It’s Not The Stock Market That Young People Don’t Trust, It’s The Advisers

It’s Not The Stock Market That Young People Don’t Trust, It’s The Advisers

“Millennials” are remarkably conservative investors, if they invest at all, in part because of their lack of faith in financial advisers. But a new breed of software-based advisers like Wealthfront and Betterment is banking on them still trusting the market.posted on June 19, 2014, at 12:23 a.m.

Matthew ZeitlinBuzzFeed Staff

“What people want is not to fuck it up,” said Jon Stein, the 34-year-old founder and chief executive officer of Betterment, a software-based financial advice company.

Stein is referring to the massive skepticism people have — particularly the twentysomething cohort collectively referred to as “millennials” — about investing in the stock market, which is driven by the sting of witnessing their first financial crisis five years ago and the lack of faith in traditional financial advisers it engendered. Young people, who according to standard investment advice should be taking more risk by investing in stocks and having greater long-run returns, are instead holding more money in cash. This means that a large number of them have been sitting out a sustained run up in asset values. The S&P 500, for instance, returned 32% in 2013 and 91% since 2010. Read more of this post

China warehouse fraud scandal weighs on iron ore price; It is estimated that as much as 40 per cent of the iron ore sitting at Chinese ports is being used as collateral

China scandal weighs on iron ore price

June 23, 2014 – 10:51AM

James Thomson

Hopes of a recovery in the iron ore price could be dashed by reports that a financing scandal has put the brakes on imports of iron ore and copper at key Chinese ports.

Just days after iron ore minnow Termite Resources shuttered its Cairn Hill iron ore mine in South Australia, reports in the Wall Street Journal suggest that banks are examining allegations that a Chinese trading company pledged metal as collateral to more than one lender.

Chinese traders have long used commodities such as iron ore and copper as collateral to borrow from overseas, thus avoiding both China’s capital controls and its higher interest rates. Read more of this post

Nine senior executives of Hong Kong-listed VODone (0082), some call it China’s YouTube, have reportedly been removed from their posts for alleged bribery

Hazy on VODone 
Monday, June 23, 2014
The integrity of a listed company is so important. Hong Kong-listed VODone (0082), some call it China’s YouTube, was down 9 percent before trading was suspended on Friday.

Nine senior executives of China Mobile Games and Entertainment, a US-listed subsidiary of VODone, have reportedly been removed from their posts for alleged bribery.

VODone stock is known to be volatile and price fluctuations have always been accompanied by good and bad news. Whether you make huge profits or losses depends on on whether you know what they announce.

Playing with numbers – and dynamite: The nearly 700,000 people who have voted so far in the unofficial referendum on the SAR’s electoral reforms must be taken seriously

Playing with numbers – and dynamite
Mary Ma
Monday, June 23, 2014
The nearly 700,000 people who have voted so far in the unofficial referendum on the SAR’s electoral reforms must be taken seriously.

Online voting was augmented by the 48,000 who turned up at polling booths to vote on proposals calling for genuine universal suffrage.

No doubt, the turnout will have Occupy Central initiator Benny Tai Yiu- ting and company dancing with joy. Read more of this post

8 leading Chinese real-estate firms face mounting risk: Wanda, R&F, Evergrande, Aoyuan, China Overseas Grand Ocean Group, China South City Holdings, CIFI, Fantasia

8 Chinese real-estate firms face mounting risk: report

Liang Shih-huang and Staff Reporter

2014-06-22

US financial services company Standard & Poor’s recently listed eight leading real-estate firms in China and Hong Kong that are facing liquidity risks and a breach of contract violation because of capital pressure exerted by declining sales.

The firm stated that eight leading real-state companies in China, namely, China Aoyuan Property Group, China Overseas Grand Ocean Group, China South City Holdings, CIFI Holdings, Wanda Commercial Properties, Fantasia Holdings, R&F Properties and Evergrande Real Estate Group, had reported debt growth of over 50% in 2013. Read more of this post

Guangdong tycoon behind share listings of local firms

Guangdong tycoon behind share listings of local firms

Staff Reporter

2014-06-23

Timber tycoon Liu Shaoxi, founder and chairman of the Guangdong-based Yihua Enterprise Group, has been a key player behind the share listings of local companies from the southern region, reports Guangzhou’s Time Weekly.

