Emerging-Market Slide Tests How Much Nations Learned From Past

Emerging-Market Slide Tests How Much Nations Learned From Past

IAN TALLEY

Jan. 29, 2014 7:46 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON—The latest emerging-market slide might look like a repeat of earlier cascading crises.

In reality, it is serving as an important test of which nations learned their lessons then.

The rapid interest-rate increases in South Africa, Turkey and India in recent days hark back to troubles in Asia in the late 1990s and Latin America in the early 2000s, when economies crumbled and investors fled while policy makers were forced to boost rates. Read more of this post

JPMorgan Warns “Avoiding China Defaults Now Will Amplify The Future Problem”

JPMorgan Warns “Avoiding China Defaults Now Will Amplify The Future Problem”

Tyler Durden on 01/29/2014 22:04 -0500

Investors in China have been running scared of a default on a high risk trust product; but, as Bloomberg’s Tom Orlik notes, they should embrace it.The implicit guarantee that no investments will go sour is one of the key problems with China’s financial system as Orlik adds it encourages reckless lending often to borrowers whose only merit lies in backing from a deep-pocketed government. Crucially, as JPMorgan warns in a recent note, “avoiding defaults is not the right answer, as it will only delay or even amplify the problem in the future.” Read more of this post

Myer sought ‘merger of equals’ with rival David Jones; David Jones Rejects Merger Offer from Myer Holdings

David Jones Rejects Merger Offer from Myer Holdings

Department Store Owner Says Proposal Didn’t Represent Sufficient Value for Shareholders

DAVID ROGERS

Jan. 30, 2014 7:45 a.m. ET

SYDNEY—Australian department store owner David Jones Ltd. DJS.AU -0.69% said it rejected a merger proposal from Myer Holdings Ltd. MYR.AU -2.28% late last year, adding it wasn’t currently in discussions with its larger rival. Read more of this post

H&M says fashion can be cheap and ethical

H&M says fashion can be cheap and ethical

Wed, Jan 29 2014

By Emma Thomasson

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Hennes & Mauritz, the world’s second-biggest fashion retailer, believes there is no conflict between its mission to sell more budget clothes and a drive to improve the environment and working conditions at its suppliers. Read more of this post

Asia enters an age of increasing uncertainty

Kurt Campbell

January 30, 2014

Asia enters an age of increasing uncertainty

Long regarded as a region of unbounded promise and rising prosperity, Asia has been sometimes the lone bright spot on a global balance sheet that featured turmoil in the Middle East, torpor in Europe and tilting at windmills in the US. There have been Asian uncertainties and occasional tensions, historic and regional rivalries, but these have been largely muted, generally, for well over a generation as investment, innovation and manufacturing on the continent shifted into overdrive. Read more of this post

he safari lover poached for China’s credit rating charge; Mauro Alfonso hopes Dagong will rival S&P, Fitch and Moody’s

January 29, 2014 5:02 pm

The safari lover poached for China’s credit rating charge

By Christopher Thompson

Mauro Alfonso is a curious choice to help lead China’s transition from low-cost manufacturing to global high finance. The Italian safari enthusiast, who did not speak Mandarin, left a comfortable directorship at one of the world’s big credit rating agencies for a then unknown Chinese start-up in 2012. Read more of this post

Shadow banking: China’s wobbly house of cards

Shadow banking: China’s wobbly house of cards

January 29, 2014: 11:47 AM ET

The prospect of the first major default connected with the Chinese shadow banking system sent shock waves through the financial markets of emerging economies. Expect more close calls to come.

By Minxin Pei

FORTUNE — Investors around the world have been wondering for a long time when China’s shadow banking sector will collapse. This week, they almost got their answer. Read more of this post

Distrust of China’s Trusts; Growth of a shadow banking system creates moral hazard

Distrust of China’s Trusts

Growth of a shadow banking system creates moral hazard.

