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Ft.com
Bank of America has told the US Federal Reserve that it is willing to retreat from some parts of the country if its financial problems deepen, the WSJ says, citing people familiar with the situation. Executives put the potential move on a list of emergency scenarios submitted to the Fed in 2011http://ftalphaville.ft.com/thecut/2012/01/13/831771/bofa-raised-possibil...

Would-be Apple customers in Beijing, who had endured an overnight weight in below-freezing temperatures, reacted with fury after the company’s main store in Beijing’s Sanlitun district failed to open,http://ftalphaville.ft.com/thecut/2012/01/13/831721/beijing-apple-store-...

Spain and Italy successfully sold about €22bn of government debt at sharply lower costs than at previous auctions, easing tensions in financial markets and underlining the tentative improvement in investor sentiment towards the eurozone, http://ftalphaville.ft.com/thecut/2012/01/13/831531/draghi-hails-tentati...

In his second meeting as chairman of the Federal Reserve in May 2006, Ben Bernanke heard a Fed governor warn about the nation’s mortgage market. But Mr Bernanke described the cooling of the housing boom as a “healthy thing”, http://ftalphaville.ft.com/thecut/2012/01/13/831541/feds-2006-minutes-ri...

 

The Serious Fraud Office intends to confiscate shareholder dividends paid by companies convicted of criminal offences, the FT says, after it won approval for a civil recovery order on Thursday against the principal shareholder of a company that had admitted corruption. Mabey Engineering Holding agreed to repay the £131,201 dividend it received from Mabey &http://ftalphaville.ft.com/thecut/2012/01/13/831521/sfo-targets-criminal...

China’s foreign-exchange reserves dropped for the first time in more than a decade, Bloomberg reports, as foreign investment moderated, the trade surplus narrowed and Europe’s crisis spurred investors to sell emerging-market assets. http://ftalphaville.ft.com/thecut/2012/01/13/831361/chinas-forex-reserve...

The US overtook China to regain top position as the world’s leading investor in “clean” energy last year, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the FT reports. It was the first year since 2008 that the US has been ahead of China as the world’s largest market for investment in renewable energy,http://ftalphaville.ft.com/thecut/2012/01/13/831371/us-regains-top-posit...

The threat of food inflation, a serious concern for emerging countries last year, is starting to recede as high prices for grains restrain consumption and better crop yields in Europe and Russia replenish stocks, http://ftalphaville.ft.com/thecut/2012/01/13/831331/food-inflation-abate...

Spain sold €9.98bn of bonds maturing in 2015 and 2016, including a new three-year benchmark security, twice the maximum target of €5bn euros set for the sale, Bloomberg reports. The Bank of Spain said demand for the new three-year benchmark bond was 1.8 times the amount sold,http://ftalphaville.ft.com/thecut/2012/01/12/830441/spain-sells-e9-98bn-...

Wsj.com
Credit markets have a message for European officials wrangling with investors to cut Greece’s debt: You will get a deal, but it may not be the one you want. Trading in Greek bonds and credit-default swaps suggests that while investors are betting an agreement will be reached, some bondholders are unlikely to enter into it voluntarily. That could lead to a technical default under the arcane rules of the credit markets, an outcome that European officials have been working hard to prevent. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020372170457715706137144027...

In his second meeting as chairman of the Federal Reserve in May 2006, Ben Bernanke heard a Fed governor warn about the nation’s mortgage market. But Mr. Bernanke described the cooling of the housing boom as a “healthy thing.” “So far we are seeing, at worst, an orderly decline in the housing market,” he said. Mr. Bernanke’s words were contained in 1,197 pages of transcripts released Thursday of closed-door Fed meetings from that year. The transcripts paint the most detailed picture yet of how top officials at the central bank didn’t anticipate the storm about to hit the U.S. economyhttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020440900457715700153776386...

Euro-zone factory output suffered its first decline on a year-to-year basis in almost two years in November, the latest sign the currency bloc’s economy is heading into recession as leaders battle to end their debt crisis. Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics agency, said Thursday that output in the 17 nations that use the euro fell 0.1% in November compared with October, the third straight monthly decline, and was down 0.3% from November 2010—the first time it has fallen on an annual basis since December 2009. “November’s euro-zone industrial production data add to evidence that the economy as a whole mayhttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020454240457715617240310022...

