Fiat’s ‘Italian Job’ Won’t Have a Clean Getaway

Fiat’s ‘Italian Job’ Won’t Have a Clean Getaway

Sergio Marchionne has pulled off the caper of a lifetime. The chief executive officer of Fiat SpA –having already rescued the Italian automaker from the brink and returned it to profitability within two years of taking charge in 2004 — now appears to have saved it again by wrestling control of Chrysler from the United Auto Workers union VEBA trust. But like Michael Caine at the end of “The Italian Job” — I’m talking the 1969 original, in which a gold-bar-laden bus teeters on the edge of a canyon wall — Marchionne may find that his epic score places him in a cliffhanger. Read more of this post

What’s up in Public Bank? Since its last bonus issue of shares about 10 years ago, Public Bank had remained relatively quiet, steadily growing amid an increasingly competitive market, without any new corporate exercise until two days ago

Updated: Saturday January 4, 2014 MYT 11:41:14 AM

What’s up in Public Bank?

BY CECILIA KOK

Since its last bonus issue of shares about 10 years ago, Public Bank Bhd had remained relatively quiet, steadily growing amid an increasingly competitive market, without any new corporate exercise until two days ago. Read more of this post

Waiting Tables at Top-Tier Restaurants Is New Career Path for Foodies; Head waiters can earn $80,000 a year or more including tips, versus $45,000 for a line cook working longer hours

Waiting Tables at Top-Tier Restaurants Is New Career Path for Foodies

Head waiters can earn $80,000 a year or more including tips, versus $45,000 for a line cook working longer hours

ALINA DIZIK

Dec. 31, 2013 3:43 p.m. ET

A legion of cooking school grads just want to work in the front of the house, bringing a touch of glamour to waiting tables, Alina Dizik reports. Photo: Brian Harkin for The Wall Street Journal. It only took eight years and a bachelor’s degree, but Leah Beach has finally stopped hearing her least-favorite question: What do you really plan to do for a living? Read more of this post

U.K. Agency Struggles in Fight Against Insider Trading

U.K. Agency Struggles in Fight Against Insider Trading

Critics Point to Rapid Staff Turnover, Insufficient Financial Expertise; ‘FCA Hasn’t Yet Had a Big Scalp’

DAVID ENRICH and HARRIET AGNEW

Updated Jan. 4, 2014 7:43 p.m. ET

LONDON— Carl Linderum was getting ready for work one morning at his London home when he heard a pounding on his door. He figured the group of men outside were employees of his gas provider, there to badger him over a disputed bill. Read more of this post

Transcript of interview with Haruhiko Kuroda, governor of the Bank of Japan

January 3, 2014 1:48 pm

Transcript of interview with Haruhiko Kuroda, governor of the Bank of Japan

Conducted by Martin Wolf, Jonathan Soble and David Pilling in Tokyo, December 12 2013

Speaker key: 
MW Martin Wolf (FT)
JS Jonathan Soble (FT)
DP David Pilling (FT)
HK Haruhiko Kuroda, governor of the Bank of Japan

MW: I’d like to start off with where you think you’ve got to in terms of the performance of the economy and the performance particularly against the inflation objective you’ve set. I know the Bank of Japan accepted a 2 per cent inflation goal in January of this year, and you set out in April a timetable. So how far do you think you’ve come against the objectives you’ve set yourself? Read more of this post

“Bad ideas take a long time to die”: The Two Latin Americas; A Continental Divide Between One Bloc That Favors State Controls and Another That Embraces Free Markets

The Two Latin Americas

A Continental Divide Between One Bloc That Favors State Controls and Another That Embraces Free Markets

DAVID LUHNOW

Jan. 3, 2014 7:55 p.m. ET

There are two Latin Americas right now. The first is a bloc of countries—including Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela—that faces the Atlantic Ocean, mistrusts globalization and gives the state a large role in the economy. The second—made up of countries that face the Pacific such as Mexico, Peru, Chile and Colombia—embraces free trade and free markets. Read more of this post

Spain’s largest bank is in trouble

Spain’s largest bank is in trouble

By Stephen Gandel, senior editor January 3, 2014: 11:38 AM ET

Santander has fallen woefully short of its chairman’s growth targets, and it’s not clear things are improving. FORTUNE — In early December, Banco Santander spent $650 million to buy an 8% stake in the Bank of Shanghai. For Santander (SAN), Spain’s largest bank, the deal looks to be another case of wrong place, wrong time. Read more of this post

