GLOBAL ECONOMY-World economic recovery struggling to gain traction

 Another month of slower factory activity in China and a sharp decline in a closely watched gauge of U.S. manufacturing on Thursday added to concern about the state of the global economy.

Surveys also showed business activity across the 18-country euro zone slowed this month, confounding expectations of an acceleration.

U.S. stocks edged higher, however, as investors continued to shrug off tepid data while stocks in Europe recouped earlier losses , though sentiment remained fragile.

Investors were also concerned about minutes of the Federal Reserve's most recent meeting, released on Wednesday, which showed the U.S. central bank was set to keep winding down its stimulus spending despite recent softer economic data.

"While we expect the recovery to continue during the course of this year, the market remains volatile in the near-term as investors are nervous on the back of the U.S. tapering story," Henk Potts, equity strategist at Barclays Wealth, said.

The Philly Fed survey is one of the first monthly indicators of the health of U.S. manufacturing leading up to the national report by the Institute for Supply Management.

A separate index from Markit, however, showed factory activity across the United States accelerated at its quickest pace in nearly four years in early February, handily beating expectations in a Reuters poll. [ID:nN9N0H002J]

That helped ease some concern in financial markets. Paul Zemsky, head of asset allocation at ING Investment Management, said the data may have been impacted by short-term factors but added "it certainly is a good number."

In China, activity in the vast factory sector fell to a seven-month low of 48.3 this month from 49.5 in January, according to the flash Markit/HSBC purchasing managers' index.

Some analysts warned that the recent Lunar New Year holidays may have affected the result, but the sub-50 reading indicated a contraction in the sector and reinforced worries that the world's second largest economy was slowing down. That could have knock-on effects in emerging markets and the European Union.

The euro zone may have the most to worry about, said Lena Komileva, economist at G+ Economics.

The economic bloc, she said, "is most at risk of a global demand shock given the chills emanating from China's deleveraging across emerging markets, North America's current

'frozen' growth patch and the fact that the U.S. is exporting less of its growth to the rest of the world."

Markit's Eurozone Composite PMI, which is based on surveys of thousands of companies and considered a good guide to growth, dipped to 52.7, below January's 31-month high of 52.9. [ID:nL9N0EC00A]

A Reuters poll had called for a modest rise.

The overall index masked news France is lagging far behind its European peers, pouring cold water on hopes for a recovery there that had gathered momentum after its economy expanded 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter.

"The story behind the euro zone PMIs remains one of an increasingly fragile recovery under way amid growing divergence between the union's largest economies, global growth headwinds and persistent euro strength," Komileva said.

Still, Markit said the latest data point to 0.5 percent economic growth in the bloc this quarter.

The region still faces falling prices, however, with inflation dropping unexpectedly to just 0.7 percent in January,

That has increased pressure on the ECB to consider new policy measures to support a recovery that appears to be running out of steam.

GLOBAL MARKETS-Asian shares ride U.S. optimism, China a drag on emerging markets

A survey showing brisk U.S. manufacturing activity gave Asian stock markets a lift on Friday and bolstered the dollar, though underlying concerns about China's economic growth kept investors from rushing to buy some emerging market shares.

Japan's Nikkei share average <.N225> led the way, climbing 2.0 percent while Australian shares <.AXJO> tacked on 0.6 percent to edge near a five-year peak hit in October.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> advanced 0.6 percent.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 <.SPX> rose 0.6 percent, cheered by Markit's preliminary U.S. Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index accelerating to its best level in four years. [USPMIM=ECI] [ID:nN9N0H002J]

S&P futures in Asia pointed to further modest gains.

"The market thinks for now that underlying U.S. economic trend remains strong and things will get better in the spring, when it gets warmer," said Sho Aoyama, senior market economist at Mizuho Securities.

An index from Markit showed factory activity across the United States accelerated at its quickest pace in nearly four years in early February, handily beating expectations in a Reuters poll.

Another manufacturing survey by Philadelphia Fed's showing a surprise contraction did little to change the view that extremely cold weather and massive snowstorms are to blame for softness in recent U.S. data. 

On the other hand, Thursday's survey painting a grim picture of China's manufacturing sector cast shadows over emerging markets, many of which were roiled by sharp selloffs last month.

Mexican shares hit a three-month low <.MXX> while the rouble hit five-year low, with the latter under pressure from unrest in Ukraine.

The Chinese yuan fell 0.2 percent . It has slipped to 11-week lows in recent sessions as the central bank was seen pushing the yuan weaker in a likely prelude to widening its trading band and as emerging market currencies weaken.

The 10-year U.S. Treasuries yield edged up to 2.75 percent , extending its rise from three-month low of 2.57 percent following the positive data and ahead of the government's debt sales next week.

The U.S. dollar also recovered thanks to the strong U.S. manufacturing survey, with the dollar's index against a basket of currencies rising to 80.30 <.DXY> from a eight-week low of 79.927 hit on Wednesday.

