Salient to Investors: Greece accounts for just 2.3 percent of EU GDP, and 4.3 percent of EU debt. Without Greece , the EU would have had a trade surplus in 2011. Germany has posted a trade surplus every month since May 1991 and has avoided recession since 2009. OECD says the euro is undervalued
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Small businesses represent 99.7 percent of all private-sector employers. The average, profitable small business pays an effective tax rate of about 20 percent An Institute for Justice study shows that one in three U.S. workers needs government permission to operate a small business, versus only one in 20 in the 1950s. 66
READ MORE... →Predictions: Wall Street lawyers and lobbyists continue to mock re-regulation. Expect fewer substantive rules and limitations on risks than now. Nine bills presented in Congress this year are designed to weaken the already weak Dodd-Frank law, mostly by holding off real accountability until the public has lost interest. Barney Frank has succumbed to pressure from Wall Street. Read the full article
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Indian GDP rose the least in nine years last quarter. Standard & Poor’s said slowing growth and political roadblocks to economic policy risks India becoming the first BRIC to lose investment-grade credit rating – economy in much better shape than earlier, especially the early 1990s, with $250 billion in foreign-exchange reserves and a floating exchange
READ MORE... →Predictions: Industrial and Commercial Bank of China ‘s Zheng Zhiguang says the financial crisis has evolved into a sovereign crisis so expects gold-investment demand in China to grow more than 10 percent this year as buyers seek a haven from lackluster equity markets and property curbs. Individual, institutional or even government investors should own gold
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: China’s consumer prices rose the least in two years in May and industrial output and retail sales trailed estimates. Industrial production growth was below 10 percent for a second month in May, the first time in three years. Retail sales rose the least in almost six years, excluding January and
READ MORE... →Predictions: Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Lee Hardman expects the Bank of England will have to ease more, which will weaken the pound to under $1.50 in the next couple of months. Economists expect data next week to show the U.K. economy is slowing. Read the full article at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-09/pound-strengthens-as-boe-keeps-stimulus-on-hold-gilts-decline.html
READ MORE... →Predictions: Jefferies Bache broker Christopher Bellew said we are seeing the effects of a decade of financial imprudence in Europe and the size of the re-structuring needed, so expect significantly lower oil prices short-term. Read the full article at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-08/oil-heads-for-longest-run-of-weekly-losses-in-more-than-13-years.html
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Carmakers exceeding forecasts and pushing passenger vehicles onto distributors faster than they can sell them. Predictions: Bloomberg Industries analyst Kevin Tynan expects either consumer discounts or lower production. Read the full article at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-11/china-auto-glut-builds-as-plant-shipments-outstrip-sales.html
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Banking by nature is and always has been, risky. Banks diversified to keep up with American corporations. A new Glass-Steagall isn’t the solution. The bulk of bank losses during the postwar financial crises came from bad loans, this time on residential real estate. Investment banking contributed. More bank capital is the solution. Read the full article
READ MORE... →