China may eventually invest more of its $3.2 trillion foreign-exchange reserves in stocks, enterprises and other assets as it looks for ways to boost returns on its reserves, according to Jiang Jianqing, chairman of China’s largest state-owned bank. “The portfolio of the foreign-exchange reserves needs to be more reasonable and effective,” Mr. Jiang, chairman of Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Thursday. ICBC is the largest bank in the world by market value.http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020440900457715657155760544...

Marketwatch.com
Asian shares traded mostly higher Friday, after successful European bond auctions and comments from the European Central Bank helped alleviate some concerns, although Chinese markets lost their early gains. Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average jumped 1% and South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.6%, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index advanced a more modest 0.2%. But over in China, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped 0.1% while the Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.5%, with consumer-related stocks under pressure. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/asia-stocks-climb-amid-europe-optimism-...

Reuters.com
President Barack Obama formally notified Congress on Thursday that he plans a $1.2 trillion increase in the U.S. debt limit, prompting Republicans to level election-year charges that deficits are out of control. Obama, in a one-sentence letter to House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, said “further borrowing is required to meet existing commitments.” The proposed increase would push the debt ceiling to $16.394 trillion.http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/13/us-usa-debt-obama-idUSTRE80B20...

Oil prices tumbled on Thursday in a late sell-off sparked by a report that a proposed European Union ban on imports of Iranian crude would be phased in over six months, reinforcing news already published by Reuters. EU diplomats had said a consensus was emerging to grant a grace period before banning new deals with Iran – six months for crude oil purchases and three months for petrochemicals. The embargo adds to pressure from the West to curb Iran’s nuclear program.http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/12/us-markets-oil-idUSTRE7AD06820...

Bloomberg.com
India’s government asked state-run companies to pay higher dividends to help narrow the budget deficit as slowing growth threatens to erode revenue, afinance ministry official with direct knowledge of the matter said. Ministry officials and the chiefs of state companies met in New Delhi yesterday to discuss investment plans and their ability to pay higher dividends, said the person, who asked not to be identified, citing government policy. Failure to raise money from stake sales is forcing Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to explore other ways to fund the government’s spending on roads, hospitals, ports and power stations. He said Jan. 11 it will be “difficult” for the government to achieve its fiscal deficit target. India’s gross domestic product expanded 6.9 percent in the three months ended Sept. 30, the slowest pace in more than two years. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-12/india-said-to-demand-higher-div...

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda reshuffled his Cabinet today to boost negotiations with the opposition over raising the national sales tax, as polls show rising discontent with his four-month-old administration. Former Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada was named Noda’s deputy premier, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura told reporters today in Tokyo. Naoki Tanaka replaced Yasuo Ichikawa, one of two ministers who were censured last month by the Diet, as defense chief. Noda will hold a press conference at 6 p.m. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-13/japan-s-noda-names-okada-as-dep...

Cnbc.com
India will keep doing business with Tehran and sees no reason to seek a waiver from the United States that would protect buyers of Iranian oil from a fresh round of sanctions, a senior Indian cabinet minister said on Thursday. “Why should we seek waiver from the U.S.? We have done business with Iran earlier and will continue to do business,” the minister, who has knowledge of the matter but did not want to be named as the issue is confidential, told Reuters.http://www.cnbc.com/id/45979908

Dailyfinance.com
America’s retailers enjoyed a record 2011 and their first $400 billion sales months ever. But the final month of the year was a dud. Sales eked out a 0.1 percent increase in December, to a seasonally adjusted $400.6 billion.  It was the second straight month that sales topped $400 billion. Revised government data showed that sales in November also surpassed that level. December’s increase, though, was the weakest in seven months. Excluding volatile auto purchases, overall sales actually fell 0.2 percent. It was the first such drop since May 2010. But analysts said they still expect consumers to help the economy strengthen further, especially because businesses have stepped up hiring. More jobs mean more people with money to spend. “Although consumer spending is not particularly robust, households do continue to spend and provide moderate support for the overall economy,” said Steven Wood, chief economist at Insight Economics. http://srph.it/xOpQgt
Foxbusiness.com
The Bank of Korea held its policy interest rate steady at 3.25% Friday, as expected, with consumer inflation remaining above the central bank’s target range. However, reports said pressure is building on South Korea to ease its interest rates amid concerns of slowing exports due to a sluggish global economy. A policy statement was due out later in the day. http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2012/01/12/south-korea-holds-rates-st...

