News That Matters

By thetrader.se

Ft.com
Several large corporate clients’ of French banks are seeking financing from banks outside of Europe to avoid a funding gap if markets there close, says the WSJ, citing people familiar with the situation.http://ftalphaville.ft.com/thecut/2011/09/15/677761/french-bank-clients-...

Ernst & Young faces a fresh threat to its reputation after an Irish accounting regulator said it would hold a disciplinary hearing to examine E&Y’s auditing of Anglo Irish Bank, a lender that had to be rescued by the Irish government in 2009, http://ftalphaville.ft.com/thecut/2011/09/15/677731/ey-faces-probe-on-an...

The Securities and Exchange Commission is further expanding a probe into collateralised debt obligations, including pressing for a $200m settlement with Citigroup, negotiating a settlement with Credit Suisse, http://ftalphaville.ft.com/thecut/2011/09/15/677716/sec-and-citi-in-cdo-...

Britain is to sue the European Central Bank for setting rules that allegedly handicap the City of London and would force one of the world’s largest clearing houses to decamp operations to the euro area,http://ftalphaville.ft.com/thecut/2011/09/15/677681/britain-to-sue-ecb-o...

Covered bonds are not the universally safe assets that some investors think they are, rating agency Standard & Poor’s has warned in a new report, says the FT. Many investors consider the bonds “super-safe” because, http://ftalphaville.ft.com/thecut/2011/09/15/677651/sp-report-urges-cove...

A US high-technology company that was once a star of the clean energy sector is suing Sinovel, China’s largest wind turbine manufacturer, over alleged software theft, reports the FT. in one of the most acrimonious conflicts to break out between US and Chinese companies over the sensitive issue of intellectual property. The legal actions follow months of disputes American Superconductor,http://ftalphaville.ft.com/thecut/2011/09/15/677631/american-superconduc...

MF Global is laying off more than 30 per cent of its staff in equities trading and research in Europe and Asia, the FT reports. The US investment bank cited difficult market conditions, as well as its own continuing restructuring led by Jon Corzine, http://ftalphaville.ft.com/thecut/2011/09/15/677601/mf-global-to-cut-sta...

India’s inflation rate accelerated to a 13-month high of 9.78 per cent in August, highlighting the dilemma facing policy-makers as they wrestle with the twin woes of rising inflation and slowing economic growth, http://ftalphaville.ft.com/thecut/2011/09/14/677566/indian-inflation-rat...

Chinese premier Wen Jiabao has outlined conditions that Europe must meet before China will increase support for debt-laden Europe in a sign of Beijing’s reluctance to be cast as a saviour for the global economy. His top condition was the the long-standing demand that Europe recognise China as a full “market economy”, a technical definition that would benefit Chinese companies involved in trade disputes. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b234ad8a-de98-11e0-a228-00144feabdc0.html#axzz...

Italy’s parliament has passed a vote on the government’s €54bn austerity package after weeks of agonising over how to overcome the country’s financial crisis. Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right government won the vote by 316 votes to 302. Later on Wednesday, the lower house is expected to pass a final vote on the measures, which aim to balance the budget by 2013. http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/ab4576ae-de15-11e0-a115-00144feabdc0.html...

Brazil had sprung the suggestion of the leading developing nations coming to the rescue of the eurozone on its fellow Bric countries, India’s finance ministry said on Wednesday. R. Gopalan, secretary in the department of economic affairs at the Indian finance ministry, told the Financial Times that Brazil had “thrown” its proposal at the grouping only days before it is to meet in Washington on September 22. On Tuesday, Guido Mantega, Brazil’s finance minister told reporters that officials from the leading emerging market economies would meet next week to discuss potential joint action to help the crisis-hit eurozone. http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/8059c3da-decb-11e0-a228-00144feabdc0.html...

