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Monthly Archives: October 2012

The IMF and World Bank Commence Meetings, Global Finance Leaders at Odds Over Policy

“TOKYO—A weekend gathering of the world’s top finance officials deepened conflicts among some of the largest economies, raising fresh doubts about their ability to find big steps quickly to boost the flagging global recovery.

At the annual meetings here of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, European officials bickered about the damage caused by austerity; this week they head into a major euro-zone summit with no clear rescue plan for Greece. A territorial row between China and Japan, the world’s second- and third-largest economies, bled into the conference with no sign of resolution, highlighting a new risk to growth. And many top finance officials pointed fingers at the U.S. for casting a new cloud over global markets by failing to make progress on the budget mess in the world’s largest economy”

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Unfunded Pension Liabilities Swell to $1.2 Trillion

“(Reuters) – The largest 100 public pension funds have around $1.2 trillion of unfunded liabilities, about $300 billion above the nearly $900 billion they reported themselves, according to a new actuarial study to be released on Monday.

The pension systems reported a median funding level of 75.1 percent. The study by the actuarial firmMilliman, which used different ways to value assets and measure liabilities, finds an aggregate level of funding of 67.8 percent.

But Milliman, one of the world largest actuarial firms took a close look at U.S. public pension funding for the first time, and said the multibillion-dollar difference was good news.

Rebecca Sielman, the report’s author, said results should reassure the public that America’s public pensions in general are accurately reporting their funding shortfalls.”

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Black Gold Pares Losses to Trade Unch Ahead of U.S. Open

 

“Oil traded close to a four-day low in New York amid concern that the global economy is weakening, threatening to curb demand for fuels.

Futures slid as much as 1.1 percent. Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer said the world is “awfully close” to a recession, adding to concern raised at annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund last week. Hedge funds and other speculators trimmed bets that oil will rise, data from regulators showed on Oct. 12. Iran reiterated an offer to suspend domestic production of medium-enriched uranium before European officials meet to discuss tighter sanctions on the Persian Gulf country.”

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Softbank Will Acquire 70% of Sprint

Softbank Corp. (9984) agreed to pay $20.1 billion to acquire about a 70 percent stake in Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) as Japan’s third-biggest mobile-phone operator seeks growth overseas amid a declining local market.

Softbank will pay $12.1 billion to Sprint shareholders and the deal includes $8 billion of new capital, according to a statement today. The deal would be the biggest publicly announced outbound acquisition by a Japanese company since at least 2000, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Entering the U.S. allows billionaire Masayoshi Son to participate in a market that’s still growing in contrast to Japan, where handset shipments tumbled 27 percent during the past five years. Sprint can fund a faster expansion of its 4G wireless network, pay down debt or make more acquisitions aimed at challenging bigger competitors Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc. (T)

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M&A Activity Helps to Lift European Stocks

European (SXXP) stocks climbed amid an increase in mergers-and-acquisition activity and before a U.S. report that may show retail sales gained for a third month. U.S. index futures also rose, while Asian shares were little changed.

Orkla ASA (ORK) jumped 5.6 percent after agreeing to combine units with Norsk Hydro ASA.Douglas Holding AG (DOU) jumped 7.8 percent after Advent International Corp. made a 1.5 billion euros ($1.9 billion) takeover offer for the retailer. Vivendi SA (VIV) gained 2.9 percent on a report the company is in talks to merge its mobile-phone unit SFR with Numericable.”

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Export Growth in China Grew More Than Expected, Up YoY

“China’s exports and money supply grew more than estimated in September, signaling that the world’s second-biggest economy may be stabilizing after a slowdown that began in the first quarter of 2011.

Overseas shipments increased 9.9 percent from a year earlier, the customs administration said Oct. 13 in Beijing. That was more than the 5.5 percent median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of economists. M2 money supply gained 14.8 percent, the fastest pace since June 2011, a central bank report showed the same day.”

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Emerging Markets Falls After Talks Reveal Confusion Over How to Boost Economic Growth and Deal With Sovereign Debt Problems

 

“Emerging-market stocks fell for the first time in three days as global policy makers clashed on ways to boost economic growth and Chinese companies from ZTE Corp. (000063) to Yunnan Copper (000878) Industry Co. predicted losses.

ZTE, China’s second-largest maker of telephone equipment, dropped the most in three months in Hong Kong. Yunnan Copper sank 2.4 percent. Mol Nyrt., Hungary’s largest refiner, fell to a two-week low on a government proposal to take over strategic gas-storage facilities. OAO Raspadskaya slid for a second day as Deutsche Bank AG downgraded shares of Russia’s coal producer.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index (MXEF) slid 0.2 percent to 994.97 as of 12:30 p.m. in London. Finance chiefs at the International Monetary Fund meeting left Tokyo over the weekend at odds, with South Korea’s central bank chief urging Asia to add stimulus as Russia and Brazil called on rich nations to fix their own challenges. At stake is a world economy Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer calls “awfully close” to recession.”

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The Aussie and Kiwi Dollars Hit the Mat as Key Rate Decision is Awaited

 

Australia’s dollar remained lower following a decline at the end of last week before the central bank releases minutes tomorrow of its October meeting, at which it cut interest rates for the first time in four months.

“The so-called Aussie was near a three-month low after Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Glenn Stevens said there is scope to further lower borrowing costs. New Zealand’s dollar, known as the kiwi, touched the weakest in a month after a private report showed the nation’s services industry contracted for the first time in almost three years.

“In the near term, I’m mildly bearish” on the Australian dollar, said Joseph Capurso, a currency strategist in Sydney at Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), the nation’s biggest lender. “You do have an RBA governor that’s quite dovish.””
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Inflation Hits a Ten Month High in India, Cools in China

“Indian inflation accelerated to a 10-month high in September after an increase in diesel prices, limiting room for an interest-rate cut to revive the economy.

The wholesale-price index rose 7.81 percent from a year earlier, after climbing 7.55 percent in August, the Commerce Ministry said in a statement in New Delhi today. The median of 35 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey was 7.7 percent.”

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China’s inflation was close to the slowest pace in two years in September, giving the government room to ease policies should the economy deteriorate.

Consumer prices rose 1.9 percent from a year earlier while the producer-price index dropped 3.6 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics said on its website today. China’s imports increased 2.4 percent from a year earlier while overseas shipments climbed 9.9 percent, the customs administration said on Oct. 13.”

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Global warming stopped 16 years ago, reveals Met Office report quietly released… and here is the chart to prove it

Meanwhile, the cost in terms of actual wasted capital and slowed growth in developed and in 3rd world countries, all in the name of reducing global warming, is so large as to be immeasurable.

  • The figures reveal that from the beginning of 1997 until August 2012 there was no discernible rise in aggregate global temperatures
  • This means that the ‘pause’ in global warming has now lasted for about the same time as the previous period when temperatures rose, 1980 to 1996
Read the rest here.

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Documentary: Drug Crazed – USA…Plus How Beer Saved the World

We have all had our fun with the topic of Bath Salts on these here interwebs, but it is becoming a very serious matter plaguing our nation and corrupting our youth.

Drug Crazed – USA

 [youtube://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMR-uvuUu1Y 450 300]
Given the above documentary was so short, i thought to throw in something fun and interesting for your vast library  of “useless and pointless knowledge.”

How Beer Saved the World

[youtube://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdwYjFnFoJU 450 300]

Cheers on your weekend!

[youtube://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-z-WCGDXlk 450 300]

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