Crackdown Betrays Breadth of Beijing’s Challenges

Mar 18, 2014
Crackdown Betrays Breadth of Beijing’s Challenges
By Stanley Lubman
The severity of China’s current crackdown on outspoken activists is an expression of the anxiety that has taken hold of the Party-state. Two recent criminal proceedings involving public protests illustrate the depth, but also the breadth, of that anxiety.

Read more of this post

Hong Kong’s Alibaba Lament

Hong Kong’s Alibaba Lament
AARON BACK
March 18, 2014 8:42 a.m. ET
Hong Kong regulators are sticking to their “one share, one vote” principles. But that doesn’t make the territory friendly to ordinary investors.

Read more of this post

What Will It Take for the Fed to Raise Rates?

What Will It Take for the Fed to Raise Rates?
SPENCER JAKAB
March 18, 2014 3:29 p.m. ET
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
At least that is the impression the Federal Reserve has given financial markets. Since short-term interest rates were set near zero more than five years ago, the timeline for raising them has been a moving target. First there was “some time” which became “an extended period.” Seeking more specifics, the market was then told rates would begin to rise in mid-2013, by late 2014 and then mid-2015.

Read more of this post

Indonesia’s leadership transition: Will Jakarta’s foreign policy change?

Indonesia’s leadership transition: Will Jakarta’s foreign policy change?
Indonesia will undergo a significant transformation this year, as the country will hold national elections to choose new legislators at both the national and regional levels, as well as elect a new President to succeed Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who has been in power since 2004.
MARCH 19
Indonesia will undergo a significant transformation this year, as the country will hold national elections to choose new legislators at both the national and regional levels, as well as elect a new President to succeed Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who has been in power since 2004.

Read more of this post

David Jones, Myer elephant in the room: What’s the big deal?

David Jones, Myer elephant in the room: What’s the big deal?
March 19, 2014
Adele Ferguson
Investors will pore over the earnings results of David Jones and Myer this week – and demand an update on their property plans in Sydney’s CBD – as the focus intensifies on the elephant in the room: a $3 billion merger proposal between the two department store giants.

Read more of this post

OECD report: Poverty engulfing many Australians

OECD report: Poverty engulfing many Australians
March 19, 2014
Dan Harrison
Child poverty is on the rise and fewer of us are donating to charity, according to a report that brings into question Australia’s self-perception as the land of the fair go.

Read more of this post

Jokowi signals that “Ahok” Basuki will run Jakarta; said his minority status as a Chinese and Christian was no issue

Jokowi signals that Basuki will run Jakarta
Tuesday, March 18, 2014 – 07:00
Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja Indonesia Correspondent
The Straits Times
Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo, a candidate for the presidential election, said he will decide whether to step aside or take extended leave and go on non-active status after the April 9 general election.

Read more of this post

The Path of Lease Resistance: Many CFOs now agree that companies should put leases on the balance sheet. It’s the how that has them up in arms

March 18, 2014
CFO Magazine
The Path of Lease Resistance
Many CFOs now agree that companies should put leases on the balance sheet. It’s the how that has them up in arms.
David M. Katz

The latest chapter in the long-running saga on lease accounting began in January, when the Financial Accounting Standards Board started to mull the proposals in its May 2013 exposure draft, Leases (Topic 842). If approved, the new rules could add hundreds of billions of dollars to the liabilities on corporate balance sheets.

Read more of this post

Hong Kong craft beer revolution hops along

Hong Kong craft beer revolution hops along
Tuesday, March 18, 2014 – 10:58
AFP
HONG KONG – Rohit Dugar moved to Hong Kong from New York three years ago and quickly realised that he didn’t like any of the beer there. So he decided to make his own.

Read more of this post

On the eve of a new accounting standard, readers vigorously debate whether operating leases can be considered debt leverage

March 18, 2014
CFO.com | US
Readers Sound Off: Are Leases Debt?
On the eve of a new accounting standard, readers vigorously debate whether operating leases can be considered leverage.
David M. Katz
With the world’s leading accounting standards setters on the verge of voting in a new lease accounting regime beginning at a meeting on Tuesday, questions remain about whether all leases can be regarded as debt.

Read more of this post

Will China Let More Corporate Bond Issuers Default? Overcapacity and depressed prices threaten many of the country’s corporate borrowers, who have gorged on debt for six years

March 18, 2014
CFO.com | US
Will China Let More Corporate Bond Issuers Default?
Overcapacity and depressed prices threaten many of the country’s corporate borrowers, who have gorged on debt for six years.
Vincent Ryan
Are Chinese corporate debt markets headed for a big fall? First there was the bailout of China Credit Trust Co., followed by the first default in China’s onshore bond market, by Shanghai Chaori Solar Energy Science & Technology. Now, Chinese banks are reportedly cutting lending to certain corporate sectors by as much as 20 percent, according to a story in Reuters, and there are more jitters in the $1.5 trillion (9 trillion yuan) bond market.

