Having battled on party lines over the domestic budget, members of US Congress are now continuing those divisions into discussions of bilateral trade agreements with Brazil, Russia, India, South Korea, and most especially China. This will affect the performance of US companies there, but conversely also has implications for “export of US domestic jobs”. This …
Continue reading “US Congress divided over international economic policy”
The European Banking Authority is to set a higher than expected capital threshold of 9%. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e555e7e8-f427-11e0-bdea-00144feab49a.html Global regulators insist that the new bank capital requirements will have a “tiny” impact on global growth — around 0.3%. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/04f5977c-f38f-11e0-b98c-00144feab49a.html
Volatility is making it difficult for fund managers to predict the future, and as a result they are trending towards pessimism. The focus is less on earnings growth and more on “balance sheet strength and sustainability”. At the same time, steel companies are still braced for falling prices as buyers delay orders because of nervous …
Reliance Industries of India, the country’s largest private sector (petrochemicals to retail) group, is close to signing a deal to deliver Disney content to users of its 4G (wireless broadband) mobile phones. At present only 10m people in India have 3G mobile phones, and 4G is yet to be launched. One interesting comment from the …
These include army recruitment, construction and running of bases, and catering. The aim is to save £250m over ten years, by removing expensively-trained combat troops from administrative roles. The reality is that the new jobs will likely be taken on by the more than 10,000 soliders (of 101,000 today) who are expected to lose their jobs …
Continue reading “Ministry of Defence to outsource more activities”
Here’s a story you don’t hear every day. In 2009 China encouraged local government to borrow heavily to finance local infrastructure projects. The low interest rates they set to fund this spending spree (and keep the renminbi down) have led investors to place their savings with “shadow banking system”. That has now grown larger than …
Syria’s foreign ministry has threatened “tough measures” against any state that recognises the council of opposition, announced last month in Istanbul. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/096b5de6-f28b-11e0-824e-00144feab49a.html
But it assumes that 4-5% growth will return, boosting taxes, in 2014-15. The FT thinks this is unlikely, but sees the realisation as something that will help force through tax increases and spending cuts, as well as a focus on creating growth and jobs as the best way to grow tax income. What the FT …
Global banking regulators are to press ahead with Basel III reforms agreed last year, although there are rising concerns that some countries will not stick to the agreement. Bankers have been against the changes. The balance of opinion was that “everybody gains from designing a safer system.” http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6598d30e-f002-11e0-bc9d-00144feab49a.html
While protesters Occupy Wall Street for the third week it is interesting to stumble across an article in Vanity Fair (written in May this year) that says almost exactly the same things. The top 1% of Americans earn almost 25% of the national income and own 40% of the assets. Both figures are up on twenty five years ago …