STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Wednesday, 19 February 2014

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Wednesday, 19 February 2014[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 18 February 2014

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 18 February 2014
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Dow Jones 16,130.40 -23.99 (-0.15%)
[font color=green]S&P 500 1,840.76 +2.13 (0.12%)
Nasdaq 4,272.78 +28.76 (0.68%)


[font color=green]10 Year 2.67% -0.03 (-1.11%)
30 Year 3.67% -0.02 (-0.54%) [font color=black]


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[font size=2]Market Conditions During Trading Hours[/font]
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[font size=2]Euro, Yen, Loonie, Silver and Gold[center]

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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Market Data and News:[/font][/font]
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Economic Calendar
Marketwatch Data
Bloomberg Economic News
Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Bank Tracker
Credit Union Tracker
Daily Job Cuts
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Economic Blogs:[/font][/font]
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The Big Picture
Financial Sense
Calculated Risk
Naked Capitalism
Credit Writedowns
Brad DeLong
Bonddad
Atrios
goldmansachs666
The Stand-Up Economist
The Automatic Earth
Wall Street on Parade
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Essential Reading:[/font][/font]
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Matt Taibi: Secret and Lies of the Bailout


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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Government Issues:[/font][/font]
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LegitGov
Open Government
Earmark Database
USA spending.gov
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Videos:[/font][/font]
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Charlie Rose talks with Roubini
Charlie Rose talks with Krugman
William Black: This Economic Disaster
Bill Moyers with Kevin Drum and David Corn
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[font color=red]Partial List of Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 [/font][font color=red]
2/2/12 David Higgs and Salmaan Siddiqui, Credit Suisse, plead guilty to conspiracy involving valuation of MBS
3/6/12 Allen Stanford, former Caribbean billionaire and general schmuck, convicted on 13 of 14 counts in $2.2B Ponzi scheme, faces 20+ years in prison
6/4/12 Matthew Kluger, lawyer, sentenced to 12 years in prison, along with co-conspirator stock trader Garrett Bauer (9 years) and co-conspirator Kenneth Robinson (not yet sentenced) for 17 year insider trading scheme.
6/14/12 Allen Stanford sentenced to 110 years without parole.
6/15/12 Rajat Gupta, former Goldman Sachs director, found guilty of insider trading. Could face a decade in prison when sentenced later this year.
6/22/12 Timothy S. Durham, 49, former CEO of Fair Financial Company, convicted of one count conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, 10 counts of wire fraud, and one count of securities fraud.
6/22/12 James F. Cochran, 56, former chairman of the board of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and six counts of wire fraud.
6/22/12 Rick D. Snow, 48, former CFO of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and three counts of wire fraud.
7/13/12 Russell Wassendorf Sr., CEO of collapsed brokerage firm Peregrine Financial Group Inc. arrested and charged with lying to regulators after admitting to authorities he embezzled "millions of dollars" and forged bank statements for "nearly twenty years."
8/22/12 Doug Whitman, Whitman Capital LLC hedge fund founder, convicted of insider trading following a trial in which he spent more than two days on the stand telling jurors he was innocent
10/26/12 UPDATE: Former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta sentenced to two years in federal prison. He will, of course, appeal. . .
11/20/12 Hedge fund manager Matthew Martoma charged with insider trading at SAC Capital Advisors, and prosecutors are looking at Martoma's boss, Steven Cohen, for possible involvement.
02/14/13 Gilbert Lopez, former chief accounting officer of Stanford Financial Group, and former controller Mark Kuhrt sentenced to 20 yrs in prison for their roles in Allen Sanford's $7.2 billion Ponzi scheme.
03/29/13 Michael Sternberg, portfolio mgr at SAC Capital, arrested in NYC, charged with conspiracy and securities fraud. Pled not guilty and freed on $3m bail.
04/04/13 Matthew Marshall Taylor,fmr Goldman Sachs trader arrested, charged by CFTC w/defrauding his employer on $8BN futures bet "by intentionally concealing the true huge size, as well as the risk and potential profits or losses associated."
04/04/13 Matthew Taylor admits guilt, makes plea bargain. Sentencing set for 26 June; faces up to 20 years in prison but will likely only see 3-4 years. Says, "I am truly sorry."
04/11/13 Ex-KPMG LLP partner Scott London charged by federal prosecutors w/passing inside tips to a friend in exchange for cash, jewelry, and concert tickets; expected to plead guilty in May.
08/01/13 Fabrice Tourré convicted on six counts of security fraud, including "aiding and abetting" his former employer, Goldman Sachs
08/14/13 Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout charged with wire fraud, falsifying records, and conspiracy in connection with JP Morgan's "London Whale" trade.
08/19/13 Phillip A. Falcone, manager of hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners, agrees to admit to "wrongdoing" in market manipulation. Will banned from securities industry for 5 years and pay $18MM in disgorgement and fines.
09/16/13 Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout officially indicted on charges associated with "London Whale" trade.
02/06/14 Matthew Martoma convicted of insider trading while at hedge fund SAC (Stephen A. Cohen) Capital Advisors. Expected sentence 7-10 years.