That saw the euro slipping to $1.3718 , from a seven-week high of $1.37735 hit on Wednesday, with a dip in the euro zone's business surveys adding pressure on the single currency.

Against the yen, the dollar was little changed at 102.33 yen .

U.S. crude oil inched down from a four-month high touched on Wednesday on a smaller-than-expected fall in U.S. heating oil stockpiles as well as the soft Chinese manufacturing survey. [O/R]

Further tension in emerging economies could direct investors' attention to the Group of 20 finance ministers meeting in Sydney this weekend.

Some developing countries have criticised the U.S. Federal Reserve for not paying enough attention to the impact on emerging markets when the U.S. central bank reduces its stimulus. 

Source: Reuters

Markets flooded with cash, should Fed prep to stamp out risk?

A debate is growing louder within the Federal Reserve over whether it should stand ready to raise interest rates to prick any risky asset bubbles that its regulatory tools might fail to address.

The 2007-2009 financial crisis left many wondering whether the U.S. central bank should have more boldly tightened policy in the preceding years to head off the explosion of risky mortgage debt on Wall Street.

Now, after holding interest rates near zero for more than five years and pumping trillions of dollars into the economy through bond purchases, the question of how best to deal with bubble-like signs could become a defining one for the Fed and its new chief, Janet Yellen.

If the economy continues to grow but inflation stays stubbornly low, concerns over financial instability could prompt Yellen to more quickly wind down the policy stimulus than she otherwise might.

In interviews and speeches, top Fed officials are staking out arguments on whether the purview of monetary policy, which is traditionally harnessed to stabilize inflation and achieve full employment, should effectively be expanded to include financial-market risk.

The worry is that the many new rules adopted after the financial crisis won't be enough on their own to halt the kind of risk-taking that could again imperil the world's largest economy. Already, rates on high-yield debt are near their lowest level in years, and leveraged loans are roaring.

While Yellen and most other Fed policymakers think raising rates should be a last-ditch option to deal with such problems, others, such as Fed Governor Jeremy Stein, are more open to the idea. Stein effectively sparked the debate a year ago when he said monetary policy "gets in all of the cracks" that financial regulations might not.

"I'm sympathetic to Governor Stein's argument that it might be pretty hard to get a regulatory response that is timed and targeted appropriately," James Bullard, president of the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank, told reporters last week.

"Therefore, it's possible you might have to use an interest rate tool," he said, adding: "It is a blunt tool; you'd only want to do that in circumstances that made a lot of sense."

While the Fed is bound by the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law to defend against risks to the financial system as a whole, it has generally interpreted that to mean directly supervising banks and other financial institutions, and writing tougher rules on things like capital standards.

Its historical mandate is two-fold: to ensure maximum sustainable employment and low and stable inflation.

Improvements in the labor market and growing confidence that a downward drift that took inflation far below the Fed's 2 percent target would soon be arrested prompted policymakers to start trimming their bond-buying stimulus earlier this year.

The central bank expects to keep winding down the asset purchases and halt the program later this year, when its balance sheet will have swollen to some $4.6 trillion. Next year, it will probably start to slowly raise interest rates from near zero, where they have been since late 2008.

But if U.S. economic growth reaches 3 percent this year and quickens further next year, as the Fed predicts, investors will be more willing to make risky bets. If at the same time inflation remains below target and unemployment above target, Fed policymakers could face a conundrum: at what point does the risk of financial instability outweigh the desire to boost the economy a bit more?
Already there are signs the monetary accommodation has had unintended consequences.

Alongside ultra-loose polices at the Bank of Japan and other central banks, the Fed has helped keep borrowing costs low across the spectrum of world financial markets, encouraging investors to make riskier bets to turn a profit.

The rate on high-yield U.S. corporate debt is running at 6.97 percent this quarter, near its lowest level since at least 2006, according to Thomson Reuters data tracking yield at issuance.

In another sign of risk-taking, over the same time frame the proceeds from U.S. leveraged loans spiked to their highest level in the second quarter of last year, at $364.8 billion. It was $312.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher, a former hedge fund manager who is now among the central bankers most worried about the risks posed by easy money policies, pointed to high-yield corporate debt as "in the red," in a presentation earlier this month.

Meanwhile, U.S. stocks are near record highs with investors bidding up prices in the hope of future earnings, especially for smaller companies. On the small-cap Russell 2000 index <.TOY>, the forward price-to-earnings ratio is 20 percent higher now than it was a year ago.


SEA CHANGE IN FED THINKING

At a policy-setting meeting on Jan. 28-29, top Fed officials argued that accommodative monetary policies "could lead investors to take on excessive risk and so undermine longer-term financial stability," according to minutes of the meeting released on Wednesday.

