"L'existence d'une bulle spéculative reste à démontrer à Paris"

L'existence d'une bulle spéculative reste à démontrer. Les prix du marché sont soutenus par un décalage important entre offre et demande.

La tendance actuelle est plutôt à la stabilité ou à une très légère baisse. Les volumes des ventes à Paris ne cessent, en revanche, de baisser depuis plus de cinq ans. Cela participe à la rareté des biens permettant aux prix de se maintenir.

En cas de forte hausse des taux, l'effet serait désastreux sur les primo-accédants. Les vendeurs seront obligés de s'adapter en baissant leurs prix.

Le marché des résidences secondaires est particulièrement touché par la baisse des prix. Cependant, les stations balnéaires majeures – Vannes par exemple – bénéficient toujours d'une demande soutenue qui permet de maintenir les prix. L'abattement exceptionnel de 25 % va permettre de voir réapparaître de nouveaux biens sur le marché.

Le Monde

Les chefs d'entreprise voient l'avenir un peu plus en rose

"A la veille de la présentation en conseil des ministres du projet de loi de finances(PLF) pour 2014, qui fait grincer les dents des ménages et des entreprises, le ministre de l'économie, Pierre Moscovici, n'a pas résisté au plaisir d'annoncer, douze heures avant l'Insee, une amélioration "substantielle" du climat des affaires en septembre. L'indicateur de retournement s'est inversé pour la première fois depuis 2011 et est repassé dans la zone positive, a précisé M. Moscovici, qui était l'invité mardi 24 septembre du journal de France 2.

"Je ne veux pas jouer Monsieur Tout-va-bien, je connais les difficultés, nous sommes confrontés à une tâche de redressement car nous avons trouvé le pays dans une situation difficile", a-t-il ajouté. Mais les Français doivent savoir "que lapolitique qui est menée porte ses fruits, que les efforts qu'ils font, portent leurs fruits".

De fait, si tout est loin d'être parfait, l'indicateur du climat des affaires, calculé àpartir des réponses de chefs d'entreprise des principaux secteurs d'activité, a de nouveau gagné 3 points en septembre pour s'établir à 94. Il reste toutefois en dessous de sa moyenne de longue période .

Dans l'ensemble des enquêtes publiées mercredi, seule celle concernant l'industrie recule d'un point à 97. Cette "pause" dans l'amélioration, pour reprendrel'expression de l'Insee, était attendue après le très bon chiffre de la production industrielle au printemps (+ 2,6 % en 2013).

"Nous attendions un contrecoup. La hausse de l'ordre de 2 % de la production industrielle, due à un fort rattrapage dans l'automobile, n'était pas en ligne avec les enquêtes, et les données de juillet ont été plutôt mauvaises", précise le patron de la conjoncture à l'Insee, qui souligne néanmoins la nette amélioration (+ 10 points) des perspectives personnelles de production des industriels".

Le Monde

China to inaugurate Shanghai Free Trade Zone on Sept. 29

China will officially launch the pilot free trade zone (FTZ) in Shanghai on Sept. 29, taking a solid step forward to boost reforms in the world's second-largest economy.

Preparation work is going smoothly, sources with the Shanghai municipal government said on Tuesday.

Covering almost 29 square kilometers, the zone will be created modeled on existing free trade businesses in the country's economic hub -- Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone, Waigaoqiao Free Trade Logistics Park, Yangshan Free Trade Port Area and Pudong Airport Comprehensive Free Trade Zone.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said earlier this month that for the pilot FTZ, a negative list approach will be explored and priority will be given to easier investment and greater openness.

China's legislature has given the green light to the State Council, or the Cabinet, to modify laws related to foreign enterprises in the zone.

Source: Xinhua

China's petrochemical income up 9.9 pct Jan.-July

The main business income of China's petrochemical industry grew 9.9 percent to 6.60 trillion yuan (1.07 trillion U.S. dollars) in the first seven months of 2013, said the country's top economic planner on Wednesday.

