In a speech on the outlook for the world economy, OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría spoke about the impact of the financial crisis and OECD's work to produce a more inclusive globalisation.
The financial system is a conveyor belt through which the economy works. And if the financial system is partially blocked or paralysed, as it is now, then the economy cannot work normally.
Continue reading: The Global Economy and OECD
“From Indian antiquities to modern Chinese art; from land in Panama to Mayfair; from forestry, infrastructure, and the junkiest bonds to mundane blue chips; it’s bubble time!” By now you have probably heard this quote by Jeremy Grantham in his letter to investors (which includes vice president Dick Cheney and a host of other high profilers) discussing a six week trip around the world and the pending bubble popping events to come (at least by his predictions). Grantham is not the only forecaster that has mentioned the overvalued prices of assets across the globe. Most recently (May 23rd), in one of Alan Greenspan’s consulting appearances he mentioned that Chinese markets were at unsustainable levels.
Continue reading "World Asset Bubble: Jeremy Grantham Speaks" »
Martin Weiss, Ph.D. examines the global marketplace and the six giants leading the economy. In this issue of Money and Markets, Dr. Weiss discusses the high demand for natural resources due to the booming global economy.
Jupiter, Fla. (PRWEB) April 26, 2007 -- Martin Weiss, Ph.D. examines the global marketplace and the six giants leading the economy. In this issue of Money and Markets, Dr. Weiss discusses why China, India, Japan, Brazil, Australia and Canada continue to outperform the Dow.
The Issue Is Not China’s Stock Markets – It’s the Model
By Scott B. MacDonald
In late February 2007, the global stock market meltdown started in Shanghai. As The New York Times noted on March 4, 2007:
“Less than a week ago, it might have seemed preposterous to suggest that a 9% fall in the Shanghai stock exchange could jolt markets across the world, triggering declines in everything from European stocks to American corporate bonds.”Yet there it was – a bad day in Shanghai shaking up global markets. Although the great revolutionary helmsman, Mao Zedong, had hoped China would shake the world, he would have been very surprised it was the Shanghai stock exchange, not the Red Guards.
In the last 10 years three billion people have started to climb the first rungs of the Global economic ladder and are lifted out of poverty and ignorance. The shift of wealth is set to accelerate as the “sea change” of prosperity and economic growth swing from the developed world shift to the emerging economies. These people are working 60 hours a week, saving and investing, and going to school a recipe for success wherever you reside.
Continue reading "Shift Happens and it's Set to Accelerate" »
For 2,000 years, foreigners have seen China as the golden dream. Time after time, they have learned to their regret that it is a gilded illusion; and it is happening again.
During 2006, foreign investors tripled their investments in the Chinese equity markets. Even with that, foreign capital constitutes only 10% of the Shanghai (SSE) and Chenzhen (CSE) stock exchanges market value; and they have absorbed the $12 billion with scarcely a ripple.
An Interview with Wilbur L. Ross, Jr., Chairman and CEO, WL Ross & Co., LLC
With Keith W. Rabin, President, KWR International, Inc.
Wilbur Ross may be the best-known turnaround financier in the U.S., having been involved in the restructuring of over $200 billion in assets around the world. In 1998, Fortune Magazine called him "the King of Bankruptcy.”
Forbes and Jason Papier, Co-host of #1 Personal Finance Podcast, Discuss Flat Tax, Other Issues
SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--“Pro Money Talk” – the #1 rated personal finance podcast – today announces its latest episode, featuring Steve Forbes, CEO and editor-in-chief of Forbes. The episode is available for download via iTunes or at www.promoneytalk.com.
Continue reading "Pro Money Talk Features Interview with Steve Forbes" »
Everyone with some financial sense knows that the markets (S&P 500 specifically) have been continually hitting new highs or at least new multi-year highs respectively. The strange thing is that we have not seen many corrections in that period. In fact, the S&P 500 is on quite an impressive streak right now (see below). Typically, when the market makes a move higher, it tends to make several corrections on its way up, but that has not been the case this past year.
