Financial Times (May 23)
“India has a new prime minister; and each of Asia’s four most powerful nations is now led by a combative nationalist.” India’s Modi, Japan’s Abe, Russia’s Putin and China’s Xi make up the four “nationalist horsemen” who will transform Asia and perhaps the world. “The multilateralist assumptions of the postwar order are giving way to a return to great power competition. Nationalism is on the march, and nowhere more so than in the rising east.”
Tags: Abe, Asia, Assumptions, China, Combative, Competition, India, Japan, Modi, Multilateralist, Nationalist, Postwar order, Power, Prime minister, Putin, Russia, Xi
Euromoney (May Issue)
Trading in fixed income, currencies and commodities (FICC) is being transformed in a manner that’s benefiting investors and putting the squeeze on many big banks. “The move to electronic trading is accelerating; margins are getting tighter (no sign of oligopolistic pricing here), as competition and transparency grows, and the costs of maintaining a leading tech platform, once built, never go away.”
Tags: Banks, Commodities, Competition, Currencies, Fixed income, Investors, Margins, Oligopolistic pricing, Tech platform, Trading, Transparency
New York Times (May 22)
With nearly 400 million voters registered, the European Parliament elections “are second only to India’s in size.” Yet low turnout may result in the election of “fringe parties whose ultimate goal is to dismantle the very union they’re supposed to be serving.” This would be regrettable. “The problems that Europe has endured in the past five years demonstrate that the need for European unity is greater than ever, and despite what the nationalists and populists argue, these elections matter all the more.”
Tags: Elections, EU, Europe, Fringe, India, Nationalists, Parliament, Populists, Registered, Turnout, Union, Voters
Institutional Investor (May Issue)
“When it comes to providing the direction that money managers find most helpful, they say, Mizuho and Nomura outpace the competition. These firms share top honors on the 2014 All-Japan Research Team, Institutional Investor’s 21st annual ranking of the country’s best sell-side analysts, by capturing 24 team positions each.”
Tags: Analysts, Competition, Direction, Honors, Japan, Mizuho, Money managers, Nomura, Ranking, Research, Sell-side
5/21 Issue
Institutional Investor released its annual research rankings for Japan, with Mizuho and Nomura sharing top honors in 2014 for best sell-side analysts. Nomura held the coveted position alone in 2013, and Mizuho rose dramatically from third place.
Investment Week posits Japan’s economy has more momentum than suggested by recent concerns over the consumption tax hike. Extremely low unemployment and the approaching Olympics should foster inflation through upward wage pressure. In fact, Japan’s GDP may be one of very few, indeed just three countries worldwide, to exceed OECD forecasts during 2014.
The world’s largest democracy appears set to gain new momentum with the election of Narendra Modi. Institutional Investor reported that in anticipation of his victory, the stock market rallied even before the votes were counted. Following his election, the Wall Street Journal held rapturously high expectations that Modi, unburdened by a coalition, would be able to improve economic opportunities and governance while reining in welfare, patronage, corruption and protectionism.
In contrast, momentum collapsed in efforts to create the world’s largest advertising firm. The Economist believes the failure of the planned Publicis /Omnicom merger was providential. It had been touted as a merger of equals which historically are the “most notorious failures.”
European judges threw a wrench at search engines that could transform the results of our internet interactions. The ruling which requires search engines not to link to certain sensitive information is being hailed by some as a victory for personal privacy. The Los Angeles Times, however, said the court was “creating an entitlement to censor history, or at least to make parts of the public record harder to find.”
The big foreign exchange houses may be wishing some of their records were harder to find. Following the LIBOR scandal, investigators have moved onto possible manipulation of the foreign exchange market. According to Euromoney, managers are living “in fear of what analysis of hundreds of millions of calls and emails will unearth.”
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To see the overseas media’s takes on these and other developments, you can browse Global News highlights below and or at http://www.irken.jp/gn/. Links to original sources are provided above, but please note these are frequently updated. Links that were valid at publication may later be broken.
Investment Week (May 19)
At just 3.6%, Japan’s unemployment rate is extremely low and this should promote inflation. “Labour shortages have already driven wages higher for part-time workers. Adding to this, the demand to provide new infrastructure for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo and the need to replace equipment should also serve to further stimulate the economy.” The OECD has forecast that “only Japan, New Zealand, and Israel are expected to grow faster than their previously forecasted GDPs in 2014.”
Tags: 2020 Olympics, Economy, Equipment, GDP, Inflation, Infrastructure, Israel, Japan, Labor, New Zealand, OECD, Shortage, Tokyo, Unemployment rate, Wages, Workers
Wall Street Journal (May 18)
“Indians put their faith in a party promising economic opportunity and better governance over the traditional Indian formula of welfarism, patronage, corruption and hostility to foreign competition. Mr. Modi will be the first Prime Minister to govern without a coalition in nearly 30 years, and he has a rare mandate to enact market-opening reforms.”
Tags: Coalition, Corruption, Foreign competition, Governance, India, Mandate, Modi, Opportunity, Patronage, Prime minister, Reforms, Traditional
Euromoney (May Issue)
“Investigations into allegations of market fixing in foreign exchange are spreading into the very heart of the business. Those running the world’s biggest FX houses live in fear of what analysis of hundreds of millions of calls and emails will unearth.”
The Economist (May 17)
The planned merger of Publicis and Omnicom would have created the world’s largest advertising firm. Last week it was called off. “Anyone connected with the two firms should probably count himself lucky that they uncoupled before rings were exchanged. (Indeed, shares in both firms edged up after the cancellation.) Corporate marriages often go wrong, but mergers of equals…account for a disproportionate share of the most notorious failures.”
Tags: Advertising, Cancellation, Equals, Failures, Lucky, Merger, Omnicom, Planned, Publicis, Shares, Uncoupled
Institutional Investor (May 15)
Voting in India took five weeks and the results won’t be announced until tomorrow, but the stock market has already rallied, which “suggests investors anticipate a solid victory” for Narendra Modi’s business-friendly National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Exit poll projections are notoriously unreliable and this year “several factors heighten the uncertainty,” especially the fact that “of India’s electorate of 814 million, fully 150 million were eligible to vote for the first time.”
Tags: Electorate, Exit poll, India, Investors, Narendra Modi, National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Projections, Rally, Results, Stock market, Uncertainty, Victory, Voting