Several policymakers floated the idea of explicitly tying the decision on raising rates to perceived risks to financial stability, among other factors. [ID:nL2N0LO1QW]

To be sure, cash has been pouring into riskier assets for a few years and few economists think there are now asset bubbles that should prompt tighter Fed policy. After all, the central bank is keeping credit loose to encourage investments that will prompt hiring and economic growth.

But even Yellen has acknowledged that persistently low rates

"can incent the development of bubbles."

"We can't take monetary policy off the table as a tool used to address it," she told Congress last week.

Source: Reuters

Oh Baby Don't You Weep James Brown '64

You're A Wonderful One Marvin Gaye '64

Come A Little Bit Closer Jay & the Americans '64

"Ain't that Good News" Sam Cook '64

Diamond Ring Gary Lewis and The Playboys '64

"I'am a Looser" Beatles Live '64

Music "Heart of Stone" The Rolling Stones" '64

"Sugar Man" Live Sixto Rodriguez

"Sugar Man", Sixto Rodriguez

Miners are finding that disinvestment pays

For an industry dealing with the end of a once-in-a-lifetime demand surge, big miners aren't faring too badly. China's demand for raw materials might not be growing as fast as it used to, but prices of key commodities like iron ore and copper are still high by historical standards. And recent financial results from BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto show austerity working.

Supply trends favor lower ore prices over time, but the biggest miners may go on reaping healthy profits for a while yet. Two broad trends explain the industry's resilience.


BASE EFFECTS

First, prices of key commodities are still relatively high. Iron ore and copper prices have both fallen more than 30 percent from their 2011 peaks, but at about $120 per tonne, sea-borne iron ore still costs 10 times what it did before Chinese demand for raw materials took off in the early 2000s. Copper is also trading way above its pre-boom levels.

The Middle Kingdom's steel production today may be more likely to increase at a fraction, rather than a multiple, of underlying GDP growth. But overall demand for iron ore is still rising. It's only the intensity of growth that's waned. In volume terms, China is consuming more raw materials than ever.

That means new supply being brought on line by BHP, Rio and other Western miners has yet to displace inefficient Chinese suppliers, who are the marginal global producers of the steel ingredient. China's domestic diggers have far higher costs than BHP and Rio Tinto, which scoop rock cheaply out of open pits. As long as Chinese output is needed to meet demand, prices are unlikely to fall sharply.

China's hunger for copper, used in things like indoor plumbing and electrical wiring, has also proved resilient. Preliminary January data showed imports for the month at a new record, up more than 50 percent from a year ago. China's state power grid company, a big copper user, got more money than expected in China's recent budgeting round. Tight credit conditions in China mean the red metal is also increasingly in demand for use as collateral in financing trades.



Second, after a decade spent building new projects as fast as possible to meet surging Chinese demand, miners are finding that disinvestment pays.

Modern mines take years to build and ramp up to full production. But spending for the future can be pared back relatively quickly. BHP expects its spending on capital investment and exploration to fall by a quarter this fiscal year. Rio reported a similar decline in its full-year results.

Miners are also pushing hard on costs and productivity, just as investments in new mines approved during the last few years of the boom start to pay off, with both Rio and BHP boasting record iron ore output.

The salutary combination of cost efficiency, rising production and high prices helps explain why low-cost operators like BHP and Rio are still making such chunky profits. The combination of rising volumes and cost savings pushed profit after special items at BHP up 31 percent in the first half of its fiscal year. Underlying profit at Rio jumped 45 percent in the six months ended in December.

The two companies are on track to make operating margins north of 30 percent this year. That's down from 40 percent in 2011, when ore prices peaked, but still pretty remarkable. Both companies' long-term strategy of investing in low-cost, high-quality mines are a big help.


Supply trends point to lower iron ore prices over time. Despite recent cuts to capex, miners are still investing heavily in their most promising basins. Chuck Bradford, a metals forecaster, says the world's top five producers are on track to expand their iron ore output by 50 percent over the next four years, even with the recent austerity drive. BHP thinks the coming wave of supply could start to displace expensive Chinese producers by 2015.

The outlook is more bullish for copper. As a financially traded commodity, the red metal may be more exposed to the withdrawal of Western quantitative easing than iron. But while iron ore is widely available, big new copper mines are rare. What's more, the owners of existing mines have already dug up the richest deposits. The higher cost of mining and refining depleted ores should help support prices. Copper's different industrial uses mean peak Chinese demand should also come later than for iron ore.

That may keep copper prices high, even as iron ore prices sink. Either way, though, the end of the super-cycle isn't proving nearly as bruising for the big miners as it might have been.

Source: reuters

G20 can get past angry stares and platitudes

The G20 risks becoming a particularly pompous talking shop. As finance ministers and central bankers from the world’s largest economies gather for their weekend summit in Sydney, Australia, they might plan to get out of a potentially dangerous rut.

