Monthly Archives: July 2013

Japan now reconsidering sales-tax hike

"Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may ditch a long-planned hike in the national sales tax, a senior official said Sunday, according to Kyodo News. Abe had intended to help shore up Japan's finances by raising the 5% national consumption tax to 10% in two steps, slated for April 2014 and October 2015. But Kyodo quoted Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga as saying in a television interview that Abe would reconsider the issue 'after revised data are released in September on preliminary figures for April-June gross domestic product, and before a fall extraordinary Diet session.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJapan now reconsidering sales-tax hike

‘Way Harder’ For Goldman And Morgan Stanley To Get Out Of Commodities Than JP Morgan

"Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley two decades ago became known as the 'Wall Street Refiners' for their mastery of both financial and physical commodities. But since 2012 Morgan Stanley has looked at selling its commodity arm and Goldman has made moves to scale back its physical operations. Letters between the banks and the Federal Reserve, received by Reuters under the Freedom of Information Act, show both banks are in discussions on conforming or divesting activities that fall outside the normal scope of commercial banks." Continue reading →

Continue Reading‘Way Harder’ For Goldman And Morgan Stanley To Get Out Of Commodities Than JP Morgan

Silver Vault for 200 Tons Starts in Singapore as Wealthy Buy

"The new facility is 30 percent booked at the opening, said Joshua Rotbart, precious-metals general manager at owner Malca-Amit Global Ltd. The storage will add to the firm’s five vaults at the Singapore FreePort, which are fully reserved for gold, he said in an interview. The repository can hold $128 million of silver at today’s prices. The number of individuals with $1 million or more in investible assets climbed to 3.68 million in the Asia-Pacific region in 2012. The Singapore government has been promoting the country as a bullion-trading hub, removing a 7 percent sales tax on investment-grade precious metals in 2012. " Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSilver Vault for 200 Tons Starts in Singapore as Wealthy Buy

Mondragon Corporation (Wikipedia)

"Currently it is the seventh-largest Spanish company in terms of asset turnover and the leading business group in the Basque Country. At the end of 2012, it employed 83,321 people in 256 companies in four areas of activity: Finance, Industry, Retail and Knowledge. The determining factor in the creation of the Mondragon system was the arrival in 1941 of a young Catholic priest José María Arizmendiarrieta in Mondragón, a town with a population of 7,000. In 1943, Arizmendiarrieta established a technical college that became a training ground for generations of managers, engineers and skilled labour for local companies, and primarily for the co-operatives." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMondragon Corporation (Wikipedia)

Taiwanese Apple contractor probes claims of labor abuse

"The US rights groups said three Pegatron plants in China impose excessive overtime and employ minors. It also cited crowded dormitories, insufficient fire escape routes and arbitrary fines for perceived minor lapses of behaviour. Apple has also said it will investigate the claims. Pegatron produces consumer electronics like game consoles, television sets and computers for Sony, Toshiba and some other brand name vendors, as well as assembling products for Apple, an official of the Taiwanese company said. It currently has around 110,000 employees, the vast majority of them in the Chinese cities of Shanghai, Suzhou and Chongqing." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTaiwanese Apple contractor probes claims of labor abuse

Ex-inmate at Chinese prison: We made airline headsets

"Major airlines including British Airways and electronics manufacturers have been accused of sourcing products from a Chinese prison where inmates are tasered if they don’t hit production targets. The Australian Financial Review was tipped off about the story by New Zealander Danny Cancian, a former inmate of Dongguan prison in southern Guangdong province. He claimed he had made in-flight headphones for Qantas, British Airways and Emirates as well as parts for local firms which supply US technology giant Emerson and home appliance maker Electrolux. All companies denied any knowledge of selling products made in Dongguan." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEx-inmate at Chinese prison: We made airline headsets

Challenging a Long-Held Assumption about Commodities

"When it comes to oil demand, 17 years ago, China was a net exporter. Today, it is the second-largest importer, transporting 5.4 million barrels of oil into the country every day. That’s why it is widely accepted that the Asian giant spurred higher commodity prices in the past decade. And if the country was the force behind the boom, then the assumption is that China’s lower, but still healthy growth will be a drag on commodity prices. But recent research challenges this assumption. According to BCA Research’s Chen Zhao, what is initially an 'outrageous proposition' may not actually be." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingChallenging a Long-Held Assumption about Commodities

Bullish at the Bottom: Why Now is the Time to Buy Commodities

"At first glance, the correction seems to support naysayers who believe the supercycle in commodities has ended, such as Credit Suisse analysts who had declared that the 'era is over' in its digital magazine The Financialist. We disagree. Instead, we see severe price declines as possible buying opportunities during this ongoing commodity supercycle. Consider the extreme pessimism on gold. As one measure of how bears have ganged up against the yellow metal, take a look at the spike in the level of short positions on the precious metal since the beginning of the year. As of the beginning of July, the number of outstanding gold short contracts was close to 140,000!" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBullish at the Bottom: Why Now is the Time to Buy Commodities

Marc Faber on shadow banking, market psychology, & the global impact of American monetary policy

"Marc Faber is an economic authority on global macroeconomics, capital markets, and investment and the Editor & Publisher of 'The Gloom Boom & Doom Report'. He spoke with The Prospect Group about easy monetary policy and credit growth, asset price volatility, and the Fed." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMarc Faber on shadow banking, market psychology, & the global impact of American monetary policy

Inflation is rotten to the core: Regardless of what Fed says, prices are rising

"You might be just a trifle curious about how the use of the core rate of inflation (leaving out food and energy) came into being. The core rate of inflation was the brainstorm of Arthur F. Burns, chairman of the Federal Reserve during the early 1970s. The object of this exercise was to take people’s eyes off what was really happening to prices so that the Fed of that era could run an ultra-easy monetary policy. The professorial Burns managed to convince the Congress, the government’s statistical agencies, the press and his fellow economists that excluding food and energy was the right way to look at prices." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingInflation is rotten to the core: Regardless of what Fed says, prices are rising