MB is almost back at full strength! Here is the timetable for the coming month:
- Chris Becker will maintain normal operations from Monday 5 January until Sunday 18 January.
- David Llewellyn-Smith will take over from Monday 19 January.
- Leith van Onselen will resume from Monday 26 January.
Please note comments after links below in italics are Gunnamatta, in brackets are mine.
Asia/China
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- China’s FDI growth slows while outbound investment soars – SCMP
- Beijing rolls out fresh support amid slowing growth – SCMP
- China Unveils Fresh Support Measures As Economy Shows Renewed Weakness – IB Times
- Machinery orders heighten doubts over pace of economic recovery – Japan today
- Money supply growth fails to maintain momentum – China Daily
- China’s very strong gold demand start to 2015 – Mineweb
- China unveils unified pension system – China Daily
- Chinese spy chief Ma Jian placed under graft probe, authorities confirm – SCMP
- Chinese brokers punished over margin trading – SCMP
- China has policy buffers to sustain growth: World Bank – China Daily
- Fantasia the Latest Chinese Developer to Stumble – Finance Asia
- China banks’ 2014 new yuan lending hits record high – Want China Times
- Diversified housing rental market to be created in China in 3 years – Want China Times
- China’s shadow banking is back with a vengeance—and it brings bad omens with it – Quartz
- Backward guidance, Chinese style – Bruegel
- Year after Launch of Shanghai FTZ, Three New Zones Set to Open – Caixin
- PBOC Hits Back at Criticism of Currency Swap Deal with Russia – Caixin
Americas/United States
- Consumer Prices in U.S. Drop Most in Six Years as Fuel Falls – Bloomberg
- U.S. consumer prices post biggest drop in six years – Reuters
- Fed should not tighten policy in 2015, Kocherlakota says – Reuters
- Global Aging: More Headwinds for U.S. Stocks? – San Francisco Fed (h/t Migtronix)
- U.S. Producer Price Index Falls With Oil and Food Prices; Shows Upward Pressure Elsewhere – Haver Analytics
- Philadelphia Fed Business Conditions Index Deteriorates; Pricing Weakens Sharply – Haver Analytics
- Countdown To Liftoff Getting Longer – Bespoke
- Obama Stands At Crossroads On Financial Reform – ProPublica
- Subprime Lending Drives Spending – Seeking Alpha
- The US Hasn’t “Decoupled” And There Ain’t No Giant “Oil Tax Cut” – Contra Corner
- The Impending Collapse Of Venezuela – Forbes
- Venezuela Announces Financing From Qatari Banks As Oil Prices Continue To Fall – IB Times
- Robert Reich Is Right: Higher Wages Aren’t Coming Back, And Here’s Why – Forbes
- Signs of a Decline in Financial Distress Connected to Medical Bills – NY Times
- This Could Be Hillary Clinton’s Economic Policy – Time
- Corporate profits slip, raising concerns – CBS
- Goods held hostage in West Coast port battle – CBS
- Foreclosures fell in 2014 to levels before housing bust – CBS
- The shale oil revolution is in danger – Fortune
- Will Global Deflation Risk Pinch US Economic Growth? – Capital Spectator
- Why Canadians can expect low interest rates for longer — much longer: Morgan Stanley – Financial Post
- Obama Proposes New Muni Bonds for Public-Private Infrastructure – Bloomberg
- US flirts with deflation as prices fall by largest since financial crisis – Telegraph
Europe/UK
- World deflationary forces have swept away Switzerland’s defences – Telegraph
- Greek deposit flight forces banks to apply for emergency support – Telegraph
- Amazon’s Luxembourg tax deal to be scrutinised by Brussels – Guardian
- Years of dithering has given Draghi a QE dilemma – Guardian
- Swiss currency shock: blame the bank in Frankfurt not Zurich – Guardian
- Swiss Franc U-Turn Is A Realistic Move As SNB Cannot Stop The Tide – Forbes
- Shifting Power between Creditors and Debtors in EMU – Marc to Market
- We need to rethink the Green Belt – City Metric
- Why the Swiss franc can’t escape being a safe haven – BBC
- Francs, Fear and Folly – Krugman, NY Times
- THE RISK OF DEFLATION IN 2015 – Pieria
- Tata Steel’s possible divestment prompts re-evaluation of Britain’s role in global industry – Platts
- Clock Will Be Ticking for Greece’s New Government – Pragmatic Capitalism
- Currency risk: Poles were slow to get out of Swiss-franc mortgages. Now they are paying the price – Economist
- Switzerland was once a safe haven. That is no longer true today – Telegraph
- Quantitative easing in the Eurozone: It’s possible without fiscal transfers – Vox
- Why a Grexit is more costly for Germany than a default inside the euro area – Bruegel
- Russia’s tech sector defies downturn – BNE
- Russia May Resort to Currency Restrictions If Outflows Continue to Mount – Bloomberg
- Switzerland: an expensive experiment – RWER
Maaate
