News: 2014-02-01

By Edward Harrison On Feb 1, 2014

Bernanke’s legacy

Two monetarist cheers for Ben Bernanke – Telegraph

5 Takeaways on How Bernanke Will Be Remembered – Five Things – WSJ

Bernanke Leaves Office Less Popular Than Greenspan – Real Time Economics – WSJ

Economists Give Bernanke a B for Final Grade, Expect QE3 to End This Year – Real Time Economics – WSJ

David Wessel: Bernanke Made the Fed Clearer, More Open – WSJ.com

How Will History See Bernanke’s Legacy? – Real Time Economics – WSJ

Macro and Other Market Musings: The Two Big Failures of the Bernanke Fed

Fed’s George: Still Worried by Long-Term Risk of Current Fed Policy – Real Time Economics – WSJ

“Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Esther George welcomed the central bank’s decision to cut back on its easy-money policy stance this week, and fretted about the impact Fed actions might be having on other countries. Ms. George’s speech, which was delivered in Cape Town, South Africa, Friday, was the first set of remarks from a central banker in the wake of the two-day Federal Open Market Committee meeting that ended on Wednesday”

Emerging Markets

Four graphs EM central bankers should study – lessons from two Reserve Banks (1997-98) | The Market Monetarist

Indonesia the most vulnerable of a fragile five /Euromoney magazine

Emerging Markets’ Victimhood Narrative – Bloomberg

Why The Fed Should Not Taper Alone – Forbes

Emerging market strife keeps bond issuers at bay – FT.com

“Total global debt issuance so far this year has fallen to $537bn, compared with $730bn in the same period of 2013. That is the lowest level since 2008, according to Dealogic. The number of sovereign and corporate bond deals also slumped to 1,237 from 2,362 over the same period.”

Have EM outflows only just begun? | FT Alphaville

U.S. 10-Year Yields Fall to 12-Week Low on Emerging Markets, Fed – Bloomberg

Investors pull $12bn from EM stock funds – FT.com

Former IMF Chief Economist, Now India’s Central Bank Governor Rajan Takes Shot at Bernanke’s Destabilizing Policies | naked capitalism

North America

The Obama Administration Took The Platinum Coin Option More Seriously Than It Let On

Seven Reasons Why You’re Not Hearing So Much About the Budget Deficit These Days | Jared Bernstein | On the Economy

U.S. Consumer Spending Up 0.4% in December – WSJ.com

“For all 2013, the broad measure of spending on everything from haircuts to refrigerators was up 3.1% from the prior year. That was the weakest annual increase since 2009 and below the 4.1% growth seen in 2012.”

Labor costs rise in fourth quarter | Reuters

“Labor costs rose in the fourth quarter, with the biggest jump in wages and salaries since 2009, but there was still little sign of wage inflation amid slack in the jobs market.”

Walmart warns of lower holiday season profits – FT.com

“Sales in the crucial holiday shopping season grew, but Walmart blamed the expected decline for the three months to the end of January on winter storms and a reduction in government food stamps given to some shoppers.”

“Dear America, I Saw You Naked”: TSA Agent Confession – POLITICO Magazine

Virtual Payments

A VC: Video Of The Week: The NYS DFS Bitcoin Hearings

Tired of clutter? Coin consolidates all your credit cards into one device

from November

Coin Reaches Campaign Goal, Extends Pre-Order – Forbes

from November

Europe

EU lurches towards deflation—Biggest EUR sell signal so far

Calculated Risk: Reinhart and Rogoff: Great Recession may “surpass in severity” the Great Depression in many Countries

Eurosceptic rebels prompt Cameron retreat in immigration debate – FT.com

“Rather than risk a humbling defeat, the prime minister engaged in a ragged retreat, culminating in ministers being ordered to abstain in a vote on a rebel amendment on deporting criminals, a move deemed illegal by government lawyers. The sight of Mr Cameron standing aside while Tory MPs embarked on a probable confrontation with the European Court of Human Rights was derided by Labour, which claimed the day’s events had been “a complete car crash”.”

‘Gucci Helle’ hurt politically by Goldman investment affair – FT.com

Italy is wasting away month by month – Telegraph Blogs

Moscow urges Ukraine to suppress insurgency – FT.com

ekathimerini.com | Greek retail sales rise in Nov. for first time in four years

Foreign investment in France slips to 27-year low – Telegraph

Technology

Amazon’s Boundless Spending Tested as Sales Growth Slows – Bloomberg

US phone companies to explore replacing all phone numbers with IP addresses

Digitopoly | Google and Motorola in the Wake of Nortel

“When Nortel went bankrupt the bankruptcy court did what it always did: it looked to maximize the value of the assets it could sell. It determined that the maximum value of these patents could be achieved by keeping all the patents together and bidding them out all at once. That resulted in the potential sale of the largest collection of patents ever. Let’s repeat that. Largest. Ever. Let me rephrase that in economics-speak. The patents are a right to exclude. They achieved their maximum value by allowing a single commercial entity to bid to own all of them, and achieve a monopoly in the market place. Monopolies are worth more money to firms than any other market structure, such as, oh, duopolies or competitive conditions.”