When interest rates are low,Real State becomes a safe haven.

''The London, Hong Kong, Sydney and New York real estate markets are hot, fuelled by low interest rates and demand by foreign investors looking for safe places to park their cash — or quick returns from flipping properties in markets where prices seem to only be going up''.

New York and London were the top contenders in the Association of Foreign Investors in Real State’s (AFIRE) 2013 survey, with the United States and United Kingdom providing the best opportunities for capital appreciation. What’s more, the US, UK and Australian markets were ranked as having the most stable and secure real estate investments, with China ranked as one of the top emerging markets''.

“Global property is a safe haven” amid political and economic uncertainty, said Gráinne Gilmore, head of residential research at London-based Knight Frank. “You can touch and see your assets.”

''But as foreign investors pile in, owning has become an expensive proposition for local residents, even as some local governments — worried about overheated housing markets — take measures to cool prices. That presents a host of questions for people who simply want to live in the city where they work, from how long the price run-up will last to whether they should buy, rent or sell to the highest bidder.

In these four cities, among others, the inventory of homes for sale has failed to keep up with demand. Local residents bid for what they can find but, especially at the high end of the market, they find themselves competing with all-cash offers from foreign investors who are more concerned about their portfolio than about living someplace''.
  The problem comes when Central Bankers keep pumping money
to their economies, for a very long period of time. This policy always produces distortions in the prices of asset classes, where money is allocated unevenly, not all asset prices rise at the same time.

Source: BBC

The market is telling we won't wait for official increase of interest rates.

"Federal Reserve officials have been trying to convince investors for weeks not to overreact when the central bank starts to tap its $85 billion-per-month bond-buying program. An adjustment in the program won’t mean that it will end all at once, officials say, and even more importantly it won’t mean that the Fed is anywhere near raising short-term interest rates.

Investors aren’t listening.

A wide range of indicators suggest that investors are starting to think the Fed might start raising short-term interest rates — now near zero — sooner than previously thought. Until recently many market indicators suggested investors expected the first rate increases in mid-2015, but now these indicators indicate investors think it could be sooner".

Source: WSJ

Urbanization,the road to reduce poverty in developing countries. IMF-World Bank Report.

"Urbanization helps pull people out of poverty and advances progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but, if not managed well, can also lead to burgeoning growth of slums, pollution, and crime, says the Global Monitoring Report (GMR) 2013, released  by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF)''.

''Urbanization has been a major force behind poverty reduction and progress towards other MDGs. With over 80 percent of global goods and services produced in cities, countries with relatively higher levels of urbanization, such as China, and many others in East Asia and Latin America, have played a major role in lowering extreme poverty[1] worldwide. In contrast, the two least urbanized regions, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, have significantly higher rates of poverty and continue to lag behind on most MDGs''.

"Urban infant mortality rates range from 8-9 percentage points lower than the rural rates in Latin America and Central Asia; to 10-16 percentage points in the Middle East and North Africa, South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa and highest in East Asia (21 percentage points)".

“The rural-urban divide is quite evident, said Kaushik Basu, the World Bank’s Chief Economist and Senior Vice President for Development Economics. “But this does not mean unfettered urbanization is a cure-all – the urban poor in many places urgently need better services as well as infrastructure that will keep them connected to schools, jobs and decent health care.”
"Progress has been stellar on reducing extreme poverty, providing access to safe drinking water and eliminating gender disparity in primary education, with these targets already achieved several years ahead of the MDGs deadline.
Large cities and smaller towns are fast becoming home to the world’s largest slums[2], with Asia home to 61 percent of the world’s 828 million slum dwellers, Africa 25.5 percent and Latin America 13.4 percent. The developing world’s urban centers are expected to burgeon, drawing 96 percent of the additional 1.4 billion people by 2030. To cope with urban growth, a coordinated package of essential infrastructure and services is needed. Only by meeting essential needs related to transportation, housing, water and sanitation as well as education and healthcare can cities avoid becoming hubs of poverty and squalor, the report says".
"At the same time, stepped up efforts are also needed to improve development in rural areas, where 76 percent of the developing world’s 1.2 billion poor live, with inadequate access to the basic amenities defined by the MDGs.
Urbanization does matter. However, in order to harness the economic and social benefits of urbanization, policy-makers must plan for efficient land-use, match population densities with the required needs for transport, housing and other infrastructure, and arrange the financing needed for such urban development programs,” said Jos Verbeek, Lead Economist at the World Bank and lead author of the GMR".

