Weekend Links May 31 – June 1

China

• 3 Cheung Kong firms to acquire Australian gas pipeline firm Envestra (SCMP)
• Li Ka-Shing Group to Purchase Envestra in A$2.4 Billion Deal (Bloomberg)
• Super-Size Me! China’s ’Mini’ Stimulus Starts Expanding (Bloomberg)
• Beijing pushes ‘cocktail therapy’ economic policy (WantChinaTimes)
• Bigger graft crackdown for China’s energy sector still to come (WantChinaTimes)
• Despite U.S. Prodding, Renminbi Liberalization to Proceed at China’s Pace (Global Finance)
• Zero Down Payment? China’s Developers Get Desperate (WSJ China Real Time)
• Chinese economy at the crossroads (China Daily)
• ‘Mini-stimulus’ delivers positive news flow (China Daily)
• How State-Backed Shipping Firm Ran into Ice Berg of Debt (Caixin)
• Shanxi Official Linked to Ex-Boss of China Resources Investigated (Caixin)
• Why Do State-Backed Giants Wind up in Debt Messes? (Caixin)
• China’s slowdown is a bit too much for Li Keqiang to bear (China Economic Review)
• Why We Should Welcome Slower Growth in China (Institutional Investor)

Asia

• Japan consumer spending, factory output skid after rise in sales tax (SCMP)
• Stumbling Thai economy lends urgency to junta’s revival efforts (Reuters)
• Singapore Home Prices May Fall More: Standard Chartered (Bloomberg)
•  Japan Steelmakers Weigh Action to Stem Flood of Imports (Bloomberg)

Europe

• Hard-hit Spain is turning the corner (SCMP)
• Putin forms trade bloc with former Soviet states (SCMP)
• A diminished France could spell the end for Europe (FT.com)
• Aging Swiss Face Pension Funding Dilemma on Immigration (Bloomberg)
• Russia forges ‘epoch-making’ Eurasian Economic Union (EuropeanVoice)
• ECB Under Pressure to Abandon Superior Policy Stance (FinancialSense)
• Europe’s Ukrainian Lifeline (Project-Syndicate)
• Realty Investors Flock to Spain (NY Times Dealbook)
• Mr. Draghi–Your Public Awaits (WSJ MoneyBeat)
• Can Mr. Draghi Actually Do Anything About Inflation? (WSJ MoneyBeat)
• Europe’s Populist Resurgence: Not as Ugly as it Looks (Peterson Institute)
• Ukraine: The Real Energy Crisis Starts in June (OilPrice.com)
• When Monetary Policy Involves Exploration (Caixin)
• The Italian fault line (Bruegel)
• The German Court does Europe a favour (Bruegel)
• Europe: 1, Google: 0: EU Court Ruling a Victory for Privacy (Der Spiegel)

United Kingdom

• Drugs and prostitution add £10bn to UK economy (Ft.com)
• Bank of England governor risks leaving £375b puzzle for successor (SCMP)
• U.K. House Prices Rise as Consumer Optimism Improves (Bloomberg)
• Help to Buy irrelevant to London bubble (BBC)
• Britain is still feasting on credit – and the next crunch will hit in 2016 (Guardian)
• Triple boost for Chancellor as growth soars (Telegraph)
• BoE sets out plan to restore confidence in ‘toxic’ loans (Telegraph)
• Don’t raise interest rates (Piera)

United States

• Don’t assume newest Fed policymaker is a look-alike hawk (Reuters)
• U.S. Said to Seek More Than $10 Billion Penalty From BNP (Bloomberg)
• China Sets America’s Mental Trap (Project-Syndicate)
• America’s Move to Faster Growth (Project-Syndicate)
• A comment on GDP Revisions: No Worries (CalculatedRisk)
• Is Q1 GDP Data Misleading Us? (The Capital Spectator)
• Lower mortgage rates unlikely to boost the housing market (SoberLook)
• Staging the QE exit (SoberLook)
• U.S. Retail Economic Death Rattle Grows Louder (MarketOracle)
• U of Chicago Economist Challenges Fed Thinking on Inflation (MoneyNews)
• The Fed’s Exit Strategy: A Delicate Balancing Act (Caixin)
• US money slump flashes warnings as economy contracts (Telegraph)
• Why the Fed’s Profit Bubble Will Soon Pop (CBS MoneyWatch)