The industry's net profit totaled 221 billion yuan, up 43 percent year on year, or 45 billion yuan, said the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) in a statement on its website.

The NDRC attributed the profit surge to refining businesses having turned losses into a profit in the Jan.-July period.

According to the NDRC, the petrochemical industry's output of crude oil, refined oil and ethylene from January to August reached 317.16 million tonnes, 195.88 million tonnes and 10.53 million tonnes, up 4.7, 5.7 and 5.6 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, the industrial added value of large chemical manufacturers of raw material and products rose 12 percent from the same period last year. 

Source: Xinhua

China replaces five members of its central bank's monetary policy committee,

China has replaced five members of its central bank's monetary policy committee, according to a circular released on Wednesday by the State Council, China's Cabinet.

Chaired by People's Bank of China (PBOC) governor Zhou Xiaochuan, the committee welcomes five new members: Xiao Jie, deputy secretary-general of the State Council; Wang Bao'an, vice minister of finance; Pan Gongsheng, vice governor of the PBOC; Xiao Gang, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission; and Hu Huaibang, president of the China Banking Association.

Other members include Zhu Zhixin, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission; PBOC vice governor Hu Xiaolian; Yi Gang, PBOC vice governor and head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange; Ma Jiantang, director of the National Bureau of Statistics; Shang Fulin, chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission; and Xiang Junbo, chairman of China Insurance Regulatory Commission.

The committee also features Qian Yingyi, dean of Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management, Chen Yulu, president of the Renmin University of China, and Song Guoqing, professor of the National School of Development at Peking University.

You Quan, Li Yong, Du Jinfu, Guo Shuqing and Jiang Jianqing are no longer members of the committee, according to the circular.

Source: Xinhua

U.S. Economic Indicators Update

MBA Purchase Applications
Mortgage rates fell sharply in the September 20 week while mortgage applications rose sharply. Purchase applications jumped 7.0 percent to their highest level since July. This marks back-to-back weekly gains and points to strength this month for underlying home sales. Refinancing applications, where volumes have been swinging widely this month, rose 5.0 percent. Rates, reflecting the Federal Reserve's decision to delay tapering, dropped across all maturities with the average 30-year fixed rate for conforming loans ($417,500 or less) down 13 basis points in the week to 4.62 percent. Next housing data on the Econoday calendar will be later this morning at 10:00 a.m. ET with new home sales for August, a month when purchase 
applications were flat.

Durable Good Orders
August durables order beat expectations but July was revised down notably. New factory orders for durables in August edged up 0.1 percent after dropping a huge 8.1 percent in July. The July estimate originally was down a monthly 7.4 percent. Market expectations for August were for a 0.5 percent decline. The transportation component rose 0.7 percent after a monthly 21.9 percent plunge in July. The transportation rebound came from motor vehicles. Excluding transportation, durables orders slipped 0.1 percent, following a decrease of 0.5 percent in July. Analysts projected a 1.0. percent boost for the latest month.

Within transportation, motor vehicles rose 2.4 percent, nondefense aircraft fell 1.2 percent, and defense aircraft dropped 11.8 percent. Outside of transportation, gains were seen in fabricated metals, machinery, and "other." Components that declined were primary metals, computers & electronics, and electrical equipment.

Nondefense capital goods orders made a partial rebound in August, increasing 1.5 percent after a 3.3 percent decline in July. Shipments for this series made a 1.3 percent comeback, following a decrease of 1.4 percent the month before.

Manufacturing in August was soft outside of autos. Recent regional surveys for September have been mixed and the Markit flash PMI showed deceleration

Source: Bloomberg

GERMAN CONSUMER CONFIDENCE HITS SIX-YEAR HIGH

German consumer confidence reached its highest level in six years, even though income expectations dropped, according to the GfK forecast for October published on Wednesday.

