Implode-Explode Heavy Industries news feed

London zinc hits 3-year high, aluminium a 16-month peak, As Commodities Attract

Wed, 23 Jul 2014 15:06:26 GMT

``Investors are slowly being drawn back into commodities, attracted by stronger global economic growth and more volatility within some sectors, typified by current investment flows out of grains into industrial metals.''

China Warns Against Politicizing Malaysian Boeing Crash Until Investigation is Over

Wed, 23 Jul 2014 15:05:39 GMT

``"Pending the outcome of the investigation, the parties should not speculate or prejudge, and most importantly we should not artificially politicize [the situation]," Wang Yi said in a statement published on the ministry's website.''

Venezuela admits its ever growing dependency with China

Wed, 23 Jul 2014 15:05:11 GMT

``The "honorable formula" has put 45 billion from China into a joint fund to finance projects in Venezuela, a sum that with Venezuela's contribution totals 56 billion in available money.''

Argentine default in balance as government refuses to capitulate

Wed, 23 Jul 2014 15:03:32 GMT

``Argentine President Cristina Fernandez's unflinching poker face in the battle against "holdout" investors suing the country is increasing the odds that her government will default for a second time in 12 years at the end of this month.''

Draghi Cedes Euro Control to Yellen on Fed Rate Wagers

Wed, 23 Jul 2014 14:59:49 GMT

``Dealers in euro-dollar, the world's most-traded currency pair, say they're increasingly influenced by the U.S. because they've assimilated the interest-rate cuts Draghi unveiled and concluded he has no further surprises in store. The prospect of a Fed rate boost is also deemed more important than the conflict in the Gaza Strip and international anger over the downing of a Malaysian airliner last week in Ukraine.''

Wall Street Cut From Guest List for Jackson Hole Fed Meeting

Wed, 23 Jul 2014 14:56:49 GMT

``"I fully support disinviting the chief economists of the largest beneficiaries of quantitative easing," Malmgren said, referring to the Fed's program of monthly bond purchases, which is on course to end this year.''

NY Fed found serious problems at Deutsche Bank's U.S. arms

Wed, 23 Jul 2014 01:45:36 GMT

``In a letter to the German lender's executives last December, a senior official with the New York Fed described financial reports produced by some of the bank's U.S. arms as "low quality, inaccurate and unreliable," the report said. "The size and breadth of errors strongly suggest that the firm's entire U.S. regulatory reporting structure requires wide-ranging remedial action," the Journal said, quoting documents reviewed by it.''

Saudi Stocks Soar as Kingdom Opens to Foreigners Next Year

Tue, 22 Jul 2014 14:42:01 GMT

``Saudi Arabia, the oil-producing kingdom whose stock market has been off-limits to outsiders, will allow foreign investors to buy and sell shares next year as it seeks to lure capital to the $745 billion economy.''

Existing-home sales rise 2.6% in June

Tue, 22 Jul 2014 14:40:12 GMT

``Rising for a third month, sales of existing homes grew 2.6% in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.04 million, reaching the highest level since October, the National Association of Realtors reported Tuesday''

German Economy Hit by US, EU Sanctions on Russia

Tue, 22 Jul 2014 14:33:11 GMT

Even prior to the sanctions, the Russian economy had been struggling. Now, though, the Ukraine crisis is beginning to make itself felt in Germany as well. German industry's Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations believes that the crisis could endanger up to 25,000 jobs in Germany. Were a broad recession to befall Russia, German growth could sink by 0.5 percent, according to a Deutsche Bank study.
...
The most recent US sanctions, warns Eckhard Cordes, head of the Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations, have placed an additional strain "on the general investment climate." Particularly, he adds, because European companies have to conform to the American penalties.

China's meaningless GDP figures

Tue, 22 Jul 2014 14:30:24 GMT

``Instead of embarking on much debated reform, China just can't resist another helping of easy money. In such circumstances, we should not be monitoring an enlarged waistline every quarter as a sign of progress, but rather as sign of further fragility as more debt is piled on.''

Flint manager warns of bankruptcy over retiree costs

Tue, 22 Jul 2014 14:29:31 GMT

``Flint may be Michigan's second city to plunge into bankruptcy unless retirees accept cuts in health benefits that threaten to unravel a balanced budget, Emergency Manager Darnell Earley said.''

Report: Drastic fall in new gold discoveries

Tue, 22 Jul 2014 14:26:11 GMT

``Research points to a dramatic fall in new gold discoveries which are falling well behind global production levels. This will have a significant impact on gold supply ahead.''

