TARP Inspector General Neil Barofsky says in a new report that TARP has allowed the too big to fails to get even bigger, and that:Absent meaningful regulatory reform, TARP runs the risk of merely reanimating markets that had collapsed under the weight …
Posts Tagged ‘markets’
Carrefour in emerging markets: Exit the dragon?
October 8th, 2009 |
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Investors may force the world’s second- largest retailer to retreat to Europe
IN CHINESE, Carrefour happens to mean “Every Happy Family”, a piece of luck which has doubtless contributed to the French firm’s success in China, where it has operated since 1995. In Brazil, too, a market which Carrefour entered in 1975, the company is treated like a local and vies for leadership with a Brazilian firm. The group’s businesses in Brazil and China are substantial, fast-growing and produce generous returns on investment. Now, however, to the dismay of executives at the firm, two big shareholders are reportedly pushing for a sale of the Asian and Latin American businesses.
Colony Capital, an American private-equity firm which specialises in property, and Bernard Arnault, chairman of LVMH, a luxury-goods group, first invested in Carrefour in 2007, and now own more than 13% of its shares and around 20% of its voting rights, mainly through a joint holding company called Blue Capital. Like many activist investors, they were caught out by the crisis: Carrefour’s share price has fallen from around €50 ($67) when they made their purchases to €30 today. Their original aim was to spin off Carrefour’s property portfolio, which would have brought a one-off gain, but plummeting property values undermined the plan. …
Survey: Microsoft SQL Server Tops All Databases in Emerging Markets
October 2nd, 2009 |
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According to a recent Evans Data study, Microsoft SQL Server is the most used database in the emerging markets of China, India, Eastern Europe and Latin America. However, the open-source MySQL database is right behind it.
– According to a recent Evans Data study, Microsoft SQL Server is the most used database in the emerging markets of China, India, Eastern Europe, and Latin America.
The survey of more than 400 developers also showed that the open source database MySQL is closing the lead that SQL has in emerging mark…
Quick Guide to Foreign Markets
September 27th, 2009 |
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Diversifying your investments is one way to strengthen your overall portfolio, and it’s one of the most popular in today’s economic climate. Aside from varying your investments between stocks, bonds, and cash accounts, however, another popular option is to invest in one of the 21 major stock markets that exist outside of the United States. [...]
Capital markets with a conscience
September 1st, 2009 |
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Social investing grows up
THE old debate about whether, or to what extent, financial markets are a force for social good has taken on a new urgency in the aftermath of last year’s market meltdown. Plunging the world into recession is, after all, as clear an example as any of anti-social behaviour. As around 800 people gather in San Francisco this week at the SOCAP09 conference, to map out the future of what they call “social capital markets”, they have the wind at their backs.
The first SOCAP conference took place in the middle of the meltdown a year ago. There was a surge of registrations in the days after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, as some people disgusted by the traditional capital markets, and others who had lost their jobs and sought a new outlet for their skills, decided that social capital markets were worth a look. The event proved long on optimism but rather short on coherence. A year on, the thinking is more rigorous—if no less idealistic—and is increasingly being put into practice. …
Bob Doll: Higher-quality stocks to assume leadership in equity markets
August 22nd, 2009 |
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STOCKS DIPPED FOR the week ended Aug 14 in the face of some disappointing consumer confidence and retail sales figures in the US, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 0.5% to 9,321, the S&P 500 Index declining 0.6% to 1,004 and the Nasdaq Composite Index slipping 0.7% to 1,986.
Irish Lisbon opponents attack fiscal cuts, markets
August 18th, 2009 |
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Irish opponents of the European Union’s Lisbon reform treaty on Tuesday launched their campaign ahead of October’s referendum. Their campaign was launched with a warning the charter would leave workers worse off and more exposed to spending cuts.
Roberts: “By Spinning the Financial News, the Appearance of Recovery Is Created, and this Lures People Back into the Stock and Real Estate Markets”
August 14th, 2009 |
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Former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury and former editor of the Wall Street Journal Paul Craig Roberts has the quote of the day on the economy:By spinning the financial news, the appearance of recovery is created, and this lures people back into th…
RBS Chief Credit Strategist: Markets Have Priced in a V-Shape Recovery … Markets Will Crash When Data Shows That Type of Recovery Isn’t Happening
August 13th, 2009 |
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Royal Bank of Scotland’s chief credit strategist – Bob Janjuah – after predicting a big “relief rally” over the early summer, is advising clients to sell out of global equity and commodity markets and prepare for another crash as winter nears….
BlackBerry Curve 8520 Smartphone Straddles Business, Consumer Markets
August 5th, 2009 |
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Research In Motion’s new smartphone, the BlackBerry Curve 8520, is designed to straddle both the business and consumer worlds. In addition to providing traditional BlackBerry functionality, the device puts a heavy emphasis on music, instant messaging and games. However, enough benefits exist on both the hardware and software sides for IT administrators and procurement managers to give the device a hard look during their next tech refresh.
– If the Aug. 5 release of the BlackBerry Curve 8520 smartphone
is any indication, Research
In Motion has decided to devote more of its energies to the consumer market:
the review device that eWEEK has looked at
puts as much emphasis on music, videos and games as it does
business-related tasks. N…
Nikki Cicerani: What’s In a Name? Racial Discrimination Still a Prominent Feature of the Canadian and U.S. Labor Markets
July 22nd, 2009 |
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It is time to shift some of our risk taking and innovation to the human capital markets and see if we can create a richer society based on a new foundation of inclusion.
Emerging Markets a Key for IT Hardware Vendors: Gartner
July 22nd, 2009 |
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In a recent survey, research firm Gartner found that larger enterprises in emerging markets like Brazil, Russia, China and India were more likely to increasing investments in IT hardware including storage, servers, PCs and printing devices than their counterparts in mature markets. They also are increasing investments in such as areas as virtualization, green IT and to a lesser extent cloud computing.
– Emerging markets hold a lot of promise for IT hardware vendors, according to research firm Gartner.
In a report issued July 22, Gartner analysts said that in 2009, IT hardware spending growth rates in emerging markets will be larger than those in more mature markets.
In addition, spending in emerg…
Week ahead comment July 20: Rally on recovery
July 18th, 2009 |
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AS THE MARKETS ease into company-reporting season and key economic data is released, the FSSTI continued its gains, ending last week at 2,430.96, or nearly 124 points higher than the week before.
Singapore’s latest export data supports indications the city is recovering from its deepest recession to date. Non-oil domestic exports fell 11% in June from a year ago, compared with a 12.3% decline in May. The trade agency International Enterprise Singapore credits the performance to a surge in pharmaceutical output as well as a restocking of electronics.
What is “High-Frequency Trading”, and How Does It Distort the Markets?
July 16th, 2009 |
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Joseph Saluzzi – partner and co-head of equity trading for Themis TradingThemis – gives a succinct and stunning explanation of high-frequency trading.This is a topic that professional stock traders know a lot about, but the public knows nothing about.S…
LG App Store Will Focus on Asian Markets
July 13th, 2009 |
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LG Electronics is launching an online store for mobile phone applications with an initial focus on Asia and aspirations for a more global reach by year-end.
– SEOUL (Reuters) – LG Electronics, the world’s No. 3 handset
maker, is launching an online store for mobile phone applications
Tuesday with an initial focus on Asia and aspirations for a more global
reach by year-end.
Phone makers and mobile firms worldwide are in a race to match the
success of …