FURTHER FURTHER READING
- Some 15 per cent of Harvard grads will go into finance this year; it was 47 per cent in 2007.
- Sumner: "If the ultra-conservative BoJ can change its policy, I don't see why the ultra-conservative ECB cannot do the same."
- Plus... Sumner on making macro calls.
- Out of one, many -- US housing recovery edition.
- The SEC's new Robocop: part man, part machine, all concession to the statute of limitations.
- Tyler Cowen reviews Borgen.
- In the FT: Robin Wigglesworth profiles Lee Buchheit.
- Defalcation in bankruptcy: it does matter.
ROUND-UP
Hitting 15,409.39 -- another record for the Dow after a day of strong US data. The index closed up 0.69 per cent while the S&P 500 rose 0.68 per cent (Reuters).
US housing prices recorded their biggest monthly jump since 2006. They rose 10.9 per cent in March from a year earlier, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index of 20 cities (Financial Times). The 1.8 per cent gain in prices from January to March was the largest quarterly increase since 2005, although overall home prices remain 28 per cent below their 2006 peak (Wall Street Journal). The MBS market fell sharply on Tuesday on increased speculation that the Fed will soon begin to 'taper' purchases under QE, and that mortgage rates will soon rise (Financial Times).
The United States charged seven people with laundering $6bn of criminal proceeds through a digital currency. Liberty Reserve operated as "a financial hub of the cybercrime world," the authorities alleged in indictments unsealed on Tuesday. Officials in New York, Spain and Costa Rica have arrested five of the seven current and former employees of Liberty Reserve charged under what is believed to be the largest prosecution of international money laundering in history (Financial Times).
Alibaba is preparing to shun the US for its IPO, likely to be this year's biggest. While the Chinese ecommerce company said it has made no final decision, bankers said it planned to make its $60bn-$70bn listing in Hong Kong instead, citing the regulatory and accounting demands of US markets (Financial Times).
Softbank is close to clearing a national security review of its bid for Sprint. A decision by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US could come as soon as Wednesday morning (Bloomberg).
The new News Corp promised "relentless' cost-cutting for its newspaper business as it prepares to complete its spin-off from 21st Century Fox (Reuters).
