Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 12 April 2015
Econintersect: Here are some of the headlines we found to help you start your day. For more headlines see our afternoon feature for GEI members, What We Read Today, which has many more headlines and a number of article discussions to keep you abreast of what we have found interesting.
Global
Asia markets mixed, with Nikkei advancing and Shanghai falling (CNBC) Asia markets were mixed in mid-morning trade on Tuesday after a lower finish in U.S. equities overnight ahead of earnings season.
15 maps that will change the way you see the world (The Telegraph) Quick way to “see” the world. Below is Map 13: Highway safety.
U.S.
Goldman Mortgage Settlement Is Much Less Than Meets the Eye (The New York Times) State and federal officials said on Monday that Goldman Sachs would pay $5.1 billion to settle accusations of wrongdoing before the financial crisis. But that is just on paper. Buried in the fine print are provisions that allow Goldman to pay hundreds of millions of dollars less – perhaps as much as $1 billion less – than that headline figure. And that is before the tax benefits of the deal are included. The bank will be able to reduce its bill substantially through a combination of government incentives and tax credits.
Hedge Funds Abandoning Dollar’s Biggest Bull Run in a Generation (Bloomberg) Hedge funds are close to calling it quits on the dollar’s best run in a generation. Large speculators cut net bullish positions on the greenback to the lowest in almost two years last week. If they keep trimming at the current pace, those bets will be wiped out entirely by the end of the month. Currency options are signaling a less than one in four chance the greenback will extend its two-year, 25% surge against the euro in 2016, while against the yen, the likelihood is less than one in 10.
Greece
Rebuilding Greece and Europe (The Financialist) Former Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, speaking at Credit Suisse 2016 Asian Investment Conference (AIC), said he is “very skeptical in the short run” but “optimistic in the long term“. He thinks that Greece’s underlying problem is competitiveness and that much of Europe is facing the same problem. He thinks that “deeper and faster integration” is needed with dinminished bureaucracy
Turkey
Turkey asks Germany to prosecute comedian over Erdoğan poem (The Guardian) Jan Böhmermann accused Turkish president of ‘repressing minorities, kicking Kurds and slapping Christians‘ in a satirical sketch. Germany’s state prosecutor was investigating Böhmermann for violation of the little-used paragraph 103 of the criminal code, which concerns insulting organs or representatives of foreign states. At worst the comedian was facing a prison sentence of up to three years – though until the Turkish government filed its formal request for Böhmermann’s prosecution, few seemed to think that the case would go ahead.
India
The Congress in a cocoon (The Hindu) The party of the Ghandis, only 22 months out of power, appears to be getting weaker, not rgrouping.
Why are India’s housewives killing themselves? (BBC News) More than 20,000 housewives took their lives in India in 2014 and in every year since 1997. This (2014) was the year when 5,650 farmers killed themselves in the country. So the number of suicides by housewives was over 250% more than the farmers. They also comprised 47% of the total female victims. Yet the high number of homemakers killing themselves doesn’t make front page news in the way farmer suicides do, year after year.
India’s Audacious Plan to Bring Digital Banking to 1.2 Billion People (Bloomberg) India is implementing a new payment scheme named the Unified Payment Interface. Debuting Monday, it’s a system designed to make transferring and receiving money as easy as exchanging e-mail or text messages.
Japan
Live: Japan Fin Min: can act against strong yen (CNBC) Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso is repeating his determination to act if the yen continues to strengthen following its recent 10% climb against the dollar.
China
China considers debt-equity-swaps for banks, reports claim (The Telegraph) China is considering a plan that would allow banks to swap bad debts for equity in the borrowing firm, according to reports, as the banking sector faces mounting bad loans and slowing growth in the world’s second-largest economy. Under the proposed scheme, banks would write down debts of companies in return for equity stakes, business magazine Caixin said Monday. Econintersect: This is a step short of bankruptcy, which is a debt for equity swap, but presumably does not wipe out much or all previously existing equity (as often is the case with a bankruptcy reorganization) but simply a dilution of the “old” equity.
China expresses anger at G7 statement on East, South China Seas (Reuters) China’s expressed anger on Tuesday after foreign ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies said they strongly opposed provocation in the East and South China Seas, where China is locked in territorial disputes.
Brazil
Brazil congressional committee votes in favor of impeachment (Associated Press) Even as public opinion against her has waned in the past several days, a congressional committee voted Monday to recommend that the impeachment process against President Dilma Rousseff move forward, bringing the possible ouster of the embattled leader a step closer. See also Brazil corruption: Is the government in crisis? (BBC News).
