Salient to Investors: The plunge in global commodity supports further easing by the Fed. RBC Global Asset Management expects inflation will decelerate a little from here, but not massively. OECD reports inflation among its 34 member countries slowed to 2.5 percent in April from 3.3 percent in September. Predictions: Economists surveyed by Bloomberg
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Mexican wages after inflation have risen at an annual pace of 0.4 percent since 2005, lower than Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay. A third of Mexicans work in the informal economy without steady income. Cheap labor has helped Mexico pass China as a low-cost supplier of manufacturing goods to the U.S.,
READ MORE... →The Census Bureau reports that 50 million people don’t have health coverage in the U.S., 16 percent of the population, versus 36.6 million, or 13 percent, in 2000. People covered at work declined to 55.3 percent from 65.1 percent in 2000. Intrade traders see a 68 percent chance the Supreme court will strike down
READ MORE... →The percent of men aged 25-34 living at home with parents has risen to near 20 percent in 2011 versus 14 percent in 2005. The percent of women aged 25-34 living with their parents rose to 1o percent in 2011 versus 8 percent in 2005. The unemployment rate for men 25-34 saw a
READ MORE... →IMF estimates Japanese public debt will balloon to 245.6 percent of GDP in 2014, up from 67.3 percent in 1984. Former adviser to George Soros, Takeshi Fujimaki recommends buying assets in U.S. dollars, Swiss francs, sterling, Australian and Canadian dollars, because Japan may default within five years, before Europe does. Fujimaki says the yen
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Gold has advanced for 11 consecutive years, increasing about sixfold since the end of 2000. Speculators’ net-long position is 61 percent below the all-time high set in August. World Gold Council expects central banks to buy 400 tons of gold in 2012 versus 456.4 tons last year, the most in almost
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: A prolonged slowdown in the BRICs threatens a world economy in its weakest spell since the end of the 2009 recession, which the BRICs helped shorten by contributing about half of the international expansion since 2007. Citigroup’s surprise index, which measures how much data miss predictions, is
READ MORE... →Predictions: Pimco’s Neel Kashkari said the Fed will start QE3 due to worsening unemployment, lower equity prices and risk of shocks from Europe. Europe take years to solve as Greece exits from the euro region, though not necessarily after the country’s elections. BlackRock’s Robert Doll said the Fed will need to see significantly
READ MORE... →Study shows that Western economies displayed the same manic behavior as psychologically disturbed people in the runup to the 2008 credit crisis, which could be repeated. In the two decades to 2008, Western bankers, economists and politicians shared a manic culture of denial, omnipotence and triumphalism over the collapse of communism, as they escalated risky
READ MORE... →BP data show that at the end of 2011, Venezuela had proven oil reserves of 296.5 billion barrels, Saudi Arabia 265.4 billion barrels, Canada 175.2 billion barrels, Russia 88.2 billion barrels, Norway 6.9 billion barrels. Read the full article at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-13/venezuela-overtakes-saudis-for-largest-oil-reserves-bp-says-1-.html
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