BBC.co.uk
Rising energy prices pushed German inflation up to 2.3% in 2011, according to official figures from Destatis. The inflation rate compares with 1.1% in 2010 and 0.4% in 2009. It was the highest annual figure since 2008, when inflation was 2.6%. It takes Germany outside the European Central Bank’s target rate for eurozone inflation, which is close to, but below, 2.0%. Excluding energy prices, inflation would only have been 1.3%. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16524837

The European Central Bank (ECB) has left its key interest rate unchanged at its latest monthly meeting. It has left its main refinancing operations rate at 1.0%. The decision followed two consecutive months of rate cuts, which were aimed at boosting the currency bloc’s growth . At a news conference, ECB president Mario Draghi said the eurozone economy was still experiencing “high uncertainty and substantial downside risks”. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16529221

K interest rates have been held at their record low of 0.5% by the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee. Interest rates have been kept at 0.5% since March 2009. The Bank did not announce any increase in its policy of quantitative easing. In October, the Bank said it would pump another £75bn into the economy. The decisions were widely expected, and come amid concerns over the economy’s strength due to weak consumer spending and the eurozone crisishttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16529313

Telegraph.co.uk
The British economy just about scraped growth in the fourth quarter of 2011 according to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), but weaker data elsewhere darkened the economic outlook. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/9010478/UK-grew-0.1pc-in-fo...

Independent.co.uk
Britons are in a slough of despond over their personal finances, with only one in four rating their current financial situation as strong, according to a poll. Against a backdrop of rising dole queues and high inflation, the pessimistic mood puts Britons on a par with Mexico, South Africa and Spain, according to Ipsos MORI’s survey of more than 18,000 people. Britain also saw the sharpest fall in financial confidence across all 24 countries surveyed in November except France. Just one in five Britons expect their personal financial situation to be stronger in the next six months, although the French and Italians are particularly downbeat, with just 9 per cent and 13 per cent foreseeing any improvement. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/bad-news-britain-we-are-...

Smh.com.au
Gold advanced to a four-week high in New York on speculation that a decline in the dollar will spur demand for the metal as an alternative investment. Silver also rallied. The dollar fell as much as 1 per cent against the euro after Spain sold almost twice the planned amount of debt at an auction today, boosting demand for the 17-nation currency. Gold usually moves in the opposite direction to the dollar. The metal traded in euros has climbed 7.5 per cent this year, exceeding the 5.9 per cent gain for metal in the US currency. http://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/gold-rises-on-softening-greenback...

Straitstimes.com
Growth in China’s auto sales hit the brakes in 2011, data showed on Thursday, after Beijing rolled back sales incentives and some cities imposed restrictions on car numbers.  Total sales in the world’s largest auto market rose just 2.5 per cent to 18.51 million units last year, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said on its website, compared with an increase of more than 32 per cent in 2010.http://www.straitstimes.com/Motoring/Story/STIStory_754758.html

Xinhuanet.com
The Chinese currency Renminbi, or the yuan, gained 29 basis points to 6.3201 against the U.S. dollar on Friday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trading System. In China’s foreign exchange spot market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by 0.5 percent from the central parity rate each trading day. The central parity rate of the yuan against the U.S. dollar is based on a weighted average of prices before the opening of the market each business day.http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2012-01/13/c_131357722.htm

Construction on a national call center that is set to be the world’s largest began on Thursday in the city of Luoyang in central China’s Henan province. The China Mobile (Luoyang) Call Center is part of the efforts of China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile phone operator, to integrate its provincial and regional services and set up national calling centers in China, said Li Yue, president of the company.http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2012-01/12/c_131356397.htm

Growth in China’s producer prices further decelerated in December 2011, marking the slowest pace in two years on waning demand. China’s Producer Price Index (PPI), a main gauge of inflation at the wholesale level, rose 1.7 percent year-on-year in December, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Thursday. Easing further from November’s 2.7-percent growth and October’s 5-percent growth, the rate is slightly higher than market estimates of around two percent.http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2012-01/12/c_131356181.htm

Cs.com.cn
Russia’s gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 4.2 percent in 2011, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Thursday during a government presidium meeting. Putin noted that the growth rate made Russia the third fastest growing economy among the world’s leading economies, only behind China and India. In terms of the industrial output, Russia grew by 4.7 percent last year, he said. In the past year, Russia’s inflation rate stood at 6.1 percent, the country’s lowest over the past 20 years, according to Putin. http://www.cs.com.cn/english/ei/201201/t20120113_3208187.html

