Iron ore seen sliding as new supplies hit

September 25, 2013 11:00 am

Iron ore seen sliding as new supplies hit

By Neil Hume, Commodities Editor

Iron ore has defied the pessimists. The price of the key steelmaking raw material has averaged $136 per tonne this year – the second -highest level on record – as Chinahas imported vast quantities of the commodity. But with a wave of new supply about to hit the market are the good times about to end? Prices have already begun to drift lower as new supply from Australia has come on stream and shipments from Brazil have picked up. Benchmark iron ore has slipped from its August high of nearly $143 to $132. Read more of this post

Jim Chanos Threw Down A Big Investment Theme Going Into 2014: Short companies that are dependent on China’s appetite for iron ore.

If You Listened Closely Yesterday, Jim Chanos Threw Down A Big Investment Theme Going Into 2014

LINETTE LOPEZ SEP. 25, 2013, 6:30 PM 6,289 3

Between the upper cuts and jabs Jim Chanos and Jim O’Neill threw out at yesterday’s Bloomberg Markets 50 conference, Chanos blew you all a kiss. Actually, it was better than a kiss. It was an investment theme for 2014. Bloomberg put together O’Neill — a known China bull, and the man who coined the term BRIC at Goldman Sachs —  and Chanos — CEO of hedge fund Kynikos Associates, and the loudest China bear on the planet — to see what kind of sparks would fly. It was fun, you should read about it. Anyway, if you listened closely to their discussion (watch it here), Tom Keene asked Chanos to give him a “concrete example of a concrete company” he couldn’t stand. Chanos answered: “I would say anybody that’s in the business of mining iron ore right now where supply is about to come on in late 2013 and 2014 whether demand holds up or not it’s going to be a difficult market for those people.” That statement immediately brings to mind two of Chanos’ short positions, both of which are companies that are dependent on China’s appetite for iron ore. Read more of this post

Taiwan Ting Hsin’s Dicos aims to be top fast-food chain in China as it celebrates the chain’s 2,000th restaurant in China

Taiwan-invested Dicos aims to be top fast-food chain in China

CNA 2013-09-26

Ting Hsin International Group, a Taiwanese-owned food manufacturer with a broad production base in China, said Tuesday that its Western-style fast-food restaurant chain Dicos aims to surpass KFC and McDonald’s to become the biggest in China. Dicos plans to open 25,000 outlets in China by 2040, Wei Ying-heng, chairman of the group, said at an event in Beijing to celebrate the opening of the chain’s 2,000th restaurant in China. Dicos, which opened its first restaurant in the western Chinese city of Chengdu in 1996, is able to attract many franchisees because of the large benefits it gives them, Wei said. Ninety percent of Dicos restaurants are franchise-operated. The company plans to have a total of 3,000 outlets by 2015, 4,000 by 2017 and 5,000 by 2020, Wei continued, adding that it aims to become the first “Chinese people’s own brand” to make it to top place. He said the penetration rate of fast-food restaurants in China’s 1.3 billion people market is still much lower than those in the United States and Japan, meaning that there are still many opportunities for expansion.

Unilever Tops Locals With Non-Dairy Ice Cream in India

Unilever Tops Locals With Non-Dairy Ice Cream in India

Real ice cream contains milk. That’s the message India’s biggest dairy producer is trying to hammer home as it loses ground to Unilever in the country’s booming frozen-treats market. Ice cream without milk is like cricket without world-beating batsman Sachin Tendulkar, Diwali without firecrackers, or a wedding without dancing, Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. claims in radio ads. The campaign seeks to highlight the lack of a key input in most of its global rival’s Indian products: cream, or any other dairy fat. Read more of this post

Pimco Sees Buffett’s India Dream Cut to Junk as Election Looms

Pimco Sees Buffett’s India Dream Cut to Junk as Election Looms

Little more than two years after Warren Buffett labeled India a “dream market,” the economy is expanding at the slowest pace in a decade and the nation’s debt ratings are at risk of being cut to junk. In the last three months, ArcelorMittal (MT) and Posco scrapped plans for $12 billion of investments, while global funds pulled $12.6 billion from Indian stocks and bonds. The exodus drove the rupee to a record low and caused short-term borrowing costs to soar, sending the government’s two-year bond yield to the biggest premium to the 10-year rate in Bloomberg data going back to 2001. Even Buffett packed up and left, with Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A) exiting an insurance distribution venture. Read more of this post

India’s Attack on Innovation; New Delhi’s discrimination against U.S. firms harms jobs and intellectual property

September 25, 2013, 1:02 p.m. ET

India’s Attack on Innovation

New Delhi’s discrimination against U.S. firms harms jobs and intellectual property.