Wsj.com
Asian stock markets surged on Thursday as concerns about Greece’s future eased slightly after Germany and France pledged to stand behind their commitments to keep the debt-laden nation in the euro-zone.  Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average rose 1.9%, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 jumped 1.7%, South Korea’s Kospi Composite gained 2.2% and New Zealand’s NZX-50 added 0.6%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up four points in screen trade. Bank stocks and cyclical plays rose across Seoul, Tokyo and Sydney as investors piled into recently beaten down stocks.http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405311190406060457657146159653076...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy are convinced that Greece’s future is within the euro zone, Mrs. Merkel’s spokesman said after the two leaders held a three-way conference call with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405311190406060457657046425035802...

Sitting on massive piles of cash and searching for investments that promise decent returns, U.S. banks have been doling out loans to companies with lower credit ratings. The loans are behind a drop in borrowing costs as corporations use cheap bank loans to pay off higher-yielding debt, as well as an increase in riskier leveraged buyouts by private-equity groups. While fears of a debt crisis in Europe and an economic slowdown in the U.S. sent many institutional investors bailing out of stock, bond and loan markets in August, bank loans to domestic corporations posted their largest monthly increase this year.http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405311190410340457655910093430873...

The European Central Bank provided U.S. dollar loans to euro-zone banks for only the second time in six months and Spanish banks grew more dependent on the ECB for daily funding needs, intensifying fears that Europe’s debt woes may generate a credit crisis and throw the euro bloc back into recession. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405311190392720457657047392348872...

The earnings outlook for American manufacturers, whose rebound propelled the U.S. recovery last year, is deteriorating as the global economy sputters. Big industrial companies generally haven’t begun chopping their own forecasts, but analysts are starting to do it for them. The average Wall Street forecast for 2012 earnings growth by 35 industrial companies included in the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index stood at about 16% Wednesday, down from 19% as of June 30, according to FactSet Research Systems. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405311190449170457657090074214850...

Most bankers expect higher Chinese interest rates in the fourth quarter, while residents have strong inflation expectations, the People’s Bank of China said on Thursday.  Results of the latest polls appear to reinforce the central bank’s focus on fighting domestic inflation, despite mounting concerns over the health of the global economy. The central bank said these were among the key findings of three separate surveys of executives working at banks, as well as businessmen and urban residents during the third quarter. It said the surveys covered executives at about 3,000 bank headquarters and branches as well as 5,000 businessmen and 20,000 urban residents in 50 cities. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405311190406060457657166354838874...

Europe’s financial crisis intensified Wednesday as banks moved to obtain more dollars for loans to their U.S. customers, and some nervous corporate clients began looking to banks outside the euro zone for loans. Tensions in the 17-nation euro zone are increasing despite attempts by central banks to pump badly needed dollars into the region, as U.S. sources have shrunk. On Wednesday, the European Central Bank said two banks had tapped it for $575 million, only the second time in six months the ECB has doled out dollar funding. The names of banks that tap the ECB are kept confidential.http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405311190449170457657091347424297...

Marketwatch.com
Crude-oil futures extended losses in electronic trading Thursday, as Europe’s debt mess kept investors cautious, despite some encouraging assurances from leaders in the region.  Crude oil for October delivery dropped 29 cents, or 0.3%, to $88.61 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange during Asian trading hours. The losses add to a 1.4% fall for crude in the North American session.http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-futures-extend-losses-in-asian-trad...

The number of default notices mailed to homeowners who were late on their mortgages soared in August to a nine-month high — the largest month-to-month increase in four years — and that helped push the rate of overall foreclosure filings higher last month, according to data released by RealtyTrac Inc. on Thursday. Foreclosure filings, which include those late-payment notices plus auction announcements and bank repossessions, rose 7% in August compared with July, hitting a total of 228,098 U.S. properties. But the filing rate fell 33% from a year earlier. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/foreclosure-filings-jump-7-in-august-fr...