World Bank, April 2013

Barrick's Nightmare, Pascua Lama Gold project in Chile

''Barrick will complete Pascua Lama Chile's Enviromental Requirements by December 2014,to
revive its US 8.5 billion Gold and Silver project''.

''The Pascua Lama project is situated immediately next to glaciers and on permanently frozen land and is therefore especially problematic. Roads enabling mine access have already had significant impact on glaciers and dust generated by stripping activities for the open pit have covered large glaciated areas leading to a work stoppage in late 2012.

The Pascua Lama development was originally budgeted at $3.3B - $3.6B. After a review in 2011 capex estimates were revised to $4.7B - $5.0B. The latest price tag estimated by Barrick during discussion  Q2/2012 results on July 26 2012 was approaching $8B. In the aftermath of publication of Q2/2012 results Barrick's market capitalisation lost roughly 10% of ground when compared to Goldcorp. The timing of the most recent suspension at Pascua Lama coincided with a historic drop in gold spot price in the first half of April. Barrick's market capitalisation was reduced roughly 15% further than Goldcorp's during this period which we assume was directly attributable to the Pascua Lama suspension order.
Goldcorp has recently taken the number one ranking of the largest gold miner by market capitalisation from Barrick Gold. Many would argue that the Pascua Lama disaster was to blame for this shift in positions.
 Repeated delays and ongoing court proceedings impact on capital expenditure and cause cost explosions. It was calculated that a further delay of the Pascua Lama project by one year would reduce the NPV of the project by 27% or $1.54 per share''. 

Source AP and Seeking Alpha

IMF Regional Economic Report

Asia and Pacific region Date: April 2013 Growth in the Asia-Pacific region shows signs of improving as extreme risks emanating from advanced economies have receded and domestic demand remains resilient, supported by relatively easy financial conditions and robust labor markets. A small and gradual pick-up in growth to over 5.75 percent is projected in the course of 2013. Risks to the outlook from within the region, such as rising financial imbalances and asset prices in some economies, are coming clearer into focus. Although Asia's banking and corporate sectors have solid buffers, monetary policymakers should stand ready to respond early and decisively to shifting risks, and macroprudential measures will also have a role to play. In many Asian economies, some fiscal consolidation could also rebuild the space needed to respond to future shocks and preempt potential overheating pressures from capital inflows. In particular, there is a growing need to make tax and spending policies more efficient. To sustain high growth rates and alleviate the "middle-income trap" across Emerging Asia, the policy agenda will vary by jurisdiction but will also often include strengthening infrastructure investment and reforming goods and labor markets.

Middle East and Central Asia region Date: May 2013 Two years after the onset of the arab Spring, many countries in the Middle East and North Africa continue to undergo complex political, social, and economic transitions. Economic performance across the region was mixed in 2012: although most oil-exporting countries grew at healthy rates, economic growth remained sluggish in the oil importers. In 2013, these differences are expected to narrow because of a scaling-back of hydrocarbon production among oil exporters and a mild economic recovery among oil importers. For the countries in the Caucasus and Central Asia region, the near-term outlook remains broadly favorable, reflecting high oil prices for the oil and gas exporters and strong non-oil commodity prices and robust remittances in the oil and gas importers. Risks to this favorable outlook could stem from still-subdued world demand, domestic political uncertainties, and geopolitical risks in the region. Policymakers, particularly in the oil-importing countries, should take advantage of the favorable outlook to re-establish fiscal policy buffers that were eroded in the aftermath of the global crisis.

Sub-Saharan Africa region Date: May 2013 Growth remained strong in the region in 2012, with regional GDP rates increasing in most countries (excluding Nigeria and South Africa). Projections point to a moderate, broad-based acceleration in growth to around 5½ percent in 2013¬14, reflecting a gradually strengthening global economy and robust domestic demand. Investment in export-oriented sectors remains an important economic driver, and an agriculture rebound in drought-affected areas will also help growth. Uncertainties in the global economy are the main risk to the regional outlook, but plausible adverse shocks would likely not have a large effect on the region’s overall performance.