Updated Jan. 29, 2014 3:54 p.m. ET

The lunar new year holiday on Friday will usher in the year of the wood horse in the Chinese zodiac. And yes, Chinese are well aware of what they call the “wooden horse strategem.” But if there’s a nasty surprise in 2014, it’s likely to come from within China’s own financial system. Read more of this post

Jamba Juice tries something new: Serious juicing; Whether consumers will kale up to the bar is another matter. Will enough consumers choose to spend $5 to $7 for a feel-good jolt?

Jamba Juice tries something new: Serious juicing

January 29, 2014: 11:38 AM ET

Whether consumers will kale up to the bar is another matter.

By Beth Kowitt, writer

FORTUNE — There’s one major juice-related trend that Jamba Juice (JMBA) has missed over the past half-decade or so — and that’s serious juicing. Now, the $230 million-a-year purveyor of fruit smoothies says it’s pushing hard into the pulverization business. Read more of this post

Chinese internet groups see taxi apps as driver for growth

January 29, 2014 6:27 pm

Chinese internet groups see taxi apps as driver for growth

By Sarah Mishkin in San Francisco

Two of China’s biggest internet companies –Alibaba and Tencent – are fighting a proxy war over the lucrative mobile payments market by backing rival taxi-hailing apps.

Alibaba has invested in Kuaidi Dache (“Fast Taxi”), while Hong Kong-listed Tencent, the company behind chat app WeChat, backs Didi Dache, whose name translates to “Beep Beep Call a Cab”. Taxi apps have become massively popular in China, where traffic congestion on some routes in its sprawling megacities can be so bad that taxi drivers refuse fares to those areas. Tencent and Alibaba executives see an opportunity to use apps that ease rush-hour pain to expand their respective payment networks. Read more of this post

Xi Jinping’s security commission to also tackle financial industry; Fears speculative foreign capital could threaten domestic stability one reason for top-level division within new National Security Commission

Xi Jinping’s security commission to also tackle financial industry

Tuesday, 28 January, 2014, 4:30am

George Chen and Teddy Ng

Fears speculative foreign capital could threaten domestic stability one reason for top-level division within new National Security Commission

Beijing will create a ministerial-level division dedicated to financial industry security within the new National Security Commission to be chaired by President Xi Jinping [1]. Read more of this post

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz will expand his role in product innovation and digital retailing as part of a shuffling of senior executives aimed largely at adjusting to technology-driven shifts in its industry

Starbucks CEO to Expand Role as Part of a Shuffling of Senior Executives

Troy Alstead Becomes Chief Operating Officer and Scott Maw Named as CFO

JULIE JARGON

Updated Jan. 29, 2014 6:04 p.m. ET

Starbucks Corp. SBUX -3.15% said Chief Executive Howard Schultz will expand his role in product innovation and digital retailing as part of a shuffling of senior executives aimed largely at adjusting to technology-driven shifts in its industry. Read more of this post

Investors put too much faith in a Modi turnround; It is not clear that the politician could do for India’s economy what he did for Gujarat

January 29, 2014 5:43 pm

Investors put too much faith in a Modi turnround

By David Pilling

It is not clear that the politician could do for India’s economy what he did for Gujarat

Narendra Modi, the most talked-about politician in a country where talking is a national sport, is a polarising figure. Lauded and vilified in equal measure, he is an authoritarian thug to some and India’s saviour-in-waiting to others. To his supporters, he is a man of integrity who can get things done. To his detractors, he will forever be tainted by association with the 2002 massacre of Muslims in Gujarat, where, as the state’s chief minister, he was accused – though he was later formally cleared – of standing by while hundreds of revenge killings took place. Read more of this post

Ringfencing will make it harder to wind up failing banks; Reform proposal undercuts direction of global regulation

January 29, 2014 4:03 pm

Ringfencing will make it harder to wind up failing banks

By Patrick Jenkins in London

Reform proposal undercuts direction of global regulation

The world has come along way since the G20 summit of September 2009, when political leaders sealed an unprecedented collaborative effort to make the global banking system safer. Capital levels today are much higher. Leverage is a bit lower. And liquid funding cushions are reassuringly plump. Read more of this post