There is likely to be hard talk, mostly about U.S. monetary policy. The Americans will defend both their previous extensive monetary stimulus and their current slow tightening as good for the world’s largest economy, and thus for the whole world. Unimpressed non-Americans will deem it all more disruptive than helpful.

Still, any angry stares will eventually give way to a final declaration filled with platitudes. The financial world as a whole is still in a delicate condition. No one wants to throw too many stones of official disagreement, lest they start a market landslide.

The reticence is understandable, but unacceptable. There is work to be done, despite much progress in financial regulation since the crisis five years ago. The G20 is the ideal forum to turn the latest thinking on short-term cross-currency fund flows into global policy.

Most economists now accept that this hot money can create credit booms when it arrives and credit crunches when it leaves; so capital controls, for example temporary limits on foreign purchases of short-term debt, can sometimes be helpful. A coherent set of rules would allow affected governments to act quickly without frightening investors when unwanted funds flow in.

Large current account imbalances have not gone away, although Japan’s surplus has fallen and the euro zone’s has increased. The excess currency that such surpluses generate has to go somewhere. The pre-crisis flood of foreigners’ dollars into financial markets may have helped restrain yields and spur reckless lending. An agreement to increase bank capital requirements to de-toxify these flows could help. So would global consensus on whether international banks should be resolved via bail-ins coordinated from their home domiciles.

Instead, the G20 is likely to issue an empty call for more balanced trade. The good news about the G20 is that it will probably spring into helpful action in a crisis. The bad news is that without a crisis it is likely to remain almost idle.


Source: Reuters

Google Launches Project Tango Smartphone To Experiment With Computer Vision And 3D Sensors

Source: TechCrunch

Google today announced Project Tango, an Android-based prototype 5″ phone and developer kit with advanced 3D sensors out of its Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) hardware skunkworks group.

Using its sensors, the phone doesn’t just track motion, but it can actually build a visual map of rooms using 3D scanning. The company believes the combination of these sensors with advanced computer vision techniques will open up new avenues for indoor navigation and immersive gaming, among many other things.

Starting today, Google will allow developers to sign up for access to these phones, but the first run will be limited to a hand-vetted group of 200 developers. Developers will have to provide Google with a clear idea of what they want to build with the device and the company expects to allocate all devices by March 14th, 2014. It will allocate the devices to developers who want to built apps for “indoor navigation/mapping, single/multiplayer games that use physical space, and new algorithms for processing sensor data.”

Developers will be able to write apps in Java, C/C++ and with the help of the Unity Game Engines. The company notes that the APIs for the phone remain a work in progress.

“Project Tango strives to give mobile devices a human-like understanding of space and motion through advanced sensor fusion and computer vision, enabling new and enhanced types of user experiences – including 3D scanning, indoor navigation and immersive gaming,” said Johnny Lee, ATAP’s technical program lead.

The idea behind Project Tango is to see what kind of applications developers will dream up for this technology. Google hopes that it can unlock new kinds of smart, vision-based applications based on the 3D sensing and vision technology that it has built into the phone. By giving applications an almost human-like understanding of space, developers will be able to create applications that simply weren’t possible before.

The phones are outfitted with a compass and gyros, just like any other phone, but in addition, they feature Kinect-like visual sensors that can scan the room around the phone.

It’s worth noting that the idea here isn’t to create Leap Motion-like, gesture-based interfaces. It’s about how the apps developers can create when they know exactly where a phone is in space.

In its announcement, Google asks: “What if you could capture the dimensions of your home simply by walking around with your phone before you went furniture shopping? What if directions to a new location didn’t stop at the street address? What if you never again found yourself lost in a new building?”

The project was headed up by Lee, who previously worked on Microsoft’s Kinect technology before he left for Google in early 2011. Today’s announcement also marks the first public hardware release from Google’s ATAP group, which was one of the few units of Motorola the company decided to keep, even as it is selling off the rest of the company.

WSJ: Fed, China, Ukraine Dent Risk Appetite

             The Wall Street Journal reports,"European and Asian equity markets weakened in early trading. The tenor was set by a soft Chinese manufacturing survey and the Federal Reserve’s indication that it would continue to pare back its asset purchase program during the coming months unless there’s a dramatic weakening of the economy. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian crisis might also be feeding through to sentiment.

Overall, the early news on Thursday signaled risk-off. China’s economy seems to be slowing, notwithstanding a huge surge of lending during January. Meanwhile the Fed’s taper is still on. And while the Ukraine’s crisis is unlikely to have any systemic effects, it does little to help sentiment, while also casting a shadow over Russia. Offsetting this slightly are hopeful signs from the European purchasing managers’ surveys, though this too is mitigated by signs that the French economy could be slipping toward deflation".

JAPAN: January trade deficit hits a record 2.79 trillion yen ($27.3 billion), as a 25% jump in imports dwarfed a 9.5% rise in the value of exports. The export figure was flattened by the weak yen, as exports by volume actually declined 0.2%.

