Salient to Investors: South Korean growth in 2012 will beat Asia’s other wealthy nations. The IMF forecasts South Korea’s economy will grow 2.7 percent in 2012 versus 2.2 percent in Japan, 1.8 percent in Hong Kong and 2.1 percent in Singapore. Samsung, whose annual sales are equivalent to 13 percent of GDP, makes almost a quarter
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Official inflation data is often incomplete or months out of date. Jahangir Aziz at JPMorgan Chase said that to a large extent, the Reserve Bank of India is essentially making decisions in the dark – India lacks a solid, good measure of inflation with much broader coverage of services, and
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Real estate investors and developers are abandoning a two-year foray into China’s provincial cities and switching back to Shanghai and Beijing, where prime offices are close to full occupancy and rents are on par with New York and Sydney, and home prices are stabilizing. Home prices have risen 155 percent
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Unemployment in the 17-nation euro region rose to 11.6 percent from 11.5 percent in August, the highest since data started in 1995. Youth unemployment is at 23.3 percent. Christoph Weil at Commerzbank is now more pessimistic, saying the euro-area economy will only return to growth in Q2 2013 and the jobless rate will increase
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Asian currencies strengthened for a fifth month on signs of a pickup in China, where industrial output, retail sales and fixed-asset investment gathered pace in September. Tsutomu Soma at Rakuten Securities said funds are flowing into Asia. EPFR Global said emerging-market bond funds attracted $44.2 billion this year through Oct. 24 versus $15.9
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Athanasios Vamvakidis at Bank of America said that despite many risks to the global economy, the G-20 has weakened substantially, which makes all countries worse off. Daniel Price at Rock Creek Global Advisors said the G-20 absences say more about the exigencies of domestic economic issues than it does about the future of
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Rising supply from Brazil potentially hurts demand for US beans. Rabobank Intl said Brazil will displace the US as the largest soybean grower this year and may extend that lead as planting is expanded to meet increased demand from China, the biggest buyer. Jasper van Schaik at Rabobank said Brazil’s share of China’s imports
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: An estimated 12 percent of US residents moved in the year ended March 2012, up from a 63-year low of 11.6 percent the prior year. About 1.7 percent moved from one state to another, the most in five years. A lack of migration the past few years
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Professor Frederic Mishkin at Columbia Business School said the Fed has helped save the world. William Dudley at FRB of New York said: The force with which Bernanke has attacked joblessness has distinguished him, and his legacy is in being very creative and aggressive in an adverse economic environment. It’s OK
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Mohamed El-Erian at Pimco said: Superstorm Sandy won’t reduce GDP as there is likely to be catch-up activity. There is a 60 – 70 percent probability of a mini bargain over the fiscal cliff – with contraction of 1.5 percent of GDP, which is manageable.” There is a 60 – 70 percent probability that Greece will quit the
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