Econintersect: Click Read more >> below graphic to see today’s list.
The top of today’s reading list points out the spurt in copper prices in China this month …….. and the last article is a 20-year old classic by a Nobel economist about business fraud.
- China importers set for higher term-copper premiums after 2-year dip (Reuters) Price premiums for copper have suddenly shot up to four-year highs in China. Does this mark the end of the 17-month PPI deflation in that country?
- The roots of metropolitan collapse (R.A., The Economist) The author suggests that the economic pinnacle for cities has passed. This view does not line up with a McKinsey story earlier this year about the rising economic strength of cities as economic centers rather than countries.
- The CAPE of Less Hope (JohnAuters, FT Long Short) Stocks overvalued but not distressed? See also Jeremy Siegel’s Financial Times article which argues that price/earnings data is biased by accounting changes and stocks are not overvalued.
Click on chart for larger image.
- China moves towards market remedy for bad loans (Paul J. Davies, Financial Times) China looks to “bad banks” to unload non-performing debt at deep discounts in the global market, reducing bail out exposures.
- Soon To Be Disrupted Industry Enjoys Margins Multiples Of That Of Cocaine Dealers! (Reggie Middleton, Boom Bust Blog) One of the reasons healthcare costs are out of control.
- Fed tapering doesn’t equal bond market exit (Keith Bliss, New York Financial Press) Click image below to watch video.
- ‘Hindenburg Omen’ portends fiery crash (Tracy Alloway and Arash Massoud, Financial Times) “…since 1980, we’ve never had a significant market sell-off without a Hindenburg Omen.” But there have lots of omens without a crash. See GEI Investing article today.
- How the Pending Trans-Pacific Partnership and EU-US Trade Deals Will Gut National Regulations, Hurt Budgets, and Undermine Sovereignity (Yves Smith, Naked Capitalism)
- Consolidation or Exhaustion? (J.C. Parets, All Star Charts) Hat tip to The Big Picture. There is a significant divergence (see below) and also an incipient head and shoulders top (see article).
Looting: The Undersworld of Bankruptcy for Profit (George A. Akerlof and Paul M. Romer, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 2:1993, Stern.nyu.edu) Hat tip to Roger Erickson. This is a primary reference in many writings by Global Economic Intersection contributor William K. Black. This 20-year old paper is a must read. The comments at the end by Robert E. Hall, N. Gregory Mankiw, James Tobin and the authors are also must reads.