Abenomics’ promised export bounce hasn’t really materialized yet, as the benefits of a weaker currency have been undercut by the longer-term trend of manufacturers moving production overseas to be closer to their customers and reduce the risks of currency fluctuation. Imports have surged partly on higher costs for imported oil, but spending on imported items like clothes, washing machines and cars –- cars produced by Japanese companies abroad now show up as imports — suggests domestic demand is picking up as the government has hoped. An April rise in the sales tax is expected to dampen consumption going forward, but at the same time, the growing recovery in the United States and Europe should finally begin to help Japan’s exporters. That won’t come a moment too soon for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has seen his economic program stall in recent months after his term began with much success.

CHINA: February manufacturing PMI 48.3 from 49.5 in January.

China’s manufacturing PMI hit a seven-month low in February — showing contraction at a quickening pace —  adding fuel to concerns that the world’s second-largest economy is heading for a hard landing. Sub-indexes in the data for new orders, new export orders and employment all fell. Chinese policy makers long have talked of reorienting the economy toward domestic consumption, but industry is still a major driver of growth, and slower manufacturing would point to overall weakness ahead for China’s economy. That, in turn, would mean softer global demand for commodities internationally. To be sure, Chinese data early in the year is often distorted by the Lunar New Year holiday, and must be taken with a grain of salt. But given the worries about China’s economy – a new Bank of America Merrill Lynch survey found that fund managers now see a hard landing in China as the biggest threat to the global economy – the PMI data is certain to raise the alarm level even more.

Talk of a Ukrainian civil war gathers pace as clashes between Russian-leaning government and Western-favoring protesters gets bloodier and more intransigent. The European Union is mulling sanctions while Russia has postponed promised financial support, compounding the country’s problems.

Germany’s economy may be picking up strongly, according to the latest purchasing managers’ survey, but there’s no inflationary pressure in the pipeline. The European Central Bank’s bias will continue to be toward lower for much longer.

Worries about looming French deflation are hardly likely to be alleviated by the latest consumer price numbers. The January data showed the biggest drop on record. Policy makers will be hoping that this is down to temporary factors, like falling commodity prices. But coupled with a soft PMI survey, the signs are that weak domestic demand is behind the downward price pressures.

Euro-zone business lost momentum in February according to the latest Markit survey, in large part because of a surprise softening in French activity, which mitigated continued strength in Germany. Overall German activity came in at the strongest in three years. The hopeful signs in this report are that Germany might be rebalancing slightly to domestic consumption from manufacturing, but the French survey raises concerns about the state of the single currency’s second-biggest economy.

Samba Offers A New Video Messaging App That Records Your Friends’ Reactions

Thanks to Facebook’s $19 billion WhatsApp acquisition yesterday, the tech industry is going to be on the lookout for the next great mobile messaging app. With fortuitous timing, a new mobile video messaging app called Samba is debuting today – and, no, they didn’t move up the launch to take advantage of the buzz, the plan has been in the works for weeks.

The app, which is very well-designed for a first release, lets you record a video for a friend, then record their reaction to that video, which is shared back with you. The idea, the company explains, is to offer the convenience of asynchronous communication, with the power of face-to-face communication.

It can also just be for fun, of course.

Based in Tel Aviv, Samba is led by co-founders Barak Hachamov (CEO), who longtime TechCrunch readers may know as the serial entrepreneur behind a number of companies, including most recently my6sense, plus Shay Erlichmen (CTO), Ronel Mor (Chief Creative), and Oren Meiri (Head of Client).

Hachamov told me last week during a demo that one of his goals with the new company is prove that beautifully designed services can come out of Israel. On that note, Samba succeeds. To get the full experience, you really have to play with Samba for yourself, but the basic premise is that it offers a simple tool to record, share, and save video messages and their associated replies.

What’s clever is the look-and-feel of Samba. When you’re watching a video, you can see your friend’s reaction to the video you sent them. Their video appears in a smaller, round window layered on top of your own. It looks like those “Chat Heads” that Facebook introduced with Messenger, for example. And like Facebook’s “Chat Heads,” you can drag that circle around on your screen with your finger.

TechCrunch

China aims at 50 million 4G users by end of year

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) is hoping to see up to 50 million subscribers to the nation’s relatively new 4G network by the end of the year.

MIIT’s Wen Ku says that 30 million would be a conservative number for the 4G user-base, while 50 million is more optimistic. For a sense of scale, China had 417 million 3G subscribers at the end of 2013.

China Mobile (NYSE:CHL; HKG:0941) switched on its 4G network mid-December, but it’s limited to a handful of key cities for now. The two other telcos, China Telecom and China Unicom, have yet to roll out LTE. So China’s uptake of 4G will be stunted by the slow and gradual roll-out across telcos and more areas of the country.But  China   Mobile believes it will have more than 344 cities covered by the end of the year.