Read more of this post

China’s Xi urges officials to make “spicy” efforts to “sweat” corruption out of system

China’s Xi urges officials to “sweat” corruption out of system
Tuesday, March 18, 2014 – 19:23
Reuters
BEIJING – Chinese President Xi Jinping urged rural officials on Tuesday to make “spicy” efforts to”sweat” corruption out of their systems, state news agency Xinhua reported, as he pressed on with his campaign to crack down on deep-rooted graft. “The weapons of criticism and self-criticism should be well-wielded, with some spice to make every party official blush and sweat a little,” Xi said during a visit to a rural area in central China’s Henan province called Lankao, Xinhua said.

Read more of this post

PBOC Denies It Will Bail Out Collapsed Real Estate Developer While Chinese Property Developer Market Crashes

PBOC Denies It Will Bail Out Collapsed Real Estate Developer While Chinese Property Developer Market Crashes
Tyler Durden on 03/18/2014 10:15 -0400
In yesterday’s most underreported story, which we noted first thing yesterday morning, China is on the verge of a second bond default just weeks after Solar cell maker, Chaori Solar, defaulted earlier this month, this time Zhejiang Xingrun (appropriately abbreviated ZX): a real-estate developer which just collapsed after its largest shareholder was arrested and which has some CNY3.5 billion in debt and furthermore the company was revealed to have been taking deposits from individuals offering annual interest between 18% and 36%.

Read more of this post

What Is Tesla Worth? According To Goldman It Depends If Elon Musk Is Steve Jobs, A Maytag Repairman, Or Henry Ford

What Is Tesla Worth? According To Goldman It Depends If Elon Musk Is Steve Jobs, A Maytag Repairman, Or Henry Ford
Tyler Durden on 03/18/2014 09:29 -0400
Goldman Sachs is bearish on TSLA with a $200 price target (currently trading at $236) but… provides bulls with all the hope they need to justify stock prices rising to at least $478. Laying out 5 scenarios on the company’s path to 2025, the analyst shies from his base-case and downside-risk perspective to reflect on the possibility that TSLA is truly disruptive. Depending on whether Elon Musk is Steve Jobs (iPhone projections), Henry Ford (Model T projections), or a Maytag Repairman (Consumer Durable projections), TSLA’s upside is enormous as all of our three “disruptive outcomes” imply meaningful upside to the current share price.

Read more of this post

Acer’s Headquarters Searched in Probe of Alleged Insider Trading

Acer’s Headquarters Searched in Probe of Alleged Insider Trading
Investigation Also Included Search of Homes of Some Employees of the PC Maker, Prosectors Said
ARIES POON
March 18, 2014 8:34 a.m. ET
TAIPEI—Prosecutors in Taiwan searched the headquarters of Acer Inc. 2353.TW -0.82%and some employees’ homes Tuesday as part of an investigation into alleged insider trading of the personal-computer maker’s shares.
The New Taipei District Prosecutors Office said 10 people, some of whom are current Acer employees, were detained and questioned. They are suspected of “violating the Securities and Exchange Act” and “conducting insider-trading activities,” the office said.

Read more of this post

Tough Job Market Spurs Boom in Skills Certificates in Korea

Mar 18, 2014
Tough Job Market Spurs Boom in Skills Certificates
JEYUP S. KWAAK
Faced with stiff competition in the job market, young South Koreans often turn to professional certificates to gain an advantage. That trend has spawned thousands of new certificates in recent years and a growing testing service industry.

Read more of this post

China’s central bank mulls Alibaba, Tencent payment curbs

China’s central bank mulls Alibaba, Tencent payment curbs
8:26am EDT
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s central bank is considering regulations that would significantly limit the size of payments made through Chinese Internet firms including Alibaba Holding Group and Tencent Holdings Ltd.

Read more of this post

Thai government lifts Bangkok emergency, crisis far from over

Thai government lifts Bangkok emergency, crisis far from over

4:36am EDT
By Aukkarapon Niyomyat

BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand is lifting a state of emergency in Bangkok, taking a step to restore some confidence as anti-government protests subside, though the crisis has entered a new phase with Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra besieged by legal challenges.

Read more of this post

Australia’s David Jones to assess $3 billion Myer merger

Australia’s David Jones to assess $3 billion Myer merger
Mon, Mar 17 2014
SYDNEY (Reuters) – David Jones Ltd (DJS.AX: Quote,Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Australia’s second-biggest department store chain, said it will investigate the value of a proposed merger with Myer Holdings Ltd (MYR.AX:Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the strongest sign yet that it will consider the A$3.4 billion ($3.09 billion) deal.

Read more of this post

FASB Looks into Simplifying Goodwill Standards for Public Companies

FASB Looks into Simplifying Goodwill Standards for Public Companies
BY MICHAEL COHN
MARCH 17, 2014
Last November, the Financial Accounting Standards Board endorsed simplifying the accounting standards that private companies use in measuring and reporting goodwill, and FASB is currently looking into the possibility of changing the standards for public companies too.

