A collection of stories from SmartBrief publications and around the web…
Among the bevy of regularly released U.S. statistics available to economists for forecasting purposes, three stand out, according to a study by Goldman Sachs assessing in particular their effect on the yields of 10-year Treasurys. “The Philly Fed index, the Chicago PMI, and initial jobless claims contain a statistically significant and economically meaningful amount of information for growth,” the study says.
Speaking of Goldman Sachs … The saga of the firm’s battle with former employee Sergey Aleynikov over programming code gets the Michael Lewis treatment in Vanity Fair. Mr. Moneyball/Liar’s Poker/Big Short is entertaining yet again in his role as a writer that everyone on Wall Street loves to bad-mouth … right before they read every word he writes.
This piece on China in the WSJ sounds scary, yet eerily familiar… “Bank-fueled lending to state enterprises and local governments has led to overcapacity; serious debt problems for local governments, companies and lenders alike; and numerous white-elephant projects, from nearly empty malls and resorts to bridges to nowhere.” Sounds like Phoenix circa 2009.
The new head of the Reserve Bank of India recently shared his views on the biggest economic challenges his country must tackle.
Banks are taking another look at whether they should be in the business of owning physical commodities and the means for finding, shipping and storing them, according to The Economist. “Constraints on capital mean that it is natural for banks to re-examine their ownership of illiquid, capital-intensive assets,” the magazine says. “Competition from trading houses has increased markedly.”
You gotta hand it to South Korea’s regulators. At least they are willing to admit that they are trying to appease banks.
And while Anthony Weiner is certainly a clown, this New Yorker piece does raise a good point. “The saga of the transgressions of Anthony D. Weiner … is remarkable for many reasons. Chief among them is what the protagonist of the tale did not, as far as we know, do. He did not commit adultery. He did not break up a marriage, his own or anyone else’s. He did not employ the services of a prostitute. He did not stalk. He did not misuse public funds. He did not grope or talk dirty to subordinates or anyone else … He and his partners in sin have never even been in the same room at the same time.” I’m guessing other New York politicos like Mssrs. Giuliani and Spitzer wish they could say the same thing about their conduct.