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Governments are happy to shift bad debts onto taxpayers, or even better to some other country’s taxpayers. Investors have felt safe that there is no down side, no risk. But two insolvencies in recent weeks may change these expectations and changed expectations are contagious Since the...

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Moneylife Digital Team 29 March 2013
As per World Steel Dynamics, inventory restocking should continue in China on a broader level as 2012 saw a large destocking of inventory which is still getting replenished The Chinese crude steel production momentum remains strong since October 2012 and has grown in double digits for...

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In the first part of this two-part article we discussed overheating in credit markets. We now take a look at were the problems exist. Like the Junk Bond ETFs the duration mismatch is not an issue. But if investors began to question the safety of WMPs and stopped buying them, then the whole...

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Governor Stein pointed out that a lengthy period of low interest rates confirms an assumption of little risk. This encourages agents to increase financial leverage beyond what might be considered normal or even sane. Borrowers must work within the income budget and not borrow simply because...

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Although the government’s efforts have not been rewarded with either inflation or a healthy economy, it has resulted in the highest sovereign debt in the world at a whopping 200% of GDP. The only reason why Japan is immune from bond vigilantes is because most of the debt is held by locals at...

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The real problem with the sequestration for both politicians and investors is that the cuts will be phased in over time without an immediate impact. No one is really sure what its effect will be. It is doubtful that either party will feel the need to compromise until there is a consequence...

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China has a powerful elite class, which like the financiers, are a law unto themselves. For the privileged it can mean vast fortunes. It is one of the few places that can give Wall Street some lessons on greed The US stock market is nearing its all-time high. This appears to be very good...

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A poor system of taxation denies the citizens the services they have a right to expect from their government. But the crisis, both past and potential, have illustrated that the failure to collect taxes can have much broader effects on markets far from home The origins of a sovereign debt...

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Moneylife Digital Team 30 January 2013
The poor performance of the hedge funds industry last year as well as in the last 10 years has prompted many to question their very existence. Are they really worth it? Hedge funds have had a miserable 2012 as they returned just 3% to the investors. By contrast, the S&P 500 index was up...

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MDT/PTI 16 January 2013
World Bank Chief Economist Kaushik Basu says that by 2015, the growth rate of China would be 7.9% and that of India 7%   Washington: India's growth is expected to inch closer to that of China in near future, reports PTI quoting a top economist from the World Bank.   The World...

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While the low interest rates have allowed many financially stressed municipalities to save money for new projects, they have created their own stresses in other ways. Many of them made generous retirement promises to civil servants, but what they never provided for were the actual funds to...

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MDT/PTI 08 January 2013
Under the agreements, Bank of America would pay $3.55 billion in cash to Fannie Mae and repurchase for $6.75 billion residential mortgage loans it had sold to the government-controlled company Washington: Bank of America said it would pay $11.6 billion to settle claims on soured loans...

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MDT/PTI 04 January 2013
According to Munich Re total economic costs in 2012 from natural disasters worldwide including uninsured losses amounted to $160 billion, compared with the previous year's $400 billion Berlin: Natural disasters cost insurers $65 billion last year, with the United States accounting for...

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MDT/PTI 24 December 2012
Quoting findings in a US justice department probe, Le Matin, the Swiss newspaper said there was evidence that UBS traders had manipulated the rates from 2001 Geneva: Swiss banking giant UBS, which last week was slapped with $1.5 billion in fines for manipulating global interest rates,...

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MDT/PTI 19 December 2012
As a signatory of the WTO, India can resort to anti-dumping actions, anti-subsidies and countervailing measures and emergency protection from imports New Delhi: The Indian Government can initiate action against dumping of goods by nations like China if a complaint is made with...

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MDT/PTI 19 December 2012
UBS, the biggest in Switzerland, will pay more three times the amount of the settlement reached in June with Britain's Barclays, another one of the more than dozen banks investigated for trying to rig global interest rates Zurich: Swiss banking giant UBS said it had agreed to pay about...

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Remember, often the stock market's reaction to a positive outcome is negative. The share market fell after TARP in 2008, the Spanish bailout, the last US mid-term elections and after the presidential election The world seems to be a much safer place. Several stock markets are just...

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MDT/PTI 04 December 2012
Some 32% of people surveyed by the consumer organisation Which? say they are finding it difficult to cope on their current level of income and nearly 10% of households have defaulted on a loan, bill or housing payment London: Millions of British households are struggling to make both...

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Real estate markets are not like stock markets. They are ‘sticky’. It takes time for owners and buyers to realize that the fun is over The real estate market in the United States looks like it is finally recovering from its disastrous decline. The number of housing starts surged in...

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MDT/PTI 25 October 2012
The US government charged Countrywide, the mortgage giant now owned by Bank of America for labelling defective mortgages as good-quality and selling it to state-controlled mortgage financers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Washington: The United States sued Bank of America for more than $1...

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