Water: Is There a Global Crisis? Part Three: Investment Opportunities
Written by Elliott Morss, Morss Global Finance
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IntroductionThis is the third in a three-part series on global water problems. In the first article in the series, data and analysis were used to highlight the primary problems. Water experts were interviewed in the second article. Here, we talk to experienced investors who believe the water sector offers some attractive opportunities. Previous in this series: Part 1 (Analysis) and Part 2 (Opinion).
How Much Capital Should Banks Have?
by Lev Ratnovski ...Appeared at Voxeu.org 28 July 2013
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After much negotiation, Basel III regulations set capital requirements to be between 8% and 12%. This column suggests this may not be enough. It looks at how much capital banks would need to fully absorb asset shocks of the size seen in OECD countries over the last 50 years. The answer is 18% risk-weighted capital, corresponding to 9% leverage. This benchmark is highly conservative, so the true '
optimal' bank capital may be lower.
Read more >>
What We Read Today 06 August 2013
Econintersect: Click Read more >> below graphic to see today's list.
The top of today's reading list has a report on the IMF projection of even higher unemployment for Spain ........ and the last article is about the slowdown in emerging markets.
Low Volume, Very Weak Market, Watch Out Below
Closing Market Commentary For 08-06-2013
Markets closed down after a halfhearted attempt to slither upwards from the morning lows. As the volume fell to anemic levels the HFT computers took over and melted the averages upward - just more manipulation.
What is going to happen tomorrow morning? If I knew I would be driving down to the beach house in my Bentley. You are probably wondering what my 'ha-ha' (guess) for tomorrow is; please read on.
Investors Drop Trading Platforms For Beach Balls
Midday Market Commentary For 08-06-2013
The averages recovered about 1/3 of the morning losses, but volume continues to fall as the afternoon session begins. Chances of a recovery suggested this morning are not like to come to fruition as it appears the Mr. Market is starting his vacation.
By noon the averages were down solid but trading in a narrow range which is expected to last this session. Investors are definitely taking the day off.
Hiroshima Atomic Bomb 68th Anniversary
Japan marked 68 years since the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on Tuesday (August 6), as the government came under criticism for its push to promote its nuclear technology outside the nation.
Trade Balance Declines And Markets Sell Off
Opening Market Commentary For 08-06-2013
The 7:30 am today, the US Trade Deficit came in at $34.2 billion, the largest decline in 4 years . Analysts were expecting $43.5 billion from the last report of 44.1 billion. That raised the eyes of many investors as the premarket fell -0.20%. By 9 am the SP500 futures was off -0.17%, US dollar index off -0.13% and gold was off -1.21%.
The markets opened with the SP500 down -0.22%, the DOW down -0.39% and the NASDAQ down -011% all on low to moderate volume. By 10:00 am the direction of the averages was decidedly in a downward trend.
Are we finally seeing a market top forming or is this more market manipulation?
June 2013 JOLTS Suggests Slightly Better Employment Growth
Written by Steven Hansen
The BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) has been a good predictor of future jobs growth:
- after many 3 months of mediocre data, this month's data seems "modest" :)
Read more >>
A Word from This Newsletter's Sponsor
The End of the "Made-In-China" Era
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Business Insider calls it "the next trillion dollar industry." The Economist compares its impact to the steam engine and the printing press. And technology experts -- like the guys who brought you the BMW 3-series, the F-35 fighter jet, and Amazon.com -- think it could be "bigger than the internet."
A new investment video reveals the impossible (but real) technology that could make you impossibly rich. Watch it now, before the skeptics on Wall Street wise up and start looking for their piece of the action.
June 2013 CoreLogic Home Prices Now Up 11.9% Year-over-Year
Econintersect: CoreLogic's Home Price Index (HPI) shows that home prices in the USA in June 2013 are up 11.9% year-over-year (the May report said home prices were up 12.2%). This is the 16th consecutive month of year-over-year increase.