Specifically, the GfK consumer confidence for October rose from a revised 7 in September to 7.1. Consensus had been expecting a slight increase to 7 from the 6.9 first reading for September.

GfK said that the economic expectations are on a "clear upward trend" and noted that the "willingness to buy once again improved on the record value of the previous month". 

The market research institute did note the decrease in income expectations for the second consecutive month, but clarified that the indicator continues to be at "an extremely high level"

Source: LiveCharts

Government Seeks to Show Countrywide Unit Misled Fannie, Freddie on Quality of Home Loans

According to an article published today in the Wall Street Journal:
"The government started its "Hustle" case against Bank of America Corp.arguing the bank's Countrywide unit misled executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac about the quality of loans they bought in 2007 and 2008.
 The program—called the "Hustle" by Countrywide after the acronym HSSL, which stood for "high-speed swim lane" misled executives at mortgage-finance companies Fannie and Freddie about the quality of loans that Countrywide sold them, the government's lawyers argued Tuesday at U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
In his opening argument before the court, Pierre Armand from the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan said the promise of quality loans at the Hustle program was "largely a joke," arguing that the program ignored red flags and removed controls that were in place to protect against making bad loans. The government alleges Countrywide made $165 million from the program.

Brendan Sullivan, a partner at the law firm Williams & Connolly LLP, opened his arguments on behalf of Bank of America by stating that no fraud was committed. Mr. Sullivan said the evidence will show "decent, normal people, putting their kids out to school, going to their mortgage application business where there are thousands of mortgages."

The case has pulled back the curtain on how Countrywide, the nation's largest mortgage lender until its sale to Bank of America in 2008, struggled to deal with declining lending volumes amid industry concerns over loan quality as the housing boom turned to bust. The Hustle program didn't continue after Bank of America bought Countrywide".

Alibaba decided to do IPO in New York

Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd ALIAB.UL has decided to pursue an initial public offering in New York after talks with Hong Kong regulators broke down over a listing in the Asian financial hub, sources familiar with the discussions said on Wednesday.

The decision ends weeks of negotiations between the company, the Hong Kong stock exchange and the city's regulators over Alibaba's shareholding structure, which had delayed the launch of a sale that may be worth more than $15 billion.

The debate centered on the ability for Alibaba to list in Hong Kong and, at the same time, allow its "partners" - a group of founders and senior employees - to keep control over the makeup of its board.

The choice of New York should make it easy for Alibaba founder Jack Ma and his management team to keep a tight grip on the company with a dual share structure that's common to Internet companies including Google Inc and Facebook Inc .

"We've come to the end of dialogue with Hong Kong and we're pivoting to the U.S. to start the listing process," a company source familiar with the discussions said.

Alibaba has engaged U.S. law firms to start working on its IPO and will soon be hiring banks to manage the listing, added the company source, who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

Several brokerages raised their valuation on Alibaba because of the strong earnings growth, pegging it as high as $120 billion, above the $100 billion valuation put on Facebook before its IPO last year. Yahoo has a market capitalisation of about $32 billion.

Yahoo, which owns 24 percent of Alibaba, is keen to sell part of its stake. Softbank is the company's biggest shareholder with a 35 percent stake, while Ma, former Chief Financial Officer and co-founder Joe Tsai, and other company executives own about 10 percent.

Source: Reuters

Precious Metals Prices 24.09.13 10.29 p.m. Eastern Time

Gold Price Futures       3 months    US$ 1,324.46

Silver Price Futures      3 months    US$     21.68

Japan sales tax hike masks bigger problem of welfare spending

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is poised to raise Japan's sales tax, but this bruising political decision leaves unresolved the bigger and much more complicated task of curbing runaway social-welfare spending.

The tax hike, Japan's first serious move in nearly two decades to rein in the worst debt burden in the developed world, looks like the easy part.

Attention has focused on the sales tax increase - still not formally decided - which is hugely politically sensitive in Japan after the last rise, in 1997, was widely blamed for tipping the economy into recession.