Investors Shed Dividend-Paying Stock Funds

Investors Shed Dividend-Paying Stock Funds

URRAY COLEMAN

Jan. 29, 2014 3:44 p.m. ET

As the U.S. Federal Reserve trims its purchases of bonds and expectations of higher interest rates grow, investors are pulling billions of dollars from funds focused on dividend-paying stocks. Read more of this post

Banks have failed to exorcise their technical gremlins

January 29, 2014 5:05 pm

Banks have failed to exorcise their technical gremlins

By Martin Taylor

The systems architecture of the typical lender is like a gothic house of horror, says Martin Taylor

Ido not know why Lloyds Bank’s computer systems crashed at the weekend. I do not know why Royal Bank of Scotland’s systems crashed last year. I do not know much – anything – about computers, frankly. So why am I writing this piece? Because I do not entirely believe the simple story that it is all about under-investment, and that the banks are useless at IT. Read more of this post

“A Funny Old World” – The EM Carry Trade Collapse ‘Deja Vu, All Over Again’ From Citigroup

“A Funny Old World” – The EM Carry Trade Collapse ‘Deja Vu, All Over Again’ From Citigroup

Tyler Durden on 01/29/2014 12:11 -0500

Spot the similarities.

From CitiFX Technicals: It’s a funny old World

1989-1991: Housing and savings and loan crisis: Fed eases aggressively as economy enters deep recession Read more of this post

Debt-laden Canadians becoming more ‘fragile’ to economic shocks, warns TD CEO Ed Clark

Debt-laden Canadians becoming more ‘fragile’ to economic shocks, warns TD CEO Ed Clark

Doug Alexander, Bloomberg News | January 28, 2014 | Last Updated: Jan 28 12:16 PM ET
Toronto-Dominion Bank Chief Executive Officer Ed Clark said Canada’s economy is in danger of underperforming the U.S. as consumers become increasingly “fragile” amid rising household debt and home prices. Read more of this post

Cotton On: How rich lister Nigel Austin’s fashion chain is taking on the world

Cotton On: How rich lister Nigel Austin’s fashion chain is taking on the world

Published 28 January 2014 09:41, Updated 29 January 2014 09:29

Sue Mitchell

As a second wave of global retailers prepares to invade Australia, Nigel Austin’s Cotton On Group is vying for the title of the world’s fastest-growing retailer with a “coals to Newcastle” strategy that will see it expand into another half a dozen countries this year. Read more of this post

The second-gen managing director of Singapore property developer City Developments Limited has announced he will step down next month to take up the role of deputy chairman

SINGAPORE PROPERTY DEVELOPER SECOND-GEN STEPS DOWN

ARTICLE | 23 JANUARY, 2014 02:12 PM | BY JESSICA TASMAN-JONES

The second-gen managing director of Singapore property developer City Developments Limited has announced he will step down next month to take up the role of deputy chairman.

Kwek Leng Joo, 60, has held the post since 1995, but now Grant L Kelley, the first non-family member to head the executive management team, will become the company’s first chief executive. Read more of this post

When Rising Revenue Spells Trouble

When Rising Revenue Spells Trouble

by Scott Anthony  |   11:00 AM January 28, 2014

Readers in industries where the pace of change has slowed and ambiguity has decreased, please stop reading. This post isn’t for you.

Everyone still here? Thought so. An interconnected world where technology advances at a dizzying pace and new companies emerge, scale, and decline in the blink of an eye means never a dull moment for corporate leaders. Read more of this post

Holy cows and the politics of beef

January 28, 2014 3:34 pm

Holy cows and the politics of beef

By Victor Mallet in Ahmedabad

In much of India – and especially in Gujarat, where cow slaughter is forbidden – cows are not eaten

It is surprising how quickly you get used to them: after a few months in India, I barely notice the urban cows, whether they are standing meditatively in the middle of a highway inches from speeding vehicles, slumped on the pavement outside a department store or nuzzling their way into a discarded plastic bag in search of food. Read more of this post

