rates or a loss of income as Denmark tops world debt rankings. Read more of this post

Washington must not settle for secular stagnation; We must take this chance to renew our infrastructure

January 5, 2014 5:31 pm

Washington must not settle for secular stagnation

By Lawrence Summers

We must take this chance to renew our infrastructure

We may, as I argued last month in the Financial Times, be in a period of “secular stagnation” in which sluggish growth and output, and employment levels well below potential, might coincide for some time to come with problematically low real interest rates. Read more of this post

Wall Street Bitcoin Fans Try to Make Real Money From Virtual

Wall Street Bitcoin Fans Try to Make Real Money From Virtual

After developing a fascination with digital currencies, Jonathan Silverman left his job managing funds at Morgan Stanley in May to take a job trading the virtual stuff instead. Read more of this post

The Edamame Economy: The emergence of boutique hotels reflects a broader trend toward a more experientially rich commercial world

January 6, 2014

The Edamame Economy

By DAVID BROOKS

In the age of rail, luxury hotels mimicked European palaces. When rich people arrived at their destination, they wanted to be treated like nobility. Read more of this post

The Bubble Is Back: Real estate prices are once again outstripping the cost of renting

January 5, 2014

The Bubble Is Back

By PETER J. WALLISON

WASHINGTON — IN November, housing starts were up 23 percent, and there was cheering all around. But the crowd would quiet down if it realized that another housing bubble had begun to grow. Read more of this post

Swiss National Bank Warns of $10 Billion Loss on Huge Drop in Value of Gold Holdings; if the SNB can take a loss like this on gold, who knows how less experienced punters have fared

Swiss Bank Warns of $10 Billion Loss

Huge Drop in Gold Prices Would Weigh on Earnings

JOHN REVILL And LAURA CLARKE

Updated Jan. 6, 2014 9:15 a.m. ET

ZURICH—The Swiss National Bank SNBN.EB -0.19% Monday said a huge drop in the value of its gold holdings would push it to a $10 billion loss, suggesting more investors would feel the brunt of the biggest fall in the price of the precious metal in three decades. Read more of this post

Stock Losses Make Investors Sick as Hospital Admissions Jump

Stock Losses Make Investors Sick as Hospital Admissions Jump

Falling stocks get people worried sick, if hospital records are any guide. A one-day drop in equities of around 1.5 percent is followed by about a 0.26 percent increase in hospital admissions on average over the next two days, according to a March 2013 study by Joseph Engelberg and Christopher Parsons, associate professors of finance at the University of California at San Diego. The impact on psychological conditions such as anxiety or panic attacks is even stronger and more immediate, with admissions jumping twice that much in one day. Read more of this post

Spain’s Solar Pullback Threatens Pocketbooks

January 5, 2014

Spain’s Solar Pullback Threatens Pocketbooks

By SUZANNE DALEY

ÁGUILAS, Spain — Six years ago, Justo Cruz Rodríguez, who runs a small business here designing signs, was looking for a way to generate a steady, if modest, pension for himself and his father. Read more of this post

Someone Please Help New York Times With Econ 101; Isn’t it about time opinion writers stopped using economics to justify a moral issue? Our hearts go out to those who can’t earn a decent living, find a job, get laid off for no good reason or find themselves in harm’s way

Someone Please Help New York Times With Econ 101

“In March, every Republican in the House voted against a measure to raise the minimum wage. `When you raise the price of employment, guess what happens? You get less of it,’ said Speaker John Boehner in February, espousing a party-line theory that most economists agree has been discredited.” — New York Times editorial, Jan. 2, 2014. Read more of this post

Slump in Trading Threatens a Wall Street Profit Engine; Industry Could Post 11th Trading Decline in 16 Quarters

Slump in Trading Threatens a Wall Street Profit Engine

Industry Could Post 11th Trading Decline in 16 Quarters

SAABIRA CHAUDHURI and JULIE STEINBERG

Jan. 6, 2014 7:52 p.m. ET

The trading boom that helped reshape global investment banks over the past decade is sputtering, raising fears that one of Wall Street’s biggest profit engines is in peril. Read more of this post

Pressure to Build in 2014 on Some CEOs; Turnarounds Often Aren’t Fast Enough for More-Demanding Investors

