Weekend Links 16-17 May, 2015

China

• China economic reform may yield surprises – SCMP
• New Faces, New Reforms for Big Oil in China – Caixin
• China Won’t Inject ‘Specific Amount’ via Local Debt Collateralisation-Central Bank Vice Governor – NY Times
• Kevin Rudd: Answering the Peaceful Rise Question – Caixin
• Li set to discuss Pacific-Atlantic railroad – Global Times
• How China Inc.’s Debt Fix Is Piling Risk on Individual Investors – Bloomberg
• China’s new infrastructure bank may prove a regional boon if Beijing can put politics aside – China Economic Review
• China is on track for the biggest reduction in coal use ever recorded – Quartz
• China doubles tax rate for cigarettes to 11% – China Daily
• Support builds up for crucial renminbi move – China Daily
• China could crash US dollar with 30,000 tons of gold – Want China Times
• PBOC confirms debt-swap plan – China Daily
• Will China avoid the middle income trap? – Nikkei Asian Review
• Xi bets on rail projects to boost slowing economy – Nikkei Asian Review

Asia

• US$750 billion gap in India’s push for China-like infrastructure – SCMP
• China, India sign trade, space exploration pacts; call for greater trust between two Asian powers – SCMP
• BOJ policymaker gives a glimpse of post-easing world – Nikkei Asian Review
• Bank of Korea holds rates, softens case for more easing – Nikkei Asian Review
• For Modi’s year-old government, storm brewing in rural India – Reuters
• The Xi-Modi Meeting: China and India Positioned for Asian Era – Economonitor
• Trade Deal Threatens Japan’s Food Security, Ex-Minister Says – Bloomberg
• UBS joins Formosa bond bonanza – Finance Asia

Europe

• Why Syriza Will Blink – Project-Syndicate, Kaletsky
• Greek Finance Minister Lashes Out at E.C.B. Chief – NY Times
• Eurozone Economy Improves, but Finland and Greece Stumble – NY Times
• Finland, Once a Eurozone Point of Pride, Is Now Faltering – NY Times
• Facing Vicious Debt Cycle, Greece Sprints to Apply Fixes – NY Times
• Greece offers privatisation concession as Germany stays tough – Irish Times
• First Irish solar farms due next year, says firm – Irish Times…Macquarie backing Irish solar power…
• Mario Draghi hits back at critics of QE as Greek woes continue – Telegraph
• Varoufakis refuses any bailout plan that would send Greece into ‘death spiral’ – Guardian
• NEGOTIATING THE GREEK PUBLIC DEBT: WRONG FINANCE MINISTER WAS FIRED – Pieria
• Tourism Troubles: Berlin Cracks Down on Vacation Rentals – Der Spiegel
• EU growth surprises hide clear pattern – Reuters, Edward Hadas
• Greece to Privatize Port, Airports in Concession to Creditors – Bloomberg
• Bank of Russia Buys $181 Million to Start Rebuilding Reserves – Bloomberg
• Greece’s hot summer – Bruegel
• Greece is falling back into recession at the worst time possible – Quartz
• Russia’s crisis is over, but the pain of recession is just starting – Fortune

United Kingdom

• Bank of England governor calls for early Brexit referendum – Irish Times
• Britain’s shameful productivity deficit must be tackled head-on – Telegraph
• Jim O’Neill gains peerage and ministerial role in Treasury team – Guardian
• HSBC is right to look at moving out of Britain, admits Bank of England deputy governor – Telegraph
• Bank Of England’s Carney Says ‘Possible’ Rates Will Be Higher In A Year – IB Times
• Interest rates would be higher without immigrants – BBC, Peston
• Construction bounce unlikely to strengthen UK growth – Guardian

United States

• Here’s how Americans are eating into their savings – Market Watch
• Amid boom, fears of too many $20 million Manhattan apartments – Market Watch
• Where Americans Spend Their Money – WSJ
• The U.S. Economy Just Had Its Worst Month Since the Recession – WSJ
• If the US economy is signalling an iceberg, bad news: we’re out of lifeboats – Guardian
• US jobless claims touch 15-year lows in sign that employment on solid footing – Guardian
• Why the New York Fed Should Not Be Reined In – NY Times
• The US Is NOT in Recession According to These 7 Charts – Financial Sense
• Look beyond retail sales for what’s really happening with the U.S. economy – Financial Post
• Americans Warm to Redistribution – Bloomberg
• Factory Output in U.S. Stalled in April on Machinery Cutbacks – Bloomberg
• Trans Pacific Partnership: Canadian Official’s Salvo Against Key Dodd-Frank Provision Muddies Trade Talks – IB Times
• The TPP would be great for America if Americans had been saving for retirement – Quartz