Mounting concern over growth in India and globally is increasing pressure on the Reserve Bank of India to put its 18-month-long campaign to raise interest rates on hold Friday. This summer, a number of Asian central banks, including Malaysia’s and South Korea’s, paused their fight against inflation, while Brazil recently cut interest rates. But India’s central bank has so far remained steadfast in its rate-tightening stance. Yet, “with significant headwinds to growth — domestic slowdown and global recession — and current drivers of inflation not really being very acquiescent to rate tightening, it would be prudent for the RBI to pause now,” says Jay Shankar, chief economist at Religare Capital Markets. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/india-under-pressure-to-pause-rate-incr...

The price of U.S. goods at the wholesale level were unchanged in August as another decline in fuel costs offset an increase in food, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. The more closely followed core producer price index edged up 0.1% last month to mark the ninth straight increase. Core prices are viewed the Federal Reserve as a better gauge of longer-term inflationary pressure because they exclude the volatile food and energy categories. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had predicted no increase in overall producer prices and a 0.2% rise in the core rate. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-wholesale-prices-remain-flat-in-augu...

Retail sales were steady in August, as consumers spent more on essentials at gas stations and grocery stores, but less on cars, according to government data released Wednesday. The Commerce Department said U.S. retail and food services sales in August reached $389.5 billion, with the flat result the lowest growth since May. Excluding the volatile auto segment, sales rose 0.1%. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected an increase of 0.3% for the overall number, as well as for the data excluding autos. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/august-retail-sales-unchanged-from-july...

Reuters.com
World Bank President Robert Zoellick said on Wednesday the world had entered a new economic danger zone and Europe, Japan and the United States all needed to make hard decisions to avoid dragging down the global economy. “Unless Europe, Japan, and the United states can also face up to responsibilities they will drag down not only themselves, but the global economy,” Zoellick said in speech at George Washington University. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/15/us-worldbank-zoellick-idUSTRE7...

Moody’s Investors Service cut the credit ratings of France’s Credit Agricole SA and Societe Generale on Wednesday, citing their exposure to Greece’s debt, a fresh blow to euro area leaders struggling to restore confidence in the region. The ratings agency left BNP Paribas on review for a ratings downgrade saying the bank’s profitability and capital base provides adequate cushion to support its Greek, Portuguese and Irish exposure. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/14/us-eurozone-idUSTRE78B24R20110...

Investors and traders are rethinking whether the U.S. Federal Reserve might reduce the interest it pays banks on their excess reserves as another tool to stimulate lending and to avert another recession. While Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and other Fed officials have mentioned such a move as a policy option, investors and traders had placed a low probability that the U.S. central bank would use it because it risks cutting bank profitability and causing turmoil in money markets. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/14/us-markets-bonds-outlook-idUST...

Bloomberg.com
New Zealand ’s central bank left interest rates unchanged and signaled no urgency to raise them until the global recovery strengthens, weakening the local currency it called overvalued. “The exchange rateis significantly penalizing some activity in the traded sector, hurting some New Zealand firms and that’s a medium-term effect not a short-term effect,” Governor Alan Bollard told reporters in Wellington today after leaving the official cash rate at 2.5 percent. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-14/new-zealand-leaves-main-rate-at...

Temasek Holdings Pte and Kuwait Investment Authority are among early investors who agreed to buy $900 million of stock in Citic Securities Co.’s initial share sale in Hong Kong, two people with knowledge of the matter said. The Singaporean state-owned investment firm will invest $150 million in the offering, while the Kuwaiti sovereign wealth fund is putting in $200 million, said the people, who declined to be identified as the process is confidential. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-15/temasek-kuwait-said-in-group-ta...

Maserati SpA’s new sport-utility vehicle was one of the most sought-after models at the Frankfurt car show this week and Ferrari SpA predicted record sales as executives said ultra-luxury remains recession-proof. “If you go to the Ferrari stand, there aren’t any customers worried about the recession,” Fiat Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne said at the International Motor Show. “The last Ferrari customers I saw at the show weren’t crying.” http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-14/ferrari-proves-recession-proof-...