Western Hemisphere region Date: May 2013 Growth in Latin America is set to pick up to about 3½ percent in 2013, broadly in line with potential. The region continues to benefit from favorable external financing conditions and relatively high commodity prices, but these tailwinds are unlikely to last forever. The key challenges for policymakers today are preserving macroeconomic and financial stability, and building strong foundations for sustained growth in the future. More prudent fiscal policy would help ease pressure on capacity constraints, mitigate the widening of current account deficits, and prepare the economies better to deal with adverse external shocks. Exchange rate flexibility and prudential measures should continue to be used to discourage speculative capital flows. Sustaining strong output growth will require structural reforms to raise productivity growth

Nikkei Enters Bear Market

''Markets across Asia suffered another bruising day as investors scrambled for the exits, with Japanese stocks falling over 6% and into a bear market, and heavy losses in China and across Southeast Asia. Declines continued in U.S. stock futures and in Europe.

The selloff has gripped global markets all week, fueled by uncertainty over the direction of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy and signs of cooling growth in emerging economies. The mounting worries are sending cash to traditional safe haven assets of Treasuries, the yen and Japanese government bonds while finance ministers and central banks across the region are taking steps to calm markets''.

''Core benchmark indexes in Europe were all down more than 1%. The yield on the 10-year Italian government bond fell after fairly solid Italian bond-auction results, but stocks maintained losses.

The most dramatic move was in Japan, with the Nikkei Stock Average falling 6.4% to 12445.38 and putting it 21.9% down from the intraday peak reached on May 23, the day Japan's 6-month rally turned south and begun three weeks of wild trading''.

SOURCE: WSJ

World Bank cuts Global Growth Outlook

Excerpts.

"The World Bank cut its global growth forecast for this year after emerging markets from China to Brazil slowed more than projected, while budget cuts and slumping investor confidence deepened Europe’s contraction".

"The world economy will expand 2.2 percent, less than a January forecast for 2.4 percent growth and slower than last year’s 2.3 percent, the bank said in a report released today in Washington. It lowered its prediction for developing economies and sees the euro region’s gross domestic product shrinking 0.6 percent. In contrast, forecasts were raised for the U.S. and Japan, which was helped by fiscal and monetary stimulus".

"Debate among U.S. policy makers over when and how to dial back the Federal Reserve’s $85 billion-a-month program of asset purchases has shaken financial markets in developing nations. More than $2.5 trillion has been erased from the value of global equities since Fed Chairman Ben  Bernanke said May 22 that the Fed could scale back stimulus efforts if the employment outlook shows “sustainable improvement.”

''The withdrawal of accommodative policy may have consequences in the longer run as interest rates in developing countries rise more than in their industrial counterparts, slowing investment and growth, according to the report".

''Developing countries collectively were forecast by the World Bank to expand 5.1 percent, less than the 5.5 percent estimated in January.

China’s growth outlook was cut to 7.7 percent from 8.4 percent, according to the World Bank’s report. The 6.1 percent forecast for India was reduced to 5.7 percent and Brazil’s was lowered to 2.9 percent from 3.4 percent.

The effects could be neutralized if growth picks up in Europe or Japan, which the bank now sees expanding 1.4 percent this year from 0.8 percent in its January forecasts, he said".

Source: Bloomberg 

Meredith Whitney: Booming States in the U.S. 2013.

 Excerpts

"Whitney, the author of The Fate of the States, also downplayed the role of historic low interest rates in the more recent uptick in the U.S. housing market.

"I don't think the mortgage market is responding to low [interest] rates anymore," she says. "Very few first-time buyers [are] going out with a mortgage and buying [a] home. There's no correlation there that once was between mortgage rates and home purchasing [in the U.S.]"

If anything, she adds, "low interest rate are killing [U.S.] retirees; people living on a fixed income are really struggling."

''Interestingly, Whitney forecasts a bright and prosperous future for resource-rich states in the U.S. - North Dakota, Nebraska, Texas, Wyoming, among others - and the Canadian province of Alberta''.

These American states, which she refers to as the "new geography of American prosperity," hadn't experienced a housing crisis as severe as the rest of the country.

"Those states have agrarian roots [and] are used to major booms and busts and have managed themselves much more conservatively on a fiscal basis," she says. "And because of that they [entered] into the [recent] bust with a lot more dry powder."

"These states are rich in resources and businesses are making long-term investments," she says. "Businesses are building new facilities in these states and are making 30-year investments. It's not coincidental that [these states] have unemployment rates that are half that of Nevada and California."
This, adds Whitney, has ripple effect which draws greater inflows of skilled people, creates new jobs, prompts infrastructural developments, all of which ultimately provide a boost to housing markets''

Source: Howard Green Interview to Meredith Whitney in bnn.ca

Urbanization Plan under revision in China. Fiscal revamp and ''hukou'' reforms are an imperative duty

"Premier Li Keqiang has rejected an urbanization proposal drafted by theNational Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), seeking changes to put more emphasis on economic reform, according to the sources, who are familiar with the matter".

