News: 2013-12-11

By Edward Harrison On Dec 11, 2013

Economy

The Most Important Economic Stories of 2013—in 41 Graphs – Matthew O’Brien – The Atlantic

Secular stagnation and the bastardisation of Keynes | FT Alphaville

Markets

Twitter shares touch new high, sail past $52 | Reuters

Why Is Everybody Sitting on Huge Piles of Cash? – Bloomberg

BBC News – JP Morgan files for anonymous online payment system

927 People Own Half Of The Bitcoins – Business Insider

BBC News – Why do we value gold?

Nobel prize-winning economists take disagreement to whole new level | Business | The Guardian

“Shiller, whose wife is a psychologist, told SVT (just before 28 minutes into the interview): “I shouldn’t try to psychoanalyse Eugene Fama but I know that he is committed … to a libertarian philosophy, teaching at the University of Chicago where Milton Friedman once lived.

“It must affect your thinking somehow that they really believe in markets. I think that maybe he has a cognitive dissonance. His research shows that markets are not efficient. So what do you do if you are living in the University of Chicago? It’s like being a Catholic priest and then discovering that God doesn’t exist or something, you can’t deal with that, you’ve got to somehow rationalise it.””

Bubble deniers — now and then | LARS P. SYLL

BBC News – We are in a housing bubble, claims economics professor

China

China New Yuan Loans Higher Than Expected – WSJ.com

Hot money distorts China’s exports as speculators seek to cash in on yuan, rate reforms | Reuters

China bitcoin arbitrage ends as traders work around capital controls | Reuters

“The price gap between bitcoins trading in Chinese yuan and those sold for other currencies has evaporated in recent days, highlighting the porous nature of China’s capital controls.”

BBC News – Will China expel foreign journalists?

North America

Toll Brothers Inc (TOL): Toll Brothers’ CEO Discusses F4Q 2013 Results – Earnings Call Transcript – Seeking Alpha

Rising Job Openings Show U.S. Companies Poised to Hire: Economy – Bloomberg

Volcker Says He Didn’t Help Write Rule Bearing His Name – Bloomberg

Is Wall Street Now Too Big to Care? – Businessweek

““We saw how poorly the system was designed to let massive institutions fail without taking down the whole banking sector and economy,” says Edward Harrison, a banking and finance specialist at the economic consultancy Global Macro Advisors. “Now the banks are even bigger. Do we really believe this can’t happen again?””

Budget deal reached amid conservative opposition | Reuters

US congressional leaders unveil two-year budget deal | World news | theguardian.com

National (US) Poll – December 10, 2013 – Obama Approval Plunge Pulls Do | Quinnipiac University Connecticut

Europe

Spain’s Inditex profits increase as it expands clothing empire – FT.com

ekathimerini.com | Unemployment rises to near record of 27.4 percent in September

Greek exit from eurozone remains a possibility | Business | The Guardian

IMF’s Lagarde says euro crisis not solved, demands pre-emptive action from ECB – Telegraph

Europe’s economic crisis could be mutating again | Barry Eichengreen | Business | theguardian.com

“The commitment to preserving the integrity of the payments system must be unconditional. If the ECB concludes that panicked investors are threatening the integrity of the payments system by selling a member state’s bonds, then it should intervene, buying up those bonds on the secondary market, ESM agreement or not.

The ESM link is designed to reassure the German public that the ECB will not intervene indiscriminately. But it also creates uncertainty and delay, and prevents the ECB from acting as a true lender of last resort.”

Italy backs 8 percent minimum bail-in for ailing banks | Reuters

Europe edges toward plan to close failing banks | Reuters