Another stumbling block is the lack of affordable 4G devices in the China market. Apple’s iPhone now supports 4G in the nation, but mass adoption won’t happen until more affordable brands, like Xiaomi orCoolpad, roll out enticing LTE phones.

Source: TECHINASIA

The bad and the good of micro texts

There are both advantages and disadvantages that come with the joining of micro text message groups. One of the advantages is reestablishing connections with old acquaintances with whom one may have long lost contact, while one of the disadvantages is the amount of time eaten up reading micro text messages, which are difficult to resist.

Since I joined several micro message groups, whose messages you've got to go through once in a while, I've felt the relentless passing of time, and I've made up my mind that I will spend as little time as possible reading them, skipping most of them.

Veteran Chinese writer Wang Meng recently said something to the effect that one of the saddest things about information technology is that micro text messages have considerably reduced people's time for reading and therefore their capability for independent thought.

On the subways, most youngsters bury themselves in their smartphones and very few read books or magazines.

Of course, there is the possibility that some are using their smartphones to read a book. But I doubt it. I believe that most of them are updating themselves with whatever has been forwarded to their WeChat, or Weixin accounts, as Tencent's popular app is known in China, or else they are sending what they have downloaded online to their friends.

In fact, there are fewer people reading on the subway in China today than there were reading on the tube in London when I was there in 1995. I don't know whether there are still as many commuters reading on the tube in London, and many no doubt do it on their smartphones rather than reading the physical books, but it is still likely to be more than the number of people reading books, whether paper or electronic, on Beijing's subway.

This is simply because the majority of Chinese people have not developed the habit of reading books, despite the fact that the number of institutions of higher learning and the number of students on campus have increased manyfold over the past three decades.

That may explain why 115 members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference jointly proposed the making of a law to promote reading among citizens in 2013.

The transmission of information via electronic means, such as micro blogs, text messages and micro text messages, have made it even more unlikely people will develop the habit of reading books and make them part of their lives.

But would people have developed the habit of reading even if smartphones and all the modern information transmission means were not available? That remains a question. Undoubtedly, spending years on campus does not necessarily mean a person will love books. There is a tendency for students to be pragmatic and more concerned with what kind of a job they will hopefully get after graduation rather than becoming obsessed with the pursuit of knowledge in a particular field.

Wang's concerns do seem justified, as more people seem immersed in their screens. But I do not think this is a bad thing per se. My argument is such behavior can actually help people, as the micro text messages do include some that can help people gain a better understanding of a particular event or life in general.

However, for those to whom reading books is already a way of life, the question is whether he or she has the self-restraint not to become addicted to this from of communication.

I try to make it a rule that going through micro text messages is just a short break from my reading. I might sometimes send a picture or short message online, but never so many that it becomes a major part of my life.

There is indeed some useful information or some very interesting topics being discussed in the Weixin groups and by reading through some of them I can learn something new. But while micro text messages can be an important source of information and knowledge for those who have never developed the habit of reading books, I would say micro text messages can never replace reading, which can be much more thought provoking.

However, another advantage of these modern information transmission means is they have considerably expanded the channel of communication in terms of the number of people getting involved in a conversation or discussion to a degree unimaginable in the past.

Source: Chinadaily by Zhu Yuan

Hop Brings Its Instant Messaging-Like Email Client To The iPad

Hop (formerly Ping), a mobile app that makes replying to email feel more like instant messaging, is now available on iPad, the company is announcing today. In addition, hop now also supports multiple email accounts – something users have been asking for since the apps’s fall 2013 debut.

For those unfamiliar with hop, the idea is intriguing. The app basically turns email threads into real-time conversations by offering an interface that not only feels more like mobile messaging, but also works like iMessage or chat, where you can even see when another person is typing.

The app blends much of what’s expected in an email client, like subject lines or cc:/bcc: fields with its messaging-like interface, while also supporting things that are more common in consumer communication apps, like photo sharing, voice or video calls.

Hop currently allows you to add your existing email account (or now accounts) from top services like Gmail, Yahoo, iCloud, or Aol and then be alerted the moment new mail arrives.

In practice, hop makes more sense for a younger, consumer audience, who may use email only occasionally, or when absolutely required, rather than someone whose inbox is inundated with dozens or hundreds of new messages per day, many of which require a more professional response than a quick “chat-like” reply.

That being said, it’s hard to knock this Tel Aviv-based company’s ingenuity in trying to rethink email for the mobile age. But whether or not a large majority of email users actually want their email to work more like SMS remains to be seen – hop today isn’t disclosing exact user numbers, only saying it has “thousands” of hop customers.

The updated app, which is now iPad-friendly, is here on iTunes.

Source: TechCrunch

Taobao Now Supports NFC Mobile Payments by Hong Kong Octopus Users

Taobao and Alipay of Alibaba Group just rolled out NFC mobile payment solution, named OOP (Octopus Online Payment), together with Octopus Cards Limited (OCL).

