Links 14-15 November, 2015

China

• China banks face instability on shake-up of funding base – SCMP
• Chinese direct investment in US to top US$10 billion for third year in a row – SCMP
• Capital Flight From China: Why Investors Are Taking Their Money Elsewhere – IB Times
• China Doubles Margin Requirement for Stocks to Curb Leverage – Bloomberg
• China’s Unwilling Consumers – Project-Syndicate
• Investors in China haunted by “key man” clause – Reuters
• Two-Child Policy Won’t Bring Desired Baby Boom, Experts Say – Caixin
• The China Path – (What recent events in China tell us about the way forward) by Matt Garrett – Sober Look…pretty good read…
• How a Detained Stock Trader Played with Fire – Caixin
• Futures Trader Faces Scrutiny over Gains from High-Frequency Trading – Caixin
• The Real Reason China Wants Yuan in IMF’s Basket – Caixin
• China is losing interest in learning English – CNBC
• China’s corruption crackdown is so vast, top officials from every single province have been nabbed – Quartz
• Chinese manufacturers losing cost advantages over US: report – China Daily
• China’s Troubled Credit Swells to Sweden-Sized $628 Billion – Bloomberg

Asia

• Turkey approaches day of reckoning on economic reform – Intellinews
• Central bank says ringgit will recover once uncertainties resolved – Nikkei Asian Review
• Long and winding road to inflation in Japan – Nikkei Asian Review
• Nuclear isn’t the prime solution to Japan’s economic problems – World Finance

Europe

• Abbottalypse Now: Paris attacks, live feed of news. Many dead, France shuts borders. Reuters
• Drum rolls in the great disappearing act of Russia’s banks – Intellinews
• Britain’s EU renegotiation will force ECB into action, says Mario Draghi – Telegraph
• At Aeroflot, It’s Patriotism Over Profits as Russia Pressures Industry – NY Times
• Eurozone’s largest economies record lacklustre growth – FT.com
• DSGE macro economic models and secular stagnation in the Eurozone – not a happy marriage – RWER
• Half of Russia’s Richest People Are Planning to Cash Out – Bloomberg…moving may be a better bet than having the acquisition process looked at…
• Berlin Accomplices: The German Government’s Role in the VW Scandal – Der Spiegel
• Eurozone recovery cools as Germany falters – Deutsche Welle
• Finland to build world’s first permanent nuclear waste depository – Deutsche Welle
• Finland emerges as the ‘new sick man of Europe’ as euro’s worst performing economy – Telegraph

United Kingdom

• Is Europe to blame for Britain’s shameful record on trade? – Telegraph
• Half of all British jobs could be replaced by robots, warns Bank of England’s chief economist – Telegraph
• Red tape and taxes will destroy the City, says UK’s former top regulator – Telegraph
• The Brexit Balance Sheet – Project-Syndicate
• Cuts to tax credits are both a crime and a blunder – FT.com, Wolf
• K. Needs ‘Urgent Action’ to Keep Banks in London, BBA Says – Bloomberg
• What Britain forgets: Why running a budget deficit can reduce the national debt – Economist
• Government sells £13bn of former Northern Rock mortgages to US private equity firm – Telegraph

United States

• U.S. budget deficit widens to $136 billion in October – Reuters
• JOLTS Hires and Quits turn negative YOY; Labor Market Conditions Index uninspiring – Bonddad
• S. inflation to rebound next year, says Fed’s Fischer – Reuters
• Several Fed Officials Say They Are Ready to Raise Rates – NY Times
• Strong Unemployment News Bolsters Case for Fed to Raise Rates – NY Times
• Mortgage applications fall 1.3% amid sharp jump in rates – CNBC
• This chart says America’s not miserable anymore. It’s pretty much wrong. – Washington Post
• Why US unemployment is not done falling – VoxEU
• US intergenerational mobility: 1850-1940 – VoxEU
• The Economy Is Better — Why Don’t Voters Believe It? – FiveThirtyEight
• US Economy Facing Massive Structural Change in Five Charts – Financial Sense

Americas

• Canada a friendly home for illicit cash, corrupt real estate buys, report says – Vancouver Sun
• In Run-Up to Olympics, Rio’s Property Market Already Looks Hung Over – NY Times
• As US Promotes TPP As A Way To Improve Labor Standards, Guatemala Shows Failed Promises Of Previous Trade Deals – IB Times
• The perils of being an energy superpower – Macleans
• Puerto Rico Is Running Out of Options – Bloomberg

