Bamboo Innovator

TGI Fridays Chain Put Up for Sale; There are more than 900 owned and franchised TGI Fridays restaurants in nearly 60 countries world-wide and the chain has annual sales exceeding $2.5 billion

TGI Fridays Chain Put Up for Sale

DANA MATTIOLI

Updated Nov. 22, 2013 6:13 p.m. ET

TGI Fridays, the restaurant chain famous for its chicken wings, potato skins and burgers, is on the auction block. Hospitality firm Carlson, the chain’s owner, has hired investment bank Piper Jaffray to help conduct a strategic review of TGI Fridays, people familiar with the matter said. Carlson, which owns Radisson hotels and other hospitality and travel brands, began informing employees about the move Friday, one of them added. Read more of this post

Xi Fails to Earn Stripes as China ‘Tiger’ Corruption Hunt Underwhelms

Xi Fails to Earn Stripes as China ‘Tiger’ Corruption Hunt Underwhelms

By Adam Rose on 12:22 pm November 24, 2013.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has raised expectations he will tackle corruption much more forcefully than his predecessors, but official data on investigations suggests the crackdown so far is little different to previous years. Authorities have opened a similar number of corruption probes in 2013 to last year, data from the Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP), which oversees criminal investigations and prosecutions nationwide, shows. Read more of this post

Keeping it in the family: China’s express delivery industry

Keeping it in the family: China’s express delivery industry

Staff Reporter

2013-11-24

China’s major express delivery firms mostly originated in Tonglu County in Zhejiang province, and most were established by the same family, according to the Southern Weekly. The companies are Shentong Express, YTO Express, Yunda Express and ZTO Express, as well as Best Express and Tian Tian Express. When the Pudong district in Shanghai was established, trade companies whose goods needed to travel back and forth between Shanghai and Hangzhou faced obstacles, as their customs declaration forms often did not arrive on time and shipping might take three days. Read more of this post

“India and China are still question marks”; International Paper CEO Unsure of Value of Further China Expansion

International Paper CEO Unsure of Value of Further China Expansion

John V. Faraci Says Co Facing Extreme Competition

LAURA STEVENS, CAMERON MCWHIRTER and DENNIS K. BERMAN

Nov. 22, 2013 3:40 p.m. ET

International Paper Co. IP +0.39% is unsure of the value of further expansion into China due to extreme competition in the market, Chairman and CEO John V. Faraci said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal Friday. The Memphis, Tenn.-based company is now the No. 2 supplier by volume and revenue of coated paperboard in China after entering the market with a joint venture in 2006 and again with a $200 million acquisition in 2010. Read more of this post

Intense competition between internet firms, TV makers

Intense competition between internet firms, TV makers

Staff Reporter

2013-11-20

Following on from the success of personal computers, mobile phones and tablet computers, the smart television market is now a major battlefield between internet companies and traditional television manufacturers. Statistics show that the number of TV viewers who spent at least two hours per day watching TV has dropped by 2% per year, and the majority of TV viewers are aged over 40, according to the Chinese-language Global Entrepreneur magazine. Read more of this post

Tan Sri Andrew Sheng: Growing old before growing rich; Old-age dependency ratio to rise rapidly in Asia

Updated: Saturday November 23, 2013 MYT 7:02:46 AM

Growing old before growing rich

BY TAN SRI ANDREW SHENG

Old-age dependency ratio to rise rapidly in Asia

THE recent relaxation of the one-child policy in China recognises that demographics play a major role in a country’s economic fortunes.

Asian fast growth was built on favourable demographics, growing labour supply at relatively cheap rates and open economies. But in many parts of Asia, as the population begins to age rapidly, there is genuine concern that Asians may grow old before they become rich. Last year nearly 450 million or 11% of Asia’s population were 60 years and over. By 2050, these numbers will more than double to 1.2 billion persons or 24% of the population, not far behind projections of 27% in North America and 34% in Europe. Old-age dependency ratio will rise rapidly in Japan, South Korea, Greater China, Singapore and India. Read more of this post

Taboo-busting adverts tumble out of the closet in India

November 21, 2013 4:06 pm

Taboo-busting adverts tumble out of the closet in India

By Avantika Chilkoti

A bubblegum-pink cupboard trembles to a tune by Daft Punk. Out struts one ruffled young woman checking the time, followed by a second, distractedly zipping up her hot pants. They exchange a glance that dashes any suspicion this is simply the culmination of an innocent game of hide and seek. The tagline flashes on screen: “Come out of the closet – move on.”