But any improvement in government revenue from the tax increase will be dwarfed by expenditures, where a rapidly ageing society and generous public services are blowing an ever-bigger hole in the budget.

"There is no real progress on containing welfare spending, so even if you raise the sales tax, the country's finances won't improve," said Norio Miyagawa, senior economist at Mizuho Securities Research & Consulting.

"We know what needs to be done. But the government is pushing back important decisions."

With the most rapidly aging society in the world - a quarter of the population is already over 65 - welfare is the biggest and fastest-growing category of spending. The shrinking workforce is crimping payments into the welfare system while the boom in the number of retirees swells government payouts.

The government has taken some steps, such as raising the retirement age - decided before Abe took office in December. But there is scant progress to show on such contentious issues as cutting benefits to the wealthy, adjusting pension payouts to prices or getting local governments to bear more of the burden.

Source: Reuters

Canada agrees to export shale gas to Japan

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper agreed Tuesday that Canada will start exports of shale gas to Japan, making it the second country after the United States to provide the natural resource to Japan.

During the summit talks held in Ottawa, Abe and Harper also decided to enable the Self-Defense Forces and the Canadian military to provide logistics support to each other when they engage in international humanitarian assistance such as U.N. peacekeeping operations, and in relief efforts, a Japanese government official said.The agreement, when formally signed, will become the third of its kind for Japan after the United States and Australia, the latest in a series of defense cooperation that the prime minister is hoping to promote with other countries.
The Japanese prime minister is on a visit to Canada on the first leg of his tour that takes him to the United States to attend a U.N. General Assembly meeting.
As the crisis in Syria has been a major topic at the General Assembly, both leaders confirmed that they support a U.S.-Russian deal to eliminate chemical weapons in Syria, and Abe explained Tokyo's determination to provide humanitarian aid to Syrian refugees.

NewsOnJapan

Draghi: «Ripresa lenta, Bce interverrà»

"I dati sulla fiducia sostengono la visione secondo cui l’attività economica della zona euro dovrebbe continuare la sua lenta ripresa nell’attuale trimestre, nonostante la produzione debole a luglio». Parole e pensieri del presidente della Bce, Mario Draghi, al Parlamento Ue. Che ha confermato come «la politica monetaria resterà accomodante per tutto il tempo necessario»

Il miglioramento significativo della capitalizzazione delle banche dall’estate 2012 non si è ancora tradotto in credito più elevato».

Nel «medio e lungo termine le attese per l’inflazione continuano a stare fermamente ancorate, in linea con la stabilità dei prezzi», ha detto il presidente della Bce che «si attende che l’outlook per lo sviluppo dei prezzi sia ancora ampiamente bilanciato sul medio termine».

Bassi tassi di interesse nel lungo termine comportano dei rischi che abbiamo visto nel passato e noi siamo molto sensibili ai rischi che possono esserci per la stabilità finanziaria derivanti da un livello molto, molto basso dei tassi. Finora, però, c’è una evidenza molto limitata che sia il caso» dice Draghi all’Europarlamento spiegando perché la politica monetaria della Bce resterà accomodante «per un esteso periodo di tempo».

I dati sulla fiducia sostengono la visione secondo cui l’attività economica della zona euro dovrebbe continuare la sua lenta ripresa nell’attuale trimestre, nonostante la produzione debole a luglio». Parole e pensieri del presidente della Bce, Mario Draghi, al Parlamento Ue. Che ha confermato come «la politica monetaria resterà accomodante per tutto il tempo necessario.

Il miglioramento significativo della capitalizzazione delle banche dall’estate 2012 non si è ancora tradotto in credito più elevato».

Nel «medio e lungo termine le attese per l’inflazione continuano a stare fermamente ancorate, in linea con la stabilità dei prezzi», ha detto il presidente della Bce che «si attende che l’outlook per lo sviluppo dei prezzi sia ancora ampiamente bilanciato sul medio termine».