June 2013 Trade Data Analysis Is Mixed
Written by Steven Hansen
A quick recap to the June 2013 trade data released today:
- Import goods growth has positive implications historically to the economy - and the seasonally adjusted goods and services imports were reported down month-over-month. Econintersect analysis shows unadjusted goods (not including services) contraction of 4.2% year-over-year (unadjusted data with inflation adjustment). The rate of growth has decelerated two months in row.
Read more >>
Stratfor: Terrorism Is an Enduring Reality
from Stratfor
Global, nonspecific threats such as those that prompted recent U.S. embassy closures and travel warnings have rarely proved credible. These precautionary measures appear to be the result of two separate threats, one attack against an unspecified U.S. embassy and another against travel infrastructure -- presumably an airliner.
Read more >>
Geheime Kabinets-Kanzlei Vienna
by Dirk Ehnts, Econoblog101
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The recent revelation of the monitoring of global Internet traffic by the NSA has led to a public debate. While I am normally not writing on this subject, let me throw in one argument that I haven't heard before. For some reason, I haven't seen anything written on the contract between the NSA and, say, the German spy agency. Are they friends, and they share everything? Does the German agency pay the US agency? Are there other spy agencies paying the NSA for revealing German data? Does the German spy agency get '
exclusivity rights' on German data?
Australia Cut Rates Again
Econintersect: The Reserve Bank of Australia made the ninth key interest rate cut in 23 months today (06 August 2013) as the country tries to compensate for the rapid contraction in the mining sector. Mining had been in a multi-year boom as a result of the rapid growth in demand from Asia countries, especially China, in the early years of the 21st century. Since the middle of last year the mining sector growth started to slow, according to Australian Mining.
Week Ending 05 August, 2013: 1.4 Cent Gasoline Price Fall
Gasoline prices fell an average of 1.4 cents cents nationwide this past week from last weeks fall of 3.6. cents from the week before - with the largest fall in the Gulf Coast (PADD3) (-3.2).
Average prices by region and a breakdown by grade follow after the "Read More".
Bullish at the Bottom: Commodity Supercycle Continues
From Daily Reckoning
by Frank Holmes, Daily Reckoning
It was a challenging first half of the year for most commodities, with only two resources we track on our Periodic Table of Commodities Returns rising in value. Natural gas and oil rose 6.5% and 5%, respectively, while silver lost a third of its value and gold lost a quarter of its price from the beginning of the year.
Infographic of the Day: Five Skills Every Workplace Leader Needs
Every leader has to undergo a period of trial and error before learning what will truly motivate employees and improve business. This infographic presents 5 strategic leadership skills to help one avoid having to undergo the trial and error process.
North America Is No. 1 For Drug-Related Deaths
by Felix Richter, Statista.com
The 2013 World Drug Report, compiled by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, has revealed that North America remains the worst region worldwide when it comes to drug-related mortality.
In 2011, it was estimated that North America had a mortality rate of 155.8 per million people aged between 15 and 64. This is considerably more than second placed Oceania which had a rate of 80.8 deaths per million people.
Introduction
After much negotiation, Basel III regulations set capital requirements to be between 8% and 12%. This column suggests this may not be enough. It looks at how much capital banks would need to fully absorb asset shocks of the size seen in OECD countries over the last 50 years. The answer is 18% risk-weighted capital, corresponding to 9% leverage. This benchmark is highly conservative, so the true 'optimal' bank capital may be lower. 
The recent revelation of the monitoring of global Internet traffic by the NSA has led to a public debate. While I am normally not writing on this subject, let me throw in one argument that I haven't heard before. For some reason, I haven't seen anything written on the contract between the NSA and, say, the German spy agency. Are they friends, and they share everything? Does the German agency pay the US agency? Are there other spy agencies paying the NSA for revealing German data? Does the German spy agency get 'exclusivity rights' on German data?