ROD HUNTER

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Washington on Friday is an opportunity for President Barack Obama and the U.S. Congress to highlight a worrying development in the bilateral relationship: the Indian government’s discrimination against American firms and misappropriation of their intellectual capital. These actions punish our innovators and stifle job creation. Read more of this post

Singapore is looking at the possibility of an Underground Science City containing 40 interconnected caverns for data centers and research labs

September 25, 2013

Singapore Looks Below for More Room

By CALVIN YANG

SINGAPORE — Singapore, with a little less land mass than New York City, is running out of room for its 5.4 million people. The city-state has built upward — with apartment buildings reaching as high as 70 stories — reclaimed underused properties for housing and pushed out coastlines for more usable land. But as one of the world’s most crowded cities, and with projections for 1.5 million more people in the next 15 years, Singapore’s options are as limited as its space. Read more of this post

Zest-O Group founder buys Maybank unit for P3.2B ($34m)

Zest-O Group founder buys Maybank unit for P3.2B

By Neil Jerome C. Morales (The Philippine Star) | Updated September 26, 2013 – 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines – An investor group led by businessman and former ambassador Alfredo Yao is acquiring a majority stake in listed Maybank ATR Kim Eng Financial Corp. for more than P3 billion. The takeover stirred market speculations that Maybank ATR would become a backdoor listing vehicle of the Yao family’s Zest-O Group. “Maybank Kim Eng Holdings Ltd. (MKEHL) and Mazy’s Capital Inc. have entered into a share purchase agreement [yesterday] whereby MKEHL agreed to sell to the buyer a total of 958.923 million of its issued and outstanding common shares in Maybank ATR,” the company said in a disclosure. Read more of this post

New Zealand Policy Pioneer Wheeler Poised to Raise Rates in ’14

New Zealand Policy Pioneer Wheeler Poised to Raise Rates in ’14

Graeme Wheeler in his first year as New Zealand’s central bank chief pioneered the use of loan curbs to contain asset prices — eschewing higher interest rates. In his second, he’s poised to raise rates anyway. Wheeler is spurring an evolution at the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, becoming the first governor to use lending restrictions and forming a governor’s committee to advise on decisions. To help the economy withstand a strong currency, he also made the authority’s first publicly confirmed intervention in the foreign-exchange market since 2007. Read more of this post

Higher Interest Rates Won’t Stop Malaysian-based budget Malindo’s Rapid Growth?

Higher Interest Rates Won’t Stop Malindo’s Rapid Growth

By Eko Adityo Nugroho on 3:53 pm September 25, 2013.
Malindo Air aims acquire 100 aircraft in the next decade and to start offering some international flights exceeding five hours. (Reuters Photo)

Kuala Lumpur. The Malaysian-based budget carrier Malindo Air plans to spend $800 million in 2014 in order to expand its fleet with 10 new planes. Edward Sirait, Lion Air’s general director, said Malindo — a joint venture between Lion Mentari Airlines, the company behind Indonesia’s largest budget carrier Lion Air and Malaysia’s National Aerospace and Defense Industries — will expand to India and China next year with the additional planes. Read more of this post

Korean-branded bags are becoming more popular than ever here and even gaining global recognition.

2013-09-25 18:52

Bag makers gain growth momentum

By Rachel Lee

Domestic bags are becoming more popular than ever here and even gaining global recognition. According to the industry, such local brands as Helianthus, rouge& lounge, L’inoui and Tally, have grown to the level where some of them are ready to expand their business abroad. Both newly launched and established bag manufacturers have also been welcomed by the country’s major department stores in the past few years, competing with international designer brands. Read more of this post

Shinzo Abe: Unleashing the Power of ‘Womenomics’

September 25, 2013, 6:51 p.m. ET

Shinzo Abe: Unleashing the Power of ‘Womenomics’

Our goal in Japan is to boost women in the workforce significantly by 2020 and reduce pay disparity.

