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China's Wen says global crisis worsening - (finance.yahoo.com)
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao
said Thursday that the impact of the global economic crisis is worsening, and
called during a visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel for closer cooperation
to revive growth. Merkel was in Beijing for talks with Wen and other Chinese
leaders aimed at expanding trade and allaying fears about Europe's debt
problems. The visit comes as global growth slows and China struggles to reverse
its deepest economic slump since the 2008 crisis. Wen said he had increased
confidence in the eurozone after being briefed by Merkel but expressed concern
about European debt and said Italy, Greece and Spain must increase their determination
to reform.
Ex-Stock Broker: I Realized That Most Of What I Did Was Bad For
Clients So I Quit - (finance.yahoo.com)
One of those who changed is Josh Brown, a
former stock broker who now writes a well-read financial blog called The
Reformed Broker. He worked for 10 years in the retail industry during
both boom and bust markets. When times are good and people are making money,
the inherent conflicts in the business are "masked," he says. But
when the tide goes out, you find out who is swimming naked, Brown says quoting
Warren Buffett. "As a retail broker, your job is to buy things with your
clients money. That's it. When you are not doing that they pull the
money," Brown tells The Daily Ticker in the accompanying interview. When
times were bad and equities were not a good investment, he was forced to
continue to buying, choosing the stocks that were the lesser of all evils. After
the market crash of 2008, he realized that he was hurting clients by selling
them stocks he didn't think they should buy. Brown abandoned being a
"broker" and became a financial adviser at Fusion Analytics. In this
new job, Brown says, his interests and his client interests are more closely
aligned.
Europe drawn back to its first problem - Greece - (www.reuters.com)
The euro zone debt crisis was
born in Greece.
Nearly three years and two bailouts on, Europe must decide whether to give the
country yet more help or cut it loose. For all its complexities, Greece's
problems essentially come down to three simple questions: Can the country
return to growth? How big are its debts? And will the first ever be enough to
pay off the second? Put like that, one might wonder why policymakers have found
a solution so elusive. But as ever, the devil is in the detail, and in Greece's
case the details are devilishly difficult. That is why ongoing efforts by the
European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary
Fund -- together known as the 'troika' -- to work out Greece's long-term growth
and debt reduction prospects are so critical. Everyone from German Chancellor
Angela Merkel to ECB President Mario Draghi and Greek Prime Minister Antonis
Samaras -- who wants two more years to make the cuts demanded of him -- is
nervously awaiting the outcome of the troika's report, which is expected in
late September or early October.
The Fed is running short of 'shock and awe' tactics - (www.telegraph.co.uk) 'Shock and awe' is the shorthand commonly used
to describe the Federal Reserve's response to the financial crisis. Chastised
for failing to spot it was coming in 2007, America's central bank quickly
embarked on a series of policies designed to show it meant business in easing
the crisis and preventing a repeat of the Great Depression. Interest rates were
dropped to close to zero in the autumn of 2008. Two rounds of quantitative
easing followed that saw the Fed print more than $2 trillion (£1.3 trillion) to
buy US government debt and mortgage-backed bonds in a further effort to lower
interest rates and stimulate demand in the economy.
Spanish Recession Deepens as Austerity Undermines Outlook -
(www.bloomberg.com) Spain’s
recession worsened in the second quarter as the government’s austerity push to
reduce the euro area’s third-biggest budget deficit and a slump in consumer
spending offset growth in exports. Gross domestic product fell 0.4
percent from the previous quarter, when it declined 0.3 percent, the
Madrid-based National Statistics Institute said today. That’s in line with an
estimate published July 30. Separately, Spain’s borrowing costs fell to the
lowest in three months at an auction today after the nation’s bonds rallied
this month on optimism the European Central Bank will agree on a plan
to help peripheral nations. Prime Minister Mariano
Rajoy last month gave up on his forecast for a return to growth
in 2013 as he unveiled budget cuts that will expand austerity measures to a
total of 15 percent of annual GDP by 2014. He is due to host European Union
President Herman Van Rompuy today for the first in a series of meetings aimed
at solving the nation’s funding issues.
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