Salient to Investors: Takuji Aida at UBS warned that a higher sales tax could bring the Japanese economy to a grinding halt in 2014 when the first increase will take effect. He raised his growth forecast for the year ending March 2014 to 2.9 percent from 2.2 percent on a $50.4 billion rise in consumption
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Wall Street has decided overwhelmingly to back Romney versus four years when it was among Obama’s biggest backers. Anthony Scaramucci at SkyBridge Capitalsaid we should be a country based on class movement, not class warfare. Stan Collender at Qorvis Communications said a President Romney would have the same kind of problems that Obama has had, and
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Peter Orszag at Citigroup said well under 0.1 percent of cars and trucks in the U.S. run on natural gas versus seventy-five percent in Armenia. More natural-gas cars and trucks could reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and other pollutants. There are fewer than 2,000 natural-gas filling stations in the
READ MORE... →Salient Ponts: Professor Nouriel Roubini at NYU said at some point Germany has to decide if it takes the credit risk to backstop Spanish and Italian debt in exchange for some loss of natural fiscal sovereignty by Italy and Spain, giving the Eurozone a chance to survive, or otherwise Europe dissolves in the next few
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Joseph LaVorgna at Deutsche Bank Securities says the economy is muddling through, while concerns about the collapse of manufacturing are grossly overblown, and we’re in a housing recovery. Britons repaid more mortgage debt than they borrowed in May for the first time in at least 15 years. Manufacturing
READ MORE... →Predictions: Mike Lenhoff at Brewin Dolphin Securities said China is prepared to ease, which will be good for European markets, particularly cyclical stocks – investors sense a more determined spirit to push through tangible measures in Europe. Julian Callow at Barclays Capital forecasts ECB rates will be cut on July 5. Read the full article
READ MORE... →Predictions: Khiem Do at Baring Asset Management (Asia) said China has many available tools but will implement their policies gradually, not aggressively, because it sees the economy slowing but not in a hard landing. Read the full article at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-27/yen-gains-south-korean-stocks-drop-before-europe-crisis-summit.html
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Professor Niall Ferguson at Harvard said the key negotiators, including Merkel, do not understand that the timeframe for financial crises is days, for structural reforms is years. Merkel has to realize that the cost of disintegration to Germany would be mind-blowing, and whatever happens, Germany pays – either through massive defaults or fiscal transfers. Read
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Total loans at the four largest U.S. banks fell 4.9 percent in Q1 versus an increased of 9.8 percent for the 17 smallest of the 24 firms in the KBW Bank Index. David Trone at JMP Securities said the big banks’ shrinking loans has earnings implications, because the removed loans,
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: French banks held $541 billion of private and public debt in Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain at the end of 2011, the most by foreign lenders. France had zero growth in Q1, and joblessness is rising. Predictions: Bill Blain at Newedge Group says once the misery of Spain and
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