«Bassi tassi di interesse nel lungo termine comportano dei rischi che abbiamo visto nel passato e noi siamo molto sensibili ai rischi che possono esserci per la stabilità finanziaria derivanti da un livello molto, molto basso dei tassi. Finora, però, c’è una evidenza molto limitata che sia il caso» dice Draghi all’Europarlamento spiegando perché la politica monetaria della Bce resterà accomodante «per un esteso periodo di tempo».

Corriere della Sera

J.P. Morgan Offers $3 Billion to End Mortgage Probes

In an article published in the Wall Street Journal of today:
"J.P. Morgan has offered to pay about $3 billion as it seeks to settle criminal and civil investigations by federal and state prosecutors into its mortgage-backed-securities activities, according to a person familiar with the discussions.
A settlement on residential mortgage-backed securities would solve one of the bank's biggest legal problems. The largest U.S. bank by assets faces at least seven Justice Department probes, on matters ranging from energy trading to its hiring practices in China.
The offer from the bank shows that its top executives and board are weighing the time and effort needed to fight, as well as the impact on the bank's reputation and employee morale, according to people familiar with the bank's strategy. At the same time, they are wary of agreeing to settlement terms that could open them up to additional private litigation, the people said.
The mortgage-backed-securities talks are fluid and a settlement is far from certain, according to people familiar with the matter. Government lawyers could decide the dollar value offered by J.P. Morgan isn't enough for the number of cases it wants to resolve. And there could still be disagreements over what sort of admissions, if any, the bank would make as part of such a deal".

Telecom Italia diventa spagnola

"Accordo di Telefonica con Generali, Mediobanca e Intesa Sanpaolo per salire dal 46 al 66% di Telco che controlla il 22,4% di Telecom Italia e nomina la maggioranza dei membri del consiglio di amministrazione.
Telefonica in una prima fase sottoscriverà, come detto, un aumento di capitale per complessivi 323 milioni di euro a 1,09 euro per azione. Telefonica salirà quindi al 66% di Telco dopo l'aumento di capitale da 323 milioni e realizzerà un secondo aumento di capitale da 117 milioni, dopo l'ok dell'Antitrust in Brasile e Argentina, per arrivare al 70% della holding. Telefonica potrà successivamente acquistare il 100% di Telco. Al momento però, in attesa delle autorizzazioni delle Autorità Antitrust dei vari Paesi, Telefonica manterrà i diritti di voto al 46% esprimendo, come ora, il 50% dei membri del consiglio di amministrazione della quota di Telco.
In un comunicato gli spagnoli di Telefonica hanno evidenziato come l’aumento di capitale di Telco «porta stabilitá» nell’azionariato e mantiene «l’indipendenza» di Telecom Italia. Telefonica «ribadisce il suo impegno a contribuire allo sviluppo di Telecom Italia sul suo mercato interno con le sinergie e la condivisione delle migliori pratiche».

Corriere della Sera

California Geology is a challange in Monterrey Shale

According to an article published today in the Wall Street Journal:

"California's Monterey Shale formation is estimated to hold as much as two-thirds of the recoverable onshore shale-oil reserves in the U.S.'s lower 48 states, but there's a catch: It is proving very hard to get.

Formed by upheaval of the earth, the Monterey holds an estimated 15.4 billion barrels of recoverable shale oil, or as much as five times the amount in North Dakota's booming Bakken Field, according to 2011 estimates by the Department of Energy. The problem is, the same forces that helped stockpile the oil have tucked it into layers of rock seemingly as impenetrable as another limiting factor: California's famously rigid regulatory climate.

California has become one of the U.S.'s top oil-producing states over the past century, largely by tapping into the easier-to-get oil that has seeped out of the Monterey beneath places like Bakersfield and Los Angeles County. But with production in general decline since the 1980s, producers are trying a smorgasbord of techniques—called enhanced oil recovery in industry parlance—in an effort to tap into the mother lode.

So far, there have been no production breakthroughs".