Read more of this post

Organised gangs have a growing appetite for food crime

Organised gangs have a growing appetite for food crime
Mar 15th 2014 | From the print edition
GANGSTERS used to send their enemies to sleep with the fishes. Today they are more likely to mislabel the fishes and sell them at a profit. Organised criminals who have long trafficked drugs are diversifying into humdrum areas of commerce—particularly food, booze and cheap consumer goods.

Read more of this post

Why French trade unions are so strong

Why French trade unions are so strong
Mar 17th 2014, 23:50 by S.P. | PARIS
FRENCH unions are due to take to the streets again on March 18th for a day of action and protest. This time they will be campaigning for better wages and against the government’s plans to reduce corporate payroll taxes. Scarcely a month goes by without some French profession or other holding a demonstration, or manif. On separate days recently, trade unions representing midwives, civil servants and audio-visual technicians have each taken their grievances to the streets. Why are French unions so strong?

Read more of this post

Corporate Insiders Most Bearish In 24 Years

Corporate Insiders Most Bearish In 24 Years
Tyler Durden on 03/17/2014 20:45 -0400
Just last week Goldman noted that February was “the busiest month in the buyback desk’s history,” so one has to wonder just what management is thinking when the Wall Street Journal reports that corporate insiders are more bearish than they have been at least since 1990. According to this adjusted measure, there have been two prior occasions when the insider ratio got almost as bearish as it is today – early 2007 and early 2011 – and the first came a half a year before the beginning of the worst bear market since the 1930s. Simply put, it seems management teams are using their company’s balance sheet as their own personal piggybank.

Read more of this post

SEC Freezes Bugatti-Driving 26-Year-Old “AwesomePennyStocks” Owner’s Assets

SEC Freezes Bugatti-Driving 26-Year-Old “AwesomePennyStocks” Owner’s Assets
Tyler Durden on 03/17/2014 19:54 -0400
“Compared to the ones I ran into,” noted former-SEC chief, John Babikian’s ‘AwesomePennyStocks’ fraud “is the biggest on ever.” AsBloomberg reports, short-sellers and stock promoters have puzzled for years over who operated one of the largest penny-stock websites. A U.S. lawsuit points to a Bugatti-driving 26-year-old from Montreal. The SEC is freezing Babikian’s assets, including two homes and the proceeds of selling a fractional interest in a plane. “The traditional Stratton Oakmont has been replaced by the opt-in newsletter… the world of pump-and-dumps occurs in the shadows.” Welcome to the new ‘get-rich-quick’ bubble euphoria…

Read more of this post

China’s model village Huaxicun in Jiangsu province wobbles through economic transition

China’s model village wobbles through economic transition

Staff Reporter

2014-03-17

An aerial view of the Huaxi, Oct. 2011. (Photo/Xinhua)

The village of Huaxi in eastern China’s Jiangsu province is losing its luster as the hallmark of the country’s rural economy. Huaxicun Co, a listed firm which runs Huaxi’s commercial operations, has announced pay cuts of up to 15% for its management, including directors, supervisors, and high-level managers, with the exception of independent directors, according to Shanghai’s China Business News. Read more of this post

China’s $1.5-trillion in corporate debt, making up around a quarter of China’s $6-trillion shadow finance sector, is yet another shadow-banking time bomb

China’s $1.5-trillion in corporate debt is yet another shadow-banking time bomb

By Gwynn Guilford @sinoceros March 17, 2014

When it comes to supervising risk, China’s four corporate bond market regulators have been snoozing. Reuters

It’s tough to figure out where China’s next debt panic will come from these days. Just as trust products had surpassed local government-financing vehicles as the frontrunner, a series of events—including a default and a trading suspension—in the last two weeks have pushed corporate bonds to the fore. Read more of this post

Who will succeed Terry Gou? Foxconn set up a think tank to mull it over

Who will succeed Terry Gou? Foxconn set up a think tank to mull it over

By Lily Kuo @lilkuo 5 hours ago

Foxconn is planning to replace many of its workers with a million robots over the next three years, but replacing chairman and CEO Terry Gou will require a bit more thought. So the world’s largest electronics manufacturer has taken the rather elaborate step of founding a think tank to find Gou’s successor, according to the Taiwanese newspaper Economic Daily News, as reported by Reuters. Read more of this post

NPS emerges as major shareholder for Samsung; The National Pension Service (NPS) owns over 5% of shares in more than half of 55 firms among South Korean top 10 conglomerates’ affiliates

NPS emerges as major shareholder for Samsung

2014.03.18 15:20:08

The National Pension Service (NPS) owns over five percent of shares in more than half of 55 firms among South Korean top 10 conglomerates’ affiliates.  Read more of this post