The cost of living in the U.S. probably rose at a slower pace in August as energy prices fell, economists said before a report today. The consumer-price index increased 0.2 percent after a 0.5 percent gain in July, according to the median forecast of 84 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The so-called core gauge, which excludes volatile food and fuel prices, may also have climbed 0.2 percent for a second month. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-15/consumer-prices-in-u-s-probably...

A South Korean official said his nation shouldn’t be blamed by Japan for the won’s weakness against the yen because investor sentiment is the cause rather than any government policy of suppressing gains. Deputy Finance Minister Choi Jong Ku said in an interview in Seoul today that reported comments by Japan’s top trade negotiator Hideichi Okada had shown a “lack of understanding.” Last week, Dow Jones quoted Okada as expressing concern that the exchange rate posed a challenge for Japanese industries. The Japanese official declined to comment today. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-15/south-korea-rejects-japanese-bl...

Cnbc.com
The developed world’s economies have become ensnared in a growth slowdown that threatens to turn into recession, at a time when room for manoeuvre with bold policy responses has narrowed significantly, Reuters polls showed. Surveys of more than 250 economists in North America, across Europe and Japan portend steadily increasing chances that central bankers will need to fire any weapons they may have left to stave off disaster. The median probability of a second recession in the United States, euro zone and Britain has climbed to roughly one in three, which is dangerously close to where such predictions have been correct in the past. http://www.cnbc.com/id/44527322

Foxbusiness.com

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Wednesday urged European leaders to act more forcefully to solve Europe’s escalating debt crisis and said they have the financial and economic capacity to do so. “They recognize that they have been behind the curve. They recognize that it will take more force behind their commitments,” Geithner told CNBC television two days before he is set to make an unprecedented appearance at a EU finance ministers meeting. Frustrated with Greece’s failure to meet fiscal goals set as a condition for a bailout, leaders of France and Germany were due on Wednesday to press Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou to enforce the harsh austerity measures. http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2011/09/14/geithner-urges-eu-to-do-mo...

Washingtonpost.com
The U.S. is a “long way” from risk of default and Treasuries are still the safest dollar assets, said Kim Eng Tan, senior director for sovereign-debt ratings at Standard & Poor’s. “We are still a long way from the U.S. coming down to a level where default risk is a concern,” Tan said today at a conference in Singapore. The U.S. debt market “remains the largest and most-liquid market in the world.” S&P, a New York-based unit of McGraw-Hill Cos., downgraded the U.S.’s AAA credit rating for the first time on Aug. 5, lowering the ranking to AA+. The company kept the outlook on the rating at “negative,” saying it was becoming less confident that Congress will end Bush-era tax cuts or tackle entitlements. http://washpost.bloomberg.com/story?docId=1376-LRJL116TTDS101-4K01MP77RO...

BBC.co.uk
Authorities in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu are to start handing out the first of an estimated 6.8 million free laptops to schoolchildren. All children in government-funded secondary schools and colleges will be eligible for one.  The five-year programme is the first of its kind in India. The laptops are part of a huge giveaway promised by ministers during elections earlier this year.http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-14925510

The number of people unemployed in the UK rose by 80,000 to 2.51 million in the three months to July, official figures have shown. This is the largest increase in nearly two years, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. The jobless rate now stands at 7.9%. Youth unemployment also rose sharply, by 78,000 to 973,000. The total claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance rose by 20,300 in August to 1.58 million. The number of people in employment in the economy fell in the three months to July, by 69,000 to 29.17 million. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14912236

Telegraph.co.uk
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is said to have delayed plans for a multi-billion flotation until late next year to keep staff focused on improving the world’s biggest social networking site.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandteleco...

Lord Wolfson, the chief executive of Britain’s biggest clothing brand, said he thought shoppers would start spending again in earnest next year, with petrol prices calming down, food and clothing prices stable or falling and most workers able to enjoy modest pay increases. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/876319...

