Tuesday November 10 Housing and Economic stories

TOP STORIES:

Greek Banks Must Raise 14.4 Billion Euros After ECB Test - (www.bloomberg.com)  Greece’s four main banks must raise 14.4 billion euros ($15.9 billion) in fresh capital, the European Central Bank said, as investors and taxpayers face the cost of repairing the damage from six months of wrangling between the nation’s government and its creditors. An asset-quality review carried out by the ECB resulted in valuation adjustments of 9.2 billion euros for the National Bank of Greece SA, Piraeus Bank SA, Eurobank Ergasias SA and Alpha Bank AE, the Frankfurt-based supervisor said Saturday in a statement. The banks’ capital gap amounted to 14.4 billion euros under a simulated stress test scenario, and 4.4 billion euros under baseline macroeconomic assumptions. The four banks will have to submit recapitalization plans to the ECB’s supervisory arm by Nov. 6.

Down $4 Trillion, China Faithful Buy Stocks That Hurt Them Most - (www.bloomberg.com) Wu Xin says she’s got a sure-fire plan to recoup losses from the $4 trillion selloff in China’s stock market: pile into equities that hurt her the most. The 28-year-old from Hangzhou has been snapping up shares in China’s small-cap ChiNext Index, undeterred by a tumble earlier this year that erased half the measure’s value in three months. “I lost most of my money investing in ChiNext stocks, but they are still worth buying,” said Wu, an ad saleswoman in the media industry. “I can make the most money from them in a rally, too.” Doubling down on the most volatile equities has become a go-to strategy for China’s 96 million individual investors as the stock market shows early signs of recovery. The ChiNext has rallied 38 percent from this year’s low in September -- three times as much as the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index -- and volumes on the small-cap bourse surged to an all-time high last month.

Bonds Send Same Ominous Signs No Matter Where in World You Look  - (www.bloomberg.com) Ask any bond trader in Tokyo, London or New York what their view on the global economy is, and you’re likely to get a similar, decidedly downbeat answer. That’s not just because fixed-income types are a dour bunch at the best of times. A quick scan across government debt markets suggests that investors are pricing in the likelihood that growth and inflation around the world will remain tepid for years to come. In Europe, bonds yielding less than zero have ballooned to $1.9 trillion, with the average yield on securities in an index of euro-area sovereign notes due within five years turning negative for the first time. Worldwide, the bond market’s outlook for inflation is now close to levels last seen during the global recession. And even in the U.S., the bright spot in the global economy, 10-year Treasury yields are pinned near 2 percent -- well below what most on Wall Street expected by now. “Where are the animal spirits to turn us around?” said Charles Diebel, the London-based head of rates at Aviva Investors, which oversees about $377 billion. What you see in the bond market is “a lack of confidence in the future.”

UN planning 'International Tribunal of Climate Justice' to take countries to court - (www.dailymail.co.uk)  UN planning an 'international tribunal of climate justice' which would allow nations to take developed countries to court.  The United Nations may launch an International Tribunal of Climate Justice which could see states who fail to uphold the international deal to tackle climate change brought before a court. The International Tribunal of Climate Justice has been suggested as one of three options to ensure that all parties follow what is agreed during the Paris summit next month.

The possibility of a tribunal was discussed during the U.N. talks in Bonn, Germany two weeks ago, among almost 200 nations, the final preparatory session before Paris.

Saudi role as ‘central banker’ for oil is eroded - (www.ft.com)  For close to a year, Saudi Arabia and its Opec peers have maintained a stance of deploying spare oil production capacity to hobble outside rivals. Rather than pursue short-term revenues through maintaining the price of crude, the cartel embarked upon a strategy of protecting long-term market share last November. Since then, the Kingdom has raised production to as high as 10.6m barrels a day, compared with an average of 9.7m b/d in 2014, while its Gulf allies are also running at full pelt. Iraq is pumping at a record and Libya is back above the 500,000 b/d mark. Additional Iranian barrels loom on the horizon. Collectively Opec is producing 30.6m b/d, according to the cartel’s latest figures, well above its 30m b/d target. As market observers assess Opec’s role in keeping the market in a state of persistent oversupply, they are also putting a spotlight on how this extra output of crude is compromising the world’s spare production capacity. The US government defines “spare capacity” as the volume of production that be brought on within 30 days and sustained for at least 90 days.

OTHER STORIES:

China's Slide Toward Debt-Deflation Trap Needs 5-Year Plan Fix - (www.bloomberg.com)
Dubai Stocks Fall to 2-Month Low as Saudi Downgrade Jolts Gulf - (www.bloomberg.com)
China’s Official Factory Gauge Shows Contraction Continues - (www.bloomberg.com)

China official October factory, services surveys show economy still wobbly - (www.reuters.com)
As Swedish Central Bank Fights Deflation, Housing Bubble Worries Mount - (www.reuters.com)
German Coalition Leaders to Meet Again Thursday on Refugees - (www.bloomberg.com)