News That Matters

By www.thetrader.se

Ft.com
A secret report into the operations of Ireland’s National Asset Management Agency, the state agency set up to purge Irish banks of their toxic property loans, has recommended that the government should consider selling it off as a single entity http://ftalphaville.ft.com/thecut/2011/12/08/786001/dublin-urged-to-sell...

JPMorgan Chase has increased its lending to troubled eurozone economies, reports the FT, as US rivals retreat from the region. The bank’s loans in Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal and Ireland have jumped 9 per cent since September 30 http://ftalphaville.ft.com/thecut/2011/12/08/785821/jpmorgan-expands-eur...

Demand for dollar funding from the ECB has jumped sharply after a price cut agreed with the US Federal Reserve, suggesting that banks are more comfortable about tapping the ECB for help, says the FT. Thirty-four banks obtained $50.7bn in three-month loans yesterday and five took $1.6bn in one-week dollar liquidity http://ftalphaville.ft.com/thecut/2011/12/08/785721/demand-for-ecb-dolla...

Germany on Wednesday insisted that its European partners must undertake the politically fraught process of changing EU treaties, or at least accepting a binding new eurozone accord, reports the FT. On the eve of a European summit in Brussels to stem the eurozone crisis http://ftalphaville.ft.com/thecut/2011/12/08/785711/germany-insists-on-n...

Barclays is withdrawing its retail business from India, worth about $1bn in assets, reversing an expansion the UK banking group began five years ago in Asia’s third-largest economy, reports the FT. The realignment, http://ftalphaville.ft.com/thecut/2011/12/07/785601/barclays-withdraws-f...

The Guangzhou government’s land sales programme has seized up, reports the FT. Last month, the city government in southern China had to cancel or drastically scale back its plans to auction land four times because cash-strapped private developers were nervous about Beijing’s raft of measures to cool property prices. http://ftalphaville.ft.com/thecut/2011/12/07/785581/drop-in-china%e2%80%...

he renminbi has fallen to the bottom of its official trading band for six straight days against the dollar, an unprecedented indication of the Chinese currency’s potential weakness as the economy slowshttp://ftalphaville.ft.com/thecut/2011/12/07/785511/renminbi-under-press...

The European Union is to stop all bilateral aid payments to China, India, Brazil and other fast-growing economies as a result of a review into development spending. In plans put forward on Wednesday, the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, said that 17 countries in all were effectively graduating from being recipients of European aid, including some of  the world’s most dynamic economies, to “new partnerships” that are not based on bilateral aid. http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/

0/3d188744-20fe-11e1-8a43-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1fv550FNA

Thetrader.se
S&P does it again. The credit rating agency Downgrades most European banks and the EU itself. This must be really positive, as no more negative news can come out, or? Head of S&P must be on some good deal to be sending out all these messages to the world.http://www.thetrader.se/2011/12/07/sp-downgrades-almost-everything-and-e...

The concerted action from central banks has been extending last weeks rally but with our short-term momentum indicators reaching overbought extremes as well as moving into initial price resistance the SPX is getting vulnerable for profit taking. Early this week we expect a test of the 200-day moving average at 1265 but given the increasingly overbought stance and the unsustainable momentum we wouldn’t be surprised to see a pullback later this week/next week towards 1220 before starting a final rally into deeper December. http://www.thetrader.se/2011/12/07/technical-research-still-bullish-but-...

Wsj.com
Asian stock markets were mostly lower Thursday as investors adopted a cautious stance ahead of the European Central Bank and European Union meetings later in the day, while the Australian dollar and stocks lost ground after a weak employment report.  Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average dropped 0.6%, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.2%, South Korea’s Kospi Composite shed 0.2% and India’s Sensex dropped 0.7%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was down 0.7%, while China’s Shanghai Composite added 0.4%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were 14 points higher in screen trade. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020341330457708513310152639...

French and German officials on Wednesday said they are confident that several European Union nations, in addition to the 17 members of the euro zone, will sign up for greater central supervision of their national budgets, even if they have little optimism of rallying all 27 EU countries. EU nations that decide to opt out of the fiscal pact proposed by France and Germany risk being stigmatized by investors, who could decide to shun debt issued by countries that have rejected tighter collective discipline, the officials said. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020350130457708400151693585...

Some central banks in Europe have started weighing contingency plans to prepare for the possibility that countries leave the euro zone or the currency union breaks apart entirely, according to people familiar with the matter. The first signs are surfacing that central banks are thinking about how to resuscitate currencies based on bank notes that haven’t been printed since the first euros went into circulation in January 2002. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020341330457708448387442251...