SHINZO ABE

I have no idea who first coined the word “Abenomics.” It was not my original term for the set of anti-deflation, growth-promotion policies I am now pursuing. I do know, however, who first promoted one concept that is a vital component of Abenomics: “Womenomics.” In 1999, Kathy Matsui and her colleagues at Goldman Sachs GS -0.40% first advocated that Japan could increase its gross domestic product by as much as 15% simply by tapping further its most underutilized resource—Japanese women. Read more of this post

Abenomics Peaking for Tocom Volume Means Focus on China, India

Abenomics Peaking for Tocom Volume Means Focus on China, India

Tokyo Commodity Exchange Inc., Japan’s biggest raw materials bourse, plans to attract more trading from investors in China and India to boost volume that’s peaking as the yen’s slide stalls near 100 to the dollar. “We want to see a further increase in participants from overseas,” President Tadashi Ezaki said in an interview in Tokyo yesterday. “Investors from emerging economies, such as China and India, are particularly welcome.” Read more of this post

Indonesian pen pushers take to the skies

September 25, 2013 8:58 am

Indonesian pen pushers take to the skies

By Ben Bland in Tangerang, Indonesia

Indonesian civil servants are swapping their desks for flight decks under an innovative scheme designed to plug the country’s acute shortage of pilots. With a rapidly expanding middle class, a population of 250m people and thousands of islands, Indonesia has one of the world’s fastest-growing aviation industries. But the supply of pilots has failed to keep pace. That is good news for the likes of Mohammad If Gobel, who has been able to ditch his desk job in Indonesia’s transportation ministry and realise a boyhood dream to take to the skies. Mr Gobel is one of 22 civil servants chosen to take part in the scheme. Read more of this post

An investor sold a duplex unit in Kowloon Tong at a loss of up to HK$1.8 million

Investor takes $1.8m hit
Thursday, September 26, 2013
An investor sold a duplex unit in Kowloon Tong at a loss of up to HK$1.8 million. Measuring 1,022 square feet, the apartment at Parc Oasis changed hands yesterday for HK$16.97 million, or HK$16,603 per sellable sq ft. The owner of the three-bedroom unit bought it in September 1997 for HK$18.02 million and then rented it out at about HK$34,000 a month. He suffered a paper loss of HK$1.05 million excluding stamp duties and other expenses such as agents’ commissions. It has taken more than a decade for most home prices to climb back to their 1997 level and it is rare for owners who bought their units then to lose money in the present market. In the primary market, Swire Properties (1972) will relaunch its luxury scheme Argenta in West Mid-Levels on Sunday. Sale of the remaining units could allow Swire to recoup HK$1.78 billion. Adrian To Wai-yip, residential division head at Swire Properties, said 21 of the 23 remaining units will be put on the market at an average HK$34,558 per sellable sq ft. Located at No63 Seymour Road, the 2,122-3,557 sq ft apartments are priced between HK$57.29 million and HK$225 million. Buyers of the 30-unit project could get a 4.75 percent discount for paying within 90 days. But prices of three units were raised by up to 8 percent even with the discount.

KAREN CHIU AND IMOGENE WONG

Chinese Coatmaker Bosideng Close to Buying Privately-Owned Loss-Making U.K. Apparel Chain

Chinese Coatmaker Bosideng Seeks Europe Deals to Boost Sales

Bosideng International Holdings Ltd. (3998), the Chinese coatmaker that runs a store in London’s West End, said it is close to buying a U.K. chain and has met with European luxury companies as it seeks deals on the continent. Bosideng is close to acquiring an 80-store apparel chain in England to sell its down jackets, and is also in early talks with European high-end coat brands about making a possible acquisition, Julie Sun, the company’s vice-president for corporate strategy and investor relations, said in an interview. Read more of this post

If Alibaba is really gone, what’s the point of Hong Kong? Alibaba stumble opens door for rethink

If Alibaba is really gone, what’s the point of Hong Kong?