Founded in 1995, Yihua alongside its subsidiary Guangdong Yihua Timber, was the first private business in Shantou city in Guangdong to launch a listing in Shanghai on Aug. 24, 2004. Read more of this post

CCTV report shows public Wi-Fi connections are unsafe

CCTV report shows public Wi-Fi connections are unsafe

Staff Reporter

2014-06-22

Wireless internet connections may have considerable hidden security threats, according to a report by China’s state broadcaster CCTV that suggested some free Wi-Fi hotspots in public places such as train stations and coffee shops might allow the private information of internet users to be stolen easily without them being aware of it.

Chinese media outlets had reported earlier that a woman was swindled out of 2,000 yuan (US$320) after connecting to a free Wi-Fi hotspot. Read more of this post

10,000 Chinese steel traders defaulting on credit card debt

10,000 Chinese steel traders defaulting on credit card debt

Staff Reporter

2014-06-22

More than 10,000 owners of Chinese steel trade firms are behind on credit card payments with several billion yuan involved, and banks in Ningde in southeastern China’s Fujian province are giving discounts to help debtors pay back what they owe, Guangzhou’s Time Weekly reports.

After checking with Shanghai’s chamber of commerce, the previous preferential treatment from banks offering 20% discount in principal payments has been abolished, and instead the program is adopting installment payments and late fee waivers. Shanghai Pudong Development Bank and Bank of Shanghai are promoting similar schemes to handle delinquent payments. Read more of this post

Chinese leader to tour Samsung Electronics during South Korea visit

Updated : 2014-06-22 11:55

Chinese leader to tour Samsung Electronics during South Korea visit

Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to tour a main Samsung Electronics facility when he visits South Korea early next month, industry sources said Sunday.
Xi will be guided by the company’s vice chairman Lee Jay-yong, the heir-apparent of Samsung Group, and they will also hold talks, the sources said. The tour was arranged at Samsung’s request, they said.
Xi is expected in South Korea in the first week of July. Japanese media reports said he will visit on July 3-4.
The Chinese president will tour the tech giant’s facility either in Suwon or Kiheung, both just about 40 kilometers south of Seoul, according to the sources. He toured the Samsung plant in 2005 when he was a party official. In 2007, he visited the Samsung plant in the Chinese city of Suzhou.
Xi and Lee previously met in 2010 when Xi was vice president. (Yonhap)

Normalising interest rates should be more like scaling back emergency medicine than invasive surgery; David Miles, a member of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee, expects to vote for a rate rise in the coming months

Normalising interest rates should be more like scaling back emergency medicine than invasive surgery

David Miles, a member of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee, expects to vote for a rate rise in the coming months

Economics professor Miles also said it was “wildly unlikely” that interest rates would return to pre-crisis levels of around 5pc Photo: Bloomberg News

By David Miles

9:00PM BST 22 Jun 2014

I was surprised to discover recently that I am shortly to become the longest-serving member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee. Read more of this post

Infosys CEO: How to lead in a post-financial crisis era

Infosys CEO: How to lead in a post-financial crisis era

S.D Shibulal

@FortuneMagazine

JUNE 20, 2014, 9:16 AM EDT

As demanding as it may sound, today’s leaders are expected to be a jack of all trades and masters, too.

Corporations across the world and the leaders at its helm are often seeking answers to a much-debated question: What are the ideal qualities of a leader? There is no dearth of answers that one can find on this topic. For a simple reason that there are no easy answers. There isn’t a “one size fits all” response. In my own leadership journey spanning over three decades, my experience has been no different. Every corporation and every leader, I believe, discovers leadership qualities through their own unique journeys. What works for one may not necessarily work for another. What I have come to understand is that while certain fundamental qualities of a leader are time and context invariant, there are others that need to evolve with the changing times. Read more of this post

Mud Flung as Indonesia Presidential Race Heats Up

Mud Flung as Indonesia Presidential Race Heats Up

By Randy Fabi on 12:24 pm Jun 22, 2014

Jakarta. One of the two hopefuls in Indonesia’s presidential election has been accused of being a closet Christian, the other of being a foreigner and unfit to lead the nation.

As the race for the presidency tightens, mudslinging between supporters of Jakarta Governor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and ex-general Prabowo Subianto is increasing, forcing even the police to get involved.

