What We Read Today 22 September 2014

Econintersect: Every day our editors collect the most interesting things they find from around the internet and present a summary “reading list” which will include very brief summaries (and sometimes longer ones) of why each item has gotten our attention. Suggestions from readers for “reading list” items are gratefully reviewed, although sometimes space limits the number included.

• The red flags around Alibaba and one of the biggest stock debuts in history (Drew Harwell, The Washington Post) This WaPo article threw massive amounts of cold water on the euphoria that followed the largest IPO in the history of the world. Did you buy NYSE:BABA? Have you been taken in a “shell game”? For a much different view see GEI Investing The “Hidden” Billions in the Alibaba IPO (William Patalon).  See also next article.

• Alibaba IPO ranks as world’s biggest after additional shares sold (Elzio Barreto, Reuters) Underwriters exercised an option to sell additional shares after the market closed Friday raising the size of the IPO to $25 billion. This is the largest ever globally, surpassing the previous record, set in China in 2010, when Agricultural Bank of China went public for $22.1 billion.

• Comedy relief from the ECB (Chris Becker, Macro Business) There are a couple of quotes from Benoit Coeure, a French economist who sits on the ECB (European Central Bank Executive Board which the author presents with derision. But he attempts less humor (does mention “limp wristed efforts of the ECB“) when he presents the following graph.

• Recent articles about Scotland Independence Vote :

UK’s Cameron shifts tack on constitutional shake-up to mollify Scots (Reuters)

Cameron makes lightning bid to be the great British reformer (The Conversation)

• Articles about wars elsewhere in the world:

Ghani named Afghan president-elect after deal to end election dispute (Reuters)

US-Afghan security deal could be signed soon: Kerry (AFP, MSN News)

Ebola outbreak: How Liberia lost its handshake (BBC News)

Benghazi assassinations stun residents amid Libya’s turmoil (The Washington Post)

Turkey clamps down on Syria border after Kurdish unrest (BBC News)

ISIS release of Turkish hostages raises questions (Associated Press, Philly.com)

Islamic State closes in on Syrian town, refugees flood into Turkey (Reuters)

U.S. military struggles to preserve options in Islamic State fight (Reuters)

Exclusive: Iran seeks give and take on Islamic State militants, nuclear program (Reuters)

Ukraine on the brink (Sober Look)

Blackstone to pull out of Russia (Financial Times, CNBC)

There are 11 articles discussed today ‘behind the wall’.

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