Finance Minister Jan Vincent-Rostowski, citing “very deeply rooted structural problems” in the currency union, says it “will take several years before we will know if the euro zone is well constructed and safe to join,” as he put it in a recent radio interview. Opposition leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski is blunter: He says adopting the euro now would be “economic suicide.”http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020482670457707464142938837...

Local car sales in India grew 7% in November to 171,131 autos from 159,939 a year earlier, showed data issued Thursday by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers. SIAM didn’t give any reason for the rise in the number of cars sold. The increase in automobile sales–considered a key indicator of the health of India’s economy–comes after four consecutive months of declines.http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020341330457708533298033044...

The Bank of Korea Thursday kept its benchmark interest rate on hold for a sixth straight month, but turned gloomier in its outlook on the global and domestic economies, raising expectations the central bank may start monetary easing next year to underpin growth.  The central bank, as expected, held its policy rate at 3.25%, where it has stood since a 0.25 percentage point increase in June. All 15 analysts surveyed this week by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast the BOK would stand pat at its final rate review of the year. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020341330457708517149299193...

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand held the official cash rate steady at 2.50%, while watering down its mild tightening bias in the face of global economic uncertainty. Yet while central banks in Australia and Indonesia have already cut rates and others stand ready to loosen policy, their New Zealand counterpart continues to expect its next move would be to raise rates.http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020341330457708516114027090...

Marketwatch.com
Australia’s unemployment rate ticked up 0.1 percentage points to 5.3% in November, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported Thursday. Economists had been expecting an unemployment rate of 5.2%, according to figures compiled by Dow Jones Newswires. The number of employed decreased by 6,300 to 11.46 million in November, as full-time employment fell by 39,900 to 8.03 million. The number in part-time employment rose by 33,600, to 3.43 million. The labor force participation rate fell 0.1 percentage points to 65.5%. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/australian-unemployment-rate-ticks-up-t...

Japan released mostly downbeat data Thursday, with machinery orders showing a sharp fall and the October current-account surplus showed further deterioration. Core machinery orders — which exclude volatile orders for ships and machinery for utilities — dropped 6.9% in October, the Cabinet Office reported, with the result comparing with median forecasts for a 0.1% rise and 0.5% drop from Dow Jones Newswires and Reuters, respectively. The data, which are closely watched as a leading indicator of capital spending, marked an extension of September’s 8.2% tumble. On the October balance of payments, the surplus narrowed further to 562.4 billion yen ($7.25 billion), down from September’s ¥1.585 trillion, though above a Dow Jones/Nikkei survey forecast of ¥496.5 billion. Exports were down 2.7% from a year earlier, while import rose 21.3%. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/japan-machinery-orders-fall-further-in-...

Reuters.com
A Japanese government official said on Thursday he had not heard of a reported $600 billion IMF lending facility to help the euro zone, although Japan would consider providing bilateral loans to the Fund if warranted by developments in Europe. The Nikkei newspaper reported earlier that the Group of 20 nations were planning to assemble the lending facility and that it could be used to bolster euro zone countries. Key members like Japan, the United States and China would contribute to the facility, the Nikkei said. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/08/us-g20-imf-idUSTRE7B709Y201112...

Brent crude was steady above $109 on Thursday, after a sharp fall in the previous session, as the market stayed cautious ahead of a summit to deal with Europe’s sovereign debt crisis. Brent crude fell 7 cents to $109.46 a barrel by 0336 GMT, after settling Wednesday $1.28 lower at $109.53 a barrel. U.S. crude was down 1 cent to $100.49 a barrel. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/08/us-markets-oil-idUSTRE7AD06820...

Spot gold inched down 0.3 percent to $1,736.09 an ounce by 0301 GMT, after two consecutive sessions of gains. U.S. gold lost 0.2 percent to $1,740.60. Buying on Asia’s bullion market was lackluster, as most market participants have moved to the sidelines of the market waiting for the events in the euro zone to play out and point to a clear direction. “We saw some buying when prices dipped below $1,720 in the past couple of days, but no one cares to buy now as prices are above $1,730,” said a Hong Kong-based dealer. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/08/us-markets-precious-idUSTRE7AK...

