China Piles Up Staggering $5 Trillion In Losses & More #Insights

China  Meltdown So Large That Losses Eclipsed BRICS  Peers 

Take the combined size of all stocks traded in Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa, multiply by two, and you'll get a sense of how much China's market value has slumped since the meltdown started. Shanghai-listed equities erased $5 trillion since reaching a seven-year high in June, half their value, as margin traders closed out bullish bets and concern deepened that valuations were unjustified by the weak economic outlook. 

The four other countries in the BRICS universe have a combined market capitalisation of $2.8 trillion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. 

How China's economic slowdown could weigh on the rest of the world 

In the year to July, China's customs agency reports that imports from Australia are down by $15bn dollars on the same period last year - a loss which is already equal to 1% of Australia's GDP, and many other countries stand to lose out to similar degrees. China's imports overall are down by 14.6% over 2015. Find out what happens if this decline continues for the rest of the year - or worsens - and how that loss compares to each country's GDP

Deflationary Collapse Ahead?

Eventually, even at near zero interest rates, the amount of debt becomes too high, relative to income. Governments become afraid of adding more debt. Young people find student loans so burdensome that they put off buying homes and cars. The economic “pump” that used to result from rising wages and rising debt slows, slowing the growth of the world economy. With slow economic growth comes low demand for commodities that are used to make homes, cars, factories, and other goods. This slow economic growth is what brings the persistent trend toward low commodity prices experienced in recent years.

The Amazing Harbinger of the Dow's 531-Point Slide 

A strange thing happened fifteen minutes after stock markets opened for regular trading on Friday, August 21, 2015. At least some people on the nationally prominent MarketWatch website were privileged to see in advance what would prove to be the full-day losses for both the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU) and the Standard & Poors 500 (SPX) indices. This harbinger or revelation of what was to come occurred six hours and fifteen minutes before the market's close. The uncanny trend projections, or perhaps target prices, were made available while the Dow was down about 180 points -- more than 350 points above its astonishing Friday close.

What If The "Crash" Is as Rigged as Everything Else? 

There is an almost touching faith that markets are rigged when they loft higher, but unrigged when they crash. Who's to say this crash isn't rigged? A few things about this "crash" (11% decline from all time highs now qualifies as a "crash") don't pass the sniff test.

Australia 'sleepwalking into a mess' 

"Unless we recognise that, and recognise that the productivity challenge and the fiscal challenge are intimately linked, and we have to deal with both of them, then we will go on continuing to repeat the mistakes that we've been making and that will get us into a situation that none of us want to be in."

Dr Parkinson earlier told a room of more than 90 corporate, community and academic leaders that productivity reform could not be detached from fiscal reform.

Did Global Stock Market Meltdown Hurt UK Pension Schemes?

The ‘Black Monday' stock market turmoil on 24 August saw the FTSE 100 index plummet 14% below its peak of almost 7,000 points in February.

Investors across the globe began panic selling stocks, particularly in commodities, amid fears of the much anticipated growth slowdown in China.

While about £96bn was wiped off share values in the UK blue chip index, the Dow fell 1,000 points on opening and the Shanghai Composite experienced total losses of 35% since June.

Hymans Robertson put the total pain for UK defined benefit (DB) schemes at a staggering £30bn surge in aggregate deficits in a day, as equities values and bond yields headed south. 

Commentators are divided on whether the event was merely a market correction or an indication of more chaos to come.

But what many agree on is the fact that China is no longer the world's economic growth engine, posing the question of where future investment returns will come from.

Learning Success: 

APPLY Tips From The Best

Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Group – Anyone who owns more than 400 companies and is worth billions of dollars is clearly doing many things right. I admire Richard Branson’s tenacity, and I admire his personal brand

 

Dow Losing Streak Ain't Over 'Til Its Over, & More Top Insights

Dow 7-day losing streak worst since debt-ceiling crisis

U.S. stocks closed lower Friday, with the Dow industrials hitting its worst losing streak since 2011’s debt-ceiling crisis, after the jobs report matched economists’ estimates, boosting the chances for a Federal Reserve interest-rate hike in September.

The nonfarm-payrolls report showed that the U.S. gained 215,000 jobs in July, largely matching expectations, and the unemployment rate stayed pat at 5.3%.

The solid employment data offers little reason to upend Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen’s plan to lift rates, possibly at the next two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, which begins on Sept. 16.