Thehindu.com
Cheaper vegetables have primarily contributed to inflation remaining in the negative territory for the second consecutive week. For the week-ended December 31, food inflation dropped to a negative 2.9 per cent compared with the same period a year ago. Last week, food inflation had dipped to a negative 3.36 per cent. Fuel inflation, however, was higher by 14.45 per cent during the review period.  A look at prevailing prices in various markets across the country shows that prices of almost all vegetables are lower. Onion prices, which had ruled at Rs 2,851 a quintal at Lasalgaon market in Maharashtra last year, have now dropped to Rs 360. Potato prices in most markets near growing areas of West Bengal have declined to Rs 280 a quintal from Rs 500 last year. The potato index has slipped to 100 from 147 a year ago. This means that prices are currently at levels seen during 2004-05. http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/agri-biz/articl...

Economictimes.com
Nobel laureate and economist Joseph Stiglitz on Friday said that India’s growth at 7% is a mark of achievement in the current global scenario. Speaking to ET NOW, he said that India can afford a highdeficit if invested for larger capex.  Stiglitz said that India’s knowledge, economy and democracy is its strength. Commenting on the economic growth, he said, “Today, we look with amazement at some of the rates of growth in the emerging markets. That growth is not small measure because these countries have learned how to close the knowledge gap.” http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/indicators/indias-growt...

Food prices will start rising again and food inflation may hit the 7% mark by March-April, warned planning commission’s principal adviser Pronab Sen, while he said it will be difficult for the Reserve Bank of India to reduce policy rates before there are clear signs of easing of inflation and reduction in fiscal deficit. Although, food inflation remained in the negative zone at (-)2.90% for the second consecutive week ended December 31, 2011, thanks to good harvest, Sen said the government had failed to address structural issues that forced average food inflation to remain around 7% between 2004 and 2009.http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/indicators/food-inflati...
Themoscowtimes.com
Russia’s new car market will rise to 4 million in annual sales by the middle years of the current decade, an influential auto industry trade group has said.  According to the Association of European Businesses, new car sales, often seen as a barometer of economic health, continued a post-crisis recovery in 2011, surging 39  percent compared with 2010. “Four million will happen — but not in a straight line,” David Thomas, the chairman of AEB’s automobile manufacturers’ committee told reporters after presenting figures for annual sales in 2011 on Thursday. Russians bought 2.65 million new cars and light vehicles in 2011, according to figures compiled by the committee based on member companies’ sales figures.http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/new-car-market-coming-bac...
Khaleejtimes.com
The head of the International Monetary Fund on Thursday called for “tangible steps” by Hungary to show it is willing to follow policies that will help stabilize its economy before the global lender can agree to begin key talks on a new financing program. “Before the Fund can determine when and whether to start negotiations for a standby arrangement, it will need to see tangible steps that show the authorities’ strong commitment to engage on all the policy issues that are relevant to macroeconomic stability,” IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said in a statement after meeting Hungarian officials.http://www.khaleejtimes.com/biz/inside.asp?xfile=/data/finance/2012/Janu...

Thetrader.se
The World is changing fast. Latest on the big geopolitical and economic trends. From Stratfor. There are periods when the international system undergoes radical shifts in a short time. The last such period was 1989-1991. During that time, the Soviet empire collapsed. The Japanese economic miracle ended. The Maastricht Treaty creating contemporary Europe was signed. Tiananmen Square defined China as a market economy dominated by an unchallenged Communist Party, and so on. Fundamental components of the international system shifted radically, changing the rules for the next 20 years.http://www.thetrader.se/2012/01/13/2012-geopolitical-and-economic-foreca...

As we have written over the past sessions. Market is trying to break up, but lacks the conviction, while trading on very light volumes. Santa rally is fading, but has attracted many new longs, that wish not to be long. Volatility has collapsed, and people are once again starting to believe, “this market is so boring and will not move“. These are classical signs of people “giving up”. Too many have been too bearish, all predicting the end of the Eurozone. With the past week’s market action, people are slowly giving up on the bear argument. When liquidity dries up, volatility collapses and bears become bulls, things could suddenly change. Today was such a day, with a rather big reversal. http://www.thetrader.se/2012/01/12/market-to-reverse-as-everybody-long-a...

 

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Fri, 01/13/2012 - 09:21 | 2061077 RiverRoad
RiverRoad's picture

Ditto   +1

Fri, 01/13/2012 - 08:08 | 2060958 Norma Lacy
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thank you for this

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