Investors Just Threw A Ton Of Money At Unusually High-Risk Bonds For A Project That Doesn’t Make Money

Investors Just Threw A Ton Of Money At Unusually High-Risk Bonds For A Project That Doesn’t Make Money

MYLES UDLAND MARKETS  JUN. 22, 2014, 12:19 AM

“Where can you get 12% yield?”

Investors just took on a ton of risk to finance a new Florida passenger railway project being undertaken by Fortress Investment Group, reports Reuters’ Natalie Harrison and Shankar Ramakrishnan.

The project, called All Aboard Florida, plans to use existing freight railway on the east coast of Florida to carry passengers. Read more of this post

More than half a million votes were cast for full democracy in Hong Kong by the second day of an unofficial online poll organized by activists and labeled illegal by China

Hong Kong Democracy Poll Gets Half a Million Votes by Second Day

By Natasha Khan June 21, 2014

More than half a million votes were cast for full democracy in Hong Kong by the s Read more of this post

How Inherited Wealth Helps the Economy

How Inherited Wealth Helps the Economy

JUNE 21, 2014

By N. GREGORY MANKIW

An undated photograph shows John D. Rockefeller, wearing a bow tie, and family members

Is inherited wealth making a comeback?

Yes, says Thomas Piketty, author of the best seller “Capital in the Twenty-First Century.” Inherited wealth has always been with us, of course, but Mr. Piketty believes that its importance is increasing. He sees a future that combines slow economic growth with high returns to capital. He reasons that if capital owners save much of their income, their wealth will accumulate and be passed on to their heirs. He concludes that individuals’ living standards will be determined less by their skill and effort and more by bequests they receive. Read more of this post

Panasonic to sell birthplace of its TV business: report

Panasonic to sell birthplace of its TV business: report
Sunday, June 22, 2014
AFP

TOKYO — Japan’s electronics giant Panasonic will sell the plant where it first got into the television business half a century ago as it shifts away from the money-losing division, a report said Saturday.

The company plans to sell 60 percent of the plant’s 120,000-square meter site in Ibaraki, near the western city of Osaka, to Japan’s major homebuilder Daiwa House by early next year, the business daily Nikkei said. Read more of this post

China Resources sealed billions in deals without tenders, auditor finds; In one case, auditors find HK-listed power unit sealed HK$14.7b deals outside usual practice

China Resources sealed billions in deals without tenders, auditor finds

Saturday, 21 June, 2014, 3:14am

Eric Ng eric.mpng@scmp.com

In one case, auditors find HK-listed power unit sealed HK$14.7b deals outside usual practice

China Resources sealed billions of yuan worth of contracts without going through a tendering process, the National Audit Office has discovered. Read more of this post

Family businesses on the wane; Fewer family businesses are being passed on to successive generations, a new report finds

Family businesses on the wane

Fewer family businesses are being passed on to successive generations, a new report finds

Family businesses will contribute more than £120bn to the UK economy by 2018 Photo: AFP

By Rebecca Burn-Callander, Enterprise Editor

7:00AM BST 20 Jun 2014

Family businesses are no longer being passed down to the third generation, new research has found. Read more of this post

Migrant Exodus Puts Strain on Ailing Thai Economy

Migrant Exodus Puts Strain on Ailing Thai Economy

By Amy Sawitta Lefevre on 03:04 pm Jun 21, 2014

Samut Prakarn, Thailand. Lek Numthong, who supplies foreign laborers for construction sites on the fringes of the Thai capital, normally has a truckload of workers eager to make a day’s wage. But his pick-up has been all but empty for a week.

Only two Burmese workers are sitting in the back.

About 200,000 Cambodians, a key component of the migrant workforce, have turned tail and gone home. The clumsy rhetoric that apparently precipitated their departure may be the first misstep in the efforts by the generals now running the country to revive an economy battered by months of political turmoil. Read more of this post

Tata Motors’ Tale of Two Shares

Tata Motors’ Tale of Two Shares

ABHEEK BHATTACHARYABy

Updated June 20, 2014 8:25 a.m. ET

Tata Motors 500570.BY -0.13% ‘ once-lonely Class A shares are getting some overdue respect. There’s reason to think the love fest could continue.

India’s most valuable car maker gives investors the choice between two stock listings. There are regular shares. And then there are Class A shares, which carry a tenth of the main stock’s voting rights, though pay a higher dividend.

Read more of this post

America Inc. Wakes Up to Wage Inflation

America Inc. Wakes Up to Wage Inflation

JUSTIN LAHART

June 20, 2014 4:34 p.m. ET

Even as the U.S. job market has improved, companies have been slow to pay workers more. But they may now be approaching the time when they have to cut bigger paychecks to compete. What’s more, they appear to be getting ready for this. Read more of this post

China Metal Probe Weighs on Copper Outlook

China Metal Probe Weighs on Copper Outlook

CHUIN-WEI YAP

June 21, 2014 5:10 a.m. ET

BEIJING—Hedge funds and other money managers are building up short positions in the global copper market, according to U.S. data, riding on allegations of fraudulent metal-backed financing in China to amplify pressure on prices of one of the world’s most heavily traded metals.

These positions are likely to further weigh on the outlook for the red metal, as the effects of an official probe on metal stockpiles in the eastern Chinese port of Qingdao continue to ripple across global markets. The port’s operator has confirmed that Chinese authorities are investigating allegations of fraud relating to stockpiles of metals, though the government hasn’t commented publicly. Read more of this post

Congress after the cataclysm: Long India’s dominant party, the Gandhis’ machine now barely functions as the opposition

Congress after the cataclysm: Long India’s dominant party, the Gandhis’ machine now barely functions as the opposition

Jun 21st 2014 | From the print edition

IS THE patient dead or merely stunned? The Indian National Congress party was so battered in last month’s general election that recovery may be beyond it. Founded in 1885, the party that did most to extract independence from Britain in 1947 and dominated Indian politics for much of the subsequent seven decades managed to win just 44 seats of 543. One senior Congressman, who boasts a decent record of predicting elections, admits that was beyond his worst imaginings. The “cataclysmic” result constitutes the “most serious crisis” in the party’s long history, worse even than the bleak late 1970s after Indira Gandhi had suspended democracy. He likens the political change now under way to the country’s passing from a first to a second republic. Read more of this post

Indonesia’s next president: The apparently anointed president finds himself in a tough scrap

Indonesia’s next president: The apparently anointed president finds himself in a tough scrap

Jun 21st 2014 | JAKARTA | From the print edition

DURING a recent televised debate between the two men vying to become Indonesia’s next president, Prabowo Subianto strode across the set to hug his startled rival, Joko Widodo. A theatrical gesture meant to convince viewers that even a fiery-tempered former special-forces general has a softer side, it was still a striking show of civility in a race that has turned much nastier since it narrowed to a two-way contest. Read more of this post