Solar Power Craze on Wall St. Propels Start-Up

January 3, 2014

Solar Power Craze on Wall St. Propels Start-Up

By DIANE CARDWELL and JULIE CRESWELL

The first inklings of the idea came to Elon Musk and a cousin in an R.V. heading to the Burning Man festival in 2004. Solar energy, they agreed, could be big. But not even Mr. Musk, the billionaire behind the Tesla electric car, could have foreseen the solar power craze that is sweeping Wall Street. He and his cousins Peter and Lyndon Rive are riding a wave of exuberance over the industry and their young business, SolarCity. Read more of this post

Retreating U.S. stimulus poses risk to world recovery; Fed could trim bond-buying more sharply in future: Plosser; Fed’s Plosser at odds with policy approach favored by Yellen

Retreating U.S. stimulus poses risk to world recovery

2:04pm EST

By Robin Emmott

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The world economy should finally overcome its hangover from the global financial crisis this year as growth picks up and house prices rise, but reduced U.S. monetary stimulus will pose a challenge. Read more of this post

NAFTA: 20 years of regret for Mexico; Mexico’s growth has been weak since the ‘free trade’ deal was signed, and it missed out on the region’s poverty reduction

NAFTA: 20 years of regret for Mexico

Mexico’s growth has been weak since the ‘free trade’ deal was signed, and it missed out on the region’s poverty reduction

Mark Weisbrot

theguardian.com, Saturday 4 January 2014 13.00 GMT

It was 20 years ago that the North American Free Trade Agreement between the US, Canada, and Mexico was implemented. In Washington, the date coincided with an outbreak of the bacteria cryptosporidium in the city’s water supply, with residents having to boil their water before drinking it. The joke in town was, “See what happens, NAFTA takes effect and you can’t drink the water here.” Read more of this post

JPMorgan Reveals That Stocks Are More Expensive Now Than At Their 2007 Peak

JPMorgan Reveals That Stocks Are More Expensive Now Than At Their 2007 Peak

Tyler Durden on 01/03/2014 09:16 -0500
As we warned was likely to happen back in February of 2013 (given the typical trajectory of earnings expectations through a year), JP Morgan has confirmed that the S&P 500 is now more expensive on a forward P/E basis than it was at its peak in October 2007. So, despite the self-referential bias of each and every talking head asset-gatherer on mainstream media’s denial, stocks do not offer value here… no matter how many TINAs or BTFATHs you hear… At 15.4x NTM earnings, the S&P 500 is now 0.2x turns more expensive than at its peak in October 2007. Furthermore, on a Price-to-Book, Price-to-Cash-Flow, and Price-to-Sales basis, the S&P 500 is also well above its average valuation levels… Still think we can grow into more multiple expansion… then you better hope for an unprecedented rise in confidence… So, are stocks cheap?

How to Invest as Interest Rates Rise; Treasury yields are on the upswing. Here’s how to adjust your portfolio

How to Invest as Interest Rates Rise

Treasury yields are on the upswing. Here’s how to adjust your portfolio.

JOE LIGHT

Updated Jan. 3, 2014 11:51 p.m. ET

And so a new era begins. As interest rates rise, investors need to take a hard look at portfolios that were designed to hold up when yields were on the decline and safety was in high demand. It may be time to ditch beloved high-income sectors, such as utilities and telecommunications, in favor of those in which companies can increase earnings more quickly as the economy picks up steam. Commodities, which often suffer as interest rates rise, will be a tricky bet. Home values haven’t been as hurt by higher mortgage rates as you might expect. Read more of this post

Gold bulls lose faith in bullion’s allure; Last year’s losses battered the metal’s reputation as a store of value

January 3, 2014 8:58 am

Gold bulls lose faith in bullion’s allure

By Gregory Meyer

Last year’s losses battered the metal’s reputation as a store of value

Here’s an activity for the mean-spirited: read what analysts were saying about golda year ago. Nearly all believed the metal would rise in 2013, according to the London Bullion Market Association’s annual survey. Even the most conservative saw only tiny declines. “We remain gold bulls,” Joni Teves of UBS said in a view shared by many. Analysts issued an average price forecast of $1,753 per troy ounce. Read more of this post

