Americans
Can’t Retire When Bill Gross Sees Repression - (www.bloomberg.com) Twelve
years after retiring as a telephone repairman, Roger Wood clocks 12 to 15 hours
a week at a Lowe’s Cos. hardware store near Glen Allen, Virginia. “About the
same amount I made 30 years ago,” Wood, 69, says of his $12 hourly wage. “I’m
worried about my portfolio because of low interest rates, even to the point of
considering full-time again.” Feeble returns on the safest investments such as
bank deposits and fixed-income securities represent a “financial repression”
transferring money from savers to borrowers, says Bill Gross, manager of the world’s biggest bond fund.
Workers 65 and older, struggling with years of depressed yields, are the only
group of Americans who are increasingly employed or looking for jobs, according
to Labor Department participation-rate data.
Grad
Students Driving the Growing Debt Burden - (online.wsj.com) The
surge in student-loan debt in recent years has been driven disproportionately
by borrowing for graduate school amid a weak economy and an open spigot of
government credit, according to a report that raises questions about the
broader debate about how to resolve Americans' growing burden. The typical debt
load of borrowers leaving school with a master's, medical, law or doctoral
degree jumped an inflation-adjusted 43% between 2004 and 2012, according to a
new report by the New America Foundation, a left-leaning Washington think tank.
That translated into a median debt load—the point at which half of borrowers
owed more and half owed less—of $57,600 in 2012. The increases were sharper for
those pursuing advanced degrees in the social sciences and humanities, versus
professional degrees such as M.B.A.s or medical degrees that tend to yield
greater long-term returns. The typical debt load of those earning a master's in
education showed some of the largest increases, rising 66% to $50,879. It
climbed 54% to $58,539 for those earning a master of arts.
China
Internet Funds Called Vampires Draw Calls for Rules - (www.bloomberg.com) It
has been labeled a “blood-sucking vampire” by a prominent commentator on
state-run television. Executives at China’s largest banks have called for
regulators to curb its rapid expansion. The focus of this ire is Internet
financing, specifically Yu’E Bao, the fund pioneered nine months ago by Alibaba
Group Holding Ltd.’s online-payment affiliate Alipay. Its ease of use,
involving a few taps on a smartphone, has drawn deposits from 81 million
customers, more than the population of Germany, as they chase returns higher
than China’s banks can offer. The total exceeded 500 billion yuan ($80 billion) as of Feb. 28, according to
the official Xinhua news agency, double the amount reported by Alipay in
mid-January. At least six other technology firms, including Baidu Inc. (BIDU) and Tencent Holding Ltd. (700), have embraced Internet financing with similar products offering
returns as high as 10 percent and threatening to drain more cash from China’s
banking system. Bank executives, unable to stop the outflow of their cheapest
source of funding because interest
rates on
comparable deposits are
fixed by the government at 0.35 percent, are calling for more regulation,
saying that lack of oversight and risks related to account security, yield
volatility and liquidity management threaten China’s financial stability.
Russian
Oil Seen Heading East Not West in Crimea Spat - (www.bloomberg.com) Russia’s drive to send more barrels to China, leaving Europe with pricier imports and
boosting U.S. dependence on fuel from the Middle East. China already has agreed
to buy more than $350 billion of Russian crude in coming years from the
government of President Vladimir
Putin.
The ties are likely to deepen as the U.S. and Europe levy sanctions against
Russia as punishment for the invasion of Ukraine. Such shifts will be hard to
overcome. Europe, which gets about 30 percent of its natural gas from Russia,
has few viable immediate alternatives. The U.S., even after the shale boom,
must import 40 percent of its crude oil, 10.6 million barrels a day that leaves the
country vulnerable to global markets.
Loneliness
of Kiev Bond Trader Shows Market Was Wiped Out - (www.bloomberg.com) For
29-year-old Fyodor Bagnenko, a fixed-income trader at Dragon Capital in Ukraine, selling bonds has become a lonely business. From
his seven-story office in central Kiev, about 20 minutes from the barricades on
Independence Square that were the epicenter of protests that triggered the worst
crisis between Russia and
NATO countries since the Cold War, he would trade more than $20 million of bonds
a day last year. Since the revolution, there have been days where he couldn’t
close a single deal as trading in Ukrainian financial assets dried up. “We’ve
had days where the market’s dropped five points or more and not a buyer in
sight,” he said as he headed to his morning meeting March 14. “People have
gotten whiplash, with the market jumping from complete indecision to frantic
action, with the whole world trying to buy, or sell, simultaneously.”
Obama
meets Putin ally with Ukraine still in mind - (www.businessweek.com)
G-7 nations to meet in Brussels instead of Sochi, without Russia - (www.latimes.com)
G-7 nations to meet in Brussels instead of Sochi, without Russia - (www.latimes.com)
Russian
troops seize Ukraine marine base in Crimea: soldiers - (www.reuters.com)
Thai protesters return to streets as pro-government forces up the ante - (www.bloomberg.com)
Thai protesters return to streets as pro-government forces up the ante - (www.bloomberg.com)
Why
China's Manufacturing Sector Has Hit a Wall - (www.bloomberg.com)
China Manufacturing Gauge Falls as Slowdown Deepens - (www.bloomberg.com)
China Manufacturing Gauge Falls as Slowdown Deepens - (www.bloomberg.com)
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