Britain and other major economies do not have the tools available to deal with a potential new shock threatened by the eurozone debt crisis, Professor Charles Goodhart, a former member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, has warned. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/8763417/UK-cant-cope-...

Peter Altmaier, a close ally of Angela Merkel, appeared on the BBC on Wednesday evening to provide analysis of Europe’s existential crisis. Part of the problem, he said, was that when the euro was created, Europe had a strong currency but weak institutional structures. Now it’s clear, as was predicted, that faultline has been fully exposed and we have a weak currency and even weaker institutions. Right on cue, the French, German and Greek leaders shared a 25-minute phone call on Wednesday night and came up with all the usual platitudes. Despite their insistence that reforms will be implemented, they remain bereft of practical actions within their power to save their own skin. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/damianreece/8763751/The-euroz...

Independent.co.uk
With Europe’s sovereign debt crisis threatening to become a banking crisis, the Continent’s leaders must look across an ocean to the West and three years into the past for lessons on how to react. One lesson of 2008 stands out above all: check the plumbing. It was in the early morning of 15 September, three years ago today, that the US investment banking giant Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. In the following 72 hours, almost every area of the credit markets succumbed to dysfunction, panic or complete shutdown. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/the-solution-to-this-deb...

Guardian.co.uk
Smh.com.au
One of the big four banks expects the Reserve Bank to raise interest rates six months later than previously expected, after changes were made to a key measure of inflation. National Australia Bank now expects the RBA to raise the overnight cash rate by a quarter percentage point in November 2012, rather than in May. The bank updated its forecasts after the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Wednesday announced changes to the way it calculates the consumer price index (CPI), a key measure of inflation. http://www.smh.com.au/business/inflation-revision-postpones-rate-rise-na...

Australian retailers added almost 17,000 jobs in the year to August despite the woes that have hit the sector, new data shows. The 1.4 per cent increase in the number of retail workers in the year to August,seasonally adjusted, took the annual total of retail jobs to 1.23 million, outpacing the 1.2 per cent rise for total employment growth in that time, according to a preliminary analysis by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The data comes as department store Myer became the latest major retailer to announce lower profits and weaker trading conditions, as shoppers have cut back spending.http://www.smh.com.au/business/retail-slows-but-jobs-grow-20110915-1kb38...

A German minister has suggested the euro zone could do without Greece, even as Chancellor Angela Merkel struggled to unite her government in supporting Athens. In a marked departure from Germany’s official line, Transport Minister Peter Ramsauer told the Die Zeit weekly it would “not be the end of the world” if debt-mired Greece were forced to exit the euro zone. Ramsauer is a leading figure in the Christian Social Union, the Bavarian sister party to Merkel’s Christian Democrats. Merkel has repeatedly warned of a “domino effect” if Greece were to leave the 17-nation zone.http://www.smh.com.au/business/world-business/greek-euro-exit-not-end-of...

The Belarus ruble lost nearly 40 per cent of its value on Wednesday as the crisis-hit republic floated its currency for the second time in a year in the face of rapidly dwindling reserves. The valuation followed a 36 per cent easing in May and came despite earlier promises by President Alexander Lukashenko to keep the Belarus ruble stable at any cost. The open market trading that went into effect on Wednesday is designed to stimulate the economy by bridging the gap between the official rate set by the state and a black market one used by most consumers and private businesses. http://www.smh.com.au/business/world-business/belarus-ruble-sinks-40-ami...

