Thai Political Crisis Worsens; Protesters Block Registration of Candidates in 28 Constituencies

Thai Political Crisis Worsens

Protesters Block Registration of Candidates in 28 Constituencies

JAMES HOOKWAY and WILAWAN WATCHARASAKWET

Updated Jan. 1, 2014 10:30 a.m. ET

BANGKOK—Antigovernment protesters across Southeast Asia took to the streets to mark the new year, with Thailand lurching further toward full-blown crisis after election officials said demonstrators are close to achieving their goal of preventing fresh polls from going ahead. Read more of this post

Taiwan President Seeks End to China Political Standoff

Taiwan President Seeks End to China Political Standoff

Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou said in a New Year’s address the government needs to end its political stalemate with China to spur economic growth. Taiwan needs a breakthrough in its decades-old standoff with China to take its economy to the next level and “boost cross-strait economic and trade cooperation,” Ma said in a speech posted on the presidential website yesterday. Read more of this post

Taiwan central bank warns of bitcoin risks

Taiwan central bank warns of bitcoin risks

CNA

2013-12-31

Taiwan’s central bank and Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) on Monday warned the public of the high risks involved with bitcoin transactions, saying that investors will bear full responsibility for any losses themselves. Read more of this post

Face value requirement for Taiwan shares to be scrapped beginning on Jan. 1, 2014.

Face value requirement for Taiwan shares to be scrapped
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
CNA

Taipei–The Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) said Tuesday that shares of companies listed on Taiwan’s equity markets will no longer be required to have minimum face values of NT$10 (US$0.33) beginning on Jan. 1, 2014. Read more of this post

As more and more backpackers and individuals choose to visit Taiwan, a severe shortage of lower-priced hotels in Taipei has emerged

Budget hotel shortage can’t meet tourist influx

By John Liu ,The China Post
January 2, 2014, 12:14 am TWN

TAIPEI, Taiwan — As more and more backpackers and individuals choose to visit Taiwan, a severe shortage of lower-priced hotels in Taipei has emerged, according to hoteliers. Read more of this post

Singapore Airlines Extends Low-Cost Push Despite Challenges

Singapore Airlines Extends Low-Cost Push Despite Challenges

GAURAV RAGHUVANSHI

Dec. 31, 2013 5:09 a.m. ET

SINGAPORE— Singapore Airlines Ltd. C6L.SG +0.77% is doubling down on its move around a decade ago to consolidate its overall market share by joining low-cost competitors, even though its first effort hasn’t exactly taken off. Read more of this post

Downplaying university degrees in Singapore

Downplaying university degrees in Singapore

2013-12-12 19:50

By Seah Chiang Nee
Seah Chiang Nee is a columnist for The Star. ― Ed.
(The Star)

With thousands of unemployed graduates, the Singapore government plans to cap campus enrolment.
It is clearer now why the government had been discouraging Singaporeans from depending too much on university degrees. Read more of this post

Thousands protest price hikes in Malaysia

Thousands protest price hikes in Malaysia

Wednesday, January 1, 2014 – 11:38

AFP

KUALA LUMPUR – Thousands of demonstrators clad in black flooded a square in the centre of the Malaysian capital late Tuesday to protest at increases in petrol and other prices, putting pressure on a government struggling to reduce debt. Read more of this post

Public Bank to merge local and foreign shares under single stock code

Updated: Thursday January 2, 2014 MYT 3:43:01 PM

Public Bank to merge local and foreign shares under single stock code (Update1)

KUALA LUMPUR: Public Bank Bhd has proposed to merge the “Local” and “Foreign” shares where the entire paid-up share capital will be quoted and traded on Bursa Malaysia Securities under a single stock code. Read more of this post

Najib Razak cuts subsidies in effort to plug Malaysia deficit

December 31, 2013 1:39 pm

Najib Razak cuts subsidies in effort to plug Malaysia deficit

By Jeremy Grant in Singapore

The prime minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak, has sought to draw a line under the country’s decades-old reliance on energy and food subsidies, saying they were “no longer sustainable” as his government embarked on an austerity drive including cuts to civil servant perks. Read more of this post