Juncker faces political test as fines loom on illegal German trade surplus

Tue, 22 Jul 2014 14:22:43 GMT

``The headline surplus will be 7pc of GDP this year, well above the 6pc limit set by Brussels the under the EU's new Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure. The Commission caused fury in Germany last year by threatening Berlin with sanctions if it failed to do its "homework", chiefly by taking steps to wean its economy off reliance on foreign markets. The issue is highly sensitive for Mr Juncker. He must choose whether to set the sanctions machinery in motions and provoke a showdown with Germany -- the country that pushed hardest for his nomination -- or turn a blind eye and risk the accusation that EMU rules are enforced only against the weaker countries.''

Serious Fraud Office set to launch criminal probe into forex rigging

Tue, 22 Jul 2014 14:20:54 GMT

``The Serious Fraud Office is poised to launch the first criminal investigation into alleged rigging of the £3 trillion-a-day foreign exchange markets at leading City banks... Investigators are expected to examine whether individual traders personally benefited by manipulating benchmark forex prices. It is claimed that traders colluded via online chatrooms in groups with names such as the Bandits' Club, the Dream Team and the Cartel.''

The dollar's 70-year dominance is coming to an end

Tue, 22 Jul 2014 14:19:33 GMT

``Although the dollar's reserve status won't end overnight, the global payments system is now moving inexorably towards that outcome. The US currency accounted for just 33pc of all foreign exchange holdings in 2013, on IMF numbers, down from 55pc in 2001. Within a decade or so, a "reserve currency basket" may emerge, with central banks storing wealth in a mix of dollars, yuan, rupee, reals and roubles, as well as precious metals. Perhaps some kind of synthetic bundle of the world's leading currencies will be developed, with emphasis placed, after years of western money-printing, on assets backed by commodities and other tangibles.''

‘BRICS Bank capital might not be held in US dollars'

Tue, 22 Jul 2014 01:06:05 GMT

``"If you convert rand to US dollars and then to yuan there are costs involved, so if we convert rand directly into yuan that will reduce costs," he said.''

Deadly game of human chess | David McWilliams

Tue, 22 Jul 2014 01:02:11 GMT

``Maybe it's because I am in the Balkans 100 years after Gavrilo Princip killed Franz Ferdinand and kicked off a global conflict, but the unstable alliances of 2014 look equally as fragile as they did in 1914. ''

Wall Street Adapts to New Regulatory Regime Under Dodd-Frank

Mon, 21 Jul 2014 21:05:32 GMT

"Dodd-Frank certainly catalyzed substantial amounts of simplification, and we're moving well beyond that through our own initiatives," said James Mahoney, a Bank of America spokesman.
The new regulatory regime is also prompting banks to add thousands of staffers to help ensure compliance. By the end of this year, J.P. Morgan Chase JPM 0.00% & Co. expects to have added 13,000 employees focused on regulatory, compliance and control efforts, Chief Executive Officer James Dimon said in his annual shareholder letter. John Gerspach, Citigroup's chief financial officer, told investors Monday the company will likely end the year with 30,000 people dedicated to regulatory and compliance efforts, a 33% increase from 2011, even as Citigroup cuts its overall headcount.

Bank regulators point to the changes on Wall Street as evidence their efforts to suck risk out of the financial system are working. "Really we're in a substantially different place, and a much improved place," said Thomas Curry, comptroller of the currency.

But the banks' efforts are not enough to damp worries among some policymakers and lawmakers that the broader economy remains vulnerable to the potential collapse of a large, interconnected financial firm. Banks' are getting hungrier for risk as they try to compensate for sluggish economic growth, ultra-low interest rates and higher regulatory costs though appetites remain subdued compared to pre-crisis levels.

U.S. leveraged syndicated lending totaled $1.244 trillion in deal volume in 2013, up from $893 million in 2012 and surpassing the 2007 peak of $1.191 trillion, according to data from Dealogic. Banks provide the vast majority of the leveraged loans to fund buyouts.''

Ukraine crash: Separatists reportedly turning over bodies, black boxes

Mon, 21 Jul 2014 18:08:45 GMT

``The bodies of all 298 victims of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 are aboard two trains in eastern Ukraine and set to be moved to Kharkhiv, a city controlled by the country's central government, officials in Kiev said Monday... The Netherlands, which lost 193 people aboard the plane, will be taking over the investigation of the downed jet in conjunction with international air safety organizations, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk said.'' -- Obviously the separatists did it, and have something to hide...