“The jobs report doesn’t increase the likelihood that the [Federal Reserve] will raise rates in September, but it also doesn’t decrease the likelihood,” Randy Frederick, managing director of Schwab Center for Financial Research, told MarketWatch.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.27%  declined 46.37 points, or 0.3%, to 17,373.38, after having been down as many as 141 points earlier in the session. With seven straight days of losses, it marks the longest losing streak for the index since the height of the debt-ceiling drama in the summer of 2011.

Banks, miners drive Australian share market collapse

The Australian sharemarket dived again today as banking stocks tumbled in the wake of ANZ’s capital raising while trading was also soured by resource shares after a major writedown from explosives and blasting systems firm Orica.

At the 4.15pm (AEST) official market close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 was 135.3 points, or 2.41 per cent, lower at 5474.8, while the broader All Ordinaries index had fallen 127.8 points, or 2.28 per cent, to 5472.3.

The result put the ASX200 at about 3.7 below last Friday’s close of 5699.2, more than offsetting last week’s gains of 2.4 per cent.

The market fell initially on weaker banking stocks as ANZ slumped sharply. The lender emerged from a trading halt this morning after announcing a $3 billion capital raising yesterday.

Forget the Fake Statistics: China Is a Tinderbox

When China's tinderbox economy implodes, who will be left to bid up the world's surplus commodities and real estate?

After 30 years of torrid expansion, perhaps the single most consequential factor in China’s economy is how much of it is a “black box”: a system with visible inputs and outputs whose internal workings are opaque.

There are number of reasons for this lack of transparency:

1. Official statistics reflect what officials want to project, not the unfiltered data.

2. Policy decisions are made behind closed doors by a handful of leaders.

3. There is little institutional history of transparency.

4. Many important statistics are self-reported and prone to distortion.

5. Large sectors of the economy are informal and difficult if not impossible to measure accurately.

6. Endemic corruption distorts critical economic yardsticks.

7. There is little historical precedent to guide policy makers and individual investors.

Saudi Arabia may go broke before the US oil industry buckles

Saudi Arabia will start running into trouble within two years or face draconian austerity. Social spending is the glue that binds a medieval Wahhabi regime midst unrest among the Shia minority, attacks from ISIS, and the invasion of Yemen. Diplomatic spending is what underpins the Saudi sphere of influence in a Middle East version of Europe's Thirty Year War. 

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How Germany Prevailed in the Greek Bailout

Germany persuaded European leaders to rally more firmly around what might be called the Berlin consensus by a combination of patient diplomacy and clever brinkmanship and by exploiting alarm over the antics of Greece’s leaders

China's July exports slump 8%, raises pressure for more stimulus

Chinese exports tumbled 8.3 percent in July, their biggest drop in four months and far worse than expected, reinforcing expectations that Beijing will be forced to roll out more stimulus to support the world's second-largest economy.

Imports also fell heavily from a year earlier, in line with market forecasts but suggesting domestic demand might be too feeble to offset the weaker global demand for China's exports.

Brazil's worst economic downturn in 25 years just ahead of Rio 2016

Brasilia: Allies of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff have turned to her opponents to talk about filling what they see as a damaging leadership vacuum after losing confidence in her ability to pull the country out of an economic tailspin, party insiders said on Thursday.

Brazil's worst economic downturn in 25 years has undercut confidence in Ms Rousseff's leadership and raised the spectre of her impeachment just six months into her second term.

Shale Gas Reality Check

In October 2014, Post Carbon Institute published the results of what likely remains the most thorough independent analysis of U.S. shale gas and tight oil production ever conducted. The process of drilling for shale gas and tight oil is known colloquially as “fracking” and has drawn a great deal of controversy—considered by some as an energy revolution and others as an environmental and human health catastrophe.

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Greek Anxiety Could Rock World Markets, & Top Insights

Investors' Insights Comments 


We are not out of the woods just yet. If the deal is not ratified by the Greek parliament then does anybody know what plan B is? Do they even have one?

 Well whatever it is the opening sentence should read something  like this - " this is an unprecedented disaster" that should never have been taken to the brink. Bad news will not sit well with investors as Greece is not the only basket case out there - the defaulter line-up  is growing longer, they say, by the day..

Some think ( Ron Paul) that America too, is not that far behind, Not far behind whom?  -  CHINA?

So, may you live in interesting times 


Good Luck; Be Careful Out There

Make-or-break moment as Greek MPs prepare to vote on austerity proposals

Prime minister Alexis Tsipras, who has lost a key minister unwilling to support measures, must keep number of rebels to fewer than 40 to pass vote

Alexis Tsipras, the Greek prime minister, is preparing for a make-or-break parliamentary vote over the austerity measures Athens must take in exchange for a fresh bailout from its eurozone partners.