Octopus mobile app users now can make payments, through their NFC-enabled mobile devices, for purchases on Taobao marketplace. OOP charges a 1.5% fee of the total transaction amount. It sets a daily payment limit of HK$1,000 for each Octopus account.

Octopus applications are widely used by Hong Kong people in their daily lives. Alipay and Taobao marketplace are seeing rising popularity among Hong Kond users.

Alipay announced to expand to Hong Kong market last month by enabling payments through Alipay On-site at convenience stores, and cosmetics/apparel stores.

Source: TechNode

China to expand cross-border yuan use

China will continue to expand the cross-border use of the yuan this year, the central bank said on Wednesday.

People's Bank of China (PBOC) will gradually upgrade the yuan formation mechanism and expand the exchange rate's floating range in an orderly way, according to the PBOC.

The statement came after Shanghai free trade zone (FTZ) announced on Tuesday that five third-party payment firms have been approved to handle yuan-denominated cross-border payments in the zone.

The Shanghai office of the PBOC said that Allinpay, 99Bill, ChinaPay, Dongfang Electronics and Shengpay are now allowed to process cross-border payment in the renminbi in the FTZ.

The Bank of China cross-border renminbi index hit a record high of 228 in the fourth quarter of 2013, the bank said on Tuesday.

The yuan's cross-border settlement was 3.64 trillion yuan ($597 billion) in the first eleven months of 2013, 350 times that in 2009, the PBOC said at a work-planning meeting in January.

Source: ChinaDaily

Land supply for property dev't and farm use to be assured

Will housing prices be significantly affected if the supply of new land is on hold? The Ministry of Land and Resources says the total construction land supply will be fixed but space for housing development will still be assured.

Industrial space will be on the chopping block to prevent the rampant growth of new factories and even higher overproduction.

In the meantime, the ministry will watch the use of rural land traded in a national circulation system. That land is owned by farmer groups, and is traded for agricultural uses. The ministry says commercial development on those land is strictly prohibited.

Source: CCTV

Land authority keen to protect farm land supply

The Chinese land authority confirmed a tougher stance on Thursday, setting a warning line for the transformation of farm land to construction use. The move comes in an effort to protect the supply of farm land in China.

Chinese farm land supply is tight.

Many developers have transformed farm land into construction projects that threaten China’s grain supply.

A land resources official says real estate development may need to give way to farm land protection.

Dong Zuoji, director-genereal of Ministry of Land and Resources, said, "It’s clear and definite that the farm land supply comes first. It’s a major principle for future policies. If developers want to expand their construction space, they need to get around farm land."

For metropolises with more than 5 million people, there will be no new construction land made available for commercial property development.

"We will gradually cut off new construction land supplies in advanced areas such as Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, Yangtze river delta, and Pearl river delta," Dong said.

An industry report in January shows that more than 90 percent of the commercial property turnover in 43 major cities in China including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou decreased compared with last month or the same period last year.

Source: CCTV

IMF warns risk in withdrawing stimulus

The IMF is urging the United States and other advanced economies... to not pull back on their stimulus programs too quickly.

The IMF says a slow retreat would be best for the recovery of the global economy, given the recent volatility in some emerging markets.

The IMF and policymakers in emerging economies are calling for better coordination of central bank EXIT plans.

The IMF said in a briefing note for the upcoming G-20 meeting that the global growth outlook remains similar to the forecast in January, which was 3.75 percent for this year and 4 percent in 2015. However, new risks have emerged because of inflation in the Eurozone. Emerging markets are calling for sound policies and flexible exchange rates to calm the turbulence.

Source: CCTV

Jump in PMI suggests winter slowdown may be temporary

U.S. manufacturing growth accelerated to the highest level in February since May 2010, suggesting that the slowdown seen earlier this year from winter weather may be temporary, according to the flash Markit manufacturing purchasing managers index released Thursday.

The gauge rose to 56.7 from 53.7 in January, which was a three-month low.

“The flash manufacturing PMI provides the first indications that production has rebounded from the weather-related slowdown seen in January,” said Chris Wiilliamson, chief economist at Markit.

Among individual components, the new orders index increased to 58.8 from 53.9 in the prior month. The flash output index rose to 57.2 from 53.5. Job hiring trends continued to be positive, with the employment index rising to 54.0 from 53.2.

Williamson noted the backlog of work showed the largest rise since prior to the financial crisis as well as a steep fall in inventories. “Both point to ongoing growth of production and hiring in March,” he said.

Source: marketwatch

China: NDRC fines 64 banks 825-mln yuan for arbitrary charges

China's economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission, has issued stiff fines to some banks for their arbitrary charges.

This is part of the price authority's effort to enforce price regulations and fight monopolies.

