News: 2013-12-24

I will be posting a bit more sporadically throughout the final days of 2013. So I want to wish you and your family happy holidays.

Best,

Edward

Asia

China cash crunch symbolises central bank policy quandary – FT.com

China to aim for 7.5 percent growth in 2014 as exports recover | Reuters

China borrowing costs tumble as central bank acts to ease credit crunch – Telegraph

Fixing lifts yuan near highest in 20 years | South China Morning Post

PIMCO | Viewpoints – China’s Consumer Stocks: Opportunities Despite Slower Growth

“While Chinese consumption may be challenged in the near term, we think the impact will be felt most in the retail sector where slowing demand is compounded by oversupply.

We see opportunity in other sectors that benefit from secular demand growth and constrained supply or strong brands, notably casinos and luxury sectors. “

Japan Steps Up Defense Spending As China Tensions Simmer – China Real Time Report – WSJ

Japan Labor Shortage Could Clip PM Abe’s ‘Second Arrow’ – Real Time Economics – WSJ

Japan’s record budget spending highlights balancing act | Reuters

Japanese Stocks Touch Six-Year Peak – WSJ.com

North America

Canada’s factories power economy to fourth straight gain | Financial Post

Consumer Spending Gains Lift U.S. Fourth-Quarter Growth: Economy – Bloomberg

Calculated Risk: Chicago Fed: “Economic growth picked up in November”

Expiration of unemployment benefits threatens US recovery, adviser warns | World news | theguardian.com

EconoMonitor : EconoMonitor » Will the Deceleration in Personal Income Growth Spoil the Party?

Calculated Risk: Personal Income increased 0.2% in November, Spending increased 0.5%

Raise the Federal Minimum Wage (But Not Too Far)—Posner – The Becker-Posner Blog

White Flint’s last Christmas: Closing of a past retail mecca hints at an American era’s end – The Washington Post

How Lobbyists Will Keep You Hooked on Vitamins – The Daily Beast

Alan Greenspan’s ‘The Map and the Territory’ Reviewed by Robert Solow | New Republic

Fed’s Fisher says favored $20 billin taper: Fox Business | Reuters

Europe

Bundesbank holt Gold zurück « WirtschaftsBlatt.at

The German Bundesbank is getting its own gold back. It had allowed to be stored elsewhere.

Zinsen auf Rekordtief Bund spart Milliarden ein – manager magazin

Interest rates are at record lows and the German government’s interest bill is reduced by billions.

House prices rise 5.6pc in the year to November – Independent.ie

Property prices in Dublin soar – but rest of country remains unchanged – Independent.ie

ekathimerini.com | Erdogan’s choice: Democratization or Putinization?

Crowing about the economy

“The weakness of wages and salaries—most people’s incomes—represents a major flaw in the argument that we now have a sustainable recovery. All recessions come to an end eventually, the Bank of England has been doing its bit with Quantitative Easing, which has driven equity prices higher, and the cost of capital for companies lower, and the Government has introduced schemes like Funding for Lending and Help to Buy.

This week’s GDP figures, however, are likely to show that a good part of the bounce in growth has been due to a fall in the household savings rate”