Closer Look: Xi’s Leadership of Top Economic Group Follows Pattern

06.20.2014 18:22

Closer Look: Xi’s Leadership of Top Economic Group Follows Pattern

While Xinhua set a precedent by naming the members of the key party body, the fact it is led by the general secretary is unsurprising

By staff reporter Wu Peng

(Beijing) – Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping’s chairmanship of a top economic decision-making group has generated discussion about his expanding power and role in China’s reforms. Read more of this post

When a ‘Liquid-Alt’ Fund Loses Steam

Jun 20, 2014

THE INTELLIGENT INVESTOR

When a ‘Liquid-Alt’ Fund Loses Steam

JASON ZWEIG

If you trade up for a “liquid-alternative” fund, make sure you understand you also are making a trade-off.

That is the lesson that emerges from the rise and fall of the Natixis ASKN.FR -1.19%G Diversifying Strategies Fund, a pioneering portfolio that has just been put out of its misery by its manager.

Liquid-alternative funds generally offer the prospect of doing well when U.S. stocks do poorly. That hope comes at a price, however: Such funds, which tend to charge high fees, typically do poorly when U.S. stocks do well. Investors who don’t understand this link will inevitably be sorry. Read more of this post

Far-reaching new rules aimed at catching overseas tax cheats take effect July 1. Here’s what you need to know to avoid running afoul of the IRS

Offshore Accounts: What to Do Now

Far-reaching new rules aimed at catching overseas tax cheats take effect July 1.

LAURA SAUNDERS

Updated June 20, 2014 6:47 p.m. ET

The federal government’s campaign to track down money held by U.S. taxpayers in foreign countries shifts into high gear July 1.

That is when the main provisions of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, known as Fatca, come into force. Read more of this post

China Auditor Finds Irregularities in China Resources; Audit Reveals Misused Funds, Improper Bidding Procedure and Failing to Seek Approvals

China Auditor Finds Irregularities in China Resources

Audit Reveals Misused Funds, Improper Bidding Procedure and Failing to Seek Approvals

June 20, 2014 6:08 a.m. ET

BEIJING—China’s state auditor said Friday that it has found irregularities in the operations of the state-owned conglomerate China Resources, including misused funds, improper bidding procedure and failure to seek approvals. The audit also found evidence that some executives were involved in “serious violations of law and discipline.”

The audit results came after the government started investigating the activities of several former executives of the group. The auditor didn’t name or blame any officials. Read more of this post

Hedge funds: the mysterious power pulling strings on Wall Street; Hedge funds operate with nearly free rein and on murky ethical ground, bullying banks and recruiting the best – all to questionable results

Hedge funds: the mysterious power pulling strings on Wall Street

Hedge funds operate with nearly free rein and on murky ethical ground, bullying banks and recruiting the best – all to questionable results

Chris Arnade

theguardian.com, Sunday 1 June 2014 15.00 BST

Hedge funds can only have ‘sophisticated investors’ as customers, meaning clients with assets of more than at least $1m. Photograph: Alamy

Hedge funds, those financial funds run by extraordinarily rich men, are going mainstream. Not content to be investments for just the super rich and super connected, they are starting to offer services to the average investor.  Read more of this post

Cold Facts in Emerging Market Fridges

June 20, 2014, 10:14 am

Cold Facts in Emerging Market Fridges

by Tassos Stassopoulos, AllianceBernstein

It’s not easy for investors to grasp the dynamics of consumer spending in diverse emerging markets. We think the best way is to look inside the refrigerators of people across the developing world. Read more of this post

How Morningstar Category Flux Impacts Peer Group Analysis

How Morningstar Category Flux Impacts Peer Group Analysis

Last updated May 08, 2014

Morningstar’s mutual fund categories are among the most frequently cited for peer group performance and investment approach comparisons. Our study, however, has found that membership in a Morningstar category can evolve considerably over time. This can create a dilemma for investors who base their decisions solely, or even mostly, on peer group percentile rankings. Read more of this post

Ariel Investments May Letter: Market Caps And Valuations

Ariel Investments May Letter: Market Caps And Valuations

by VW StaffJune 20, 2014, 9:00 am

Ariel Investments’ portfolio commentary for the month ended May, 2014.