Global Macro

• Capitalism Eating Its Children (NY Times)
• U.S. Interest Rates: The Potential Shock Heard Around the World (iMF Direct)
• FT journalist accused of serious errors in Thomas Piketty takedown (Guardian)
• US farm groups seek to exclude Japan from Pacific trade talks (SCMP)
• Oettinger hints at binding efficiency target (EuropeanVoice)
• The End of Globalization and the Looming Tech Trade War (FinancialSense)
• Few People worldwide expect to retire comfortably (CBS MoneyWatch)
• Could Social Security go Bankrupt? No Likely (CBS MoneyWatch)
• Vital retirement lessons from the 1950s (CBS MoneyWatch)
• After Crisis, a New Spirit of Reining In the Banks (NY Times)
• Why Real Median Housiehold Income is the most misused statistic in the econoblogosphere (Bonddad)
• How highly educated immigrants raise native wages (Vox)
• Exchange-rate flexibility and credit during capital inflow deversals: Purgatory … not paradise (Vox)
• Global income distribution: From the fall of the Berlin Wall to the Great Recession (Vox)
• Argentina Reaches $9.7 Billion Debt Payment Agreement With Paris Club Countries (IB Times)
• Canada’s oil patch bracing for coming ‘retirement tsunami’ (Financial Post)
• We’re not all middle-class now (New Statesman)

Capital Markets

•  Wanted: reliable secondhand bond dealers (FT.com)
• Supply and demand drives down bond yields (FT.com)
• Rising supply splits iron ore bulls and bears (FT.com)
• Why US companies can earn $51 billion in the Cayman Islands even though its GDP is only $3 billion (Quartz)
• Is This The Mania Phase of the Bull Market? (PragCap)
• Brokers, Liquid Alts and the Fund That Never Goes Up (TheReformedBroker)
• Dillian: How Trading Liquidity Changed In A Flash (ETF.com)
• Policy Induced Mediocrity? (Tim Duy’s Fed Watch)
• Revenue substitution in resource-rich economies: Evidence from a new dataset (Vox) …a prophetic last paragraph
• Get pumped for a summer melt-up — followed by a ‘nasty correction’ (WSJ MarketWatch)
• Fink Says Leveraged ETFs May ‘Blow Up’ Industry (Bloomberg)
• They Called The Recession And Made A Killing On It — And Say It Ain’t Over Yet (Forbes)
• Why The Party In The Treasury Market Might Be Over (ValueWalk)

Commodities

• US shakes up LNG export rules (FT.com)
• Dry weather threat to wheat crop in key regions (FT.com)
• Iron Ore Heads for Record Losing Streak on Growing Supply (Bloomberg)
• Energy Department seeks to change gas export permitting (Washington Post)
• China’s Emerging Shale Industry Picks Up Speed (OilPrice.com)
• Deadly Pig Virus Reinfects US Farm, Fuels Supply Fears (IB Times)

And Furthermore……

• How to Become an Oligarch (Project-Syndicate)
• The ‘Miracle’ Berry That Could Replace Sugar (The Atlantic)
• Google Answers Some of the Pressing Questions About Its Self-Driving Car (The Atlantic)
• The volume just got cranked up in a crucial dispute over golden oldies songs (Quartz)
• Right to Be Forgotten? Not That Easy (NYTimes)
• Do people really overuse healthcare when it’s free? (LA Times)
• The half-privatization of public higher education (RWER)
• Ten Companies With the Least Valuable Workers (24/7 Wall St)

Research

•  Ingves: Monetary policy and macroprudential policy in a globalised world (Governor Stefan Ingves, Riksbank) (pdf) …..well worth a read
• How Strong are the Linkages between Real Estate and Other Sectors in China? (HKIMR) (Pdf)
• US Update Calm before the storm? (Nordea) (Pdf)
• Job Polarization and the Great Recession (Cleveland Fed)
• The Slowdown in Residential Investment and Future Prospects (Cleveland Fed)
• Has US Household Deleveraging Ended? A Model-Based Estimate of Equilibrium Debt(Bank of Portugal) (Pdf)
• Why Accounting Matters: A Central Bank Perspective (ECB)

Australia/New Zealand

• Iron ore magnate Andrew Forrest eyes growing Chinese meat market (SCMP)
• Sovereign Pain Trade Spurs Best Aussie Bond Gains in Year (Bloomberg)
• Tokyo, Canberra test sub fleet export waters (Japan Times)
• New Zealand’s immigrants, I’m a stranger here myself (Economist)
• ASIC Needs More Whistleblowers (The Yarra property Spruiker) …so it can refer them to the AFP?
• Foreign buyers claims mostly false, RBA says (The Yarra property Spruiker)  … How would RBA know? How would FIRB know?
• States should be scrapped so the Prime Minister can be a true leader (SMH) …well let’s have a referendum on it, shall we?
• China trims iron ore contracts as glut hits market (SMH)
• Property investment spruikers on notice to abide by consumer law (ABC)
• Former students face thousands in interest payments under loan changes (Guardian)
• The motherhood penalty: why women keep earning less than men (Guardian, Greg Jericho)
• Regulator lacks resources to enforce foreign home buyer restrictions (ABC) …and how many legal actions have ever been brought about by FIRB over real estate?