Ivy Mid Cap Growth: Rethinking Risk; Talking with Kimberly Scott, portfolio manager of Ivy Mid Cap Growth fund

Ivy Mid Cap Growth: Rethinking Risk

Talking with Kimberly Scott, portfolio manager of Ivy Mid Cap Growth fund.

AMY FELDMAN

May 31, 2014

Kimberly Scott worked as a technology analyst during the bubble before taking over management of the $4.7 billion Ivy Mid Cap Growth fund (ticker: WMGAX) in February 2001. That experience seared into her memory the idea that even growth managers need to pay heed to valuations — and be very, very careful about risk. Read more of this post

Oakmark’s Bill Nygren Names 9 Favorite Stocks

Oakmark’s Bill Nygren Names 9 Favorite Stocks

Why the market-beating value manager likes big financial firms, TRW, and one energy company.

GRACE L. WILLIAMS

June 3, 2014 5:46 a.m. ET

While many investors think U.S. stocks are fully valued, Bill Nygren of Oakmark Funds sees plenty of opportunity, particularly among financials. Moreover, Nygren says many of America’s best companies can be bought at a market multiple. Read more of this post

Economists wield big influence in merger reviews

Economists wield big influence in merger reviews

By Holly Yeager, Published: June 2

When executives from Comcast and Time Warner Cable met with Federal Communications Commission staffers last month to make the case for their merger, the expected antitrust and communications lawyers went along with them.

But the companies also took four economists — part of a highly specialized but low-profile set of number-crunchers who can be highly influential when it comes to winning approval for big deals like these. Read more of this post

The domestic tobacco industry is facing a downturn in the sale of hand-rolled clove cigarettes, as consumers shift to machine-made ones – a situation that could see job losses in the industry

Dim outlook for hand-rolled clove cigarettes

Linda Yulisman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Business | Mon, June 02 2014, 12:07 PM

The domestic tobacco industry is facing a downturn in the sale of hand-rolled clove cigarettes, as consumers shift to machine-made ones — a situation that could see job losses in the industry.
Market share of hand-rolled cigarettes has fallen from 32.8 percent in 2009 to 26.07 percent at present. In contrast, sales of machine-made clove cigarettes have risen, leading to an increase in market share from 59.24 to 66.2 percent during the same period. Read more of this post

Court battle and legal nightmare for Singaporean property investors after Malaysian developer went bust; Beware of pitfalls in overseas property markets

Court battle after developer went bust

Tuesday, Jun 03, 2014

Rachael Boon

The Straits Times

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Troops deployed from China’s provinces laughed as they shot randomly at pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square, according to a US account declassified Tuesday for the 25th anniversary

Troops ‘laughing’ in Tiananmen crackdown

Wednesday, June 4, 2014 – 09:51

AFP

WASHINGTON – Troops deployed from China’s provinces laughed as they shot randomly at pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square, according to a US account declassified Tuesday for the 25th anniversary. Read more of this post

Wary China keeps close watch as Tiananmen anniversary arrives

Wary China keeps close watch as Tiananmen anniversary arrives

Tue, Jun 3 2014

By Sui-Lee Wee

BEIJING (Reuters) – Twenty-five years ago, Wang Nan took his camera and headed out to Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, where tens of thousands of people had gathered calling for democratic reforms. The 19-year-old told a friend he wanted to record history. Read more of this post

China risks another Tiananmen tragedy in the coming years

China risks another Tiananmen tragedy in the coming years

Minxin Pei

@FortuneMagazine

MAY 31, 2014, 5:14 PM EDT

Relying on repression to maintain power may be the Chinese Communist Party’s undoing in the long run.

The Tiananmen Square tragedy of June 4, 1989 — a bloody suppression of a peaceful, pro-democracy movement 25 years ago this week — was truly a black-swan event. Read more of this post

Number of Fortune 500 women CEOs reaches historic high

Number of Fortune 500 women CEOs reaches historic high

Caroline Fairchild

@FortuneMagazine

JUNE 3, 2014, 6:00 AM EDT

This year’s list features six fresh faces as well as the noticeable absence of one high-powered tech executive.