State-owned China Development Bank recently pledged to lend 150 billion yuan ($24.47 billion) to southeastern Fujian province to support its urbanization and channel 30 billion yuan into urban projects in central Anhui province, according to Chinese media.

“The urbanization plan could be delayed. Top leaders have seen potential risks if the program cannot be kept on the right path,” said an economist at a top think-tank which advises the cabinet.

China plans to spend some 40 trillion yuan ($6.5 trillion) to bring 400 million people to its cities over the next decade as leaders such as Li try to sustain economic growth that slowed to a 13-year low of 7.8 percent in 2012.

 ''China is still dealing with the side effects of its 4 trillion yuan stimulus package launched in 2008 to counter the global financial crisis, which left local governments with a 10.7 trillion dollar according to Government sources and sent real state prices speculatively higher''.

To fund the urbanization plan, local governments would issue long-term bonds. 

But a fiscal revamp is needed because local governments don’t have a steady flow of tax revenues to back the issuance of bonds. Under China’s tax structure, in place since 1994, the central government gets most receipts; while local governments do the spending,and their only source of revenues are land sales.

 ''Beijing needs to overhaul its land and tax codes as well as free up the rigid residency registration, or “hukou”, system to give migrant workers access to education, health and other services where they work, experts have said. Li wanted more detail on these sorts of reforms in the plan'', the sources said.

“The focus of the urbanization drive should be land and hukou reforms. It’s doomed if China continues to rely on local government spending to support urbanization,” said Yi Xianrong, senior economist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), a leading government think-tank in Beijing.

''China’s housing inflation accelerated to its fastest pace in April in two years, despite stricter measures by Beijing to calm a frothy real estate market.

Li Yining, the premier’s former teacher at Peking University, recently said Chinese banks could be dragged into another spending binge that could spark a financial crisis.

But Premier Li is unlikely to backpedal on the urbanisation drive, with his interest in the issue seen as far back as the early 1990s when he wrote a doctoral thesis on the subject. One of his key arguments was to reform the hukou system''.

Source: Reuters May 2013

Central Bank Governor of Israel Stanley Fisher: Higher U.S Bond yields will stop higher currencies for emerging markets.

“I am happy to see these rises in Treasury yields because we’ve been dealing with capital inflows which are not particularly wanted.”
''The Bank of Israel last month cut interest rates twice by a cumulative 0.5 percentage point to 1.25 percent in a bid to moderate the strengthening of the shekel, and also announced the purchase of $2.1 billion in foreign currency by the year’s end. The shekel has jumped 7 percent in the past year''.
“If you have a current account which is fundamentally in balance, which ours is, then when our rates are significantly above foreign rates, we have to deal with foreign inflows,” Fischer said yesterday''
"As speculation the Federal Reserve may lower its bond-buying,  yields on 10-year Treasury bonds reached 2.29 percent on June 11, the highest since April 2012 and up from a record 1.38 percent in July. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Emerging Markets Currency Index has fallen 4 percent in the past month as investors pull money out of developing nation bond funds".

''Fischer earned a reputation as a trailblazer as the first central banker to cut rates in 2008 at the start of the global economic crisis, and the first to raise rates the following year in response to signs of financial recovery. He also bought up foreign currency in unprecedented amounts to drive down the value of the shekel and boost exports, more than doubling reserves''.

King Ross cancelled Gold Project in Ecuador

  After two years of conversations and disagreement on Ecuador taxation( they wanted a 70% income taxation),  King Ross decided to cancel its project of Frutas del Norte Gold Mine.

  Source: bnn.ca

Risks of prolonged monetary accommodative policies. IMF Report.

Rising stability Risks of Accommodative Monetary Policies

''The use of unconventional monetary policies in
advanced economies continues to provide essential support
to aggregate demand. These policies

are generating a substantial rebalancing of private 

investor portfolios toward riskier assets, as intended.
However, a prolonged period of extraordinary
monetary accommodation could push portfolio
rebalancing and risk appetite to the point of creating
significant adverse side effects. While the net benefits
of unconventional policies remain highly favorable
today, these side effects must be closely monitored
and controlled''.


