FT ALPHAVILLE
Greater and lesser rotations: it looks like a torrent of investor money has been heading into US stocks so far this year, but how many retail investors really want to leave bonds?
The long road to Eurozone bank deleveraging. It's terribly uneven -- both between different tiers of banks, and between countries -- but there's still €3.2tn to go...
NEWS
Japan's economy grew at a slower pace than expected in the second quarter, possibly giving Shinzo Abe room to delay a planned consumption-tax increase. Annualised growth of 2.6 per cent came in a percentage point below the average forecast, and beneath the 3 per cent threshold which analysts have suggested would persuade the prime minister to set back the tax's scheduled April 2014 roll-out (Financial Times).
The eurozone recession also probably ended in the second quarter, according to a poll of economists by Bloomberg. The median forecast was for growth of 0.2 per cent, ahead of the release of data on August 14 (Bloomberg).
Need To Know News put under the spotlight amid data-release probes: 'Founded by an investment firm and now owned by the Deutsche Börse stock exchange, Need To Know News has operated with an overriding mission: sending data directly from the government through high-speed lines to financial firms that are able to trade on it instantly...' Regulators subpoenaed Need to Know News hard drives in 2011, amid a general investigation into whether government data is being leaked to high-speed traders early (Wall Street Journal).
Australia's largest gold producer posted its first annual loss in over a decade. Newcrest wrote down the value of its mines by $5.5bn, scrapped its final dividend and revealed a rise in debt ratios. Newcrest's gearing ratio is 29 per cent following the write-downs, almost double its targeted level of 15 per cent (Financial Times).
US investigators are looking at whether former JPMorgan employees "knowingly misvalued their positions" in the London Whale trades as they move closer to criminal charges (Wall Street Journal).