The U.S. stock market has performed erratically in 2014. For instance, both the S&P 500 and the Russell 2000 fell more than –2.5% in January but recovered to gain more than +4.5% in February. In April, the large-cap S&P 500 gained +0.74%, while the smallcap Russell 2000 lost –3.88%. It was tough to tell what the market was saying earlier this year, but now it is becoming more clear. While equity investors do not seem to think the economy is contracting, their confidence in the economic recovery’s power has
wavered.

  Read more of this post

Family feuds are complicated by wealth

Family feuds are complicated by wealth

Advisers add stability by preparing the next generation, U.S. Trust survey finds

By Minda Smiley   |  June 20, 2014 – 1:25 pm EST

Turns out there’s proof that money doesn’t solve all problems.

Family dynamics and complex financial circumstances are often complicated by increased wealth, the 2014 U.S. Trust Insights on Wealth and Worth survey found. Read more of this post

Emerging-markets rebound hasn’t convinced everyone

Emerging-markets rebound hasn’t convinced everyone

Last month investors sent $45B into emerging markets, the most money to developing countries in 20 months, despite Fed taper

By Trevor Hunnicutt   |  June 20, 2014 – 2:00 pm EST

Investors in May drove the most money into emerging markets in 20 months but at least one fund manager is waiting for more volatility before he’s completely bullish. Read more of this post

Auditors Favor Curbs on Changes to the Audit Report

June 20, 2014

CFO.com | US

Auditors Favor Curbs on Changes to the Audit Report

Ninety-eight percent of “critical audit matters” identified during a field test involving 51 audits were previously communicated to the audit committee.

David M. Katz

Rather than divulge every worry that kept them up at night during an audit, some auditors feel that they should limit their reporting of “critical audit matters” to the anxieties they’ve reported to the audit committee, according to an analysis of a field test of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s proposal to revamp the auditor’s report. Read more of this post

Barclays bond index unit, which tracks assets with market value of $13 trillion, hits market; may fetch $400 million: sources

Barclays bond index unit hits market; may fetch $400 million: sources

NEW YORK – Barclays Plc has launched a long-anticipated sale process for its Index, Portfolio and Risk Solutions (IPRS) business, which could yield around $400 million for the UK bank, according to people familiar with the matter.

BY –

1 HOUR 54 MIN AGO

NEW YORK – Barclays Plc has launched a long-anticipated sale process for its Index, Portfolio and Risk Solutions (IPRS) business, which could yield around $400 million for the UK bank, according to people familiar with the matter. Read more of this post

Top Analyst at China’s Citic Securities Under Investigation; Suspected of Leaking Inside Information

Top Analyst at China’s Citic Securities Under Investigation

Suspected of Leaking Inside Information

SHEN HONG

June 20, 2014 6:19 a.m. ET

SHANGHAI—China’s securities regulator is investigating a star analyst at the country’s largest stock brokerage for allegedly leaking inside information, intensifying a campaign to strengthen oversight of a market notorious for irregularities and lax risk controls. Read more of this post

Taiwan’s Night Markets Go Global

Jun 20, 2014

Taiwan’s Night Markets Go Global

Taiwan has long been known for its night markets.

According to the island’s tourism bureau, night markets attract more than 70% of foreign visitors. The popularity of these nightly bazaars even prompted the bureau to come up with an app in which players can be virtual street hawkers in the markets.

But as Taiwan becomes more globalized, so too has the selection at the night markets. Read more of this post

Alone at last: Europe’s biggest stock-exchange group becomes independent

Alone at last: Europe’s biggest stock-exchange group becomes independent

Jun 21st 2014 | PARIS | From the print edition

IT LOOKED an ambitious project when the bourses of Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels joined forces in 2000 to create a pan-European union of stock exchanges. They then acquired the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (LIFFE) and Portugal’s Bolsa de Valores. After seven years of independence, Euronext disappeared into the maw of the New York Stock Exchange, which in turn was bought by IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) in November 2013. ICE has now spat out Euronext, minus LIFFE and its derivatives business. Defining its new role is almost as big a challenge as Euronext faced in the heroic days of its founding. Read more of this post