Rapid expansion in China and India has led the governments of these countries to make sweeping changes in the way they buy oil. In many cases, they are beginning to circumvent the traditional distribution networks of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), and other bourses, entirely.
In fact, according to a report released Wednesday by Investment University, they're undermining them, "locking up" supplies by purchasing crude from oil-producing countries directly - behind closed doors. And the deals last years, often taking large oil reserves off the market for a decade or more.
Continue reading "Is 'Private Oil' Threatening the NYMEX?" »
The market continues to push into new territory of all-time and multi-year highs, yet it also appears to be putting positive spins on negative data releases and attaching itself to positive economic data. Housing weakens here; manufacturing slowdown there, retail sales disappoint here and inflation isn’t moderating over here. That is all I heard last week, but it seems as if not too many people are picking up on it. More importantly, it’s almost as if the market just kind of forgot about inflation being a factor in the market.
Continue reading "Inflation Apparently is a Thing of the Past" »
Many people have a misunderstanding about what the overnight lending rate really is. It has little to do with the U.S. domestic economy. Any nation’s interest rate is nothing more than an advertisement. Just like any mutual or hedge fund advertises its rate of return, so too do Countries via their overnight lending rate.
The S&P 500 has run 170 points (13.8%) essentially unabated since July’s low of 1230. It’s as if the market earns brownie points each day for setting new multi-year highs, just as an alpha male earns brownie points for flattering remarks toward his girlfriend. The problem here is that the air up here is getting thin. It is getting tougher and tougher to breathe. Although the market has consistently made higher highs over the past four months, several things have caught my eye and make me slightly uneasy with the market’s current valuations.
The recent divergence between the stock and bond markets has caused a stir among analysts concerning the direction of the economy. With the Dow hitting new highs, many equity observers have proclaimed a new bull market. Bond market analysts, on the other hand, have seen yields decline, a typical indication of a coming recession.
Investing abroad has been a fundamental part of institutional investor’s strategy for quite some time now, but now globalization of financial markets has given the traditional investor a chance to take advantage of the opportunities abroad. Over the last few years, especially since the U.S. recession in 2001-2002 when U.S. equities struggled, investors have looked for opportunities elsewhere.
After centuries of lagging behind, Mexico seems to be headed on the right track, especially with the recent election of Felipe Calderon. Has Mexico set the foundation for its return to greatness?
The rising power of hedge funds and private equity investment, continued sharp competition among Wall Street firms, and growth in China and India are the key drivers of global finance today, according to industry leaders at a recent Wharton Finance Conference whose theme was From Wall Street to Beijing: Thriving in a Changing Environment.
Continue reading "From Wall Street to Beijing: Global Finance Has New Rules, New Players" »
TORONTO, Oct. 11 /CNW/ - While the global expansion was still on track in the waning days of summer, the negative fallout from a growing list of natural disasters, related energy market turbulence and periodic terrorist attacks points to slower growth during the fall and winter, according to Scotia Economics' flagship report, Global Outlook entitled Tipping Points.
By Anna Flavia Rocha e Silva -
(AXcess News) Washington - Getting Afghan girls into school, combating the spread of HIV in Rwanda and helping to monitor the Amazon forest in Brazil have proven to be rewarding deals for American businesses.
The Center for Global Engagement, a new U.S. government group, recognized 12 success stories of American investments abroad at a news conference Thursday.
Continue reading "Group Claims Investing Abroad Helps U.S. Interests" »
By Steve Lohr -
WILLIAM A. REINSCH, an avowed free trader, welcomes China's rising stature in the international economy. After all, he is the president of the National Foreign Trade Council, an organization founded in 1914 to promote an "open world trading system." Indeed, when he was a senior trade official in the Clinton administration, Mr. Reinsch was chided by some security analysts who said he was being soft on China by placing matters of commerce ahead of national security.
