TOP
STORIES:
Spain Waits, and Europe Frets - (www.nytimes.com) As long as Spain’s borrowing
costs remain below 6 percent, as they have since the European
Central Bank said it would buy the country’s bonds if asked,
the Rajoy government might seem to have no reason to rush. But the downgrade of
Spanish debt to near junk status last week by Standard & Poor’s underscored
the fragility of the country’s finances. And the seeming political paralysis in
Madrid may be reinforcing a wider economic stasis. “The economy has stopped,”
said Ángel Berges, the chief executive of AFI, an economic consulting firm
based in Madrid. The indicators are grim: Cement production has reached its
lowest level since the 1960s. Car sales are down 37 percent from last year. And
on weekdays the public squares of Madrid are filled with the unemployed — young
and old — whiling away the hours. Even the wealthy are feeling the strain. In
the boat slips of Barcelona, “For Sale” signs hang on nearly every moored
yacht.
Electric
Vehicle Battery Maker Bailed Out By Obama Files For Bankruptcy - (www.businessinsider.com) Electric vehicle battery
maker A123 and its US subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection
this morning, it announced. It will sell its automotive business assets to
Johnson Controls, another battery producer. After Mitt Romney's attack on Tesla and
other clean energy investments as "losers" in the last debate, expect
this news to come up in round two, tonight. A123 benefitted from a $249 million grant from the U.S. government in
2009. In 2010, President Obama hailed
the company as a success.
Spain prepares to make rescue request - (www.ft.com) The Spanish government is prepared to make a
rescue request that would allow the European Central Bank to begin buying its
debt, but the issue is being delayed by the needs of other countries in the
single currency. Madrid has now found a formula that it feels
comfortable with to make a rescue request – a significant shift in position
compared to before the summer. It is waiting for external factors – such as the
way it would influence other countries, for example Italy – to be resolved. A
senior official within the Spanish ministry of economy said Spain did not
require any money from the European Stability Mechanism, the eurozone’s state
rescue fund, but would be comfortable making a request for a credit line only
in order to satisfy the conditions of the ECB to begin buying bonds.
Sugar Glut Extending to Longest in More Than Decade:
Commodities - (www.bloomberg.com) The global sugar glut is
extending into a third year, the longest stretch in more than a decade, as Brazil and Australia expand
output and imports contract to the smallest since 2008. Production will exceed
demand by 5.9 million metric tons in the year that began Oct. 1, more than the
U.S. consumes in six months, the International Sugar Organization estimates.
Global supply including inventories will be the highest ever, the London-based
group says. Raw-sugar futures traded in New
York may drop 10 percent to 18 cents a pound by the end of the
year, according to the median of 15 estimates from traders and analysts
compiled by Bloomberg. Futures fell 45 percent since reaching a three-decade
high of 36.08 cents in February 2011 as farmers from Russia toThailand planted
more crops.
In Reversal, Cash Leaks Out of China - (online.wsj.com) China, once a catch basin for
the world's money, is now watching cash stream out. Wealthy Chinese citizens
are buying beachfront condos in Cyprus, paying big U.S. tuition bills for their
children and stocking up on luxury goods in Singapore, frequently moving cash
secretly through a flourishing network of money-transfer agents. Chinese
companies, for their part, are making big-ticket foreign acquisitions, buying
up natural resources and letting foreign profits accumulate overseas.
No comments:
Post a Comment