Implode-Explode Heavy Industries news feed

Japan Salaries Extend Slide as Inflation Begins to Take Root

Thu, 05 Dec 2013 23:01:17 GMT

``The slide in wages threatens living standards as consumers face the prospect of sustained inflation on top of a sales-tax increase in April next year. As a weaker yen helps boost company profits, the focus is turning to salary talks early next year that may determine the success of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's bid to reflate the world's third-largest economy.''

SEC is Keeping Shareholders in the Dark on Corporate Political Spending Disclosure

Thu, 05 Dec 2013 23:00:25 GMT

``Last week, the S.E.C. unwisely removed from its regulatory agenda a plan to consider a rule to require public companies to disclose their political spending -- even though the case for disclosure is undeniable... Without disclosure, shareholders have no way to assess whether corporate political spending benefits them, and every reason to believe it is fraught with risks to the corporate brand, business reputation, the bottom line and, by extension, shareholder returns.''

Gold Declines Third Time in Four Days on Fed Taper Speculation

Thu, 05 Dec 2013 21:33:23 GMT

``Gold futures declined for the third time in four days as U.S. economic data reinforced concern that the Federal Reserve will begin trimming stimulus measures, curbing demand for precious metals as a haven. The U.S. expanded at 3.6 percent rate in the third quarter, up from an initial estimate of 2.8 percent, while jobless claims unexpectedly declined to the lowest level in more than two months as of Nov. 30, separate government reports showed today. '' -- The data is probably mostly manipulated, but oh well, it's more important to create a perception of prosperity for just a little longer!

Deutsche Bank quits commodities under regulatory pressure

Thu, 05 Dec 2013 21:09:08 GMT

``Deutsche Bank pulled the plug on its global commodities trading business on Thursday, cutting 200 jobs as it becomes the first major bank to exit the once lucrative sector due to toughening regulations and diminished profits. Germany's largest bank, which was one of the top-five financial players in commodities, will cease energy, agriculture, base metals, coal and iron ore trading, it said in a statement, retaining only precious metals and a limited number of financial derivatives traders.''

US fast-food workers staging nationwide strike

Thu, 05 Dec 2013 19:43:15 GMT

``Fast-food workers across the US are staging a 24-hour strike in protest against low wages, organisers say. Walkouts were reported in New York, Chicago, Washington DC, and also Detroit, Michigan; Raleigh, North Carolina; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.''

JPMorgan Chase Cyberattack: Almost Half A Million Corporate Customers' Data Breached, Bank Warns

Thu, 05 Dec 2013 19:00:37 GMT

Personal information of nearly half a million corporate and government clients who hold prepaid cash cards issued by JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) may have been compromised in a cyberattack that took place on the bank's network in July, the bank warned on Wednesday.

Grant Williams - Gold "Fix" Investigation Will Precipitate Market "Reset"

Thu, 05 Dec 2013 04:07:25 GMT

``It's not just a slap on the wrist and it's not just a fine that's going to be handed out -- the gold is going to be gone. The gold is not going to be there. The gold is going to be in very, very strong hands. The gold is going to be in China, India, and in wealthy individuals' private vaults. And there is really not much you (the West) can do about that unless you get kind of crazy and start confiscating gold, but that's really not going to work in the East. People aren't going to let governments confiscate their gold in the East. So what do you do? You have to reset this thing (gold) much, much higher, and I suspect ultimately that's what will have to happen."''

Korea Exchange to begin physical gold trading

Thu, 05 Dec 2013 04:04:06 GMT

Korea Exchange Inc. will begin physical gold trading on March 24 as Park Geun Hye's government seeks to wring tax revenue out of a market that's dominated by illegal transactions. The exchange will use 1 gram units of bullion of 99.99 percent purity to spur liquidity and delivery will be in 1 kilogram bars, the bourse said in a statement today
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South Koreans hold seven times as much gold as the 104.4 metric tons in their central bank's vaults and the majority of trading is on the black market to evade import duty and value- added tax, according to government estimates.

Silver mining company says it's helpless against market manipulation

Thu, 05 Dec 2013 03:56:17 GMT

``Thanks for your email. We share your frustration about the silver price. However, we don't attempt to take action against the bullion bankers for manipulation because 1) it is primarily the responsibility of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, not the companies, to regulate these markets, so the companies would have to sue the bullion banks too; 2) manipulation is just too difficult to prove; 3) such a lawsuit would take many years and cost many millions of dollars with no certainty as to the outcome; and 4) every company invests its cash where it thinks it can create the biggest return to shareholders.''

JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup first U.S. banks to be fined in rate-rigging scandal

Thu, 05 Dec 2013 03:40:21 GMT

``On Wednesday, JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup became the first U.S. banks fined for the alleged manipulation of benchmark interest rates that affect hundreds of billions of dollars in contracts around the world, including credit cards and mortgages. The European Commission slapped six financial giants, including Deutsche Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland, with a total of $2.3 billion in penalties for colluding to rig European and Japanese interest rates for profit.''