Americas

• China to invest US$50bn in Brazilian infrastructure projects – SCMP
• How the bond market meltdown could push fixed mortgage rates higher – Financial Post
• Even the prime minister is warning Canadians about debt as housing boom turns patchy – Financial Post…what about ‘have a go’?…
• Why Canada should be world’s choice energy exporter – Financial Post
• How long will Canadian banks hold up? – Financial Post
• Chile: Such a Star, Until It Wasn’t – Bloomberg

Terra Hockeynomicus

• Bipartisan convergence there is – but not on what really matters for the economy – Fairfax…bipartisanship on contemptuous mediocrity is what we have…
• Budget week reveals an appetite for government but not to govern – The Conversation
• Bill Shorten’s top three pledges could cost $40 billion – Fairfax
• Benign-looking budget uses hidden fangs to drain money from health – The Conversation
• There are no green shoots for sustainability in this Budget – The Conversation
• Debt disaster is so last year – now Hockey’s giving a helping hand – The Conversation
• Nomura’s Andrew Ticehurst calls third interest rate cut later this year – Fairfax
• Will voters see through the post-budget spin? – ABC, Barrie Cassidy
• OECD ramps up rhetoric on corporate tax after Australian crackdown – ABC
• Moody’s warns on housing, Reserve Bank wants investor lending to slow more – ABC
• Atlas Iron resumes production as PM backs supply inquiry – ABC
• Budget 2015: You call yourself an ‘infrastructure prime minister’? – ABC, Alan Kohler
• The new coal frontier – Guardian
• Any Australian iron ore inquiry won’t solve major issue – Reuters, Clyde Russell
• Australia’s New Tax Plan Misses the Mark – Bloomberg
• Australian wages growth – lowest on record – Bill Mitchell
• An economic hiccup could easily derail Hockey’s path back to a surplus – Guardian, Greg Jericho
• Labor beats hasty retreat on foreign ownership property tax – Fairfax
• Home loan size surges as buyers pile on debt – Fairfax….every bit of extra debt helps, doesn’t it?….
• A pointless inquisition of BHP and Rio looms – Fairfax, Maiden
• Federal budget 2015: Small measures and a media circus – Fairfax, Gitto
• Federal budget 2015: The government’s something special may not save Australia – Fairfax…can say that again…
• Big pharma shuffles the tax pill – Fairfax…big pharma doing what big everything else does…
• Federal budget 2015: Cut income tax, says Treasury Secretary John Fraser – Fairfax, …make that revenue base smaller so future governments can’t touch the wealthy? Treasury Secretary is a company man!…

Capital Markets

• The sustainable side of oil – World Finance
• ETF companies boost bank credit lines amid liquidity concern – Reuters
• Bulls shouldn’t expect help from the Fed – Humble Student of the Markets
• Bond Market Plunge Shows How Stability Can Breed Instability – WSJ
• The great distortion: Subsidies that make borrowing irresistible need to be phased out – Economist….don’t tell bubbles…
• SEC a stumbling block in banks’ forex guilty pleas: sources – Reuters
• Foreign Central Banks Use Treasury Rout as Buying Opportunity – Bloomberg
• Debt Traders to Fed: We Dare You to Try Raising Rates This Year – Bloomberg

Commodities

• US discourages Chinese investment in LNG export industry – SCMP
• China Decides Big Steel Is Too Big – Bloomberg
• Oil Has Bottomed; Now What? – XE.com
• Germans pile into gold amid Greek eurozone default fears – Telegraph
• Japanese trading houses to cut investments, step up asset sales – Reuters
• Global glut threatens West African iron ore ambitions – Reuters
• Who wants to be a swing producer? No one – Reuters
• Growing supply to keep pressure on iron ore prices: BHP Billiton – Reuters
• How China Threw Its Rare Earths Monopoly Away – Oilprice.com
• Are US Drillers Actually Making A Comeback? – Oilprice.com
• Freeport LNG Says It Was Warned Not to Sign Up Chinese Customers – Bloomberg
• Just 38 Miles Apart, One Texas Oil Town Is Still Booming and the Other Is Dead – Bloomberg
• Silver Attempting To Break Out – Short Side of Long
• Crude Oil At A Bottom: Part 2 – Short Side of Long
• Aussie gold miners might be smaller but punch harder – Mineweb
• Saudi Arabia, Russia declare victory in the great oil contest of 2015 – Fortune

