- The U.S. GDP grew at 4.2 % in Q2
- Bloomberg: Rallies from Brazil to Japan and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index’s first trip above 2,000 sent the value of global equities to a record $66 trillion.
- The value of equities globally has soared from $25 trillion in March 2009.
- Stocks were valued at $63 trillion at the 2007 peak, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
- (Reuters) Investors in U.S.-based funds poured $2.6 billion into stock funds in the week ended Aug. 20 on a rebound in risk appetite, data from the Investment Company Institute showed.
- While the momentum has slowed to a rise of 1%, U.S. house prices remained on an upward track in Q2.
- Use brains, stay in California: Through the first half of this year, about $13.6 billion of venture capital poured into California. Texas took in $700 million. Get this: San Diego collected $484 million — almost as much as the whole state of Texas. There were 52 deals in San Diego, 88 in Texas.
- More than one-third of mortgaged homeowners have effective “negative equity” or less than 20% equity in their home, according to a Zillow analysis.
- U.S. Consumer confidence index rose to 92.4% the highest level since 2007.
- U.S Durable-goods orders rose by a record 22.6% in July
- The rate of U.S. credit card payments at least 90 days overdue fell to 1.16% in Q2 – the lowest level in at least seven years.
- Japan's consumer prices rose 3.3% in July
- (Reuters) - Pressure is building within the Federal Reserve for officials to move as early as next month to more clearly acknowledge improvements in the U.S. economy and lay the groundwork for the central bank’s first interest rate hike in nearly a decade.
- (MarketWatch) - The Federal Reserve has agreed to use interest rates on excess reserves as its main tool to set the federal funds rate and the bank plans to target a range instead of a precise number when it eventually raises rates, according to minutes of its July 29-30 meeting released Wednesday. For example, the bank now has a fed funds target of zero to 0.25%. In the past, the Fed would target a single number such as 3% or 4.5%. As expected, the central bank gave no timetable on when it expects to start raising the fed funds rate. Most analysts believe the Fed will wait until mid-2015 or so. Excess reserves refers to short-term assets that private banks keep inside the Fed.
- The time has come for France to resist Germany's "obsession" with austerity and promote alternative policies across the euro zone that support household consumption, French Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg said.
- UK manufacturing purchasing managers' index fell to 52.5 from 54.8 in July
- Spain has raised 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) in its first-ever 50-year bond issue. The bond, due on Oct. 31, 2064, has a 4 % coupon
- Spiegel reported that Merkel is unhappy with European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi for apparently proposing a greater emphasis on fiscal stimulus over austerity in order to boost growth in Europe.
- Merkel has told German lawmakers that arming Kurdish fighters battling Islamic extremists in Iraq wasn't an easy decision but is in her country's interest
- (Spiegel) Israel invests more money in research than most other countries -- and in no other place are research institutes, the defense industry, the army and politics as interwoven. The result is a high-tech weapons factory that successfully exports its goods globally.
- The Unprotected: A Gaza Family Destroyed by Israeli Bombs... For an entire week, eight people -- women, children and an elderly man -- were trapped in their house in Gaza. They couldn't leave and nobody could help. An hour before the cease-fire, the family was wiped out by Israeli bombs.
- Russia launched construction of a gas pipeline to China in a $400 billion deal, and plans to deliver 38 billion cubic meters of natural gas for a period of 30 years through the 2,485 mile long pipeline.
- With fears of Moscow growing after its intrusion in Ukraine, NATO member states in Eastern Europe would like NATO to direct a planned missile-defense system against Russia as well.
- The Labor Department has U.S. hourly wages growing at 2% YoY.
- Argentina threatens to take US to The Hague after defaulting on its debts for the second time in 12 years.
- China's non-manufacturing activity slightly slowed in July, with the sector's purchasing managers' index (PMI) dropping to 54.2 from 55 in June.