Xinhuanet.com
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Wednesday cut China’s growth forecast to 9.3 percent for the year from its previously estimated 9.6 percent. The ADB also lowered its estimate for the country’s economic growth to 9.1 percent from 9.2 percent for next year, according to the update to the Asian Development Outlook released Wednesday by the Manila-based lender. China’s economic growth slowed during the first half of the year, mainly due to the country’s tightening policies and weakening outbound demand, said Paul Heytens, ADB country director for China, in the report.http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-09/14/c_131138505.htm

The Philippine government’s ambitious 7-8 percent yearend growth target now seems unattainable with the continued decline of the country’s exports brought about by the prolonged economic woes in Japan and the United States. Data released by the National Statistics Office showed that the country’s merchandise exports fell by 1.7 percent in July to 4.43 billion U.S. dollars from last year’s 4.51 billion U.S. dollars. This was the third straight month that Philippine exports registered a decline. Exports dropped by 3.1 percent in May and 9. 4 percent in June, the highest decline for the year. Analysts are convinced that the 7-8 percent target growth is now way off the mark. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2011-09/15/c_131140150.htm

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) forecast Vietnam’s growth rate in 2011 will reach 5.8 percent against its previous estimation of 6.1 percent. According to the Asian Development Outlook 2011, a report issued here on Wednesday by the lender, Vietnam’s economic growth rate will rise to 6.5 percent in 2012. T he ADB also forecast inflation in Vietnam will slow down to 18 percent, high enough due to the rising cost of food and foodstuff, but will stand at 11 percent in 2012. According to the ADB, Resolution No. 11 of the Vietnamese government is seen as a comprehensive package of policies that has obtained initial positive results in stabilizing the foreign exchange rate, increasing the state’s foreign currency reserves and gradually reducing inflation during the June-August period.http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/business/2011-09/15/c_131139991.ht...

Thehindu.com
Asking corporate America to invest in India and overlook “short-term challenges” that they are facing now, the new Indian Ambassador to the US Nirupama Rao assured the top U.S. business leaders that they will not lose a long term bet on their investments. “India is a developing economy and an emerging world power. In years to come India would offer huge commercial opportunities and growth of international businesses,” Ms. Rao said to top business leaders at a reception hosted by US India Business Council (USIBC) on Wednesday. You need to keep in focus the larger picture of our relationship, which is positive, progressive, she argued. http://www.thehindu.com/business/Economy/article2455250.ece

Economictimes.com
The Reserve Bank of India joined central banks in Indonesia and South Korea in selling US dollars to save the local currency from a sharp slide as investors fled for safety amid worsening sovereign crisis in Europe and deteriorating outlook for emerging economies. The Indian central bank sold dollars for the first time since Lehman Brothers triggered credit crisis to avert disorderly movement in the currency as it fell to its worst levels in two years. A depreciating rupee may compound the macroeconomic problems as prices of imported goods will surge and worsen the current account deficit. India won’t be able to take advantage even if commodity prices ease due to global slowdown. Exporters cheer the slide as they are paid more for the same products. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/rbi-sells-dollar...

Currency fluctuations could be the new wild card in India’s food inflation as it becomes more expensive to import inputs such as crude oil and fertilisers and staples such as cooking oil and pulses. The rupee has depreciated 3% in the past six days and 5% in this calendar year. India is the world’s largest importer of pulses, cooking oil and fertilisers, leaving it more vulnerable to currency risk.  The 3% depreciation in the rupee will raise India’s cost of crude oil imports by $11.5 million a day if prices remain unchanged. It also means an increase of 700 per tonne in the price of yellow peas, which make up half of India’s total pulses imports, traders said. Fertiliser firms, too, will need to shell out 1,400 per tonne more for Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP), 50% of which is imported.http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/foreign-trade/falling-r...

The World Trade Organisation has slammed India for its protective trade policy on food items that prevents exports at a time when world is facing record food prices. In its review of India’s trade and economic policies, the WTO observed that India was one of the highest user of anti-dumping and a frequent user of safeguard measures against imports from other countries. “Trade policy seems to be lacking an overall thrust and is being conducted mostly on a sector or product basis,” it said. India uses trade policy to attain short-term goals such as containing inflation, although it aims to provide a stable trade policy environment to reach its long-term goals, the report said. This use of trade policy for shortterm non-trade-related objectives may detract from the stability sought, as it requires constant fine-tuning of policies to attain these short-term goals. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/foreign-trade/wto-slams...