Bloomberg.com
South Korea and New Zealand left interest rates unchanged to shield growth as Japanese machinery orders and Australian employment unexpectedly fell, underscoring the threat to global expansion from Europe’s fiscal crisis.  The Bank of Korea kept its benchmark rate at 3.25 percent for a sixth month, it said in Seoul today, while New Zealand’s central bank held the official cash rate at a record-low 2.5 percent. In Australia, the number of people employed fell by 6,300 in November. Japan’s machinery orders slid 6.9 percent in October from the previous month. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-08/australian-employers-unexpected...

The U.S. decision to deploy Marines to Australia was not aimed at China and was meant to strengthen a longstanding alliance, U.S. Undersecretary of Defense Michele Flournoy told reporters in Beijing after meeting with Chinese army Deputy Chief of Staff Ma Xiaotian yesterday. “We assured General Ma and his delegation that the U.S. does not seek to contain China, we do not view China as an adversary,” Flournoy said today. “These posture changes were first and foremost about strengthening our alliance with Australia.” http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-08/u-s-says-australia-troop-plan-n...

Hong Kong will ease some of its property-cooling measures if home prices extend their decline amid Europe’s worsening credit crisis and a global economic slowdown, the city’s financial secretary said. Housing prices are “slowly coming down,” and that “will continue for a bit and hopefully we will be able to achieve a soft landing,” John Tsang, Hong Kong’s top financial official, said in an interview in Johannesburg Dec. 6. “When the environment trends downwards, we will surely take countercyclical measures to deal with that.”  Prices dropped to a six-month-low in November and transactions slumped as the threat of a recession dents buyer confidence. The government imposed additional taxes last year and tightened access to mortgages four times since 2009 after prices jumped 70 percent, underpinned by record-low interest rates and an influx of wealthy Chinese buyers. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-07/hong-kong-to-loosen-grip-on-pro...

Dailyfinance.com
Affluent black Americans who are leaving industrial cities for the suburbs and the South are shifting traditional lines between rich and poor, according to new census data. Their migration is widening the income gap between whites and the inner-city blacks who remain behind, while making blacks less monolithic as a group and subject to greater income disparities. “Reverse migration is changing the South and its race relations,” said Roderick Harrison, a Howard University sociologist and former chief of racial statistics at the Census Bureau. http://srph.it/v6qA6T

Washingtonpost.com
Most global investors predict China will face a banking crisis within the next five years, paring their appetite for the nation’s shares and eroding confidence in its leadership, a Bloomberg Global Poll indicated. Sixty-one percent of respondents said they anticipate a crash in the financial industry by late 2016, and only 10 percent were confident China’s banks will escape trouble, according to the quarterly poll of 1,097 investors, analysts and traders who are Bloomberg subscribers conducted Dec. 5-6. Evidence of slowing growth in China — including the weakest manufacturing performance in more than two years, falling home sales and ebbing export growth — has stoked concern that non-performing loans will climb in the world’s second-largest economy. The risk is a legacy of a record 17.6 trillion-yuan ($2.8 trillion) lending boom unleashed by Premier Wen Jiabao in 2009-2010 amid the global recession. http://washpost.bloomberg.com/story?docId=1376-LVTX5K0YHQ0X01-6AID6N73T8...

BBC.co.uk
The UK’s industrial output fell 0.7% in October, its fastest fall for six months, according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS). Compared with the same month in 2010, output was 1.7% lower, the biggest annual fall since April. Manufacturing output also fell 0.7% in October, the biggest monthly drop since April and three times the fall forecast by analysts. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16066597

Telegraph.co.uk
Standard & Poor’s, the rating agency that shocked markets by threatening a mass downgrade of eurozone debt, has issued a warning on European Union credit too.  The US credit rating agency, which has been accused of jeopardising the vital Brussels summit which starts today, said it had put the debt issued by the EU itself on “credit negative watch” as a result of its action earlier this week.  In a statement last night, S&P said: “Given the EU’s dependency on such revenues from national budgets, and our recent CreditWatch placements on the ‘AAA’ ratings on Germany and France, among others, we will concurrently review the ‘AAA’ long-term rating on the EU with the ratings on the eurozone member states.” http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/8941875/EU-comes-unde...

The Chancellor has warned banks to “heed the advice” of the Bank of England and limit bonus payments this year to bolster their finances against the looming credit crunch.  “Excessive pay in the financial sector creates perverse incentives for investment bankers. We are trying to curb it. We want more active shareholders,” he said. His comments followed a recent escalation in attacks on City pay. The Treasury is proposing that all UK-based banks – even overseas subsidiaries – disclose more detail on remuneration, the Association of British Insurers is urging banks to show restraint, and the Bank of England has ordered them to cut bonuses back to bolster their financial defences. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/8941536/...