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[font size=3][font color=red]This thread contains opinions and observations. Individuals may post their experiences, inferences and opinions on this thread. However, it should not be construed as advice. It is unethical (and probably illegal) for financial recommendations to be given here.[/font][/font][/font color=red][font color=black]

[Demeter]

1. When we nationalize the communications,

dethrone the Corporations and tax the shit out of the Rich. And invest in public infrastructure and jobs.

[Tansy_Gold]

3. In other words

"sometime between in your dreams and when hell freezes over."

Oh, wait, those aren't other words.....

[Demeter]

2. Yesterday's DJIA looks like fibrillation

Fed's gonna apply the paddles any minute now.

[jtuck004]

4. "...–There’s newer research suggesting that the demand for skilled workers has actually decelerated

in recent years. Beaudry, Green, and Sand present an exhaustive and rigorous statistical analysis of skill demands over the last three decades. They look at tasks, jobs, and earnings, and find that the demand for skilled workers “underwent a reversal” around 2000. The growth in the share of high-skill, high “cognition” (using Autor’s tasks framework), and high-wage occupations stagnated in the 2000s, where the share of college grads kept growing. “That means,” as Green told me, “that the probability that a newly graduating BA will get one of these jobs is declining sharply.” And as more highly skilled workers are displaced, they moved down the job scale, hurting the job prospects of less-skilled workers who now have to compete with those “…displaced from cognitive occupations.”
...

Here.

So maybe when they tell you about all the new STEM jobs, and the funding and changes they need to implement it, perhaps you should season your thoughts with a heaping tablespoon of skepticism.

[AnneD]

14. My young daughter and I have had this talk...

and still continue to talk about it. While I am glad she has her college degree from a fine college, she had to take out loans, where as if she had stayed in state, she had enough state money available for it to be free. That did not mean much when she was in school but now she understands the wisdom of my advice. She is lucky enough to have landed a great paying job with a good company. She was unable to find work for 2 years. It was scary enough for her to want to stay home and use her money to pay off her loans BEFORE she strikes out on her own. At least she has a job.

I work in education and they are pushing a college bound culture down our throats. I see many kids every day. Some are college material and some are not. I shudder at the thought of these kids racking up debt to find a job that will never be there for them. To give them hope and yank it away is criminal. It looks like a racket to me. Another way to take money away from the middle class, but this time to place their children in the shackles of debt.

All the pillars that once supported the middle class are crumbling before our eyes: houses, education, saving and investing, pensions and social security. I just hope my daughter is smart enough to heed my advice. To paraphrase Mark Twain, she does think I have gotten smarter in the last 6 years. I can be thankful that she is not making 32k a year as a social worker and owing 84K in student loans.

[DemReadingDU]

24. Several articles in media concerning college student loans. Is it worth it

Simply, it is extortion. Those loan companies preying on students and their parents, because of the myth that everyone has to go to college to get a 'good' job. How good is the job, if the student has racked up gazillions in student loans.

And not every student will graduate in 4 years, or 5 or 6, costing even additional money for tuition, books, fees.

Sometimes it is better for young people to learn a trade. I value my plumber, my furnace man, car repairman, (or women) etc.

It appears your daughter has learned some valuable life lessons.
Good job!

