ROUND-UP
The Dow Jones Industrial Average had its worst month in two years in May. The index fell 6.2 per cent, the largest decline since dropping 7.9 per cent in May 2010 (Wall Street Journal). Closing down 0.23 per cent at 1,310 on Thursday, the S&P 500 had its worst month since last September (Reuters). Read more
In our previous post, we attempted to explain to goldbugs why a fiat-based monetary system provides many more benefits to society than a gold-backed monetary system. More importantly, that to dismiss a fiat system is to potentially misunderstand the role of money and gold in society.
As anthropologist and author David Graeber writes in his book Debt: the First 5,000 years: Read more
Goldbugs don’t just believe in the fundamentals of gold. They worship at the altar of gold.
The goldbug view represents a market philosophy, a doctrine and a belief-system. Read more
For the second Thursday in a row, the Danish central bank has cut interest rates:
Click image for the full, 136-page doc.
For the more reliable the joint liability system, the fewer the incentives that the lower level of government has to economise…
The case for common eurozone bonds taking flak again? Nah. Read more
Real gross domestic income (GDI), which measures the output of the economy as the costs incurred and the incomes earned in the production of GDP, increased 2.7 percent in the first quarter, compared with an increase of 2.6 percent in the fourth. For a given quarter, the estimates of GDP and GDI may differ for a variety of reasons, including the incorporation of largely independent source data. However, over longer time spans, the estimates of GDP and GDI tend to follow similar patterns of change.
By contrast a 0.3 percentage point, or $11.4bn, fell off the US economy in the first quarter, according to the BEA’s ‘second’ estimate of real GDP. The annual rate rose 1.9 per cent instead of the first-estimate 2.2 per cent. Read more
All that gradual exchange flexibility, and yet the renminbi is only weakening:
Uncontroversial stuff we assume… Read more
Spare a thought for the heads of French public companies who are having to dig deep and find their inner patriot after the new Socialist government issued guidelines limiting CEO pay to 20 times that of the lowest paid worker.
Just a day later Henri Proglio, chief executive at power group EDF, has apparently agreed to what amounts to a 70 per cent pay cut. He earned €1.6m last year – 65 times more than his lowest-paid worker. Read more
Live markets commentary from FT.com
Good morning, New York…
FT ALPHAVILLE Read more
Analogy du jour, courtesy of Gerry Fowler of BNP Paribas’ Equity & Derivative Strategy Team (emphasis ours):
The investment environment right now, especially in Europe, reminds me of the old arcade game of Frogger where the player had to direct their frog safely across a busy motorway and a river full of crocodiles. Despite the normal dangers, success usually required a series of forward and backward moves and sometimes several in quick succession. Sometimes however, the dangers ahead appear so overwhelming that one could easily sit on the side of the road for long periods – much like many investors now. Read more
Out of leftfield on Thursday:
That’s CGI of Canada offering £1.7bn in cash to put long suffering shareholders in Anglo-Dutch software group Logica out of their misery. Read more
The Swiss have made it abundantly clear that they will defend the 1.20 floor against the euro no matter what:
Elsewhere on Thursday,
- The Matrix plan for Europe. Read more
Investors in Asia continued a rush to safety on Thursday morning, says the WSJ, pushing Hong Kong’s index down and erasing all of its 2012 gains, while the yen jumped to its highest since February. Earlier, US benchmark borrowing costs plunged to levels last seen in 1946 and those for Germany and the UK hit all-time lows as investors took fright at what they see as a disjointed policy response to the debt crisis in Spain and Italy, the FT reports.
Japan’s industrial production rose less than forecast in April, reports Bloomberg, also contributing to lower markets in Asia. Output gained 0.2% from the previous month, when it rose 1.3%. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected a rise of 0.5%. Read more
Asian shares dropped, tracking US stocks, as higher borrowing costs in Spain and Italy increased contagion fears in Europe while Japan’s industrial output trailed estimates, says the FT.
The MSCI Asia Pacific index slid 1.2 per cent, heading for its lowest close in five months. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average dipped 1.8 per cent, Australia’s S&P ASX 200 lost 1.2 per cent and South Korea’s Kospi Composite index dropped 1.5 per cent. Read more
1Bernanke weighs in on robot wars; brings Keynes for backup
2Secret liquidity and Scottish independence
3Spain's awful unemployment
4S&P 2,100, by Goldman Sachs
5Pump up, debase
Show more6Buyback to enrich
7Collateral crunch-counting gets sophisticated
8Everlasting credit, the long view
9Apple Operations International, facts (?) du jour
10In which the FTSE puts the crisis behind it
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