A Company Without Job Titles Will Still Have Hierarchies

A Company Without Job Titles Will Still Have Hierarchies

by Harrison Monarth  |   1:00 PM January 28, 2014

Radically flat. That’s the management goal that Tony Hseih, founder of e-commerce giant Zappos, aims to achieve by the end of 2014. To get there, Hsieh plans to toss out the traditional corporate hierarchy by eliminating titles among his 1,500 employees that can lead to bottlenecks in decision-making. The end result: a holacracy centered around self-organizing teams who actively push the entire business forward. Read more of this post

Qualcomm may face record US$1bil antitrust fines in China

Updated: Wednesday January 29, 2014 MYT 11:35:36 AM

Qualcomm may faces record US$1bil antitrust fines in China

BEIJING: Qualcomm Inc, the world’s biggest cellphone chip maker, may be hit with a record fine exceeding $1 billion in a Chinese antitrust probe, raising the specter of harsh penalties for foreign firms facing an increasingly aggressive regulator. Read more of this post

E-Commerce Booming in Indonesia, Survey Finds

E-Commerce Booming in Indonesia, Survey Finds

By Farid Firdaus

 on 10:43 am January 29, 2014.
Up to 76 percent of Internet users in Indonesia shopped online over the past year and spent Rp 5.5 million ($450) annually on average, a survey has revealed. Read more of this post

Online electricals retailer AO.com aims for £1bn valuation at listing

January 28, 2014 8:50 pm

AO.com aims for £1bn valuation at listing

By Andrea Felsted, Kate Burgess and Duncan Robinson

AO.com, the online electricals retailer, is aiming for a £1bn valuation when it floats on the London Stock Exchange later this year – more than treble the market capitalisation it was hoping to achieve just four months ago. Read more of this post

Answers to a Puzzling Deal at Alibaba Remain in the Shadows

JANUARY 28, 2014, 5:51 PM  Comment

Answers to a Puzzling Deal at Alibaba Remain in the Shadows

By STEVEN M. DAVIDOFF

The Chinese Internet giant Alibaba is looking to join the ranks of Google andMicrosoft

with an initial public offering that could give it a value of more than $100 billion. But the company’s recent acquisition of the Hong Kong-listed company Citic 21CN shows just how much we still don’t know about Alibaba and its business. Read more of this post

Hynix warns of smartphone slowdown

January 28, 2014 1:21 pm

Hynix warns of smartphone slowdown

By Simon Mundy in Seoul

SK Hynix, the world’s second-largest producer of memory chips by sales, warned on Tuesday that it would be hit this year by slowing growth in smartphones, even as it announced record sales and earnings in 2013. Read more of this post

Apple’s China moment still frustratingly out of reach

Apple’s China moment still frustratingly out of reach

6:23pm EST

By Paul Carsten and Edwin Chan

BEIJING/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Apple Inc may have to wait a little longer for its watershed moment in China.

A disappointing March-quarter revenue forecast, coupled with surprisingly weak holiday iPhone sales, suggest pundits may have over-estimated initial demand from China Mobile’s 700 million-plus subscribers, a key factor that has pushed its shares 18 percent higher in the fourth quarter. Read more of this post

IKEA’s Focus Remains on its Superstores; Visits to Website Increase by Nearly 20% but When it Comes to Furniture, Shoppers Still Want to ‘Touch the Fabric’

IKEA’s Focus Remains on its Superstores

Visits to Website Increase by Nearly 20% but When it Comes to Furniture, Shoppers Still Want to ‘Touch the Fabric’

JENS HANSEGARD and NICLAS ROLANDER

Updated Jan. 28, 2014 7:53 a.m. ET

In fiscal 2014, IKEA plans to spend €2.5 billion ($3.4 billion) on stores, factories and shopping centers. Here, a store in Malmo, Sweden. Getty Images

STOCKHOLM—IKEA expects its famous blue-and-yellow superstores to remain the lifeblood of an ambitious growth plan, even as visits to ikea.com increased nearly 20% in fiscal year 2013 while visits to physical stores modestly declined. Read more of this post