Innovation vouchers incentive for Malaysian SMEs

Updated: Thursday January 2, 2014 MYT 6:54:29 AM

Innovation vouchers incentive for SMEs

BY LIM WING HOOI

PETALING JAYA: SME Corp is targeting as many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as possible to benefit from the recently-launched innovation vouchers. Read more of this post

Daimler Electrics Get Fake Vroom to Thwart Silent Threat: Cars

Daimler Electrics Get Fake Vroom to Thwart Silent Threat: Cars

Christoph Meier, a sound engineer at Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler AG (DAI), typically spends time making engine noise less jarring. For the carmaker’s new electric models, he’s had to do the opposite — create sound. Read more of this post

You Can’t Stop Market Rigging by Ignoring It

You Can’t Stop Market Rigging by Ignoring It

Scandals surrounding the setting of some of the world’s most important financial benchmarks, which influence the prices people pay for everything from oil to mortgages, have shaken confidence in vital markets. Read more of this post

What 2013 Taught Economists About Infant Mortality and Austerity

What 2013 Taught Economists About Infant Mortality and Austerity

In 2013, a graduate student discovered a flaw in a spreadsheet, renewing the debate about austerity and debt. Emerging economies tanked, and Bitcoin boomed. In the U.S., unemployment fell and the Federal Reserve started to scale back its bond-buying program. Research focused on inequality and jobs gap between the highly skilled and everyone else. The Affordable Care Act began. Read more of this post

West’s Role in Asia Growth Is Slipping

West’s Role in Asia Growth Is Slipping

MICHAEL S. ARNOLD And NATASHA BRERETON-FUKUI

Jan. 2, 2014 3:56 a.m. ET

Asian policy makers in 2014 are hoping a rebound in the industrialized world will restore their economies to a healthier growth trajectory. Read more of this post

UK regulator warns on graphene ‘investment’ schemes

December 29, 2013 6:52 pm

UK regulator warns on graphene ‘investment’ schemes

By Jonathan Eley

Financial regulators in the UK have warned that consumers are increasingly being targeted by “dubious” companies offering investment opportunities in graphene, the carbon-based wonder material with a vast range of potential applications. Read more of this post

U.S. Merger Activity in ’13: Back at the Trillion-Dollar Level; The United States accounted for 43 percent of all deals worldwide, the biggest proportion since 2001

JANUARY 1, 2014, 4:32 PM

U.S. Merger Activity in ’13: Back at the Trillion-Dollar Level

The United States accounted for 43 percent of all deals worldwide, the biggest proportion since 2001.

By DAVID GELLES

What may have been the most auspicious deal of late was not the biggest or the most groundbreaking of mergers. It was just one that took a little gumption. In September, Applied Materials, a California maker of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, agreed to acquire its rival, Tokyo Electron, in a deal valued at more than $9 billion. Read more of this post

Turkey Needs Erdogan’s ’Master Period’ to End

Turkey Needs Erdogan’s ’Master Period’ to End

The hope that Turkey might provide a model for modernizing Muslim countries — combining Islam, democracy and market economics — is being tested. A bitter quarrel between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his former allies continues to escalate. Financial markets are running scared, punishing the country’s stocks and currency. The fight doesn’t just threaten Erdogan’s government; it also calls into question vital Turkish institutions, including the rule of law. Read more of this post

Toyoda Predicts Emerging Markets Slowdown to Persist This Year

Toyoda Predicts Emerging Markets Slowdown to Persist This Year

A slowdown in emerging markets will extend into this year, compounding uncertainty over demand in China and at home, according to a group representing Japan’s auto manufacturers. Read more of this post

The Specialization Myth: Many believe that cities, regions, and countries should specialize: they cannot be good at everything, so they must concentrate on their comparative advantage. But, while this idea seems obvious, it is both wrong and dangerous

RICARDO HAUSMANN

DEC 30, 2013

The Specialization Myth

CAMBRIDGE – Some ideas are intuitive. Others sound so obvious after they are expressed that it is hard to deny their truth. They are powerful, because they have many nonobvious implications. They put one in a different frame of mind when looking at the world and deciding how to act on it. Read more of this post

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