Jokowi’s team asked the police this month to arrest the publisher of a little-known tabloid after it falsely reported that the Muslim governor from the Javanese city of Solo was an ethnic Chinese Christian. Read more of this post

Malaysia’s Tiny, Strutting Serama Chickens Gain Fans; “These beautiful tiny birds gives you great pleasure to own”

Malaysia’s Tiny, Strutting Serama Chickens Gain Fans

By Agence France-Presse on 08:11 pm Jun 21, 2014

A judge watches as a serama chicken struts down a table during a beauty contest in Kampung Pandan, Kuala Lumpur on May 17, 2014. (AFP Photo/Manan Vatsyayana)

Kampung Pandan, Malaysia. Marching imperiously with a puffed-out chest and soldier’s ramrod posture, Mohamad Hatta Yahaya’s tiny chicken strutted its rich yellow plumage for a stone-faced judge. Read more of this post

The Search for a New Paradigm in Indonesia’s Asean Policy; Indonesia Likely to Be More Inward-Looking

The Search for a New Paradigm in Indonesia’s Asean Policy

By Aleksius Jemadu on 07:19 pm Jun 22, 2014

Judging from their vision and mission especially with regard to the issue of foreign policy, the presidential hopefuls, Prabowo Subianto and Joko Widodo, seem to realize that a fundamental change has to be made in Indonesia’s policy toward the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. As far as Prabowo is concerned, he goes even further as saying that Asean reflects the old mindset that needs to be changed for the sake of a more progressive foreign policy. While Joko is not as radical as that, he seeks to have a larger scope for foreign policy maneuvering by embracing the idea of engaging the Indo-Pacific region. What has driven the candidates to review the so-called cornerstone of Indonesia’s foreign policy under President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono that has been backed so staunchly by Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa? Read more of this post

Joko, Prabowo Outline Their Economic Strategy in Kadin Dialogue

Joko, Prabowo Outline Their Economic Strategy in Kadin Dialogue

By Tito Summa Siahaan on 10:15 pm Jun 22, 2014

Jakarta. Presidential candidates Joko Widodo and Prabowo Subianto and their running mates had equal time and a fair chance to outline their economic strategies to members of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Friday.

It appeared, however, that by the end of the event the local business community was more convinced by the direction of Joko’s detailed micro-economic approach rather than Prabowo’s broadly stated grand vision. Read more of this post

Corporate debt troubles China, bond market overtakes that of US

Updated: Monday June 23, 2014 MYT 6:54:09 AM

Corporate debt troubles China, bond market overtakes that of US

BY YAP LENG JUEN

THE fact that China is financing a quarter to a third of its corporate debt of US$14.2 trillion at the end of last year, through the shadow banking sector, is a cause of concern.

“This means that as much as 10% of global corporate debt is exposed to the risk of a contraction in China’s informal banking sector,” Standard & Poor’s (S&P) said, estimating this at US$4 trillion to US$5 trillion. Read more of this post

7-Eleven Malaysia introducing new cafe-lifestyle concept, including seating areas

Updated: Monday June 23, 2014 MYT 7:16:01 AM

7-Eleven introducing new cafe-lifestyle concept, including seating areas

BY LIZ LEE

KUALA LUMPUR: Through its plans to expand network and refurbish some selected stores, 7-Eleven Malaysia Holdings Bhd targets to introduce a new concept in 200 outlets in the next three to four years. Read more of this post

Shinzo Abe’s ‘Third Arrow’ Seeks a Hard Target in Japan

Shinzo Abe’s ‘Third Arrow’ Seeks a Hard Target in Japan

New Growth Measures Chip Around the Edges of Nation’s Economic Foundations

JACOB M. SCHLESINGER

June 22, 2014 2:09 p.m. ET

TOKYO—Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has made strides over the past year to end Japan’s long bout of debilitating deflation. He’ll announce still more measures this week designed to stir economic growth. Read more of this post

Dying Every Day: Seneca at the Court of Nero

Dying Every Day: Seneca at the Court of Nero Hardcover – Deckle Edge

by James Romm (Author)