Yuawn: Buzz about the rise of China’s currency has run far ahead of sedate reality

Yuawn: Buzz about the rise of China’s currency has run far ahead of sedate reality

Jun 21st 2014 | HONG KONG | From the print edition

IF HEADLINES translated into trading volumes, the yuan would be well on its way to dominating the world’s currency markets. It once again graced front pages this week after moves to lift its status in London, the world’s biggest foreign-exchange market. This was the latest instalment of a five-year-long public-relations campaign. Since 2009, when China first declared its intention to promote the yuan internationally, a string of announcements and milestones has cast the Chinese currency as a putative rival to the dollar. Read more of this post

Counting the cost of finance: A new paper shows the industry’s take has been rising

Counting the cost of finance: A new paper shows the industry’s take has been rising

Jun 21st 2014 | From the print edition

EVERYBODY knows that the collapse of the financial system in 2008 was hugely costly for Western economies. But finance was taking a heavier toll on the economy even before Lehman Brothers went under. Read more of this post

Monetary policy and asset prices: A narrow path; Central banks around the world are struggling to promote growth without fomenting worrisome risk-taking

Monetary policy and asset prices: A narrow path; Central banks around the world are struggling to promote growth without fomenting worrisome risk-taking

Jun 21st 2014 | Washington, DC | From the print edition

UNTIL the global financial crisis, central banks treated bubbles with benign neglect: they were hard to detect and harder to deflate, so best left alone; the mess could be mopped up after they burst. No self-respecting central bank admits to benign neglect any longer. “No one wants to live through another financial crisis,” Janet Yellen, then a candidate to head the Federal Reserve, said last year. “I would not rule out using monetary policy as a tool to address asset-price misalignments.”

Read more of this post

Hon Hai suffers setback in establishing retail chains

Hon Hai suffers setback in establishing retail chains

Staff Reporter

2014-06-19

Pan International Electronics, a subsidiary of Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision Industry (also known as Foxconn), has already dumped its 48% stake in consumer electronics retail chain Cybermart, according to Shanghai’s China Business News, citing Taiwanese media reports. Read more of this post

Wang Xisha, daughter of Chinese vice premier Wang Yang; The couple’s extravagant lifestyle has frequently caught the attention of Hong Kong’s paparazzi and tabloids

Wang Xisha, daughter of Chinese vice premier Wang Yang

Staff Reporter

2014-06-19

Wang Xisha and husband Nicholas Zhang photographed in Hong Kong in mid-2013. Wang is believed to have given birth to the couple’s first child around the end of last year. (Internet photo) Read more of this post

China’s SAFE is biggest public sector holder of equities

China’s SAFE is biggest public sector holder of equities

Staff Reporter

2014-06-19

Central banks worldwide have become major players in global equity markets, with a recent report showing that China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) is the largest public sector holder of equities, according to Shanghai’s China Business News. Read more of this post

Only 13 Taiwanese universities among Asia’s top 100

Only 13 Taiwanese universities among Asia’s top 100

CNA

2014-06-20

Thirteen universities from Taiwan have been listed among the top 100 in the Asia University Rankings released Wednesday by the Times Higher Education magazine, with National Taiwan University ranked highest at 14th.

Compared with last year, when 17 Taiwan universities made the list, the latest results represent a decline. Read more of this post

Korea is the current world champion of R&D spending

Korea is the current world champion of R&D spending

By Matt Phillips @MatthewPhillips June 19, 2014

South Korea punches far above its weight when it comes to spending on innovation. In 2012, Korea spent 4.4% of GDP on research and development. That’s the highest among the developed nations tracked by OECD, the Paris-based rich nation think tank. The private sector is a key driver. Private-sector R&D spending is up 35% between 2008 and 2011, and has more than doubled since 2003.

The surge has pushed Korean patents up 32% since 2008. And South Korea’s share of global patent production was up to 5.7% in 2011, the last year of available data. (It was 2.3% of global in 2003.) There’s a fairly simple reason for Korea’s hypertrophied business R&D: Although much of this growth has been in the private sector, it’s heavily government-subsidized. Read more of this post