Pressure to Build in 2014 on Some CEOs

Turnarounds Often Aren’t Fast Enough for More-Demanding Investors

JOANN S. LUBLIN and SARA MURRAY

Jan. 1, 2014 9:17 p.m. ET

In some corner offices, the high-stakes job of CEO comes with even more pressure during the new year. Read more of this post

No Letup in Europe’s Currency Battles

No Letup in Europe’s Currency Battles

RICHARD BARLEY

Jan. 5, 2014 4:19 p.m. ET

The currency wars that Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega first warned of in 2010 have never quite reached a boiling point. But currency skirmishes are certainly under way as unprecedented loose global monetary policy continues to reverberate through markets. Read more of this post

Never Mind the Predictions: What Did We Learn?

January 6, 2014

Never Mind the Predictions: What Did We Learn?

By CARL RICHARDS

I’m not big on market predictions. In fact, if anyone asks, I’m pretty quick to say that I don’t know what the markets will do in 2014. If you absolutely must have predictions for the next year, then I recommend you check out Barry Ritholtz’s annual list. But if you are interested in something more useful than predictions, I suggest taking a look at what we learned (or had confirmed — again) in 2013. Read more of this post

Looking for ways to post a profit in a dead-letter world

Looking for ways to post a profit in a dead-letter world

January 7, 2014

Eric Johnston

While telcos, airlines and power stations are relatively easy business for governments to sell, postal services have long stayed in the too-hard basket. But last year’s successful $3.3 billion partial stockmarket listing of Britain’s Royal Mail now has many around the world considering the possibilities.

Read more of this post

Key Trends in a Milestone Year for ETFs; As the first ETF turned 20, Fidelity launched new offerings and Vanguard’s assets surged

Key Trends in a Milestone Year for ETFs

As the first ETF turned 20, Fidelity launched new offerings and Vanguard’s assets surged

ARI I. WEINBERG

Updated Jan. 5, 2014 4:26 p.m. ET

It was a heady year for ETFs. The year began with the 20th anniversary ofSPDR S&P 500, SPY -0.15% the first and still the largest ETF in the U.S., and throughout 2013 investors kept up their voracious appetite for exchange-traded funds. Investors pumped a net $188.5 billion into U.S. ETFs and related exchange-traded products, according to IndexUniverse LLC. That topped 2012’s record of $188.4 billion, despite heavy withdrawals from SPDR Gold Shares GLD +0.52% as the price of gold tumbled. Here’s a look at six key developments and issues in the ETF realm in 2013:

Read more of this post

Jim Rogers Warns “Bernanke Has Set The Stage For The Fed’s Collapse”

Jim Rogers Warns “Bernanke Has Set The Stage For The Fed’s Collapse”

Tyler Durden on 01/04/2014 20:46 -0500

With Bernanke’s term due to expire in January, Jim Rogers warns Mineweb that the Fed-head will be remembered as “the guy who set the stage for the demise of the Central Bank in America. We’ve had three central banks in America. The first two disappeared. This one’s going to disappear too in the next decade.” With precious metals, bonds, and stock markets obsessing over Fed actions, Rogers says, in the next 10 years or so, “People will realise that these guys have led us down a terrible path,” and collapse is “not a possibility,” he adds, “it’s a probability.” Read more of this post

It’s Time for a New Dividend Strategy: Going for the highest yields may backfire. Here’s a better approach

It’s Time for a New Dividend Strategy

Going for the highest yields may backfire. Here’s a better approach.

MICHAEL A. POLLOCK

Updated Jan. 5, 2014 4:31 p.m. ET

It may be time for investors to rethink their dividend strategy. Although stocks with juicy dividends (and funds focused on them) have been a great choice recently for investors frustrated by low bond yields—in some cases churning out payments yielding 4% or more and producing handsome capital gains—the good times may be nearing an end, financial professionals say. Read more of this post

Goldman to JPMorgan Say Sell Emerging Markets After Slide

Goldman to JPMorgan Say Sell Emerging Markets After Slide

Wall Street’s biggest banks say the slump in emerging-market assets that left equities trailing advanced-nation shares by the most since 1998 last year will prove more than a fleeting selloff. Read more of this post