The NDRC says that by the end of January, penalties totalling 825 million yuan, or 135 million U.S. dollars, were handed down to 64 commercial banks for levelling arbitrary charges.

Nearly half of the fines were imposed on lenders for misconduct and the rest was returned to relevant businesses as compensation.

Source:  CCTV

Jump in PMI suggests winter slowdown may be temporary

U.S. manufacturing growth accelerated to the highest level in February since May 2010, suggesting that the slowdown seen earlier this year from winter weather may be temporary, according to the flash Markit manufacturing purchasing managers index released Thursday.

The gauge rose to 56.7 from 53.7 in January, which was a three-month low.

“The flash manufacturing PMI provides the first indications that production has rebounded from the weather-related slowdown seen in January,” said Chris Wiilliamson, chief economist at Markit.

PMI readings above 50 signal an increase in activity.

Among individual components, the new orders index increased to 58.8 from 53.9 in the prior month. The flash output index rose to 57.2 from 53.5. Job hiring trends continued to be positive, with the employment index rising to 54.0 from 53.2.

Source: Marketwatch

Sinopec plans to open downstream business to private capital

A major breakthrough in China’s reform of state owned enterprises. The Shanghai Securities News reports, refining giant Sinopec’s board members approved to restructure its oil product sales business, and to open the downstream business to private capital.

The restructuring will be carried out after evaluation of assets and liabilities. But Sinopec didn’t specify how big a stake will be held by private capital. Analysts say the move is a milestone in breaking state firms’ dominance in the energy sector, and more SOEs are expected to follow suit.

The National Development and Reform Commission said recently China has entered a crucial period to deepen reforms, especially to diversify the shareholding of SOEs.

Source: CCTV

Chinese film wins Best Picture at Berlin film festival

The Chinese film Bai Ri Yan Huo (Black Coal, Thin Ice) has won the Golden Bear for best picture at the Berlin international film festival.

Liao Fan won the prize for best actor in the same film, while Haru Kuroki won best actress for her role in the Japanese movie Chiisai Ouchi (The Little House).

Bai Ri Yan Huo features an overweight detective, played by Liao Fan, on the trail of a serial killer.

"It's really hard to believe this dream has come true," a stunned Diao Yinan, director of the winning film, told the festival audience.

Source: BBC

Pacific Rubiales Excerpt(Perú) of its Press release of their Reserve Report at 31.12.2013

Pacific Rubiales Excerpt of its Press release of their Reserve Report at 31.12.2013

In Peru, the Company added 5 MMboe of net 2P reserves, most of which are light oil from Block Z-1, and include approximately 9 Bcf (1.6 MMboe) natural gas in the undeveloped Piedra Redonda field. Approximately 35% of the 2P oil reserves and 19% of the 2P natural gas reserves in Block Z-1 are in the P1 category. The Company and its partner will be engaged in an active development drilling program on the block over the next two years which is expected to significantly grow oil production and result in movements in reserves from probable and proved undeveloped ("PUD") categories to proved developed producing. Net production during 2013 attributed to the Company's 49% participating interest in Block Z-1 was approximately 0.5 MMbbl. The Company also booked a small initial net 2P oil reserve addition, related to its Los Angeles-1X exploration discovery in Block 131, onshore Peru.

Europe-Africa Indexes market Brief February 20th, 2014

time (GMT)	index value	change		%
London
FTSE 100		Thu 14:11	6777.68	-19.03		-0.28
FTSE 250		Thu 14:11	16262.56	-84.77		-0.52
FTSE 350		Thu 14:11	3698.94	-11.74		-0.32
FTSE All Share		Thu 14:11	3635.79	-11.72		-0.32
FTSE Techmark		Thu 14:11	3250.15	-40.07		-1.22
Pan European
FTSEurofirst 300		Thu 14:11	1332.38	-5.89		-0.44
DJ Eurostoxx 50		Thu 14:11	3103.64	-17.16		-0.55
Amsterdam AEX		Thu 14:11	397.29	-4.25		-1.06
Frankfurt
Dax		Thu 14:11	9557.68	-102.37		-1.06
MDax		Thu 14:11	16651.63	-204.15		-1.21
SDax		Thu 14:11	7168.99	-58.65		-0.81
TecDax		Thu 14:11	1251.90	-18.09		-1.42
Paris Cac 40		Thu 14:11	4331.19	-9.91		-0.23
Brussels Bel 20		Thu 14:11	2993.87	-10.78		-0.36
Madrid IBEX		Thu 14:11	10005.90	-47.90		-0.48
Zurich
SMI		Thu 14:11	8354.43	-56.20		-0.67
SPI		Thu 14:09	7988.28	-55.01		-0.68
Moscow
MICEX		Wed 15:46	1485.60	-18.64		-1.24
RTS		Thu 14:01	1301.84	-4.37		-0.33
Johannesburg All Share		Thu 14:11	47152.54	-285.77		-0.60

Source: BBC