''the favorable funding environment for emerging market
economies might breed complacency about growing
challenges to domestic financial stability. Valuations
have not yet reached stretched levels (except in a few
hot spots), but sensitivity to higher global interest
rates and market volatility has increased across asset
classes, including in emerging market economies. A
prolonged period of continued monetary accommodation will increase vulnerabilities and sensitivity to a rise in rates''.

''Acute short-term stability risks have declined in the
euro area on the back of strong policy action. Prices
and liquidity conditions in sovereign, bank, and
corporate debt markets have improved dramatically,
and issuance has soared. However, medium-term
risks remain, reflecting a weak economic outlook,
persistent fragmentation, and structural challenges.
Some banks in the euro area periphery remain
challenged by deleveraging pressures, still-elevated
funding costs, deteriorating asset quality, and weak
profits.
 Corporations in the periphery are directly
affected by bank deleveraging, cyclical headwinds,
and their own debt overhangs. Against this backdrop
more work needs to be done in the short term to
improve bank and capital market functioning, while
moving steadily toward a full-fledged banking union.
Policy actions have greatly reduced nearterm perceptions of tail risk''.

Excerpts from the IMF GFSR, April 2013 

EXPECT HIGH VOLATILITY,TURMOILS IN THE BOND AND STOCK MARKETS,IN THE PROCESS OF NORMALIZATION OF INTEREST RATES

''The rolling back of the U.S. Federal Reserve's massive quantitative easing program could be a major issue for all economies, according to former World Bank President Robert Zoellick. "[Fed] tapering is a big issue. I think for all economies - U.S., Europe, China, Southeast Asia - the fundamentals still go back to structural reforms," Robert Zoellick,  told CNBC Asia's "Squawk Box" on Tuesday.
He added that "The question will be as the Fed eventually moves away from the monetary easing policies, what will be the effect of the [withdrawal of the wall of money that's moved around the world?"

 See previous article on this Blog, End of easy money will put pressure on Latin American Currencies.
 Time to adjust portfolios?

The global economy is “in the early stages of the recovery of the equity culture and perhaps the end of a 30-year growing love affair” with bonds, Jim O’Neill said earlier in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “On The Move” with Mark Barton.
''The Federal Reserve is buying $85 billion of Treasuries and mortgage securities each month to support the world’s largest economy by putting downward pressure on borrowing costs. Speculation the central bank may taper its debt purchases in the coming months may damp demand for emerging-market bonds, as well as U.S. debt, said O’Neill''.

“It’s all part of this big normalization that’s going to happen,” O’Neill said in an interview in London today. “In the process, there could be quite ugly days.”

''The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield rose four basis points, or 0.04 percentage point, to 2.25 percent at 6:14 a.m. New York time. It touched 2.26 percent, the highest since April 2012 and up from a record-low 1.38 percent on July 25".

Ten-year yields, which were last above 4 percent in April 2010, may reach that level “not next week, but in the next couple of years if the U.S. is getting back to normality,” O’Neill said.

Source CNBC, Bloomberg.

Barron´s interview to Marc Faber Part III

On China´s GDP growth rates and other economic data.

" There has been a huge credit bubble in China, and it isn't going to end well. Its economy officially grew 7.7% in the first quarter. In reality, it is growing 4% a year, at best. Figures on Chinese exports to Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore don't agree with the import figures of those countries. In each case, reported exports are much larger than reported imports. Singapore publishes relatively honest economic statistics. Its gross domestic product has hardly grown in the past six months. Inflation is about 4% a year. Here in Thailand, growth has slowed despite massive fiscal stimulus. Trade and current-account surpluses have been shrinking in Malaysia, Indonesia, and other countries".

On his thoughts about the european markets.

''I wasn't optimistic for a long time, although I bought some Swiss insurance stocks after the crisis in 2009. Then, last May, I took another look, as sentiment was so negative. The S&P had doubled from its 2009 lows, yet many markets in Europe were at or below their 2009 lows. Something was out of sync. For the first time in my life, I bought European shares, and I plan to buy more''.

''Markets in Europe have made major lows. But investors don't fully comprehend what happened in Cyprus. In the event of future bailouts, bank depositors will lose a percentage of their money. Money in the bank isn't 100% safe anymore. That's why I own stocks, and corporate bonds, and real estate''.

 What does he thinks about gold correction and its allocation in a portfolio of investments?