Deere, 3M See $76 Billion Pension Burden Easing on Fed

Deere, 3M See $76 Billion Pension Burden Easing on Fed

3M Co. (MMM) and Deere & Co. (DE) are among U.S. employers seeing pension costs drop from a $76 billion peak, freeing up cash to spend or return to investors, as the Federal Reserve’s pullback on bond buying boosts interest rates. Read more of this post

Commodity-trading pioneer Peter Matthews has co-founded a new firm with a unique way to pare risk and maximize gains in ETF portfolios

SATURDAY, JANUARY 4, 2014

A Star Trader’s New Approach to ETF Diversification

By MIKE HOGAN  | MORE ARTICLES BY AUTHOR

Commodity-trading pioneer Peter Matthews has co-founded a new firm with a unique way to pare risk and maximize gains in ETF portfolios.

Sure, diversification is an important aspect of creating a successful long-term portfolio. But that doesn’t mean investors have to watch stoically as assets lose value at certain times, according to the founders of an interesting new Web-based money manager, PJMint. Read more of this post

Buyback Bonbons: After spending loads of cash to boost share prices through repurchases, U.S. companies now must focus on fostering growth. Trouble ahead for consumer-discretionary stocks?

SATURDAY, JANUARY 4, 2014

Buyback Bonbons

By KOPIN TAN | MORE ARTICLES BY AUTHOR

After spending loads of cash to boost share prices through repurchases, U.S. companies now must focus on fostering growth. Trouble ahead for consumer-discretionary stocks?

Confetti wasn’t the only thing to rain down from the skies as 2013 came to a close. Cash—gobs of it!—came fluttering right into our outstretched hands. Really, it did!

Of course, you had to be at the right place at the right time. And by that I mean you had to be a shareholder, preferably of large U.S. companies, which have been fervently buying back shares and practically shoveling cash back to their shareholders. In the fourth quarter, S&P 500 companies may have bought back nearly $138 billion worth of stock, says Howard Silverblatt, Standard & Poor’s senior analyst. If that estimate proves correct as companies file their quarterly disclosures, it’ll be the biggest quarter for buybacks since 2007 and a 40% jump from the level a year ago. Read more of this post

AQR’s Cliff Asness Blasts Those Who Call It “A Stock Picker’s Market”

Cliff Asness Blasts Those Who Call It “A Stock Picker’s Market”

Tyler Durden on 01/03/2014 21:45 -0500

Cliff Asness would politely request people stop saying “It’s a stock picker’s market.” While pairwise correlations have dropped to post-crisis lows, they remain elevated to ‘normal’ levels but, as Asness rages, perhaps asset managers who rely on this ‘weak’ phrase should more honestly note “I think they mean, “We will have to pick stocks now because the market isn’t making us money the easy way.” Read more of this post

A Different Dimension: Dimensional Fund Advisors eschews stock-picking completely, and yet manages to beat the market consistently

SATURDAY, JANUARY 4, 2014

A Different Dimension

By BEVERLY GOODMAN | MORE ARTICLES BY AUTHOR

Dimensional Fund Advisors eschews stock-picking completely, and yet manages to beat the market consistently.

It was 7:30 on a sunny October morning in Austin, Texas, and class was about to start. Most students were finishing their coffee and chatting about how they were looking forward to hearing professor Eugene Fama, the University of Chicago economist who a week earlier had won the Nobel Prize. The program, however, wasn’t your typical grad-school seminar. It was orchestrated by Dimensional Fund Advisors, the $332 billion mutual-fund firm whose investment strategy is based on Fama’s early and ongoing research; and the students were the financial advisors who sell its funds. Read more of this post

2014 outlook: Market melt-up; US stocks may be overpriced and profit margins at a high but even bears say the rally has room to run

January 2, 2014 6:01 pm

2014 outlook: Market melt-up

By John Authers

US stocks may be overpriced and profit margins at a high but even bears say the rally has room to run

American stocks look very expensive. Are they in a bubble? The S&P 500 has gained almost two-thirds since September 2011, a period in which its companies’ earnings have risen just 18 per cent. It is easy to see why many fear the bull market has gone too far. Read more of this post