For those keeping score of women on the Fortune 500, here’s some good news: The definitive ranking of America’s biggest companies boasts some 24 female CEOs, up from 20 a year ago, and more than at any point since Fortune started compiling executive gender in 1998. Read more of this post

The Chinese technology companies poised to dominate the world; From PCs to smartphones, Chinese firms are outgrowing their home market and making their mark internationally

The Chinese technology companies poised to dominate the world

From PCs to smartphones, Chinese firms are outgrowing their home market and making their mark internationally

Charles Arthur

The Guardian, Tuesday 3 June 2014 12.52 BST

As we walked into Huawei’s offices in Shenzhen, southern China, our English guide paused for a moment. “When the FT came here, they wrote a story about how there were beds under the desks, and this meant that everyone must be working incredibly long hours,” he said. “Quite wrong.” Read more of this post

Many global retailers absent in India due to various reason; CBRE undertook a research study of 317 prominent global brands across numerous segments and geographies. Of these 317 brands, only 196 brands are operational in India.

Read more of this post

The Securities and Exchange Commission is readying new guidelines for firms that advise shareholders on corporate ballots, amid complaints by corporations that such advisers have too much influence

ISS, Other Proxy Advisers Pressed to Disclose Conflicts

SEC Readies New Guidelines for Firms That Advise Shareholders

ANDREW ACKERMAN, JOANN S. LUBLIN and THEO FRANCIS

Updated June 3, 2014 9:08 a.m. ET

The Securities and Exchange Commission is readying new guidelines for firms that advise shareholders on corporate ballots, amid complaints by corporations that such advisers have too much influence. Read more of this post

Samsung’s Holding Company to Go Public, Easing Succession Process; Samsung Everland’s IPO Is Seen as Key to Power Transfer Within Conglomerate’s Founding Lee Family

Samsung’s Holding Company to Go Public, Easing Succession Process

Samsung Everland’s IPO Is Seen as Key to Power Transfer Within Conglomerate’s Founding Lee Family

MIN-JEONG LEE

June 2, 2014 9:48 p.m. ET

SEOUL—Samsung Everland Inc., the de facto holding company of South Korea’s largest conglomerate, Samsung Group, is planning to list by the first quarter of 2015, in a move widely seen as key to a transfer of power within Samsung’s founding Lee family. Read more of this post

China’s Great Effort of Forgetting; Using economic prosperity and nationalism, the Party neutralizes the threat of Tiananmen on campuses

China’s Great Effort of Forgetting

Using economic prosperity and nationalism, the Party neutralizes the threat of Tiananmen on campuses.

LOUISA LIM

June 3, 2014 12:44 p.m. ET

Last July, Yu Dongyue took off on his red 10-speed bike from the Indianapolis foot spa where his sister works, and disappeared. The police were alerted since the 46-year-old Mr. Yu, who gained political asylum in the United States in 2009, is unable to look after himself. After three days, he was discovered sitting under a tree in a stranger’s backyard. He had simply gotten lost and been unable to find his way home. Once a talented journalist and art critic, Mr. Yu lost his faculties during the 17 years he spent inside Chinese jails. Read more of this post

The Power of Tiananmen’s Memory; On the massacre’s 25th anniversary, China’s leaders fear the signs that unrest is reviving

The Power of Tiananmen’s Memory

On the massacre’s 25th anniversary, China’s leaders fear the signs that unrest is reviving.

WU’ER KAIXI

June 3, 2014 7:17 p.m. ET

The Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989 has been banished from the collective memory of the Chinese people. Or so we are often told. It is certainly true that many older Chinese don’t want to talk about it, and some young Chinese don’t know it happened. But for a society just like an individual, repressing a memory is different from forgetting. Tiananmen continues to reverberate across China. Read more of this post

India’s Rajan May Have to Head Off Modi

India’s Rajan May Have to Head Off Modi

ABHEEK BHATTACHARYA

June 3, 2014 8:24 a.m. ET

Unlike investors overjoyed with Narendra Modi’s election, Reserve Bank of India Gov. Raghuram Rajan is staying calm.

Mr. Rajan’s move to hold interest rates steady Tuesday is a reminder of the challenges India’s economy faces. Whatever new growth investors expect Mr. Modi to deliver, retail inflation was high at 8.6% in April. Read more of this post

Japan Sees Trouble Ahead for Public Pension; Report Paves Way for Reshuffle of $1.27 Trillion Pension Fund

Japan Sees Trouble Ahead for Public Pension

Report Paves Way for Reshuffle of $1.27 Trillion Pension Fund

ELEANOR WARNOCK

Updated June 3, 2014 10:22 a.m. ET

TOKYO—Japan’s health ministry released a financial outlook for the public pension system Tuesday, paving the way for the nation’s gigantic pension reserve fund to reshuffle its investment portfolio. Read more of this post

China’s First Capitalist Firm Gets Approval for $37 Billion Deal; Citic Pacific Will Take Over State-Owned Citic Group’s Assets