 ''Gold is down 30% from its 2011 peak of $1,921, but has far outperformed financial assets since 1999. A correction was overdue. I have about a 25% allocation to gold and buy some every month. I want to have some assets that aren't in the banking system. When the asset bubble bursts, financial assets will be particularly vulnerable.

Gold is easier to carry than a Lamborghini.

Most of my gold is in a safe-deposit box in Switzerland, but I am shifting it to Asia''. 

End of easy money will put pressure on Latin American currencies. Time to adjust portfolios?

Analysis: History may repeat itself for Mexico, Peru as Fed eyes exit

By Krista Hughes

MEXICO CITY | Sun Jun 9, 2013 4:18pm EDT

(Reuters) - "Mexico and Peru's popularity among foreign investors means they are among the emerging market economies most exposed to losses when the United States finally moves to take its foot off the monetary accelerator".

"History shows that when U.S. interest rates jump - widely anticipated when the Federal Reserve begins reducing its $85 billion a month bond purchases - new foreign investment in Peruvian and Mexican financial assets drops by almost two-thirds.

In what many see as a dress rehearsal, worries that the Fed might slow buying later this year pushed Mexican 10-year yields up almost 100 basis points in May. The rise was twice the jump in U.S. Treasuries".

"Bonds in Brazil, Colombia and Peru also sold off and major Latin Americancurrencies fell on average 5.5 percent on the mere hint of a limit to the cheap cash that has pushed many emerging markets to record highs.

Latin America has outperformed other emerging markets in attracting foreign investment over the last two years and economists say countries with the highest inflows may see the strongest outflows when the wind turns.

Mexico, with its close ties to the United States, has been the biggest magnet for Latin American portfolio flows since 2009, with foreign ownership of local bonds close to 40 percent. Peru and Chile lead taking all foreign flows into account".

Reuters' analysis of data shows that "a one percentage point rise in U.S. 10-year yields since 1995 is typically followed by a 63 percent drop in net, non-foreign direct investment inflows to Mexico. Taking inflows over the last 12 months, that would be equivalent to a $50 billion fall".

"In Peru, where foreigners own a whopping 57 percent of local currency debt, a comparable rise precedes a 61 percent drop in inflows, while a 40-48 percent fall could be expected in Chile, Colombia and Brazil, which has just dropped a tax on foreign investment in domestic bonds to attract more capital'

Peruvian Finance Minister Luis Castilla downplayed risks to his country from a Fed exit and welcomed the sol's easing from 16-year highs.

"We're a country that has been running fiscal surpluses," he told Reuters. "We are not a country that will need to be tapping markets such as other countries in the region. That gives us some comfort."

"But Peru is also pressured by slower growth in China, undercutting the high commodity prices that have buoyed its economy. The minerals exporter has just posted its first quarterly trade deficit in more than four years and economists are trimming growth forecasts.

To some investors, the sell-off in May was a wake-up call to those who had preached that emerging markets were the new global safe haven amid ongoing weakness in developed economies".

Zhou Xiaochuan Governor of PBOC: China needs to sacrifice short-term economic growth to make structural adjustments.

"China’s slower expansion in the first quarter is “normal” as the world’s second-largest economy sacrifices growth to make structural reforms, People’s Bank of China GovernorZhou Xiaochuan said".

"While a “mild” global slowdown is affecting China, the 7.7 percent gain was “overall normal” compared with the government’s 2013 target of 7.5 percent, Zhou told Bloomberg News outside a meeting of the International Monetary Fund in Washington on April"

“China’s undergoing economic restructuring, which sometimes is not in lockstep with growth,” Zhou said. “We need to sacrifice short-term growth for the purposes of reforms and structural adjustments.”

China’s economy had a stable start in the first quarter and growth was within a reasonable range, Zhou said at the IMF meeting, according to a statement on the PBOC’s website.

In China, “structural adjustment has scored notable achievements,” according to a PBOC statement. "The contribution of service industries to economic growth in the first quarter exceeded that of manufacturing for the first time, it said".

"In his statement to the IMF, Zhou reiterated that changes in China’s financial sector will involve “further interest-rate liberalization, capital account convertibility and exchange rate reform.” While inflation has been “relatively stable,” the government remains on guard due to rising costs for labor and raw materials, pricing reforms and excessive global liquidity, Zhou said".

Source: Bloomberg

Barron's interview to Marc Faber Part II

On present policy makers mistakes.