Besides there is a strong oppossition by the enviromentalists,because of their concern of its impact of e.g. fracking which lowers the quality of water.

Other technologies are also strongly opposed by critics and environmetalists.

Mohammed A. El-Erian : US. Monthly Labor Data and True meaning of all labor Indicators

Among the labor indicators. ''Despite the data’s richness, only two indicators consistently attract widespread attention: net monthly job creation (which amounted to 169,000 in August) and the unemployment rate (7.3% in August, the lowest since December 2008). Together they point to a gradual and steady improvement in overall labor-market conditions''says Mohammed El-Erian

But if we look to all labor indicators of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics(BLR)

"The figure for monthly job creation, for example, is distorted by the growing importance of part-time employment, and it fails to convey the reality of stagnant earnings. Meanwhile, the headline unemployment rate does not reflect the growing number of Americans who have left the work force – a phenomenon vividly reflected by the decline in the labor participation rate to just 63.2%, a 35-year low" he adds.

"Consider the statistics on the duration of unemployment. After all, the longer one is unemployed, the harder it is to find a full-time job at a decent wage.

In August, the BLS classified 4.3 million Americans as long-term unemployed, or 37.9% of the total unemployed – a worrisome figure, given that the global financial crisis was five years ago. And, remember, this number excludes all the discouraged Americans who are no longer looking for a job. In fact, the more comprehensive employment/population ratio stands at only 58.6%.

So while net job creation will continue and the unemployment rate will maintain its downward trajectory – both highly welcome – the labor market’s evolution risks fueling rather than countering already-significant income and wealth inequalities, as well as poverty. 

Yes, the headline numbers will continue to signal overall improvement in the labor market. The urgent task now is to ensure that lasting progress is not undermined by the worrisome compositional trends that the BLS’s report highlights month after month".

Source: Mohammed A. El-Erian

             ProjectSyndicate

Battered Goldcorp no herd mentality,not ruling out New Takeovers.

Goldcorp Inc is not ruling out new takeovers and might even take a look at the big, capital-intensive gold-mining projects most likely to alarm investors, Chief Executive Chuck Jeannes told Reuters on Monday, outlining a stance that puts the company at odds with many of its competitors.

A drop in precious metal prices and a spike in costs is weighing on cash flow at Goldcorp, as with other gold producers, but the company has largely avoided the excesses of the last round of mining deals, maintaining a relatively strong balance sheet.

"Growth isn't a dirty word - a lot of the peer companies are acting like it is," Jeannes said. He said Goldcorp's primary focus is on building three existing projects that will boost gold production over the next five years, but added that the company is also looking for new opportunities.

"Perhaps if our peers are not looking at things, that gives us a better opportunity," he said.

 Goldcorp has had some operational problems at its Peñasquito mine in Mexico, and in 2012 permitting issues forced it to suspend its El Morro project in Chile. But the Vancouver-based company has surpassed Barrick's market capitalization, even though it produces less gold.

Jeannes acknowledged that investors are wary of projects with big capital requirements, but he said Goldcorp is looking for quality assets that offer good returns, and it considers cost, size, mine life and location in its assessments.

Source: Reuters

China's smartphone shipments to exceed 450 million in 2014: IDC

The world's biggest smartphone market China will likely ship in more than 450 million devices in 2014, at least a quarter more than this year, research firm IDC said.

DC said the increase will be driven by the government's issuance of 4G licences and expectations that China Mobile Ltd, the world's biggest wireless operator, would carry iPhones by then.

China a market dominated by Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Lenovo Group Ltd, is expected to ship 120 million 4G-enabled smartphones to meet consumer demand for Internet connectivity.

Smartphone shipments are expected to reach 360 million this year, IDC said.

In the second quarter, Samsung and Lenovo maintained their lead in China with market shares of 18.5 percent and 9.8 percent respectively, while China Wireless Technologies Ltd's Coolpad moved up a notch from the previous quarter to rank No.3.

