Traders Magazine (June Issue)
In the U.S., “the Securities and Exchange Commission is unlikely to take action anytime soon on two of the most important outstanding rule proposals effecting the options industry.” Struggling under the weight of rulemaking for Dodd-Frank, the regulator is “is not even close to ruling on” flash orders and exchange fee caps.
Tags: Dodd-Frank, Exchange fee caps, Flash orders, SEC
Time (June 16, 2011)
A year of austerity has left many Greeks nearly broke or unemployed, “and the debt-ridden country no better off.” Greece now has the ignominy of holding the world’s lowest debt rating, following S&P’s most recent downgrade on June 13. Athen’s Syntagma Square (Constitution Square) has become the daily scene of protests and riots. The government appears near dead, with neither major party able to offer leadership. It’s difficult “to see any clear champion for the millions of Greeks struggling to get by.”
A year of austerity has left many Greeks nearly broke or unemployed, “and the debt-ridden country no better off.” Greece now has the ignominy of holding the world’s lowest debt rating, following S&P’s most recent downgrade on June 13. Athen’s Syntagma Square (Constitution Square) has become the daily scene of protests and riots. The government appears near dead, with neither major party able to offer leadership. It’s difficult “to see any clear champion for the millions of Greeks struggling to get by.”
Tags: Debt, Downgrade, Government, Greece, S&P, Unemployment
Wall Street Journal (June 16)
More “Fukushima fallout” landed in Italy where voters “rejected government efforts to restart the domestic nuclear industry.” The Wall Street Journal thinks this is a bad decision. Nuclear technology is “advanced and safe.” Instead, Italy will be dependent on other European nations for electricity. “That’s their choice, but it doesn’t mean it’s a wise one.”
Pensions & Investments (June 13)
“Say on pay” is helping governance grow up in the U.S. In the past investors upset over executive compensation might withhold votes for each member of the compensation committee. Now that they can directly vote against the compensation packages, corporate directors are being re-elected at the highest level of approval (95.3%) in half a decade. As Anne Simpson of CalPERS stated, “We’ve seen less megaphone diplomacy…. But we’ve seen a significant increase in real conversation, real dialogue” between shareholders and companies.
Tags: CalPERs, Compensation, Directors, Governance, Say on pay, Shareholders, U.S.
Financial Times (June 13)
Since inception, divergence between the European political and monetary union has been an issue. When times were good and interest rates low, the issue could be ignored. Now the Eurozone crisis has set the stage for the once unthinkable. Economist Nouriel Roubini asserts, “the euro will move towards disorderly debt workouts, and eventually a break-up of the monetary union itself, as some of the weaker members crash out.”
Tags: Debt workouts, eurozone, Monetary breakup, Roubini
New York Times (June 12)New York Times (June 12)
Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke stated “growth will recover later in the year as gas prices fall and the effects of the Japanese tsunami fade.” “Too-easy,” the Times says of his answer. “Even if temporary setbacks were to blame, the economy’s inability to take hits without backsliding is a sign of underlying fragility.” Big federal budget cuts should be delayed while measures to stimulate the economy, like job creation and mortgage relief for homeowners, should be undertaken.
Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke stated “growth will recover later in the year as gas prices fall and the effects of the Japanese tsunami fade.” “Too-easy,” the Times says of his answer. “Even if temporary setbacks were to blame, the economy’s inability to take hits without backsliding is a sign of underlying fragility.” Big federal budget cuts should be delayed while measures to stimulate the economy, like job creation and mortgage relief for homeowners, should be undertaken.
Bloomberg (June 11)
CEO Laurence Fink of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager with assets of $3.65 trillion, said the U.S. will grow more slowly (2-3% a year) than the global economy (3-5%) for most of a decade. “We will have modest growth for five to 10 years…. If we cut our deficits, I may be wrong, and they [growth figures] might be lower.”
Tags: BlackRock, Deficits, Fink, Global growth, U.S. growth
The Economist (June 9)The Economist (June 9)
By postponing difficult decisions about “the Greek mess,” Europe’s leaders are only creating future problems. “The rescuers think buying time reduces the risk of contagion from a Greek debt restructuring to other euro-zone countries. But the pall of an unsolved Greek mess will continue to hang over the euro zone, just as it has done for the past year.” Instead they should begin “an orderly restructuring of Greek debt now. That remains the only solution.”
By postponing difficult decisions about “the Greek mess,” Europe’s leaders are only creating future problems. “The rescuers think buying time reduces the risk of contagion from a Greek debt restructuring to other euro-zone countries. But the pall of an unsolved Greek mess will continue to hang over the euro zone, just as it has done for the past year.” Instead they should begin “an orderly restructuring of Greek debt now. That remains the only solution.”
Tags: Debt, Europe, Greece, Restructuring
Wall Street Journal (June 8)
The International Monetary Fund’s Acting Managing Director John Lipsky backs increasing the sales tax in Japan as early as next year. Lipsky believes not increasing taxes would be a “wasted opportunity.” The comments may “reflect international concerns that fiscal problems in the world’s third-largest economy would eventually hurt the global economy if left untreated–after debt crises in European economies of much smaller scale roiled the global market in recent years.”
Financial Times (June 7)
In Turkey, elections are slated for Sunday. It’s a foregone conclusion that Reçep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development party (AKP) will win. The AKP has controlled the country since 2002 and Prime Minister Erdogan is extremely popular. A close election would be the better than a landslide. “The big decisions that Turkey’s next parliament will take will carry greater weight if they are shaped by the opposition as well as the AKP.” These decisions include whether to switch from a parliamentary system to a presidential system.
Tags: Election, Erdogan, Opposition, Parliament, President, Turkey