Just hours before the vote, Tsipras suffered a blow with the loss of a key minister, Nadia Valavani. The deputy finance minister resigned, saying it was “impossible” for her to keep serving in the government given the austerity measures to which Tsipras had agreed. She warned the nation faced a “crushing” capitulation at the hands of its creditors in Brussels.

Tsipras must keep the number of rebels within his own party below 40 in order to pass the measures required as part of the controversial rescue package agreed after marathon talks last weekend.

Ron Paul: Greece Today, America Tomorrow?

By Ron Paul

The drama over Greece’s financial crisis continues to dominate the headlines. As this column is being written, a deal may have been reached providing Greece with yet another bailout if the Greek government adopts new “austerity” measures. The deal will allow all sides to brag about how they came together to save the Greek economy and the European Monetary Union. However, this deal is merely a Band-Aid, not a permanent fix to Greece’s problems. So another crisis is inevitable.us unless we stop overspending on warfare and welfare and restore a sound monetary system. While most commentators have focused on Greece’s welfare state, much of Greece’s deficit was caused by excessive military spending. Even as its economy collapses and the government makes (minor) cuts in welfare spending, Greece’s military budget remains among the largest in the European Union.

Despite all the handwringing over how the phony sequestration cuts have weakened America’s defenses, the United States military budget remains larger than the combined budgets of the world’s next 15 highest spending militaries. Little, if any, of the military budget is spent defending the American people from foreign threats. Instead, the American government wastes billions of dollars on an imperial foreign policy that makes Americans less safe. America will never get its fiscal house in order until we change our foreign policy and stop wasting trillions on unnecessary and unconstitutional wars.

Excessive military spending is not the sole cause of America’s problems. Like Greece, America suffers from excessive welfare and entitlement spending. Reducing military spending and corporate welfare will allow the government to transition away from the welfare state without hurting those dependent on government programs. Supporting an orderly transition away from the welfare state should not be confused with denying the need to reduce welfare and entitlement spending.

China's economic growth beats forecast

World's second-largest economy grows by 7 percent in the second quarter amid dramatic fall on stock markets.

China has released figures of its economic growth for the second quarter showing the country's economy has grown at a steady seven percent, its weakest performance since the global crisis but slightly better than expected.

The figure released on Wednesday was slightly above forecasts and came as the ruling Communist Party is struggling to reverse a stock market plunge that threatens to disrupt its economic reform plans.

The world's second-largest economy has seen sharp downturn in its economic growth raising fears of job losses. Since November, Beijing has cut interest rates four times and pumped money into the economy through spending on construction.

"There are good reasons to think that the latest figures are mirroring a genuine stabilisation of conditions on the ground," said Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics in a report.

The Multi-Trillion Dollar Oil Market Swindle 

I have maintained that oil should have corrected to around $70 in the fall of 2014, tied to U.S. production increases which at the time represented the price at which drillers would continue to add to supply. That price tied to cost reductions has probably been reduced to $60ish currently. But today, with the consensus oversupply widely quoted in the media as some 2 million barrels per day worldwide, it’s clear that if the numbers are correct below, the perceived oversupply wouldn’t exist at all. Suffice it to say prices would be at least at the point where production would need to be added, perhaps around $60-$70 per barrel, if not higher.

Science says no impacts from Shenhua mine: Baird 

Asked what he had said, the minister told reporters: "There's no point in going to cabinet if you are going to express what you said in cabinet on national TV."

Shenhua Watermark is planning to construct an open-cut mine about 25km southeast of Gunnedah to extract 10 million tonnes of coal a year over 30 years.

Greek debt crisis: Goldman Sachs could be sued for helping hide debts when it joined euro 

The deal is based on fresh economic reform proposals submitted by Athens which bear a striking similarity to the creditors’ offer rejected by the Greek people in a referendum last Sunday – sparking claims that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has effectively executed a huge U-turn in order to avoid a catastrophic “Grexit”

Austerity Has Failed: An Open Letter From Thomas Piketty to Angela Merkel

Five leading economists warn the German chancellor, “History will remember you for your actions this week.”

440 cuts and counting - the Abbot Legacy

This post will be regularly updated to keep track of the Abbott Government’s broken promises and everything his Government does to hurt Australians. Each item will have a link to a source.

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