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The best content, commentary and analysis selected from the web on a wide range of financial topics.
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Thursday: New Home Sales, Weekly Unemployment Claims

May 23rd, 2013
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Most of the coverage of the FOMC minutes today focused on this sentence: "A number of participants expressed willingness to adjust the flow of purchases downward as early as the June meeting if the economic information received by that time showed evidence of sufficiently strong and sustained growth; however, views differed about what evidence would be necessary and the likelihood of that outcome."

The banking crisis as a giant carry trade gone wrong

May 23rd, 2013
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Viral Acharya, Sascha Steffen, 23 May 2013A pernicious aspect of the Eurozone crisis is the ‘doom loop’ linking European banks and governments. This column argues that poor European policy choices in the wake of the 2008 Global Crisis worsened the problem. Rather than being forcefully recapitalising as in the US and UK, many Eurozone banks were left undercapitalised and free to gamble for redemption. In what may be the greatest carry trade ever, they borrowed cheap, first in short-term debt markets and then from the ECB, to invest in high-yield but risky sovereign debt.

Regulation: The high cost of low value wind

May 23rd, 2013
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Regulation magazine recently published an interesting article on the high costs and market disruptions associated with long-term subsidies to the renewable energy sector. An NCPA review of the Regulation Mag article notes, Subsidies for renewable energy distort markets and are economically inefficient, … Continue reading ?

Suntech - Were the U.S.-Listed Chinese Companies Just a "Bust Out"? ($STP)

May 23rd, 2013
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You must read this astonishing research note - “Jobs Transformation Scheme" [pdf] - with a brilliant hypothesis regarding the real purpose of having Chinese solar manufacturing capacity nominally "owned" by U.S.-listed holding companies. "What the Chinese have effectively done with all of its Chinese PV manufactures companies listed in the USA, is tapping western investors for funds.

More on wind’s impact on endangered bird species

May 23rd, 2013
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Following on previous reports, here’s another article reviewing the heavy toll the wind industry is taking on endangered raptors like bald and golden eagles and the California condor. While the fossil fuel industry is prosecuted and heavily fined for impacts … Continue reading ?

Consumer loan delinquencies hit a new low

May 22nd, 2013
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Delinquency rates on consumer loans and credit cards fell to a new all-time low in the first quarter of this year.

Wall Street Strategist Year-End S&P 500 Price Targets

May 22nd, 2013
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While the S&P 500 had a big downside reversal lower today, it's still more than 8% ABOVE the average year-end price target that Wall Street strategists placed on the index at the start of 2013.  Below is a table highlighting these price targets (collected by Bloomberg), including where they are now and where they were on January 1st.  Price targets shaded in green have been increased since the start of the year.

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