Global threat fails to break spirit of Sweden’s labour model

January 6, 2014 9:52 am

Global threat fails to break spirit of Sweden’s labour model

By Richard Milne in Stockholm

Three quarters of a century ago, Swedish workers and employers sat down and hashed out a remarkable accord. The Saltsjöbaden agreement, signed on December 20 1938, provides the basis for Sweden’s consensus-driven approach to labour relations and is the bedrock of the much-admired Nordic model of capitalism. Read more of this post

GaveKal Special: Too Different For Comfort

GaveKal Special: Too Different For Comfort

by ValueWalk StaffJanuary 5, 2014 Via ZeroHedge

Introduction

When Lord Salisbury, the first British prime minister of the 20th century, was asked by Queen Victoria to consider a reform, he famously replied: “Change? Your majesty, aren’t things bad enough as they are?”

Fewer Cheap Stocks: A Warning Sign? Investors should take note as cash builds up in ‘value’ funds

Fewer Cheap Stocks: A Warning Sign?

Investors should take note as cash builds up in ‘value’ funds

TOM LAURICELLA

Updated Jan. 5, 2014 4:22 p.m. ET

The huge rally in U.S. stocks in 2013 had a downside for fund managers whose job it is to hunt for bargains: It has gotten harder to find undervalued names for their portfolios. Read more of this post

Federal Washington cashes in on connections; In Washington, opportunities and rewards are distributed according to what you can do, not whom you know?

Federal Washington cashes in on connections

By Charles Lane, Tuesday, January 7, 9:10 AM

This is a tale of a city that is really two cities. In some parts of town, gleaming office-retail complexes rise, home prices reach into the millions and people routinely spend tens of thousands of dollars per year to send their children to private schools. Read more of this post

Fantasy Sports Luring Wall Street in Its Fastest-Growing Sector

Fantasy Sports Luring Wall Street in Its Fastest-Growing Sector

Drew Dinkmeyer spent seven years as a senior investment analyst in Tampa, Florida, before deciding to pursue fantasy sports professionally. Dinkmeyer, who’s 31 and got married last year, said he earns about as much from competing in daily fantasy sports leagues as he did when he was researching international equities and domestic small- and mid-cap stocks at CapTrust Financial Advisers. Read more of this post

Ever since Heinrich Hiesinger took over as chief executive of ThyssenKrupp in 2011 with a mandate to sell assets and overhaul an ossified and tainted corporate culture, investors have looked forward to a day when the indebted steel conglomerate would finally clear its storm-damaged decks and reach full speed again

January 6, 2014 12:00 pm

ThyssenKrupp tests investors’ patience

By Chris Bryant in Frankfurt

Ever since Heinrich Hiesinger took over as chief executive of ThyssenKrupp in 2011 with a mandate to sell assets and overhaul an ossified and tainted corporate culture, investors have looked forward to a day when the indebted steel conglomerate would finally clear its storm-damaged decks and reach full speed again. Read more of this post

Euro Jobless Scourge Seen Defying Leaders’ $163 Billion Pledge

Euro Jobless Scourge Seen Defying Leaders’ $163 Billion Pledge

European Union leaders pondering the fruits of a 120 billion-euro ($163 billion) push to jump-start the economy and create jobs can look to data this week for evidence of how little has been achieved. Read more of this post

Erdogan Eye on ‘Crazy Projects’ Links Turkey Scandal to Builders

Erdogan Eye on ‘Crazy Projects’ Links Turkey Scandal to Builders

A tiny fishing village called Garipce holds a clue to understanding the largest corruption scandal in Turkish history. An hour’s drive north of Istanbul, two giant concrete towers straddle the Bosporus, one foot in Asia, the other in Europe. By 2015, a $2.5 billion suspension bridge will hang between the 322 meter (1,056 feet)-high towers. Nearby, a swath of forest the size of Manhattan is being readied for a $14 billion airport. Read more of this post

Don’t Play Politics With Unemployment Benefits

Don’t Play Politics With Unemployment Benefits

President Barack Obama and Republican legislators are signaling that they might after all make a deal to extend federal support for the long-term unemployed. An extension makes such good sense that there shouldn’t be much to discuss, but never mind. If a deal is done, it would be petty to complain about the delay. Read more of this post