By Heather Timmons September 25, 2013

The forthcoming IPO of Alibaba is much more than just a $14 billion funding orgy for one of the hottest technology companies in China. Alibaba’s choice of a stock exchange to list its shares—in Hong Kong or, as seems increasingly likely, somewhere else—is a telltale indicator for the finance industry-beholden city. The Internet commerce giant let it be known that it wanted its current executives to control the company after it goes public, and that it will not list in Hong Kong unless the exchange relaxes a rule prohibiting dual-stock listings. Today, Alibaba took its toughest swing yet, saying through unnamed sources that talks with Hong Kong were over, and that it is headed to New York. Read more of this post

Real Men Use Mud Masks as Toiletries Win in Guy Grooming

Real Men Use Mud Masks as Toiletries Win in Guy Grooming

Paul Bopp is not a metrosexual.

The 38-year-old father of four played football in college, loves bourbon and never pays more than $20 for a haircut. Yet every evening, he applies wrinkle-fighting Olay skin cream to battle the crow’s feet around his eyes. “It’s 25 bucks for a bottle, but it’s worth it,” said Bopp, a wealth manager in Columbia, South Carolina. “My dad looked like he was 60 when he was 42. I don’t want that. The days of being a Neanderthal are over.” Read more of this post

Nike’s Fans Should Start Sweating; At Its Richest Valuation in Several Years, Nike Can’t Afford to Slow Down

Updated September 25, 2013, 6:01 p.m. ET

Nike’s Fans Should Start Sweating

At Its Richest Valuation in Several Years, Nike Can’t Afford to Slow Down

SPENCER JAKAB

Nike Inc. NKE -0.73% is flying high these days—maybe too high. The last time its stock fetched the same multiple of forward earnings, 23 times, Michael Jordan was suiting up for NBA All-Star game. It most recently fetched today’s price-to-sales ratio even longer ago, when he had one more NBA championship ahead of him. “His Airness” turned 50 earlier this year. The sportswear giant and its pitch man are both known for improbable comebacks. And a company, unlike even an exceptional athlete, is immune to the ravages of age.

Read more of this post

Burger King Tries to Satisfry; The technical brilliance behind these fries may be their commercial downfall

Burger King Tries to Satisfry

“Satisfries.” The best part of Burger King Worldwide Inc.’s greasy (but not too greasy) creation may well be the name. According to Burger King, Satisfries, which premiered in North America yesterday, have 40 percent less fat and 30 percent fewer calories than McDonald’s fries.That’s due to a coating that is supposed to be less porous, resulting in decreased oil absorption. Read more of this post

IMF team to probe Australian housing bubble risk

IMF team to probe Australian housing bubble risk

Published 24 September 2013 11:25, Updated 25 September 2013 06:38

John Kehoe

The International Monetary Fund will investigate any risks posed by surging housing prices when it sends a team of economists to Australia later this year. The IMF is scheduled to conduct its annual Article IV consultation on the Australian economy in November, with financial stability and the hot housing market expected to be key issues analysed. The timing of the visit will coincide with an ongoing debate among investors, banks and regulators about whether low interest rates are inflating a dangerous house price bubble. The Reserve Bank’s quarterly financial stability review, to be released on Wednesday, will provide more guidance about the bank’s views on the market. Read more of this post

U.S. Running Out of Cash More Quickly; Treasury Now Sees Crunch by Oct. 17; No Deal to Fund Government in Sight

Updated September 25, 2013, 7:35 p.m. ET

U.S. Running Out of Cash More Quickly

Treasury Now Sees Crunch by Oct. 17; No Deal to Fund Government in Sight

DAMIAN PALETTA and KRISTINA PETERSON

WASHINGTON—The government is closer to running out of money to pay its bills than previously thought, the Treasury Department warned Wednesday, clarifying the fiscal deadlines confronting Congress amid continued disarray on Capitol Hill. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said the government would be left with just $30 billion cash on hand “no later” than Oct. 17, and the Congressional Budget Office predicted these funds would be used up between Oct. 22 and Oct. 31 if legislation isn’t enacted to raise the ceiling on government borrowing. Read more of this post