''They are applying neo-Keynesian theories that call for the government to step in after a recession to boost demand. This might be right in some instances, but I doubt Keynes [British economist John Maynard Keynes] would approve of current policies. Neither would the late economist Milton Friedman, even though Bernanke invoked him to justify his actions. The neo-Keynesians would argue that if the Fed hadn't flooded the system with money, things would have been much worse. That might be true, but they would have been worse for a shorter period of time''.

On how excesses might be corrected.

''At some point, there will be a big reset. Now the rich will be targeted through some kind of wealth tax or significantly higher tax rates. Eventually there will be so much antagonism against well-to-do people that it won't be comfortable.

Also, geopolitical conditions could deteriorate badly in the Middle East and Asia. America's reset toward Asia has alarmed the Chinese, who won't tolerate U.S. interference long term in the region. Then there's the possibility of a Black Swan event. If the S&P 500 drops 20%, the Fed will print more money, so that's not a huge downside risk. But the bond market could collapse, inflation could accelerate, or the Chinese economy could implode. Or we could have a destabilizing political event, or a pandemic''.

On his personal investments.

"'I keep 25% of my assets in equities. I haven't shorted anything yet, although I am tempted to short the S&P or the Russell 2000. I don't own U.S. stocks, but I hold some Asian shares, including Singapore real-estate investment trusts, which I will discuss momentarily. Markets in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand have quadrupled from their postcrisis lows, and aren't attractive any more. But I still hold some shares in these markets with relatively high dividend yields.

I'm not keen on Chinese equities, but if conditions worsen and China prints money like crazy, the currency will weaken and stocks will rise. I own some issues in Hong Kong, but without great enthusiasm. 

I figured the Japanese stock market would go ballistic as soon as the government weakened the yen, and that's what happened. Since the Oct. 15 low, the market is up more than 70% in yen terms and 35% in dollars—before the recent correction, that is. I bought brokers such asNomura [NMR], which has more than doubled in price. The Japanese market is correcting now, and the yen might rebound somewhat. But whereas the U.S. is near a long-term top, Japanese stocks made a generational low in 2012 and won't go below that''.

A closer look to the latest U.S. Job's Report .

Long-Term Jobless: Still a Bleak Picture

By ANNIE LOWREY

"Long-term unemployment remains a very dark shadow in the May jobs report: 4.4 million workers have been out of a job for more than six months. In essence, the job market has normalized for the short-term unemployed. But the longer you have been out of a job, the bleaker the picture gets.

The number of people who report being out of work for less than five weeks has returned to almost the same level as in 2007. But the number of people unemployed 5 to 14 weeks is about 25 percent higher. For those out of a job 15 to 26 weeks, it is 78 percent higher. And the number of long-term jobless, those unemployed for more than 27 weeks, is a whopping 257 percent higher''.

''The long-term unemployed are struggling mightily to get rehired, as confirmed by recent research by Rand Ghayad and William Dickens of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Some economists have theorized that the unusually long spells of unemployment we have seen in the wake of the recession are caused by a “mismatch”: The long-term jobless were in obsolete professions, with obsolete skills, and that is why they are not getting new gigs.

But Mr. Ghayad and Mr. Dickens argue that is not the case. The long-term jobless seem to be having trouble finding work across industries, for instance. Discrimination does seem to be a major factor, though: Employers simply do not want to hire the long-term jobless, as my colleague Catherine Rampell has reported and further research by Mr. Ghayad has shown".

Economix,New York Times 09.06.2013

Barron's interview to Marc Faber Part 1

About his negative view on money printing

"The Fed is flooding the system, it doesn't increase economic activity and asset prices in concert.
Instead it creates excessess in countries and asset classes.
Money-printing fueled the colossal stock-market bubble of 1999-2000, when the Nasdaq more than doubled, becoming disconnected from economic reality. It fueled the housing bubble, which burst in 2008, and the commodities bubble. Now money is flowing into the high-end asset market—things like stocks, bonds, art, wine, jewelry, and luxury real estate. The art-auction houses are seeing record sales. Property prices in the Hamptons rose 35% last year. Sandy Weill [the former head of Citigroup] bought a Manhattan condominium in 2007 for $43.7 million. He sold it last year for $88 million"

It wouldn't have been worse without Quantative Easing after the economic crisis of 2008?

"Why start with 2008? The government bailed out savings-and-loan depositors during the thrift crisis in the late 1980s. The U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve bailed out Mexico in the mid-1990s. The biggest policy mistake occurred with the Fed-supervised bailout of the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management in 1998, because it gave a green light to Wall Street to keep leveraging up.