"Affected by the sluggish sales of iPhone 5, Apple's market share has declined dramatically, but its performance is expected to remarkably improve with the launch of the new iPhone," James Yan, an IDC analyst, said in a statement.

Source:  Reuters

Will Japan would be up to the Challenge of 2020 Olympics

Olympics have a way of benchmarking a country's development. In 1964, the country worked at a feverish pace to build the elevated highways, five-star hotels, and bullet train system that we today associate with modern Tokyo.

The entire population focused on putting their best foot forward to host the world. There undeniably will be the same sense of purpose for 2020. If March 2011 marked the country and people's lowest point after the devastation of the tsunami, earthquake, and nuclear meltdown at Fukushima, the opening ceremony of the 2020 Games will be the country's calling to show its full recovery to itself and to the world. That is what Olympics do. They compel countries to fulfill not just their athletic potential, but also their national aspirations in the compressed time period it takes to prepare for the games. In the countdown to 2020, there will be many questions about whether Japan will be prepared to host the spectacle that the Olympics have become. After all, they are not planning to spend the $40 billion that the Chinese spent in 2008 to host in Beijing. The same questions abounded in 1964, but Japanese meticulousness answered them all. Every stadium was operating. Every signboard was painted. Every piece of scaffolding was removed. Even a wholesale refitting of every hotel with imported bed frames to accommodate Western-sized bodies was completed on schedule (Japanese bed makers did not produce the larger size). The bigger question is whether Japan as a nation will be ready. Will so-called "Abenomics," which has created growth thus far through monetary easing, have successfully laid the groundwork for the structural and regulatory reforms essential to put the economy on a healthy footing? Will the radiation leakages at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear complex have been permanently stopped? Will tensions with China over historical and territorial issues have inflamed further or been resolved peacefully? Will Japanese society have accepted the need to remedy its labor shortage with integration of women and immigrants in the workforce?

Source: NewsOnJapan

Robots May Revolutionize China's Electronics Manufacturing

Olympics have a way of benchmarking a country's development. In 1964, the country worked at a feverish pace to build the elevated highways, five-star hotels, and bullet train system that we today associate with modern Tokyo.

The entire population focused on putting their best foot forward to host the world. There undeniably will be the same sense of purpose for 2020. If March 2011 marked the country and people's lowest point after the devastation of the tsunami, earthquake, and nuclear meltdown at Fukushima, the opening ceremony of the 2020 Games will be the country's calling to show its full recovery to itself and to the world. That is what Olympics do. They compel countries to fulfill not just their athletic potential, but also their national aspirations in the compressed time period it takes to prepare for the games. In the countdown to 2020, there will be many questions about whether Japan will be prepared to host the spectacle that the Olympics have become. After all, they are not planning to spend the $40 billion that the Chinese spent in 2008 to host in Beijing. The same questions abounded in 1964, but Japanese meticulousness answered them all. Every stadium was operating. Every signboard was painted. Every piece of scaffolding was removed. Even a wholesale refitting of every hotel with imported bed frames to accommodate Western-sized bodies was completed on schedule (Japanese bed makers did not produce the larger size). The bigger question is whether Japan as a nation will be ready. Will so-called "Abenomics," which has created growth thus far through monetary easing, have successfully laid the groundwork for the structural and regulatory reforms essential to put the economy on a healthy footing? Will the radiation leakages at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear complex have been permanently stopped? Will tensions with China over historical and territorial issues have inflamed further or been resolved peacefully? Will Japanese society have accepted the need to remedy its labor shortage with integration of women and immigrants in the workforce?

Source:NewsOnJapan

Japan's green energy revolution

Japan took the last of its 50 once-vital nuclear power stations offline last Monday. But despite having one of the hottest summers on record, Japan has had no power rationing or blackouts this year. How did they do it? Put simply, the country cut back.