From acclaimed classical historian, author of Ghost on the Throne (“Gripping . . . the narrative verve of a born writer and the erudition of a scholar” —Daniel  Mendelsohn) and editor of The Landmark Arrian:The Campaign of Alexander (“Thrilling” —The New York Times Book Review), a  high-stakes drama full of murder, madness, tyranny, perversion, with the sweep of history on the grand scale.
At the center, the tumultuous life of Seneca, ancient Rome’s preeminent writer and philosopher, beginning with banishment in his fifties and subsequent appointment as tutor to twelve-year-old Nero, future emperor of Rome. Controlling them both, Nero’s mother, Julia Agrippina the Younger, Roman empress, great-granddaughter of the Emperor Augustus, sister of the Emperor Caligula, niece and fourth wife of Emperor Claudius.         Read more of this post

After port fraud, China’s vast warehouse sector under scrutiny

After port fraud, China’s vast warehouse sector under scrutiny

5:15pm EDT

By Melanie Burton and Fayen Wong

SYDNEY/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Shaken by a fraud investigation into metal financing in the world’s seventh-busiest port, banks and trading houses have been made painfully aware of the risks they face storing commodities in China’s sprawling warehouse sector.

The probe at Qingdao port centers around a private metals trading firm suspected of duplicating warehouse certificates in order to use a metal cargo multiple times to raise financing. Read more of this post

Chinese consumers switch gears from cash to credit for car buys

Chinese consumers switch gears from cash to credit for car buys

5:18pm EDT

By Samuel Shen and Umesh Desai

SHANGHAI/HONG KONG (Reuters) – In a country where owning a car has long been a symbol of luxury and success, around 85 percent of Chinese car buyers still buy cars with cash.

But people like Chinese accountant Grace Mi and her peers in their 20s and 30s are changing the car financing game and are the ones catching the attention of global carmakers looking to boost revenue and defend margins in an increasingly competitive market. Read more of this post

Key lessons from London’s bus services

Key lessons from London’s bus services

Two weeks ago, I headed to London for a trip sponsored by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to learn about the bus system there, armed with a sceptical attitude.

BY JOY FANG –

JUNE 23

Two weeks ago, I headed to London for a trip sponsored by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to learn about the bus system there, armed with a sceptical attitude.

London’s bus system has often made the news for the wrong reasons. Fare hikes, choking traffic and bus driver strikes — the most recent was in 2012, which was over demands for a £500 (S$1,060) Olympics bonus and brought services to a halt — often make the headlines there. Read more of this post

Solomon Lew weighs options for David Jones’ property portfolio

Solomon Lew weighs options for David Jones’ property portfolio

June 23, 2014

Carolyn Cummins

Speculation is mounting that Solomon Lew could strike a deal with the South African Woolworths group to buy the David Jones property portfolio, independently valued at $612 million.

According to property analysts, such a deal would allow Mr Lew to exit the David Jones takeover battle, where he has bought a strategic stake in the department store, which has left investors and Woolworths unsure of his intentions. Read more of this post

Rod Sims: ”I always find it irritating when people say Australia has picked all the low-hanging micro-economic reform fruit. We have not; and besides, there is never only one crop,’

Rod Sims warns on privatisation impact on competition

June 23, 2014

Brian Robins

The head of the consumer watchdog has warned that competition policy needs to be reinvigorated, with governments increasingly failing to make competition central to the privatisation of public assets.

As a result, the federal government needs to ensure the present review of competition policy, the so-called Harper review, is used to both strengthen competition policy as well as to help reinvigorate so-called ”micro-economic reform”, ongoing changes to government policy to revitalise the economy. Read more of this post

The reluctance of United Overseas Bank (UOB) to follow its local rivals in making huge bets on China looks to be paying off in the wake of the mainland’s economic slowdown

UOB’s cautious China policy paying off

Saturday, Jun 21, 2014

Rennie Whang

The Straits Times

SINGAPORE – The reluctance of United Overseas Bank (UOB) to follow its local rivals in making huge bets on China looks to be paying off in the wake of the mainland’s economic slowdown.

UOB took a cautious approach to the mainland despite the hype surrounding its rapid growth and opted instead to expand its presence in the fast-growing ASEAN region. Read more of this post

Thais hit Cambodia casinos to sidestep junta betting blitz

Thais hit Cambodia casinos to sidestep junta betting blitz

Sunday, June 22, 2014 – 13:26

AFP

POIPET, Cambodia – Desperate for a flutter during a junta crackdown on gambling at home, Thais are making a beeline for casinos in a seedy Cambodian border town – which has already been deluged by migrants also fleeing the kingdom. Read more of this post