Why Roubini may be wrong on China’s property doom
By Sun Yu of FT China Confidential
If China is on course for a hard landing after 2013, as Nouriel Roubini of New York University is predicting, a key driver could be the country’s vast number of empty apartments. It’s become the symbol of over investment that Beijing is struggling to tame. Earlier this year, Yi Xianrong from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences put the figure at 64.5m − enough to house a third of China’s urban population. Continue reading »
Brazil’s ethanol production in focus
By Iona Teixeira Stevens in São Paulo
Sir John Beddington, chief scientific adviser to the UK government, might not have realised it but his visit to Brazil this week came at a crucial time for the Brazilian ethanol market.
At a conference on climate change, Sir John reminded those present that “Brazil is the largest producer of research in agricultural science … and is the world leader in bio energy”. Ethanol accounts for about half the non-diesel fuels market in Brazil. Continue reading »
Argentina’s advice for Greece
EU and IMF attempts to rescue Greece have failed and the faster everyone wakes up to that fact, the better it will be for the international economy. So says Roberto Lavagna, who is no stranger to crisis management – as Argentine economy minister from 2002-05, he was charged with picking up the pieces after his country’s catastrophic default on nearly $100bn in 2001.
“Greece is heading for a four-years of recession. The fiscal situation is not getting better, it’s getting wrose. Socially, the situation is getting worse. Foreign debt is rising. Interest rates are rising. The current programme is a programme which has failed,” he told foreign correspondents. Continue reading »
Latin American markets were mixed on Thursday, as commodity prices continued to be volatile. The MSCI Latin American index started the day sharply lower but recouped some of the losses after the release of positive US economic data. The index closed 0.7 per cent lower to 4,358. However, some regional bourses were higher. Continue reading »
Mexico: The happy state
Look for a phrase that best sums up how bankers and analysts are seeing Mexico this year, and you would be hard pushed to do better than “Mexican bliss”, the title of a research note published Thursday by HSBC.
Sergio Martin, one of the note’s authors, argues that the combination of high oil prices and low domestic inflation sets Latin America’s second-largest economy apart from many other emerging markets. Continue reading »
Millions of cars for Russia
Car sales in Russia are bouncing back – but what does that say about the state of the Russian economy? According to who you ask, a lot or not too much.
While Vladimir Putin was touting the recovery of the Russian auto sector as recently as Wednesday, some analysts are cautious that Russia’s car boom may be falsely inflated by the sector’s cash-for-clunkers scheme.
[China tech] Sina vs Tencent
China’s battle of the microblogs is getting serious as Sina and Tencent press ahead with expanding their user base.
Charles Chao, chief executive of Sina, the web portal which operates one of the leading microblogs, told investors Thursday that the number of cumulative registered users of Sina Weibo hit 140m at the end of April, adding 40m in just two months. That puts Sina almost neck to neck with Tencent, the operator of the world’s largest instant messaging service which also has a microblog competing with Sina’s. Continue reading »
A hairy business: P&G in Asia
Procter & Gamble, the world’s largest maker of consumer goods, racked up a whopping $79bn of sales last year and its globe-trotting boss, Bob McDonald, has a similarly big repertoire of tricks for making personal connections with people from all over.
But at a meeting with foreign journalists in New York he used a curious subject to make both some connections and a point about the limits of global innovation. He started discussing people’s hair. Continue reading »
GCC: join the club
Gulf leaders might be hoping to stabilize the region by inviting Morocco and Jordan to join the Gulf Cooperation Council, but such a move could prove a long-term drag on the countries’ economies, says one economist.
The political motivation of the invitation, announced this week in Riyadh, is clear even if the GCC leaders’ grasp of geography is not. (Morocco, of course, sits on the Mediterranean and though Jordan has a gulf, it’s the Gulf of Aqaba.) Continue reading »
EM equities: 2011 gains gone
Emerging market equities on Thursday gave up their gains for the year, with the MSCI EM index falling below its level for the start of January.
Driven down by fears of a a new euro crisis, a slow down in China, stagnation in the US and frantic selling of commodities (of which many EMs are producers), EM stocks were down 1.7 per cent in the mid-afternoon London time. Continue reading »
Palestine’s not exactly a financial haven but, with the Middle East in turmoil, investors could have done far worse this year than by putting their money into Nablus.
“With our situation here in Palestine we are used to, let’s say, wars and violence. This is why the market absorbs these events,” says Abed Tutunji, head trader with Ramallah-based AB Invest. And even international investors seem to be taking notice. Continue reading »
Wipro: software to hardware
When Wipro, India’s third largest software maker, signed an agreement to buy RKM Equipamentos Hidraulicos of Brazil this week, many wondered if Wipro was planning to diversify away from software and into hydraulic engineering.
But it’s actually part of a plan endorsed by chairman Azim Premji (pictured) to regain lost market share in the IT outsourcing industry by strengthening links with high-end high-tech manufacturers. Continue reading »
New York headlines
* High prices dent global oil demand
* India industrial output up 7.3 per cent, double the consensus forecast
* Rajaratnam guilty of insider trading
* China buys most Japanese bonds since 2005
* Former TSMC manager in insider trading plea
* Mineral-rich Mongolia plans to issue first sovereign bonds Continue reading »
[snap] China hikes RRR… again
The People’s Bank of China has once again upped the reserve requirement ratio, this time by 50bps. That takes the overall ratio to 21 per cent.
The aim is to tighten up liquidity and tame inflation – but when does growth become the bigger worry?
Polish privatisation: Have your cake and eat it
Selling off state-controlled assets has its good side (from the government point of view) – it brings in lots of cash. However, it also comes with a negative – the seller loses control of the asset, which for a government can create a lot of politically perilous complications.
However, there is one solution that is becoming increasingly popular in Poland – sell the state asset to another government-owned outfit, then you get the money and still get to ensure that grubby capitalists don’t do scary things like lay off workers or raise prices. Continue reading »
| About this blog | Headlines email | Blog guide |
| Regulars | Series | Archive |
Older entries
Stefan Wagstyl
Josh Noble
Rob Minto
Pan Kwan Yuk
Jonathan Wheatley
Heba Saleh