Finance Matters

Archive for the ‘Commercial Finance’ Category

We knew China executed more people than any other nation in the world, but as shown by this Economist graphic below, China actually kills more of its own citizens by execution than all other nations combined.

That’s pretty harsh, but check out Iran below. They come in second place, executing more people than the entire world combined, ex-China. Two ‘crimes’ punishable by death in Iran? Conversion from Islam and Homosexuality.

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ForexLive: More good news for the euro. Eurozone July economic sentiment comes in way better than expected.

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Probably the most remarkable aspect of this story is that nobody in Europe cares at all. Remember, the euro is surging this morning.

MNI:

In a very rare move, the Greek government Wednesday
invoked a national emergency provision to force striking fuel-tanker
drivers go back to work.

The government announced it would issue the civil mobilization
order, normally used in times of war or national disaster, and send
letters to each of the truck drivers ordering them to report to duty. If
they fail to comply, they could face criminal charges and up to five
years of jail time.

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From Morgan Stanley, a pretty remarkable observation about the global monetary tightening cycle, namely that it’s already coming to an end.

What tightening? Looking ahead, global monetary policy
looks set to remain very accommodative throughout the
remainder of this year, on our forecasts.  In fact, a few
countries already seem to be nearing a peak, or at least a
prolonged pause in their tightening cycle.  In Australia, where
the latest CPI was lower than expected, Gerard Minack thinks
that the next move may well be down (though not before next
year), following 150bp of rate increases since last year (see
page 8). In China, Qing Wang expects the PBoC to ease
credit later this year as the soft landing of the economy
unfolds. And in Brazil, Gray Newman now thinks that the
central bank, after slowing the pace of rate hikes to 50bp last
week, has only one last rate hike of 25bp this year up its
sleeve.  And while some other central banks are still likely to
raise rates further this year, big hitters such as the US Federal
Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of
England are likely to keep official rates unchanged throughout
the remainder of this year, while our Japan team even
expects the Bank of Japan to ease further later this year.

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Asia ended the day slightly higher. Panasonic shares plummeted however, after reports that the company would buy shares it doesn’t own in Sanyo Electric and Panasonic Electric works. Sanyo and Panasonic Electric shares soared.

Asia: +0.15% (MSCI Asia Apex 50, 4:25)

 Shanghai: +0.50% (CSI 300, 3:01)

Hong Kong: +0.01% (Hang Seng, 4:01)

Tokyo: -0.59% (Nikkei 225, 2:29)

 

The euro just made a break out, and is well above $1.30. European markets are rising. Pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca and Europe’s largest computer services firm Cap Gemini reported results and increased their earnings guidance. Spain’s Banco Santander reported as well, but is falling.

Frankfurt: +0.62% (DAX, 4:15)

Paris: +0.65% (CAC 40, 4:15)

London: +0.67% (FTSE 100, 4:15)

The Euro: $1.307 (+0.49%, 4.30)

 

Commodities are higher as the dollar slips. The Baltic Dry is up again.

Gold: +0.56% ($1,169, 4:00)

Oil: +0.03% (Brent Crude $76.12, 4:01)

Baltic Dry Index: +1.7% (BDI 1,901, 28 July)

Dollar Index: -0.5% (DXY 81.76, 4:19)

 

U.S. futures are rising. Today look out for jobless claims at 8:30 AM ET.

EARNINGS: Exxon Mobil (XOM), Brazilian commodity giant Vale (VALE).

Dig Deeper: The Euro break-out and key stock movers >

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