Another policy mistake was made in 2000, right after the Nasdaq collapsed. The system probably could have handled a recession then, but instead, the Fed engineered a drop in interest rates, eventually to 1%, that encouraged a huge housing bubble. After it burst in September 2008, Bernanke slashed short-term rates to near-zero, where they are still. Meanwhile, the stock market is up 150% from its 2009 lows''.

   Is the US stock market in a bubble?

  '' I am suggesting that in the fourth year of an economic expansion, near-zero interest rates will lead to a further misallocation of capital. I thought the U.S. market would have a 20% correction last fall, but it didn't happen. I also said the market might explode to the upside before the correction occurred. We might be in the final acceleration phase now. The Standard & Poor's 500 is at 1650. It could rally to 1750 or even 2000 in the next month or two before collapsing. People with assets are all doomed, because prices are grossly inflated globally for stocks, bonds, and collectibles''.

Buffett's investing in Nevada's NV Energy,fits his strategy,to own businessess with large predictable cash flows.

Buffett utility deal may signal big push to invest cash

"MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co, a core part of Warren Buffett's sprawling business empire, is becoming a favourite way for the "Oracle of Omaha" to invest the billions of dollars of cash on Berkshire Hathaway Inc's  balance sheet"

"The unit's $5.6 billion US acquisition of Nevada's NV Energy , announced last week, vaulted MidAmerican to ninth place in terms of U.S. electric utility customers from fourteenth, according to data compiled by Reuters, and fits right into Buffett's strategy of owning businesses with large, predictable cash flows.

Berkshire Vice Chairman Charles Munger last year said MidAmerican could deploy as much as $100 billion over the next 10 to 15 years".

"The energy sector looks to be a pathway for (Buffett) to invest a lot of money," said David Rolfe, chief investment officer of St. Louis-based Wedgewood Partners, which has about $300 million invested in Berkshire Hathaway stock. "There is a very good chance that 10 years from now it's the largest part of Berkshire, easily."

Including the NV Energy deal, which is the largest in the global energy and power sector so far this year, MidAmerican makes up only about 10 percent of Berkshire's pre-tax earnings, dwarfed by the company's vast insurance holdings. But that is expected to change.

"What (MidAmerican and railroad Burlington Northern Santa Fe) have done is guaranteed the cash flows get reinvested back into those businesses," said Morningstar analyst Greggory Warren. "It eliminates some of the risk to whoever succeeds him of having too much cash on the balance sheet and not enough good ideas."

BNSF has been investing in the expansion of rail infrastructure in the United States and in new technologies such as powering locomotives with natural gas in a bid to increase profitability.

In his most recent letter to shareholders, Buffett called MidAmerican's earnings "recession-resistant" because the company offers "an essential service."

"Buffett has also figured out how to generate stable returns in renewable energy by investing in projects that come with long-term contracts to sell their output to utilities.

The regulated utilities are MidAmerican's primary focus, however, and include Oregon-based PacifiCorp, Iowa's MidAmerican Energy Co and Northern Powergrid in England. Together, those utilities will serve 8.4 million customers once NV Energy is folded into the mix".

Nichola Groom, Reuters
3:32 PM, E.T. | June 5, 2013
Investing

Interview to Pierre Lassonde, Chaiman of Franco Nevada.

Pierre Lassonde
      -was President of Newmont Mining Corp. from 2002 to 2006.
      -Co-founder and Chairman of the original Franco Nevada Corp.
        The first gold royalty company.
      -Past Chairman of the World Gold Conuncil.
    
  For the past 18 months we had a typical midsize correction of the
price of gold,his thoughts are that we are still in a long run bull market for
gold.

 Gold is the anti-dollar,if central banks of Japan, US, the ECB,UK, etc, keep their policy of
printing money. At the end of the day what you are going to see is the debasing of their currencies
and then gold will shine again.

  In 2013 55% of all gold sold in the world came from China an India.
  If the chinese economy had a sharp decrease in its rate of growth,then the price of gold could have an
 important correction.

   In the past decade as the price of gold went up,major gold miners went into a race of increasing
their reserves by lowering their grade cut-off. And mining engineers decided to design pits to
produce gold from these much lower grades too.

   The result was that their cash costs went to the roof,  5 years ago they had a cash cost of US$700,
now it is 1000 or 1100 us dollars.

Interview by Howard Green in bnn.ca 07.06.2013