Terra Bubblenomicus

• Negative gearing benefits the rich far more than everyday Australians, analysis shows – Fairfax…Domainfax twigs to the painfully obvious …..
• Charts tracking the demise of the Big Australian – Fairfax
• Committee hears of Commonwealth Bank’s $8.2 billion ‘fraud’ – Fairfax
• BHP hit by perfect storm of dam disaster, falling prices and China fears – Guardian
• Banks get a rap over the knuckles from the RBA as the housing boom continues – Guardian, Jericho
• Australian graduates who move overseas will have to pay back student loans – The Conversation
• Committee hears of Commonwealth Bank’s $8.2 billion ‘fraud’ – Fairfax
• How Australia Gets Student Loans Right – Slate…does it?…
• Will privatised schools and hospital drive public sector efficiency? – Pearls & Irritations
• Search for the biggest fat cat of the Australian super fund industry – Fairfax
• VET: An industry in crisis is an investor’s worst bet – Fairfax

Commodities

• Goldman: Only China can save metals – CNBC…and a lot of ghost cities suggests they may not be inclined to…
• Gold price fall and market panic sparks bullion ‘buying spree’ in China – Telegraph
• OPEC sees oil surplus shrinking in 2016, but underlines current glut – Reuters
• S. shale oil output will be less resilient than gas – Reuters, John Kemp
• Global PMI may be signaling commodity lift-off, but wait for China – Reuters, Clyde Russell
• Have we just witnessed the end of the last great commodities boom in human history? – Financial Post
• How OPEC has earned itself a permanent pay cut in its self-launched oil price war – Financial Post
• China’s coal reversal is a wake-up call for exporters – ABC
• High-energy coal to help Australia miners steam ahead in Asia – Reuters…where they know and love their smog….
• Fresh wave of selling engulfs oil and metals markets – FT.com
• An Interactive Look At China’s Massive Coal Bubble – Zero Hedge
• IEA Says Record 3 Billion-Barrel Oil Stocks May Weaken Prices – Bloomberg
• Steel seems poised to keep on runnin’, keep on hidin’ – Platts
• Unsold oil stuck on tankers threatens world market gridlock – Reuters
• Technical picture offers little solace to copper bulls – Reuters

Capital Markets

• Why a global currency should remain an impractical dream – Guardian
• Six very strange things have been happening in financial markets around the world – Financial Post…worth noting…
• Mind the Gap as Currency Markets Shrivel for All But Biggest Few – Bloomberg
• Investors will pay if liquidity dries up – FT.com
• Bad Debt in Emerging Markets: Still Early Days – IMF Direct
• British Authorities Accuse 10 of Rigging Benchmark Interest Rate – NY Times

Global Macro

• Fed officials lay case for December liftoff – Reuters
• Premature Fed Hikes Could Cause Global Collateral Damage – Economonitor
• Surge in Protectionist Measures Blamed for Sapping Trade – WSJ, Mauldin
• Government Debt in Japan and Euro Area: Actions Speak Louder than Words – Economonitor
• Is globalisation reducing the ability of central banks to control inflation? – Bruegel
• The tide turns? Falling world trade and the G20 – VoxEU
• The Transmission of Exchange Rate Changes to Output and Inflation – US Fed, Stanley Fischer…worth a read…
• Global growth is struggling, but it is not all bad news – Telegraph

…and furthermore….

• Secret Russian radioactive doomsday torpedo leaked on television – Telegraph
• Hundreds of thousands could already be infected by new sexual disease – Telegraph
• Banks expected to adopt new technologies rather than be overrun – Reuters
• Busted: Chinese scholars use ghostwriters and bogus referees to publish academic papers in international journals – SCMP…not just Chinese scholars…
• More than just a flash in the pan: the high cost of rudeness at work – SCMP
• Is Traditional Banking Unbreakable? – Project-Syndicate
• The Poverty Line’s Battle Lines – Project-Syndicate
• Apple and banks spoil for electronic-payment fight – Reuters
• Inflation and Activity: Two Explorations and Their Monetary Policy Implications – Peterson Institute
• Can Foreign Exchange Intervention Stem Exchange Rate Pressures from Global Capital Flow Shocks? – Peterson Institute
• The Secrets in Greenland’s Ice Sheets – NY Times
• The Strange, True Story of How a Chairman at McKinsey Made Millions of Dollars off His Maid – The Nation…good read…
• The Eight-Hour Sleep Session Is Not What You Need – Slate
• Voluntary disclosure of offshore tax evasion – VoxEU
• Why the cure for a sluggish economy is actually longer vacations – RWER
• Philosophers Don’t Get Much Respect, But Their Earnings Don’t Suck – FiveThirtyEight
• The Ethics Conversation We’re Not Having About Data – HBR
• Why Organizations Don’t Learn – HBR…because they like tongues firmly wedged…
• The “modern” workplace doesn’t just make us lonely, it can make us physically ill – Quartz
• Why critics are wrong about liberal arts degrees – Fortune
• English is not normal – Aeon
• Google Driverless Car Is Stopped by California Police for Going Too Slowly – NY Times