By Clyde Harrison -
CHICAGO (ResourceInvestor.com) -- Leo Malamed is known as the Father of the derivatives market. I started in the investment business in 1968, so I was around when the baby was born. In 1968, the Mercantile Exchange wasnt well known as they only traded eggs and pork bellies. The Exchange being made up of capitalists, were willing to try to trade anything. They tried to trade potatoes and they tried to trade turkeys. Neither one flew.
by Larry Kudlow -
Dick Fisher is the spanking new president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and a voting member of the Feds open market committee policy arm. A terribly bright guy, he is somebody who reads the research memos and looks at the data. He may be a Democrat -- he served as deputy trade representative in the Clinton administration -- but hes my kind of Democrat. In short, hes a pro-market, pro-business free-trader who doesnt think profit is a dirty word.
By Bill Gross -
They say never sell America short and with good reason. Any country whose equity market has been able to crank out 6.8% real returns annually over the past century stands as a formidable obstacle for any speculator willing to bet the dont come line. The odds of winning a long-term wager laid against the U.S. house have been about as bad as heading out to the track and betting on your favorite color of jockey silks. Even when the bear gets his facts right, the timing and the wait often spell his doom; the house has more chips, especially a house with reserve currency status like the U.S., so a wager must be done prudently in order to conserve capital for that prospective rainy day.
Continue reading "The Strange Tale of the Bare-Bottomed King" »
May 10 (Bloomberg) -- Global venture capital funds slowed investment into Chinese companies in the first quarter after the country's foreign exchange regulator issued rules that may hinder international share sales and capital raising by China businesses.
Chinese residents must for the first time get approval from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange before starting or investing in an offshore company, according to notices from the regulator dated Jan. 24 and April 8. Venture capital into China slowed by one-third to $552.6 million in the first quarter from a year earlier, according to the Asian Venture Capital Journal.
Continue reading "China Changes Offshore Investment Rules, Venture Capital Cools" »
By William Pesek Jr. -
May 4 (Bloomberg) -- Even though his bet against the dollar cost him $310 million in the first quarter alone, Warren Buffett is sticking with it. Alan Greenspan seems less worried about the world's top currency.
Who's Asia to trust when the two most revered U.S. gurus in this region are at odds?
The issue is far from academic, something that's clear from the intense interest among policy makers here in Istanbul for the annual Asian Development Bank meeting. Be it discussions about growth outlooks, poverty or infrastructure, the risk of a dollar crisis is sure to come up.
Continue reading "Greenspan or Buffett? Asia Mulls Who's Right" »
By Rene Bonorchis -
Johannesburg - Local might be lekker, but with the rand dollar at levels of R6 and below for over two months, it's a good time to invest offshore, according to market experts.
The Association for Collective Investments, which monitors the unit trust industry, said this week that private investors earmarked more than R1.3 billion for foreign currency unit trusts in the December quarter, which "could be the first indication that local investors are taking advantage of the strong rand to invest offshore".
Continue reading "Now's the time to make that offshore investment" »
knowledge@wharton -
An economic drama is playing out as you read this, one whose next act is about to unfold. It began quietly enough on Thursday, Jan. 6, when the U.S. Department of Labor issued its weekly report on first-time unemployment-insurance claims. It found that 364,000 workers filed initial claims for unemployment benefits for the week ending Jan. 1 -- 43,000 more than during the previous week. The stock market rose slightly that day.
Continue reading "What Do The Numbers Really Mean? Uncovering the Secrets of Economic Indicators" »
By Bill Cara -
Whenever you hear the term sector rotation in equity markets, you can be sure there are important things changing in the macro picture. As you know, the big picture today is one of a return to global economic growth, and higher commodity prices and interest rates. Now, its pretty hard to have economic growth without higher commodity prices and interest rates. They go together like Bacon-Lettuce-Tomato in a sandwich. And, as long as the ingredients are in balance, there is not much for investors to do but enjoy. Too much of one or another, however, spoils the sandwich.