Energy giant axes £4bn UK turbine project
LONDON | By Terry Macalister at The Guardian via Presseurop | UK’s green plans dealt blow by shelving of Atlantic Array, which would have powered 1m homes and created thousands of jobs.
World economy
Fed tapering and the unstable equilibrium
LONDON | By Jim McCormick at Barclays | Let’s explore how the start of Fed policy withdrawal will affect asset allocation. From Braclays, we do not see an early start to Fed tapering being especially disruptive for broader risk assets, and we’d expect US equity markets to be more vulnerable than most other risk assets.
China’s Arctic Mining Adventure Left Out in the Cold
BEIJING | By Pu Jun via Caixin | China and several Chinese firms have great interest in exploiting the natural resources of the North American country, but have run into a host of obstacles
All central banks, in practice, are acting alike!
SAO PAULO | By Marcus Nunes | Recently, both Simon Wren-Lewis and Paul Krugman have singled Sweden as a country where the central bank has moved from targeting inflation to worrying about ‘deflating’ bubbles.
John Taylor: In Monetary Policy the Problem Is Cyclical, Not Structural
SAO PAULO | By Marcus Nunes | John Taylor talks vaguely about “policy”. To MMs, it´s very much about inadequate monetary policy.
Marking His Assassination, Americans Still Fascinated by Kennedy
NEW YORK | By Ana Fuentes | Those six seconds that ended the life of John Fitzgerald Kennedy that November 22, 1963, still resonate fifty years later. The death of the telegenic U.S. President, broadcast live on television, marked a tragic decade including the political assassination of his own brother Bob, the murder of black activist Martin Luther King and the end of Henry Kissinger’s career. Since then, baby boomers have embraced sort of a JKF mania, idolizing Camelot, while their younger peers seem to be more fascinated about conspiracy theories surrounding his death.
New Threat Spurs E-Commerce Giant into Action
BEIJING | By Zhu Yishi via Caixin | Within the e-commerce world, Tencent wants its WeChat app to dominate mobile shopping, but Alibaba has countered with a flurry of moves to get back in the game.
There´s no “secular stagnation”, it´s about misguided monetary policy
SAO PAULO | By Marcus Nunes | Larry Summer made a splash with his closing speech at the IMF Conference. That was probably his intention following him being denied the Fed Chair. Several people have taken turns both critiquing and asserting his “secular stagnation” thesis.
To Wall Street’s Favorite Media, Spain Looks Quite Sexy Again
NEW YORK | By Ana Fuentes | Remember when Spain’s sovereign debt was smashing to a euro-era record high? Just 18 months ago Wall Street market makers as well as their favorite media expressed their suspicious about non-performing loans, the Spanish banks’ health, and government reforms. Pundits even talked about a Spain leaving the euro after the “Grexit”. Goldman Sachs was sure that “the worst” was yet to come and claimed that the country “should ask for a “Spailout.” But things have changed and now it’s time for the ‘mea culpa’ and the “may be it wasn’t that bad.” Investors are showing interest in Spain and headlines talk about growth, exports boom and the country getting back on its feet bank’s bailout.
Higher inflation target: A communication issue
LONDON | By Michael Pond and Chirag Mirani at Barclays | Some at the Fed believe that a higher inflation target could be a good strategy, though one that is difficult to communicate. Instead, in our view, it has an implicit near-term tolerance for above-target inflation; forward breakevens should be higher as a result.