FURTHER FURTHER READING
- Turkeys vs hummingbirds in central banking.
- The same old US economy through a different lens.
- The shale gas revolution and energy security for the Western hemisphere.
- The CBO's deficit forecasts might be too optimistic.
- Jacob Geller and Neil Irwin on the morality of buying expensive wine.
ROUND-UP
FT markets round-up: "A heady combination of encouraging global manufacturing data and reassuring central bank commentary drove equities, commodities and the dollar sharply higher and pushed down prices for US government bonds and gold. Indeed, the S&P 500 index leapt above the 1,700 level for the first time ever while Brent crude oil climbed above the $109-a-barrel mark and the 10-year Treasury bond yield rose to within a whisker of a recent two-year high." (Financial Times)
Jury finds Tourre defrauded investors: "Former Goldman Sachs trader Fabrice Tourre has been found liable for defrauding investors in a derivatives deal, marking the most significant victory for the US Securities and Exchange Commision in a trial stemming from the financial crisis. The SEC's three-year legal effort against Mr Tourre became a key battle for federal regulators keen to demonstrate they were holding bankers to account for alleged misdeeds ahead of the collapse of the mortgage market." (Financial Times)
ECB heads towards more transparency over minutes: "Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, heralded on Thursday an era of "richer communication" and greater transparency about how the bank's governing council comes to its monthly interest rate decisions. The pledge follows renewed debate about the ECB's practice of keeping the minutes of governing council meetings secret for 30 years, in sharp contrast to other major central banks like the US Federal Reserve, Bank of England and Bank of Japan, which publish them within about a month of their monetary policy meetings." (Financial Times)
Shell takes impairment on North America as profit slides: "Royal Dutch Shell took a big writedown on the value of North American shale assets, which combined with trouble in its Nigeria operations to wipe a fifth off its quarterly profits. The Anglo-Dutch oil and gas group also said it was dropping its oil and gas production growth targets, in a sign of how difficult it is becoming for supermajors such as Shell to increase output and reserves." (Financial Times)
