FURTHER FURTHER READING
- The question before the court.
- Ben Bernanke came out guns blazing today.
- The death of print has been greatly exaggerated.
- Wall Street's lawfare strategy against regulation.
- Immigration and US productivity.
- Finance people are from Mars, economics people are from Venus.
ROUND-UP
FT markets round-up: "US government bonds came under heavy selling pressure after Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, said the central bank could begin scaling back its $85bn-a-month asset purchase programme later this year, if the economy continues to improve. The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond jumped 17 basis points to 2.36 per cent, the highest since April of last year, while the 30-year yield was 7bp higher at 3.41 per cent. That helped push the dollar sharply higher, while US equities and the gold price came under pressure." (Financial Times)
Bernanke sees 2014 end for QE3: "Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve chairman, offered the firmest timeline yet for tapering US central bank asset purchases, saying that the central bank's $85bn monthly programme could be slowed this year and end altogether around the middle of next year. In a statement following the latest meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, Mr Bernanke said it would be "appropriate to moderate the monthly pace of purchases later this year," assuming the Fed's expectations for an improved economic outlook held true." (Financial Times)
Dolce and Gabbana get suspended sentence and €500m tax evasion fine: "Italian fashion designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana have been handed suspended prison sentences of a year and eight months and fined nearly half a billion euros by a court in Milan for evading millions in taxes. A judge ruled that the pair, who are the owners of the multinational fashion group, had sold their brand to a Luxembourg-based holding company in 2004 in order to avoid declaring more than €100m in royalties. They were also fined nearly €500m, opening up the possibility that tax police may seize shares in the company and assets." (Financial Times)
China cash crunch deepens as PBOC withholds funding: "China's cash crunch deepened on Wednesday after the central bank withheld funding from the financial system, putting pressure on overextended lenders. Short-term interbank rates jumped more than 200 basis points to a record high of nearly 8 per cent for loans of one month or less, in the latest indication of how tight credit has become in China." (Financial Times)
Landmark Swiss-US tax deal is in tatters: "The Swiss government's attempt to reach a landmark legal resolution of the country's bitter tax dispute with the US has failed, after the lower house of the Swiss parliament voted down the government's bill for a second time. The bill – put forward three weeks ago – would have allowed Swiss banks to circumvent the country's strict bank secrecy laws and hand over business records to the American authorities, paving the way for them to agree individual settlements for their role in helping wealthy Americans evade taxes." (Financial Times)
