FURTHER FURTHER READING
- 99-yr-old minimum wage custodian and his employers show why everyone hates economics.
- Regulators not happy with guy whose algorithm tricked some other algorithms.
- The lucky-take-all society.
- The laws of Rockonomics.
- Sixteen experts on Dodd-Frank.
- How fast the Windows monopoly is being destroyed.
- Why 3D printing will explode in 2014.
ROUND-UP
FT markets round-up: "Global equities began the week on a firm note, with the S&P 500 touching a record intraday high in spite of a gloomy earnings outlook from McDonald's, while gold hit its highest level for a month on the back of weakness for the dollar. The FTSE All-World equity index was up 0.5 per cent as the S&P advanced 0.2 per cent to a fresh record close above 1,695 – having earlier reached an intraday peak above 1,697. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 ended with a rise of 0.1 per cent while the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo finished 0.5 per cent higher after a convincing win for prime minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic party in Sunday's upper house election in Japan. Portugal's 10-year government bond yield tumbled 45 basis points to 6.39 per cent. Spanish and Italian yields also retreated, while that on the German Bund slipped 1bp to 1.52 per cent. The euro, meanwhile, gained ground against the broadly weaker dollar – briefly nosing above $1.32 before edging back below that level to stand 0.4 per cent higher. The dollar index fell 0.5 per cent." (Financial Times)
Parties in US limber up for budget wars: "Republicans have begun to draw lines in the sand in readiness for the renewal of their budget wars with Barack Obama, with one senator insisting the party shut down the federal government to block funding of the president's health reforms. Mike Lee, a Republican senator from Utah, said if Republicans in both houses "simply refuse to vote" for an upcoming budget resolution in September, "we can stop" the law's core mandate, for individuals to take out insurance." (Financial Times)
US banks now worth double Brics resource groups: "A stark shift in investor sentiment in global equity markets has accelerated this year with a widening gulf between the market value of big US banks and commodity companies in emerging markets. Five years ago, just ahead of the collapse of Lehman Brothers investment bank, the market capitalisation of US banks fell below the value of energy, materials and mining companies from the Bric countries – Brazil, Russia, India and China." (Financial Times)
High-frequency trader fined in transatlantic clampdown: "US and UK authorities have used beefed-up powers to punish a small high-frequency trading firm for attempting to rig commodity markets, in a sign that authorities are to looking to team up to crack down on market abuse. On Monday the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the UK Financial Conduct Authority and CME Group, the exchanges operator, each fined Panther Energy Trading and one of its traders for manipulating futures markets on both sides of the Atlantic with computer algorithms in a three-month period." (Financial Times)
Third Point sells down Yahoo holding: "Dan Loeb's Third Point, the activist investor group that last year engineered the departure of Yahoo's chief executive Scott Thompson and the appointment of Marissa Mayer as his replacement, is selling down its stake in the web company after more than doubling his investment." (Financial Times)
Detroit warns that pension fund shortfall likely to be understated: "The $3.5bn in pension fund liabilities that Detroit included in its bankruptcy filing last week may be significantly understated because of a combination of overly optimistic assumptions and questionable investments, according to Kevyn Orr, the city's emergency manager, and those who work with him." (Financial Times)
