Salient to Investors: Concern is growing that a potential change in Japan’s incentives for clean energy may lower demand from the world’s second-largest solar market, amid a glut of panels. Gordon Johnson at Axiom Capital Mgmt said all of the Chinese module companies rely heavily on Japan. He is concerned
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Mark Wiseman et al at Goldman Sachs said: LNG projects in Africa, Canada and Australia face delays or cancellations as global demand slows, US output increases, nuclear reactors restart in Japan, China’s success in shale-gas E&P, and economic conditions in ASEAN. Global demand will compound at 5%
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Europe accounts for 25% of global demand: platinum is used in diesel vehicles and the biggest diesel-auto market is in Europe. Johnson Matthey said catalytic converters in cars account for 38% of platinum demand. Platinum’s 60-day historical volatility is the lowest since February 1997 amid fading investor
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: David Tepper at Appaloosa Management said: P/E ratios for US stocks are not high and junk bonds are at the mid-point of fair value. The US economy is good. The end of the bond market rally started last month when the ECB unexpectedly cut interest rates and
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Tim Courtney at Exencial Wealth Advisors said small caps have historically led the way down. Randy Bateman at Huntington Asset Advisors said we have always relied on the Fed pump, but with the pump drying up this month, investors are starting to focus on geopolitical problems and economic
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: DJ Busch at Green Street Advisors said the Washington Prime/Glimcher Realty Trust deal may spark further consolidation among owners of “B” malls as there are many benefits to scale. Jerry Bruni at J.V. Bruni said lower-tier malls are a better bargain than pricey luxury properties, and owning the
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Christopher Orndorff at Western Asset Mgmt said we are seeing mostly a lack of liquidity in the bond market: dislocation like this exacerbate price movements more than what we would have seen 10 years ago. One person (Gross) affecting borrowing costs worldwide shows the increasing fragility of
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Gareth Leather and John Higgins at Capital Economics said: If the protests in Hong Kong continue, its tourism and retail industries, some 10% percent of its GDP, would be hit hard, and Hong Kong could easily be pushed into recession. If Hong Kong’s status as an international
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Marco Lambertini at The World Wildlife Foundation said: More than half of the world’s vertebrates have disappeared between 1970 and 2010, primarily due to exploitation (37%), habitat degradation (31%), habitat loss (13%), and global warming (7.1%). Meanwhile the human population has nearly doubled. Latin America’s biodiversity dropped 83%,
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Investors pulled the most money from US ETPs backed by raw materials since April. US corn and soybean crops are the biggest ever, global stockpiles of nickel are at an all-time high, the US is producing the most oil since 1986, while China is headed for its slowest
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