Yonhapnews.co.kr
South Korea is closely watching currency market conditions as volatility increases amid growing concerns over fiscal woes in Europe, a senior finance ministry official said Thursday. “In any direction, excessive fluctuations in the currency exchange rates are not desirable,” Eun Sung-soo, head of the finance ministry’s international financial bureau, told reporters. “We are now closely watching the market situations.” http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/business/2011/09/15/84/0502000000AEN2011...

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos pledged Thursday to significantly boost relations between the two countries and seek an early conclusion of a free trade agreement. The leaders agreed during summit talks in Seoul to upgrade their half-century-old relations to a “strategic cooperative partnership,” a diplomatic term that usually refers to ties that are close enough to cooperate on security, global issues and other topics beyond simply seeking economic interests from each other. http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/business/2011/09/15/32/0502000000AEN2011...

Emerging markets are expected to help South Korea maintain its export momentum in the second half amid slowdowns in advanced economies, a report said Thursday. The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) report predicted that shipments to Europe and the United States may decline in the second half as these countries struggle to deal with financial and fiscal uncertainties.  Consumer spending gains stood at just 0.4 percent in the United States, while numbers in Britain, France and Japan fell into minus territory, it said. “Such developments can hurt exports of autos, auto parts, ships and mobile telecommunication products,” it said. http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/business/2011/09/15/93/0502000000AEN2011...

Themoscowtimes.com
The Central Bank defied expectations of no policy change Wednesday by opting to narrow the spread between its lending and deposit rates, seeking to strengthen its influence over market interest rates. The Central Bank raised the deposit rate, its main tool to manage excess liquidity, by 25 basis points to 3.75 percent, while cutting the one-day repo rate that is currently the effective ceiling for interbank money rates by 25 basis points to 5.25 percent. It left the official benchmark refinancing rate at the 8.25 percent it set in May. “Today’s move is, first and foremost, an attempt by the Central Bank to wrest back control over market interest rates … so that it is better able to respond should the external environment deteriorate rapidly,” analysts at Capital Economics said in a note.http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/central-bank-narrows-rate...

Tehrantimes.com
Coinciding with India’s plans to develop the strategically important Chabahar Port in Iran, the foreign minister of the country Ali Akbar Salehi will visit India on November 15.  Tehran has conveyed to New Delhi Salehi’s plans to attend Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC) in Bangalore on November 15 and to hold discussions  with his Indian counterpart SM Krishna on a host of issues, senior government officials said.  Chabahar port — 72 km from Pakistan’s deep-sea Gwadar port built with Chinese assistance — holds immense strategic and economic significance for India. New Delhi maintains the port is in the common interest of “India, Iran Afghanistan, as well as Central Asia”. Chabahar is also closer to India than the existing port at Bandar Abbas.http://tehrantimes.com/index.php/economy-and-business/2557-india-to-part...

Thetrader.se
While investors try to follow the news relating to if China is buying Italian bonds or not, Greece is still struggling. Some insight from Hussman Funds. On Friday, the yield on 1-year Greek debt surged above 90%, while Wall Street still has barely blinked, evidently convinced by the bailout mentality of the past three years that governments will simply make the problem go away with public funds. One thing is certain – public funds will indeed be used to address this problem. But it is also nearly certain that those funds will be used to recapitalize European financial institutions (ideally, restructured ones) following a major default of Greek debt. The reason for this is simple. With Greek debt now beyond 144% of GDP and on track toward 180% by year-end, neither a further extension of credit to Greece, nor a modest writedown of its debt, would be sufficient to restore Greece’s ability to service that debt over time. http://www.thetrader.se/2011/09/14/fed-policy-no-theory-no-evidence-no-t...

Comments

[russki standart]

Excellent news feed, thank you.

[mikmid]

Good compilation of articles. Thanks