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- Auckland currency broker closes after Swiss shock – NZ Herald
- ExxonMobil Papua New Guinea gas deal could help expand LNG project – Reuters
- ANZ to sell first Basel III foreign bank dim sum – Finance Asia
- Aussie 10-Year Yield Drops Below RBA Cash Rate After Swiss Move – Bloomberg
- GP visits will cost you more, Minister Sussan Ley warns – Fairfax
- Australian dollar could fall through US70¢: Blackrock – Fairfax
- Tax cheats to win from ATO cuts, insiders say – Fairfax...what has happened with compliance functions across the APS is an utter disgrace…
- Why everything you think about the economy in 2015 is probably wrong – Fairfax…the case for everything is reasonably OK with the Australian economy – not convincing…
- Will Treasurer Hockey start the year on a positive note? – Fairfax
- Woodside cost cutting signals likely to lead to further Browse project delays, analysts say – ABC
- Australian housing near world’s most expensive but forecast to rise further – ABC
Commodities/Energy
- Schlumberger to cut 9,000 jobs as oil prices plunge – Guardian
- Oil price floor could be a long way down – Reuters, Hadas
- Oil jumps as IEA sees signs market ‘tide will turn’ – Reuters
- Chinese funds aggressively shorting commodities linked to copper dive – Reuters
- LNG buyers should be wary of getting what they want – Reuters, Russell
- Oil Update – Marc to Market
- In 2015 outlook, Goldman growls about gold – Mineweb
- The crude price plunge and LNG, a tenuous link – Platts
- IEA says tide will turn for oil, but warns collapse is ‘historic shift’ for market – Financial Post
- Ignore The Big Upheaval In The Oil Patch – ETF.com
- IEA Sees Oil-Price Recovery; Cuts 2015 Non-OPEC Output Estimate – Bloomberg
Capital
- End to euro cap on Swiss franc ensnares brokers – FT.com
- Finance can cope with cheap oil – FT.com
- Is the Euro the New Yen? Increasingly So. – ETFtrends
- UK broker enters insolvency after Swiss franc losses – Investment Week
- It’s A Sector Pickers Market: Why It Pays To Invest In The Right Sector – SeeItMarket
- Switzerland Just Rang The Bell: The Era Of Central Bank Omnipotence Is Ending – Contra Corner
- These investments could get creamed in the Swiss avalanche – MarketWatch
- Still Trying to Make Sense of SNB’s Bombshell – Marc to Market
- Euro’s March Lower Getting Boost From Swiss Bankers: Currencies – Bloomberg
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Global Macro
- Implications of the SNB decision extend far beyond Switzerland – FT.com, El-Erian
- Can long-term global growth be saved? – McKinsey
- Beware Of Politicians Bearing Household Analogies – Steve Keen, Forbes…good read…
- Putting the last three big oil crashes in perspective – Maclean’s
- Oil Prices And The Significant, Long-Lasting Impact On The Economy – Forbes
- Global Macro Update – Short Side of Long
- TURNING JAPANESE – Pieria
- THE MYTH OF THE STRUCTURAL DEFICIT – Pieria
- Global carbon taxation: Intuition from a back-of-the-envelope calculation – Vox
- Swiss mess could make oil plunge seem like minor hiccup – MarketWatch
- The Swiss Give a Scary Lesson on the Limits of Central Banks – NY Times
- Bracing for Stagnation – Project-Syndicate
- Preparing for the Unknown Unknowns – Project-Syndicate
And Furthermore….
- More than a third of American workers don’t get sick leave, and they’re making the rest of us ill – Washington Post…nothing more despicable than the punter coming to work when sick…
- Four Scenarios for the Future of Donbas – New Eastern Europe
- Do the wealthy pay lower taxes than the middle class? – CNBC
- The Discounted Cash Flow Method: Company Valuation Tools – SeeItMarket…for those unfamiliar…
- 3 Investing Principles That Every Dirty Old Man (and you) Should Understand – SeeItMarket…worth bearing in mind…
- Revealed: World’s Most Expensive Construction Markets – Gulf Business
- Years After Tobacco Deals Sold, SEC Says Rating Agencies Still Conflicted – ProPublica
- The Fallacy of ‘Love What You Do’ – Inc
- Mt. Gox chief was thought by U.S. to be Silk Road mastermind – Japan Times
- ECONOMISTS AND THEIR POLITICS – Pieria
- WHY THE WORLD’S BIGGEST MILITARY KEEPS LOSING WARS – Pieria
- Piketty finally admits marginal productivity theory is wrong – RWER
- The Second Disease Ever Eradicated – Atlantic
- Why Changing Careers Is So Hard – Atlantic
- The Dangerous Underestimation of Climate Change’s Cost – Atlantic
- Exactly How Much Would It Cost to Make Public Colleges Tuition-Free? – Slate
- What Good Are Economists? – Project-Syndicate, Shiller
- 7 ways to stop Terrorism – Barry Ritholz (must read of the weekend, all true, all not going to happen sadly)
and finally…..
- GROWERS STRUGGLE WITH GLUT OF LEGAL POT IN WASHINGTON STATE – Associated Press
The Super Rich and Us: Episode 2
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