- The Chinese economy is expected to grow about 7.5% this year
- Eurozone manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) held steady at June's seven-month low of 51.8, as ongoing expansion was partly offset by a deeper downturn by French manufacturers
- Some 209,000 new U.S. jobs were added in July, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 6.2 %
- (DJ) Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith says company was planning to appeal a federal judge's decision ordering the company to turn over customer email stored in a company data center in Ireland. Verizon, AT&T, Apple and Cisco filed briefs supporting Microsoft, reflecting their shared concern that compliance with U.S. requests for data held abroad could alienate foreign governments, which are placing more pressure on service providers to shore up customer privacy. That could also cost them billions of dollars in business.
- The number of people who applied for regular state unemployment-insurance benefits in the week that ended July 19 fell by 19,000 to 284,000 -- the lowest level since February 2006
- Australia has approved the Adani's Carmichael coalmine and rail project that will dig up and transport about 60m tonnes of coal a year for export. Greenpeace has claimed that coal from the mine will add 128m tonnes of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere per year. Senator Larissa Waters said: "History will look back on the Abbott government’s decision as an act of climate criminality.
- (MarketWatch) -- A preliminary reading of China's manufacturing sector has hit an 18-month high this month, as work orders appear to be picking up pace...
- (MarketWatch) -- Sales of new single-family homes fell 8.1% in June to 406,000, the slowest pace in three months, with drops across the country...
- “While the 66 countries that account for 88 per cent of global emissions have passed laws to address global warming, Australia is repealing them.” Australia became the first country in the world to abolish a price on carbon - and this vote to repeal its tax on carbon dioxide emissions is a setback to establishing a similar charge in the U.S. - where Republicans and fossilized interests still criticize its costs and carry on to question if carbon dioxide from human activity causes climate change.
- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said that it is proposing restrictions that would essentially block development of a planned massive gold-and-copper mine near the headwaters of a premier salmon fishery in Alaska.
- The Obama administration is proposing a ban on “inversion deals,” retroactive to May 2014, in which U.S. companies (Abbvie, Walgreen etc.) buy foreign ones and move corporate headquarters abroad to escape U.S. tax laws.
- Macquarie estimates U.S. corn cost of production at $4.12 a bushel.
- Pink Floyd to Release First New Album in 20 Years 'The Endless River' is due out this fall...
- The majority of Americans have no money in the stock market at all, including retirement accounts. Some 53% of Americans avoid the market completely, according to a Pew Research survey last year.
- (BW) Pine beetles, each the size of a grain of rice, are obliterating forests, ravaging towns, draining city budgets, and threatening tourism at ski resorts, golf courses, and national parks. The beetles’ economic impact is emerging two decades into a growing infestation fueled by climate change and drought that has wiped out 38,000 square miles of trees—an area the size of Indiana and Rhode Island combined……Recent winters haven’t been cold enough to kill off the beetles.
- The average U.S. temperature has increased by as much as 1.9 degrees Fahrenheit since 1895, with most of the warmest winters occurring since 1970.
- The largest elephant in the world, Satao, has been killed in Kenya. Poachers shot the bull elephant with a poisoned arrow in Tsavo East National Park, waited for him to die a painful death, and hacked off his face to remove his ivory. (forbes.com)
- (NYT)..On June 20, officials from the European Southern Observatory blew the top off a mountain in northern Chile called Armazones, breaking ground for what is planned to be the largest, most powerful optical telescope ever built. Known as the European Extremely Large Telescope, or E-ELT, it will have a segmented mirror 39 meters (about 128 feet) in diameter, powerful enough to see planets around distant stars. By comparison, the largest telescopes now operating are 10 meters in diameter... The Energy Department is kicking in $165 million for a 3,200-megapixel camera, which will produce an image of the entire sky every few days and over 10 years will produce a movie…
- More than 50 former Israeli soldiers have refused to serve in the nation’s reserve force, citing regret over their part in a military they said plays a central role in oppressing Palestinians (haaretz.com)
- The pacific island country of Palau is becoming the first nation to ban commercial fishing and bottom trawling in their waters in order to regenerate fish stocks.
