Wednesday February 10 2016 Housing and Economic stories

TOP STORIES:

Small Business Confidence in Canada Plunges, Worst since March 2009, Alberta Falls off the Chart - (www.wolfstreet.com)  Owners of small businesses in Canada have been feeling the blues for months. And in January, their optimism dropped to the lowest level since March 2009, the trough of the Financial Crisis. That’s what the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) reported. Its Business Barometer has a scale between 0 and 100. A level above 50 indicates that owners who expect their businesses to be stronger over the next 12 months outnumber those who expect their businesses to be weaker. But: “One normally sees an index level of between 65 and 70 when the economy is growing at its potential.” That’s what the CFIB calls “normal economic growth.”

China’s Stocks Head for Steepest Monthly Loss in Two Decades - (www.bloomberg.com) China’s stocks rose for the first time in four days amid speculation the steepest monthly selloff since the global financial crisis was overdone, while the central bank injected more liquidity into the financial system to avert a cash crunch before next month’s holidays. The Shanghai Composite Index rallied 3.1 percent to 2,737.60 at the close, trimming the January decline to 23 percent, the most since October 2008. Gains were led by industrial and financial companies. China Cosco Holdings Co. halted a three-day, 25 percent slide, while Citic Securities Co. led an advance for brokerages after reporting a surge in earnings. Hang Seng China Enterprises Index jumped 2.7 percent in Hong Kong as regional markets rose after the Bank of Japan adopted negative interest rates to boost the economy.

German Exporters Shudder as China Economy Slows - (online.wsj.com) German exports to the important Chinese market are suffering their sharpest drop in a quarter of a century, casting a shadow over Europe’s biggest economy and showing the global impact of China’s slowdown. With new orders from China and other emerging economies sagging, German businesses fear the bad news is only beginning, data and surveys released in recent days suggest. German exports to the U.S. and many other markets are still growing, cushioning the impact of China’s troubles. But with much of Europe still licking its wounds from the long eurozone debt crisis, business confidence in Germany is vulnerable to continued cooling in Asia. “The overall situation in China is depressed,” said Ulrich Reifenhäuser, a management-board member at machinery maker Reifenhäuser Group in North Rhine-Westphalia. “I see very few orders in the near future.”

$5.5 Trillion In Government Bonds Now Have Negative Yields, Covering 23% Of Global GDP - (www.zerohedge.com)  "Never before have so many central banks explored sub-zero territory at the same time." First thing this morning, after the BOJ's announcement of negative rates which promptly pulled all treasury yields around the globle lower, we asked a simple question: how big large the global negative rate bond universe grow to? Promptly thereafter the FT was kind enough to do the math: the answer - a record $5.5 trilion in government bonds are now trading at negative yields.

This means that about about one quarter of all global bondholders will end up paying their government custodians for the pleasure of parking their cash in the "safety" of government bonds.

Is a market storm coming? Ask a Wall Street escort - (www.cnbc.com) My first stop was to check back in on the escort indicator. Back in May, the escorts I spoke to said that business was bouncing back since the financial crisis. But with the market being so tumultuous lately, are they seeing a slowdown? "Chelsea," a high-end escort in Manhattan who is originally from Canada, said business has only dropped off slightly into this year. "I still gotta hustle," Chelsea said. "But I haven't really seen a dropoff."

OTHER STORIES:

Asian Shares Set for Gains as Horror Month Ends With BOJ Update - (www.bloomberg.com)
Taiwan GDP Shrinks in Fourth Quarter as Slower China Drags - (www.bloomberg.com)
Amazon shares plunge as record profit still misses estimates - (www.reuters.com)

Lipper fund flows IG US$1.187bn outflow; HY US$883.3m inflow - (www.reuters.com)
When Systematic Trading Comes to Credit Markets - (www.bloomberg.com)
HSBC curbs mortgage offering to Chinese citizens in U.S. - (www.reuters.com)
China’s economic leaders struggle to explain thinking to world - (www.ft.com)