Post Tagged with: "international"
[Premium] Daily Commentary: On The Global Growth Slowdown
This daily commentary is a bronze level post. Today, my comments go to warning signs in the economic data about the global economy slowing down. Lots of links on this topic as well
G20: Little Scope for New Initiatives
The G20 will meet in Mexico this weekend. There seems to be three key issues: IMF funding, replacement for Zoellick, who will step down as head of the World Bank, and the oil shock. It is unlikely that any of these issues are resolved at this G20 meeting. However, important groundwork could be laid for future decisions
2012: The Year We All Learn To Live Dangerously
Thus the road ahead looks clear, if somewhat flat. The Euro Area’s two largest economies look set to escape “the worst of the worst”, but remain dependent on factors outside their control, in the US, in China, and in the Emerging Market world as a whole, all of whom could in their turn be badly affected by the impact on risk sentiment of any unfortunate “accident” in the Eurozone itself. Most of these issues are unlikely to go away any time in the foreseeable future, which is why I think 2012 will be marked as the year we learnt to live with the world we have, and stop dreaming about another one, which has long since ceased to exist
Global Manufacturing Steadies as She Goes, or Does She?
The year got off on a much better foot than might have been expected, at least as far as global manufacturing is concerned. So the fall in global manufacturing has flattened out, even though the bounce back has more of a dead cat look about it than anything else. As usual in recent months the report was very much a mixed bag
Economics in the Age of Deleveraging
Clearly, economic policy is now far more complex than it appeared to be before the GFC. As we enter this Age of Deleveraging, the worst thing we can do is apply policies that appeared to work during the preceding Age of Leverage—but were in fact predicated on ever-rising private sector indebtedness. Politicians should be sceptical of conventional economic advice at this time; it would be much wiser to study the history of the 1930s instead
All S&P sovereign credit ratings in order from Australia to Greece for January 2012
In the wake of today’s extraordinary credit ratings action for the euro zone by Standard and Poor’s, below are the rating agency’s sovereign credit ratings
Roach Sees ‘Relatively Contained’ Recession in Europe
Stephen Roach told Bloomberg television earlier today that he does not expect the recession in Europe to be severe. Therefore, he believes the impact on other economies, particularly in Asia that depends on Europe for external demand for exports, will be limited. Video below
Where are the safe havens?
My latest post at Credit Writedowns Pro on protecting wealth in a world of recurring crisis is now up. I outlined eight principal investing risks that I see for for 2012 and strategies to avoid those risks. At the same time, the thought you should have in the back of your head is that these are just the known unknowns. But that there are unknown unknowns which create so-called Knightean Uncertainty and make this a dangerous investing climate
Chart of the Day: International Manufacturing Compensation Costs Compared
Great data from the BLS comparing hourly compensation for manufacturing. The second chart looks at the benefits component of the hourly cost
The World’s 29 Too Big To Fail Banks
Here is the list of so-called global systemically important financial institutions by country. Who’s missing in your view
Chart of the Day: The World’s Largest Employers
Great graphic from the Economist. Note that 7 of the 10 are government-run. Amazing WalMart employs almost as many as the People’s Liberation Army. Gives new meaning to the “Human Wave Theory.”
Week in Review: Hurricane ‘I-Lean’ Lifts Markets
Reports that hedge funds, with almost no tolerance for short-term pain, have opened the biggest net short positions since early 2008 has driven a relatively low volume short covering rally. We even heard predictions of a 400 point drop in the Nasdaq if Mr. Ben didn’t announce QE3. We guess they were positioned for it and had a front row seat at Friday’s performance of the Nutcracker