Salient to Investors: The Greek election bought Europe time without fixing the cleavages between the northern and southern Greek economies. Professor Niels Thygesen identifies eight clashes in economic philosophy between Germany and France. Predictions: Professor Paul de Grauwe expects Merkel to remain an incrementalist, temporarily pacifying markets until it is clear it is
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: American exporters are preparing for a further decline in demand from Europe. U.S. exports to the European Union dropped 4.8 percent in the year ended April, the worst 12-month performance since November 2009. Predictions: Bank of America expect weaker exports over the long-term, and the trade deficit to widen to
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Barclays analysts predict any new buying of government-backed mortgage bonds by the Federal Reserve will be limited to no more than $500 billion to $600 billion per year by supply constraints, less than half of QE1. Barclays said most major overseas investors are unlikely to want to
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Bloomberg study of 314 upgrades, downgrades and outlook changes since 1974 shows interest rates moved in the opposite direction 47 percent of the time for Moody’s and for S&P. IMF studies show prices moved in the expected direction 45 percent of the time for developed countries and 51 percent for
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Foreign ownership of Japanese government debt rose to a record in 2011, signaling increasing dependence on investors abroad to finance the world’s largest public debt. The crisis in Europe has increased demand for the yen and Japanese bonds as a haven. Japanese household wealth funds has stagnated over
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Rubber shortages to turn into a flood as China, the biggest consumer, grows at the slowest pace in three years. This quarter’s 22 percent decline is the worst since the global financial crisis in 2008 and exceeds a 16 percent retreat in commodities. China accounts for 33
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Mexico last month passed China to become the US’s second-largest trade partner after Canada. Mexico is Texas’ No. 1 trade partner, and the ports of Laredo, El Paso and Houston rank among Mexico’s top five trading partners. One-third of the content of Mexico’s exports are made in the
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Brian Jones at Societe Generale said growth is not fast enough to bring the unemployment rate down or generate an appreciable number of jobs, yet it’s not weak enough that we’re going back into recession. Read the full article at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-15/industrial-production-in-u-s-unexpectedly-dropped-in-may.html
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Derivatives trading and poker share risk management and making decisions when uncertain. The most important skill is to analysing the situation. Realize the difference between pressure and stress. Watch the video at http://www.bloomberg.com/video/94782773-the-psychology-of-risk-trading-and-poker.html
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Microsoft is expected to sell its own brand tablet running Windows 8 to try to win back consumers of Apple’s iPad. Colin Gillis, an analyst at BGC Partners said other PC makers have limited recourse since Apple doesn’t license its software and Google will probably make its own tablets through
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