Salient to Investors: Fareed Zakaria writes: The great American housing market is back. The American economy has again shown its core character of flexibility and resilience. The US is the only rich country in the world whose population is growing – by 3 million a year, mostly legal immigration. Americans
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Shen Jianguang at Mizuho Securities Asia said the May data will force China and the central bank to rethink growth and inflation as it seems they were too optimistic about growth and too concerned about inflation, and will be a test to see if they are determined
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Franklin Templeton Asset Mgmt (India) and Nomura Asset Mgmt predict rupee bonds will extend the longest run of gains in more than a decade as inflation below 5 percent adds room for interest-rate cuts. Nomura says easing price pressures will allow India to add to the most aggressive
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The economic expansion shows signs of lasting almost twice as long as average, with few of the excesses that often presage the start of contractions – inflation is slowing, not quickening, household debt is shrinking, not expanding, and the labor market is slack, not tight. Robert Gordon
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The Italian higher-education system lets undergraduates linger on campus for years and retake final exams 6 times, and schools are disconnected from the economy and only recently opened campus career offices. No Italian schools, public or private, are in the top 200 in the Times Higher Education’s
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Shares of discount brokers are gaining the most since 2003 relative to the S&P 500, a sign that small investors are joining the 4-year bull market. Discount broker stocks beat the market by at least this much in 1997, 1999, 2003 and 2009, years in which the S&P 500
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Fareed Zakaria said China is not the world’s other superpower and we should not treat it as such. Zakaria said China has always played a weak hand brilliantly, and will one day become the largest economy, but by most political, military, strategic and cultural measures it is not a
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The number of hedge funds investing in gold is at the lowest level since 2010. Farhan Mumtaz at EurekaHedge said hedge fund performance declines tied to volatility and withdrawals led either to closures or a shift in strategies – the number of funds investing in gold fell
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Japan’s GPIF will reduce its holdings of Japanese bonds to 60 percent from 67 percent, increase local shares to 12 percent from 11 percent, increase foreign bonds to 11 percent from 8 percent, and increase overseas shares to 12 percent from 9 percent. Makoto Suzuki at Okasan Securities said the
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The start of the bear market in gold in April spurred a surge in demand for coins and jewelry. Indian demand is so great that the government is curbing imports. Richard Peterson at the US Mint said sales may reach a record this year if the current demand continues. Mark
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