Remarkable stories from the web in a new, easier format.
That sentiment speedometer arrives from BoA Merrill Lynch strategist Michael Harnett. He’s bullish for tactical reasons, but who also feels the heavy foot of history on the accelerator.
History says buy | FT Alphaville
Citi’s latest 48-page Global Economic Outlook and Strategy report is out, providing commentary and forecasts on where the bank thinks the world’s major economies are headed.
Citi’s Global Economic Forecasts – Business Insider
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Chinese regulators have expanded a pilot plan allowing banks to package loans into tradable securities to include foreign banks, sources said.
China Is Testing A Plan To Let Banks Package Loans Into Tradable Securities – Business Insider
Solar industry manufacturers are rebounding from a two-year slump faster than technology companies recovered from the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s.
Solar Rebound Beating Dot-Com Recovery as Demand Surges – Bloomberg
The world is facing a wine shortage, with global consumer demand already significantly outstripping supply, a report has warned.
BBC News – World faces global wine shortage – report
A potential new HIV treatment has a “profound and unprecedented” impact on the virus, according to animal studies published in the journal Nature.
BBC News – HIV antibodies ‘have potent impact’
Nuclear scientists are being urged by the former UN weapons inspector Hans Blix to develop thorium as a new fuel. Mr Blix says that the radioactive element may prove much safer in reactors than uranium. It is also more difficult to use thorium for the production of nuclear weapons.
BBC News – Thorium backed as a ‘future fuel’
The European Central Bank will provide more liquidity to avoid a “cliff” effect once long-term refinancing operations (LTROs) – the bank’s cheap loans to euro zone banks – come to an end, Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny told CNBC.
More liquidity coming from ECB to avoid ‘cliff’: Nowotny
Two sets of negotiations on Capitol Hill — on the budget’s spending and tax priorities and on the Farm Bill, which includes renewing SNAP — raise important questions about the size and role of government. People who believe that future deficit reduction must come solely from spending cuts sometimes claim that the federal government is exploding in size.
The explanation of comparative economic development set forth in Why Nations Fail is based on institutions, particularly the consequences of different sets of political and economic institutions. Though we provide a great deal of evidence to support this idea, no theory can explain every single episode from word history and there are always going to be counter-examples.
What Are Institutions? – Why Nations Fail – Why Nations Fail by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson
The US has criticised Germany’s economic policies, saying that its export-led growth model is hurting the eurozone and the wider global economy.
BBC News – US criticises Germany and China policies
In a couple of articles, we’ll investigate the tenets of Austrian economics, more especially those of Peter Schiff, as he prominently represents that school of economic thought.
Thursday’s surprisingly low inflation data have sparked concerns that the 17-country euro zone is heading for a period of deflation and boosted expectations of a near-team rate cut by the central bank when its governing council next Thursday.
Pressure on ECB to cut rates after inflation shock
The International Monetary Fund joined the U.S. Treasury Department in rebuking Germany’s trade surpluses, rebuffing the claim of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government that booming exports are a sign of economic health.
IMF Backs U.S. Treasury in Criticizing German Exports – Bloomberg
China’s high-speed rail system has emerged as an unexpected success story. Economists and transportation experts cite it as one reason for China’s continued economic growth when other emerging economies are faltering.
Speedy Trains Transform China – NYTimes.com
The Secret — how is it that Shanghai’s public secondary schools topped the world charts in the 2009 PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) exams that measure the ability of 15-year-olds in 65 countries to apply what they’ve learned in math, science and reading.
After visiting Shanghai’s Qiangwei Primary School, with 754 students — grades one through five — and 59 teachers, I think I found The Secret: There is no secret.
The Shanghai Secret – NYTimes.com