Global Macro & Investing

• Why Wall Street investors and Chinese firms are buying farmland all over the world – Vox.com
• Climate change and its stormy relationship with the insurance sector – World Finance
• How To Get Currency Hedging Right – ETF.com
• Changing Course, Russia Will Sell Rubles Instead of Buying – NY Times
• Currency Manipulation Has Emerged as the Big Sticking Point on Trade – WSJ…it was just a matter of time…
• China now world’s biggest source of international students as more Chinese head overseas for broader education – SCMP
• Epic global bond rout is a QE success story – but it won’t last – Telegraph, AEP
• WHY ARE ANALYST RATINGS AND EQUITY PRICES NOW GOING IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS? – Pieria
• The world economy is starting to look a lot like the Titanic, HSBC chief economist warns – Financial Post
• How Might the Fed’s Rate Hike Influence Global Demand and Investments? – Financial Sense
• The screaming buy signal of gathering bears – Market Watch
• An important Dow divergence is ominous for stocks – Market Watch
• Citi: Here Are the Asset Classes That Are the Most Bubbly – Bloomberg…take a look at this…
• Is a Fiscal Deficit Really “Austerity”? – Pragmatic Capitalism
• California’s Future Is in Australia – Bloomberg
• NEW WAYS TO CRASH THE MARKET – New Yorker

…and furthermore…

• The Secret Corporate Takeover – Project-Syndicate, Stiglitz
• An Economics to Fit the Facts – Project-Syndicate, Eichengreen…would be a nice start…
• Nurse Confessions: Don’t Get Sick in July – Politico
• Profit Margins in a “Winner Take All” Economy – Philosophical Economics
• The Rise of ‘Middle Class’ as an Ordinary American Term – NY Times
• The $179 Million Picasso That Explains Global Inequality – NY Times
• The Bursting Bubble in Higher Education– Political Calculations
• Lotteries: America’s $70 Billion Shame – The Atlantic
• President Obama on how Fox News teaches the middle class to demonize the poor – Washington Post
• How Much Finance Is Too Much? – WSJ
• To Do Good in the World, Get a Better HR Department – The Atlantic
• Is your job making you fat? – Telegraph…almost certainly…
• Do companies have a right to watch employees 24/7? – CBS
• The major data security threat you’ve never heard of – CBS
• We rely on economics too much – RWER
• Why living off your dividends in retirement may be a mistake – Financial Post
• Economic and environmental impacts of fracked shale gas – Vox
• Blood Feud: Behind the Scenes of Volkswagen’s Dynastic Battle – Der Spiegel…good read…
• HSBC in 2020: An imagined letter to shareholders – Reuters
• Boiler Rooms Meet Boardrooms as Scammers Invade London City – Bloomberg
• Trent Lott’s Firm Made a Fortune Lobbying for the Kremlin – Bloomberg…not the only hypocrite taking money out of Russia on the sly…
• Citi: This is Why Wall Street is Hard-Wired to Produce Bubbles – Bloomberg
• The Myth of Shareholder Value – Bloomberg…up there with the myth of efficient markets…
• The world’s best banknotes of the year – Quartz

Techno, science, global warming etc

• Quest for a Superbee – National Geographic…good read…
• Dying honeybees, and the uncertain future of honey – Washington Post
• The Economics of Tidying Up – The Atlantic
• Huge El Niño Becoming More Likely in 2015 – Slate
• El Niño near-certain to last through summer: U.S. climate center – Reuters
• 10,000-Year-Old Antarctic Ice Shelf Could Disappear Before Decade’s End, NASA Study Finds – IB Times
• The day when roads will harness solar energy is drawing near – Quartz
• The Kinetic Wood Sculptor – Priceonomics
• The Psychology of the Self-Appointed Genius – Priceonomics

The last note

• B. King, Mississippi-born master of the blues, dies at 89 – Washington Post…vale, and thanks…