Salient to Investors: Clive Crook writes: The global economic recovery is hardly worthy of the name. The IMF has again reduced its forecasts for the world economy. Recessions involving financial crashes are harder to recover from. Two great failures of coordination receive scant economic discussion. Precious little effective international cooperation
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Americans lost more years of life to heart disease, lung cancer, pre-term birth complications, diabetes and at least 21 other conditions in 2010 than most other members of the 34-country OECD. The US failed to keep up with other nations in improving population health over the period 1990 to 2010 despite spending
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Crude oil is trading at the highest price relative to gold in more than 4 years. John Stephenson at First Asset Investment Mgmt said oil has real supply and demand dynamics, and there is a strong argument for prices holding up because the US has clearly has
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Jim Rogers writes: The oil and gas boom is not quite the boom that the press seems to think it is. Natural gas wells decline very quickly and reserves may not be what we thought. Oil wells decline at the rate of 38 to 69 percent in
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Fed tapering, China’s credit squeeze, and Japan’s reflation ultimately prime the three biggest economies for less volatile and longer-lasting expansions, but near-term, emerging markets, commodity producers, and economies that need cheap cash or weaker currencies, including the euro area, could suffer. Stephen Jen at SLJ Macro Partners said that
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The Centre for European Policy Studies said: Trading houses active in multiple commodity markets have built up physical holdings through the use of financial leverage and easy access to financing, creating a possible systemic risk. The 10 largest trading houses had $1 trillion in revenue in 2011,
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Money managers increased their net-long positions in gold and holdings of short contracts climbed to the second-highest on record. Jeffrey Sherman at DoubleLine Capital said people want to own gold for a myriad of reasons, but the lack of inflation and a strong dollar are gold headwinds
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The IMF said: Global growth will struggle to accelerate in 2013 as the US expansion weakens, China’s economy levels off, and Europe’s recession deepens. Global growth will be 3.1 percent in 2013, unchanged from 2012, and 3.8 percent in 2014. Developing economies will grow 5 percent in 2013,
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Jan Loeys at JPMorgan Chase said: The worst first half of the year on record for corporate bonds may only deepen, as a whole set of new regulations means potential buyers do not have the same capacity to absorb credit risk. In the past the extra spread on corporates absorbed
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The IMF said: Global growth for 2013 will be unchanged at 3.1 percent as US growth slows to 1.7 percent in 2013 and 2.7 percent in 2014. Global growth will be 3.8 percent in 2014. Downside risks to global growth prospects still dominate, with the possibility of a longer
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