"Japan's nuclear reactors have mostly been replaced by post-catastrophe efficiency gains which reduced [energy] consumption by around 15-20%," says Kevin Meyerson, a retired American businessman and now an energy conservationist living in Japan. "For example, offices throughout Japan have replaced high-consumption lighting with newly developed-in-Japan low-power LED lights, cutting office electricity consumption up to 40%."Such conservation has made Japan's vulnerable nuclear power plants redundant for the time being. Cutting energy demand by 10% across the board in Japan has eliminated the need for about 14 nuclear reactors, according to government figures.
Leading the charge to unplug are major corporations like Komatsu, the world's second-largest construction equipment manufacturer, which has pledged to cut its energy consumption by at least 50% by 2015. They are not alone. In the wake of the Fukushima disaster, public and private conservation efforts have helped keep power demand comfortably in check.

Source: NewsOnJapan

Precious Metals Prices

Gold Price Futures        3 months    US$   1,308.92

Silver Price Futures       3 months    US$       21.44

About China's Ghost Cities reported by Western Press

In article published today in the Wall Street Journal, about the ghost cities in China, that several western media have reported it says that "according to CLSA analyst Nicole Wong, those reports might be missing the forest for the trees—or in this case, missing the people for their timing. Ms. Wong, who recently returned from a tour of 137 projects in three Chinese cities often cited for their ghostly developments, says that the presence of empty apartments is thanks to some unusual quirks of China’s real-estate landscape.

Specifically, she noted at Tuesday’s CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets Investors’ Forum in Hong Kong, new Chinese apartments are typically sold as virtual concrete shells that buyers must outfit, installing everything from showers to flooring to kitchen sinks to make them move-in ready. Accordingly, Ms. Wong notes, many such “ghost” developments take awhile to gain traction—especially as it’s often the sale of the land they’re sitting on that allows the city to fund subsequent facilities and transportation links that will eventually help make them mature neighborhoods"

.When buildings are first completed they are actually not that habitable, so it takes a long time before most people want to move in,” Ms. Wong said.

In a report on her findings, Ms. Wong notes that buildings completed between 2008-11 in Zhengzhou,Ordos and Wenzhou—often cited as instances of an overly frothy property market—have typically seen tenants move in over a three-year period. Among such buildings, Ms. Wong’s survey found an average of 48% take-up in the first 12-18 months, another 19% in the next year, and then yet another 15% in the year after that. Such a delay, she says, can be attributed to the fact that residents need time not only to fully outfit their units, but many also like to wait until their neighbors have done so as well to avoid moving in before the dust clouds and drilling sounds have subsided.

In the case of Henan’s Zhengzhou—frequently dubbed China’s “largest ghost city”—Ms. Wong notes that a number of media portrayals of the city’s newer areas have used photographs taken between 2010-12, before the metro system connecting the district to the city’s more established neighborhoods was completed. On her most recent visit there in August, Ms. Wong said she saw many cars, “hordes of pedestrians” and considerable ground activity in addition to curtains and air-conditioners installed in numerous residential buildings".

Draghi says ECB attentive to lower excess liquidity

Credit volumes are not yet showing the effect of the improvement in banks' funding conditions and the European Central Bank remains committed to keeping interest rates low for as long as necessary, President Mario Draghi said on Monday.

Draghi, who has committed the bank to taking further action if need be to keep market interest rates low, also said it was paying close attention to the lower level of additional funds in the banking system resulting from repayments of emergency funding by banks.

Excess liquidity refers to the level of cash in the system beyond what banks need to cover their day-to-day operations. Excess liquidity is now at 221 billion euros, according to Reuters calculations.

Draghi said that while banks paying back loans they have taken from the ECB, it could also result in higher market rates.

"While repayment of central bank credit is certainly a sign of normalization, the resulting reduction in excess liquidity can reinforce upward pressures on term money market rates," Draghi told the European Parliament in his quarterly testimony.

"We will remain particularly attentive to the implications that these developments may have for the stance of monetary policy."

Source:  BNN