Bill Gross Explains What Keeps Him Up At Night

Thu, 05 Dec 2013 03:39:24 GMT

``... Deep in the bowels of central banks research staffs must lay the unmodelable fear that zero-bound interest rates supporting Dow 16,000 stock prices will slowly lose momentum after the real economy fails to reach orbit, even with zero-bound yields and QE.''

With Top 4 US Banks Holding $217 Trillion In Derivatives, Total Number Of US Banks Drops To Record Low - WSJ

Wed, 04 Dec 2013 23:01:12 GMT

``... as a result of a broken system that ever since the LTCM bailout has encouraged banks to become take on so much risk they become systematically important, and thus Too Big To Fail, there has been an unprecedented roll-up of existing financial institutions especially among the top, while the smaller, less "relevant", if far more prudent banks have been forced out of business. "The decline in bank numbers, from a peak of more than 18,000, has come almost entirely in the form of exits by banks with less than $100 million in assets, with the bulk occurring between 1984 and 2011. More than 10,000 banks left the industry during that period as a result of mergers, consolidations or failures, FDIC data show. About 17% of the banks collapsed."''

BullionVault: Buyers flock to gold on the dip

Wed, 04 Dec 2013 22:05:01 GMT

``Despite precipitous drops in the price of gold since 1978, private investor sentiment towards the commodity remains strong, with buyers outnumbering sellers by two to one, according to BullionVault, the online gold and silver exchange.''

Detroit Eligible To File Chapter 9; Pension Haircuts Allowed, Bankruptcy Judge Rules

Tue, 03 Dec 2013 22:47:05 GMT

``Judge Steven Rhodes appears to have confirmed Detroit is eligible for bankruptcy protection (after pointing out that the city's accounting was accurate and it is indeed insolvent) making this the largest ever muni bankruptcy.''

Chart Of The Day: The Fed Now Owns One Third Of The Entire US Bond Market

Tue, 03 Dec 2013 13:49:27 GMT

``... it is absorbing over 0.3% of all Ten Year Equivalents, also known as "High Quality Collateral", from the private sector every week. The total number as per the most recent weekly update is now a whopping 33.18%, up from 32.85% the week before. Or, said otherwise, the Fed now owns a third of the entire US bond market.''

Goldman and JPMorgan Satisfy Fed With Capital Plans

Tue, 03 Dec 2013 13:27:04 GMT

``The Fed's dissatisfaction over the capital plans of Goldman and JPMorgan was a shock at the time, because both firms were expected to pass the tests without any problems. Some of their rivals passed the tests without a hitch, including Bank of America and Citigroup, which both stumbled badly during the 2008 financial crisis.''

Fake Trades and a Fridge Used in Madoff Fraud

Tue, 03 Dec 2013 13:25:55 GMT

``Later that day, DiPascali said, he walked into an office where Crupi, O'Hara and Perez were throwing the newly created documents around "like a medicine ball." They had put the papers, still hot from the printer, in a refrigerator to cool them down and were now trying to make them seem used, DiPascali said.''

Bank of America to pay Freddie Mac $404 million in mortgage settlement

Mon, 02 Dec 2013 21:31:11 GMT

``Bank of America Corp. agreed to pay $404 million to Freddie Mac to settle claims related to bad mortgages the bank sold to the housing finance giant, the companies said Monday. The settlement resolves all disputes between the two firms related to home loan deals during the subprime housing boom, BofA said.... and... releases the bank from potentially being forced to repurchase about 716,000 mortgages originated from 2000 to 2009.''

Housing recovers faster in non-judicial foreclosure states

Mon, 02 Dec 2013 07:03:14 GMT

``By contrast, in states where laws allow large numbers of homes in the process of foreclosure to remain in legal limbo, often empty and unsold, home-price recoveries are hindered because lenders are prevented from recovering and reselling the units to buyers who'll fix them up and add value.
Pro Teck Valuation Services, a national appraisal firm based in Waltham, recently completed research in 30 major metropolitan areas that dramatically illustrates the point. All the fastest-rebounding markets in October -- those with strong sales, price increases and low inventories of unsold houses -- were located in so-called non-judicial states, where foreclosures can proceed without the intervention of courts.''

Puerto Rico, with at least $70 billion in debt, confronts a rising economic misery

Sun, 01 Dec 2013 20:19:17 GMT

The island's problems have ignited an exodus not seen here since the 1950s, when 500,000 people left for jobs on the mainland. Now Puerto Ricans, who are U.S. citizens, are again leaving in droves.
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a taxpayer bailout would be expensive and a default would be far more disruptive than Detroit's record bankruptcy filing in July. Officials in San Juan and Washington are adamant that a federal bailout is not on the table, but the situation is being closely monitored by the White House, which recently named an advisory team to help Puerto Rican officials navigate the crisis.