Read more of this post

Former vice president Jusuf Kalla said he was led to believe that the controversial 2008 bailout of Bank Century was a necessary action

I Believed Century Mustn’t Fail: Kalla

By Rizky Amelia on 6:58 am November 22, 2013.
Former vice president Jusuf Kalla on Thursday said he was led to believe that the controversial 2008 bailout of Bank Century was a necessary action. Kalla said while he was serving as vice president he received a report saying that Bank Century was a failed bank and its collapse would trigger a domino effect that could cripple Indonesia’s economy. “It’s a failed bank because it was robbed, I received a report that the bank was troubled because of the stealing,” he said after being questioned by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Thursday as a witness. Read more of this post

Indonesia Pain Threshold Looms on Rate Increases

Indonesia Pain Threshold Looms on Rate Increases

By Novrida Manurung & Andrew Janes on 7:49 am November 22, 2013.

Indonesia’s most aggressive rate-tightening in eight years has barely dented a current-account deficit, prompting calls for more increases and other measures before the Federal Reserve cuts stimulus. Bank Indonesia has raised borrowing costs by 1.75 percentage points to 7.5 percent since mid-June, the quickest since 2005. Following data last week showing the country recorded its second-highest current-account shortfall on record in the three months through September, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Standard Chartered Plc now see a further 50 basis points of increases in the first half of next year. Read more of this post

Thai capital tense as political rivals rally

Thai capital tense as political rivals rally

24 November 2013 | 07:54 | FOCUS News Agency

Bangkok. Tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrators massed in Bangkok on Sunday, with a major rival rally due later as Thailand faces its most significant political street action since bloody protests in 2010, AFP reported. Authorities expect at least 50,000 anti-government protesters to gather by Sunday afternoon, with thousands more “Red Shirts” set to mobilise in another area of the city on Sunday evening in support of prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s crisis-hit administration.
Both groups have vowed to remain in the capital overnight. Read more of this post

Johor Sultan decrees weekends will be on Fridays and Saturdays

Johor Sultan decrees weekends will be on Fridays and Saturdays

POSTED: 23 Nov 2013 21:01
The Sultan of Johor has ordered that weekends in the state be changed to Fridays and Saturdays effective January 1 next year. MUAR — The Sultan of Johor has ordered that weekends in the state be changed to Fridays and Saturdays effective January 1 next year. He said Friday was the most auspicious day of the week and Muslims should take advantage of the day to perform more religious deeds. Read more of this post

How EPF makes money for dividend payment; CEO reveals EPF’s strategies

Updated: Saturday November 23, 2013 MYT 12:45:20 PM

How EPF makes money for dividend payment

BY JAGDEV SINGH SIDHU

IT’S probably the one dividend rate most Malaysians will scrutinise. The rate will be dissected, debated and then the verdict from the people will be whether it’s satisfactory or poor. That single dividend is what the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) announces yearly. Last year’s 6.15% was the highest in a decade but the challenge that the EPF faces is how to keep that going. Read more of this post

‘I can’t look at myself in the mirror’: Eclectica’s Hugh Hendry reveals why he has turned bullish

‘I can’t look at myself in the mirror’: Hendry reveals why he has turned bullish

22 Nov 2013 | 14:41

Dan Jones

Eclectica hedge fund manager Hugh Hendry has said he has been forced to leave his bearish outlook behind as he faces up to a market “which only makes sense through the prism of trends”. Speaking at Harrington Cooper’s 2013 conference this morning, Hendry (pictured) said he is no longer fighting the “two-way feedback loop” which is continuing to boost risk assets. That centres on the currency war being played out between the US and China, in which US QE prompts dollar-denominated investment to head to China, and China fights the resulting upwards pressure on its currency by manufacturing an investment boom. Read more of this post

Regulator Sanctions New Jersey Audit Firm; PCAOB Says Company Didn’t Properly Audit Firms From China, Hong Kong

Regulator Sanctions New Jersey Audit Firm

PCAOB Says Company Didn’t Properly Audit Firms From China, Hong Kong

MICHAEL RAPOPORT

Nov. 23, 2013 10:44 a.m. ET

The U.S. government’s audit regulator sanctioned a New Jersey firm Friday, saying it hadn’t properly audited companies from China and Hong Kong. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board barred Acquavella Chiarelli Shuster Berkower & Co., an Iselin, N.J., firm, from auditing public companies for at least two years, after which the firm can reapply to the board. The PCAOB also fined the firm $10,000. Read more of this post