China’s First Capitalist Firm Gets Approval for $37 Billion Deal

Citic Pacific Will Take Over State-Owned Citic Group’s Assets

SHEN HONG and NED LEVIN

Updated June 3, 2014 1:19 p.m. ET

When China’s late leader Deng Xiaoping held a meeting with the country’s few remaining businesspeople in January 1979, he singled out Rong Yiren, a former textile tycoon, to “do some actual work and play a role” in Beijing’s nascent economic-overhaul efforts. Read more of this post

From Woodstock to War Zone: A WSJ Correspondent Recalls Tiananmen Protests

Jun 4, 2014

From Woodstock to War Zone: A WSJ Correspondent Recalls Tiananmen Protests

By William Kazer

Twenty five years ago, the Chinese army smashed its way into the heart of Beijing, crushing a peaceful protest movement inspired by a desire for a taste of democracy. I was a reporter based in Beijing at that time, working for the news agency then known as Reuters and covering the protests that erupted following the death in mid-April of reformist leader Hu Yaobang. I had been in Beijing for about a year, and I was about to get a front row seat on a pivotal — and tragic – event in Chinese history. Read more of this post

Fed Officials Growing Wary of Market Complacency; Expectations for Rate Hikes Might Be Out of Line With Fed’s

Fed Officials Growing Wary of Market Complacency

Expectations for Rate Hikes Might Be Out of Line With Fed’s

JON HILSENRATH

Updated June 3, 2014 7:30 p.m. ET

Federal Reserve officials are starting to wonder whether a tranquillity that has descended on financial markets is a sign that investors have become unafraid of the type of risk that could lead to bubbles and volatility.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, up a steady if unspectacular 1% since the beginning of the year, has consolidated big gains registered last year. The VIX, a measure of expected stock-market fluctuations based on options trading, has gone 74 straight weeks below its long-run average—a string of steadiness not seen since 2006 and 2007, before the financial crisis and recession. Read more of this post

Fed’s Fisher wants October end to QE3

Fed’s Fisher wants October end to QE3; sees no 2014 rate hike

6:37pm EDT

By Ann Saphir

(Reuters) – Richard Fisher, one of the Federal Reserve’s most ardent policy hawks, said on Tuesday he would favor ending the U.S. central bank’s massive bond-buying program in October, but said he does not expect the Fed to start raising interest rates until next year. Read more of this post

Despite China’s economic growth, its people’s discontent can’t be stifled

Despite China’s economic growth, its people’s discontent can’t be stifled

By Editorial Board, Wednesday, June 4, 12:20 AM

TWENTY-FIVE years after the Tiananmen massacre, you would think China’s Communist rulers would feel confident. China’s economy, by some measures, is poised to become the world’s largest. Its military has grown by leaps and bounds. Businessmen from every corner of the world pay court. Read more of this post

Taiwan urges China to face up to history of Tiananmen

Taiwan urges China to face up to history of Tiananmen

Tuesday, June 3, 2014 – 21:43

AFP

TAIPEI – Taiwan on Tuesday urged China to face up to history and protect the rights of dissidents on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

“The unfortunate history of the ‘June 4 incident’ cannot be forgotten and only by facing history can (China) heal the wounds, transform and move forward,” said the Mainland Affairs Council, Taiwan’s top policy-making body on China. Read more of this post

China defends Tiananmen crackdown on eve of 25th anniversary

China defends Tiananmen crackdown on eve of 25th anniversary

6:19am EDT

By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) – China defended the bloody 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on Tuesday, the eve of the 25th anniversary, saying it had chosen the correct path for the sake of the people.

For the ruling Communist Party, the 1989 demonstrations that clogged Tiananmen Square in Beijing and spread to other cities remain taboo after the government termed the protests “counter-revolutionary”. Read more of this post

Nervous about borrowing, U.S. states and cities alter municipal bond landscape

Nervous about borrowing, U.S. states and cities alter municipal bond landscape

Mon, Jun 2 2014

By Lisa Lambert

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. cities and states are leery of borrowing more money despite near-record low interest rates, forcing bond funds to scour for investments and boosting returns on existing debt. Read more of this post

Samsung Everland IPO Signals Revamp of Largest Korea Chaebol

Samsung Everland IPO Signals Revamp of Largest Korea Chaebol

Read more of this post

Nestle wraps up unsuccessful tea venture in China

Nestle wraps up unsuccessful tea venture in China

Staff Reporter

2014-06-03

Nestle’s recent pullout from the tea market in China showed that even the world’s largest food company has difficulty operating in the country, reports the Chinese-language Innovative Finance Observation. Read more of this post