SMSF property boom has Abbott Government worried

SMSF property boom has Abbott Government worried

Published 26 September 2013 08:19, Updated 26 September 2013 08:20

Fleur Anderson

Assistant Treasurer Arthur Sinodinos is another with concerns about the SMSF property binge. The Abbott government wants to ­create a “level playing field” between different types of retirement nest eggs following tax changes in 2007 that ­triggered an $80 billion surge into property by self-managed super funds. Assistant Treasurer Arthur Sinodinos told The Australian Financial Review he wanted to make sure SMSFs did not have an advantage over industry and retail super funds. Read more of this post

Top banks have $155 billion capital shortfall, most in Europe

Top banks have $155 billion capital shortfall, most in Europe

7:49am EDT

By Huw Jones

LONDON (Reuters) – The world’s biggest banks would need to boost their capital by 115 billion euros ($155 billion) to comply with tougher rules and more than 60 percent of that shortfall is in Europe, where lenders have been slower to strengthen. The capital shortfall fell by 83 billion euros during the second half of last year as banks retained more of their profits and raised capital, although the pace of improvement was not as quick in Europe as elsewhere. Read more of this post

No Escape From Jail or Fines in Global Market-Abuse Clampdown

No Escape From Jail or Fines in Global Market-Abuse Clampdown

Crooked bankers and insider traders would have no safe havens under planned global guidelines for market-abuse penalties, amid concerns some countries don’t have strict enough rules. Culprits should face prison or tough fines regardless of where they are based, said David Wright, secretary general of the International Organization of Securities Commissions, a group of global regulators working on principles for how different offenses should be punished. Read more of this post

Latin America Is Poised for Slower Growth

September 25, 2013, 5:12 p.m. ET

Latin America Is Poised for Slower Growth

Potential U.S. Taper, Lower Commodity Prices Weigh on Gains

DAN MOLINSKI

BOGOTA—Latin America is poised for one of its slowest economic growth rates in a decade this year, a top official at the International Monetary Fund said Wednesday, as the U.S. signals that its easy-money policies that helped prop up the region could begin to taper off amid a drop in commodity prices. “We’ve already seen a significant slowdown in the region’s economies during the first half of this year,” Alejandro Werner, director of the Washington-based IMF’s Western-hemisphere department, said at a conference in Bogota. “Except for 2009, when Latin American economies shrank due to the global financial crisis, this year will see the lowest growth rate in 10 years.” Read more of this post

Gross Says Investors Shouldn’t Trust Moody’s on U.S. AAA Rating

Gross Says Investors Shouldn’t Trust Moody’s on U.S. AAA Rating

Investors shouldn’t trust the opinion of Moody’s Investors Service on the U.S.’s Aaa rating and should rely instead on the company’s competitors, according to Pacific Investment Management Co. founder Bill Gross. Moody’s and the U.S. Treasury are one “happy family,” Gross, manager of the world’s biggest bond fund, said today in a post on Twitter. “Trust S&P, Fitch & Egan Jones” for credit ratings, he wrote. Mark Porterfield, a spokesman for Newport Beach, California-based Pimco, said Gross was referring to Moody’s stance on the U.S. debt limit and potential for a government shutdown. Read more of this post

Americans Turn on Washington, 68% Say Wrong Track in Poll; Majority of Americans Doubt Benefits of Fed Stimulus

Americans Turn on Washington, 68% Say Wrong Track in Poll

As the U.S. heads toward a potential government shutdown or default, the public is more alienated from Washington than at any time since the aftermath of the 2011 downgrade of the nation’s credit rating. President Barack Obama’s 47 percent favorability rating and the 34 percent positive reading for Republicans are the worst ever for both in the Bloomberg National Poll, which began in 2009. The 44 percent approval rating of the Democratic Party is at a two-year low. Read more of this post

Hong Kong, Seoul Follow Beijing in Raising Cab Fares in Asia

Hong Kong, Seoul Follow Beijing in Raising Cab Fares in Asia

Hong Kong and Seoul followed Beijing in increasing taxi fares for the first time in years after disgruntled cab drivers complained they weren’t getting paid enough to be hailed all day. Starting Dec. 8, the base fare in Hong Kong island will rise for the first time since 2011, increasing by HK$2 ($0.26) to HK$22 for the first 2 kilometers (1.2 miles), the government said on its website yesterday. In Seoul, the base fare will rise by 600 won ($0.56) to 3,000 won, the first increase since 2009, though the starting date will be determined later, the city said in an e-mailed statement. Read more of this post