Mankiw: In Fed Policy, the Exit Music May Be Hard to Hear

November 23, 2013

In Fed Policy, the Exit Music May Be Hard to Hear

By N. GREGORY MANKIW

Is it time for the Federal Reserve to start its exit from the extraordinary set of policies it has pursued over the past few years? That crucial question is on the minds of the nation’s central bankers, as well as the stock and bond traders who follow the Fed’s every move. When Ben S. Bernanke and his Fed colleagues embarked on their policy of near-zero interest rates and large-scale asset purchases, they hoped that things would be back to normal by now. Unfortunately, events haven’t gone as predicted. Even though the recovery began more than four years ago, it has been so meager that the economy, by some metrics, is still very sick. The slowness of the healing has delayed the Fed’s exit — although minutes of last month’s policy-making meeting indicate that it is considering some changes. Read more of this post

France: The people see red; The scarlet hat has become the symbol of protest against François Hollande’s tax rises

November 22, 2013 5:40 pm

France: The people see red

By Hugh Carnegy

The scarlet hat has become the symbol of protest against François Hollande’s tax rises

Red alert: farmers have been at the forefront of protests against the Hollande government

In 1675 a popular revolt exploded in Brittany, the rugged north western region of France that juts into the Atlantic Ocean. It was against taxes imposed by Louis XIV, the Sun King, to finance war against the Dutch. The red-capped protesters were known as Les Bonnets Rouges. Nearly 440 years after the uprising was bloodily suppressed, people in Brittany have donned their bonnets rouges once more. This time they are fighting a wave of taxes imposed not by a king, but by President François Hollande and his socialist government. Read more of this post

Do You Dare Buy Stocks at Record Highs? Some say the market looks overpriced. Others disagree. But that’s not the question investors should be asking

Do You Dare Buy Stocks at Record Highs?

Some say the market looks overpriced. Others disagree. But that’s not the question investors should be asking.

JASON ZWEIG

Nov. 22, 2013 7:21 p.m. ET

Hedge-fund manager Carl Icahn says he is “very cautious” on U.S. stocks, which “could easily have a big drop” from their new record highs. Ben Inker, a director at asset manager GMO, forecasts that overall, U.S. stocks will suffer losses of 2% annually, counting dividends and inflation, through 2020. Yet billionaire investor extraordinaire Warren Buffettsays the U.S. stock market is valued “in a zone of reasonableness.” So who is right? In fact, whether stocks are overvalued or fairly priced isn’t the question that investors should be asking. Instead, what you need to answer is this: How much can I stand to lose before I will bail out? Experts can’t tell you that, but history and what’s in your own head can. Read more of this post

Asset price ‘security alerts’ mask real risks; Defining value is hamstrung by assumptions and expectations

Last updated: November 22, 2013 9:44 am

Asset price ‘security alerts’ mask real risks

By Tracy Alloway in New York

Defining value is hamstrung by assumptions and expectations

Any reader who has flown commercially in the US during the past dozen years will no doubt have a passing awareness of the Homeland Security Advisory System. The now defunct terrorism threat scale was rolled out to indicate the threat level faced by the nation, from green – for a “low” risk of an attack – to red for “severe”. I was this week reminded of the now-moribund warning system thanks to a flight to Florida and a new research report by Fitch Ratings that draws an unusual parallel between the nation’s old colour-coded scale and US accounting rules. There is something undoubtedly alluring about a process that classifies a complicated concept – be it the threat of a terrorist attack or the value of a security – into an easily digestible label. But there are unquestionable trade-offs in doing so. For much of its lifespan, the Homeland Security system was stuck at “yellow” or “orange” – indicating a significant or high risk of terrorist attacks. So omnipresent were the yellow and orange indicators that many critics of the system pointed out that the colours should simply become the baseline for the entire scale. When the warning system was eventually phased out in 2011, public officials noted that it had provided “little practical information”. About five years ago, a new “mark to market” regime came into effect to govern how US banks value the assets on their balance sheets at market prices, known as “fair value”. The rule – FAS 157 – created three categories financial institutions could use to classify the securities on their balance sheets. Read more of this post