Investors have febrile expectations of Mario Draghi. They are strangely hopeful that the Italian chief of the European Central Bank will soon unleash a blitz of bond purchases to halt the death spiral in southern Europe.  “The markets have come to believe wrongly there is a grand master plan to save the world,” said Andrew Roberts, credit chief at RBS. “They have built up enormous hopes that a deal will be struck to unlock the ECB’s balance sheet. They will be extremely disappointed if there isn’t a big acceleration in bond buying.” http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/8941821/Mario-Draghi-...

Smh.com.au
Weaker house prices and falling fixed interest rates have increased affordability in the housing market for the third straight quarter, according to a survey. The Housing Industry Association-Commonwealth Bank housing affordability index rose by 1.2 per cent in September quarter to a reading of 57.2 from 56.5 in the June quarter. The index hit 54 in the December 2010 quarter. “Continued earnings growth (by households) and a small decrease in mortgage lending rates worked to further improve housing affordability in the September 2011 quarter,” said HIA senior economist Andrew Harvey. “Affordability looks to now be trending in the right direction and with interest rate cuts in November and December we will hopefully see this trend continue.” http://www.smh.com.au/business/property/housing-affordability-improves-a...

The European Central Bank may announce a range of measures tomorrow to stimulate bank lending, said three euro-area officials with knowledge of policy makers’ deliberations. Options on the table include loosening collateral criteria so that institutions have more access to cheap ECB cash and offering them longer-term loans to grease the flow of credit to the economy, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions are private. Two said an interest rate cut is likely, with only the size of the reduction to be determined for the monthly decision tomorrow. http://www.smh.com.au/business/world-business/ecb-eyeing-plans-to-stimul...

Xinhuanet.com
A government think tank on Wednesday predicted China’s economy to grow 9.2 percent this year before gliding to 8.9 percent in 2012. The growth rate of China’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2011, which would be 1.2 percentage points lower than that of 2010, was set against the background of sluggish economic recovery worldwide, China’s prudent monetary policy and the withdrawal of stimulus measures on consumption, according to a Blue Paper issued by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2011-12/08/c_122391596.htm

India’s industrial production could shrink as much as 7 percent in October based on initial estimates, said a report by local media on Thursday. This will mark the first contraction of industrial sector since June 2009 and shall ring the alarm bell loudly for policy makers. Still, the final data of contraction could be 5 percent with more data coming in, said one source. Eight core industries accounting for 37.9 percent of the whole industrial production saw 0.1 percent of expansion in October, according to official statistics. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2011-12/08/c_131295321.htm

Singapore government announced hikes of up to 10 percent in stamp duty for private residential property buyers on Wednesday to curb investment demand. Singaporeans will have to pay an additional stamp duty of 3 percent for their third and subsequent residential properties if they buy it from Dec. 8 onwards, the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of National Development said in a joint statement on Wednesday evening. The hike came on top of the current stamp duty of 1 percent for the first 180,000 Singapore dollars (140,625 U.S. dollars) value of their property, 2 percent for the next 180,000 Singapore dollars and 3 percent for the remainder. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2011-12/08/c_131295312.htm

Cs.com.cn
A Brazilian official said Wednesday with sound fiscal performance and solid public accounts, the country can withstand ramifications of the eurozone debt crisis.  “Brazil’s fiscal conditions are very favorable and will help the country resist the eurozone crisis,” Treasury Secretary Arno Augustin told reporters. He added that the government will block any possible spending increase in 2012 that might be approved by the parliament, as part of its efforts to meet public savings targets next year. http://www.cs.com.cn/english/ei/201112/t20111208_3161070.html

Romania would support the amending of Protocol 12 of the EU’s Treaty to solve eurozone sovereign debt issue, said President Traian Basescu on Wednesday when referring to Romania’s stance at the upcoming EU summit.  For the moment, the solution for the euro area issues is to amend Protocol 12, which regulates euro zone countries not to exceed 3 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for running up budget deficits, said the president. http://www.cs.com.cn/english/ei/201112/t20111208_3161067.html

Comments

[earleflorida]

thanks again, and again for your labors

[GloriousBastrd]

Another article that might have been missed:

http://njtoday.net/2011/12/08/attorney-general%E2%80%99s-office-announces-58-75-million-multi-state-settlement-with-wachovia-wells-fargo/