[DemReadingDU]

5. Capital One says it can show up at cardholders' homes

Re-posted from yesterday SMW

2/18/14 Capital One says it can show up at cardholders' homes, workplaces

Credit card issuer Capital One isn't shy about getting into customers' faces.
The company recently sent a contract update to cardholders that makes clear it can drop by any time it pleases.
The update specifies that "we may contact you in any manner we choose" and that such contacts can include calls, emails, texts, faxes or a "personal visit."
As if that weren't creepy enough, Cap One says these visits can be "at your home and at your place of employment."
The police need a court order to pull off something like that. But Cap One says it has the right to get up close and personal anytime, anywhere.
"We may modify or suppress caller ID and similar services and identify ourselves on these services in any manner we choose."
Cap One is saying it can trick you into picking up the phone by using what looks like a local number or masquerading as something it's not, such as Save the Puppies or a similarly friendly-seeming bogus organization.

more...
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lazarus-20140218,1,4405897,full.column#axzz2tgmxlJTi



One wonders if Capital One is the beginning of all credit card companies to do these things

[xchrom]

6. NAFTA at 20: How ‘Free Trade’ Helps Banks Block Regulation

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/02/19

The North American Free Trade Agreement, just turned 20, has been in the news lately. Its advocates hope to extend its reach and depth through a Trans Pacific Partnership trade agreement and similar deals with Europe. Trans Pacific Partnership’s possible threat to shoe-industry jobs in Maine has properly received much attention in the local press, but NAFTA has other lessons that deserve close scrutiny.

Perhaps NAFTA’s greatest achievement has been rhetorical. Agreements like a Trans Pacific Partnership are still called “free trade.” They are nothing of the sort. They employ coercive means at the domestic and international levels to enshrine monopoly privilege for key segments of the FIRE sector (Finance, Insurance, Real Estate) of U.S. capitalism. The instability and rapaciousness of deregulated finance on an international plane will likely cost even more jobs than NAFTA.

NAFTA was originally promoted with classic arguments of “comparative advantage.” If tariffs on goods are eliminated, each nation can specialize in those at which it is best. Trade between nations then increases the total size of the pie. The classic theory, however, postulates underlying assumptions, such as full employment, that have virtually never applied in reality.

Even if we accepted this questionable thinking, there would be even more compelling reasons to reject a Trans Pacific Partnership. Economist Dean Baker has frequently pointed out that these agreements require foreign governments to accept the terms of U.S. patent and copyright laws, in effect extending monopoly pricing power beyond U.S. boundaries. The Trans Pacific Partnership likely will add insult to injury by prohibiting Maine from importing cheaper drugs from Canada. So much for a Trans Pacific Partnership as a trade-promoting agreement.

Perhaps the greatest threat lies with finance. NAFTA opened Mexican banking to competition with U.S. investment banks. Trade agreements since NAFTA have been even more aggressive in aiding big banks. Public Citizen reports: “Since NAFTA was enacted, bankers have gotten much more aggressive in their attempts to block regulation through trade deals. For example, the Korea FTA, passed by Congress in October [2011], included [harsher prohibitions] on financial sector regulations than NAFTA. On top of that, the [World Trade Organization restricts] policies on capital controls, bans on risky financial services, size limits on banks and ‘firewalls’ between banking and investment services.”

[xchrom]

7. True Free Market Proponents Should Support Private-Public Competition

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/02/19-0

One of the initiatives President Obama announced in his State of the Union Address was the "MyRA," an IRA that workers could sign up for at their workplace. The MyRA would be invested in government bonds and provide a modest guaranteed rate of return.

The MyRA has several useful features. It's simple, it has low administrative costs, workers can have money deducted directly from their paychecks, and it has no risk. It also has the great advantage that President Obama can make MyRAs available to workers without seeking congressional approval.

However there was one very notable downside to the MyRA. Workers could not accumulate more than $15,000 in these accounts, at which point they would be required to fold their MyRA into an IRA run by the financial industry. People who commented on this requirement all assumed that this was a sop to the industry.

When the accounts are small, the industry wouldn't make any money on them anyhow. Once they get to be a decent size the government will require savers to park their money with a bank or brokerage house. This is nothing but good news for the industry.

Everyone understands the power of the financial industry, so perhaps Obama had to include a $15,000 cap in order to avoid its wrath, but that doesn't mean the rest of us shouldn't be asking the obvious question. If the private financial industry is more efficient than the government, then why do we have to force people to use it? What's wrong with giving people the option of keeping their money in a MyRA?

This is not the only context in which this question arises. The Postal Service recently put forward a proposal to start offering basic banking services to take advantage of its retail infrastructure. This should be an obvious win-win.

[xchrom]

8. Teenagers Spurn Working as School in U.S. Takes Priority

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-19/teenagers-spurn-working-as-school-in-u-s-takes-priority.html

Akil Alvin, 19 and from Detroit, is struggling to land a job as he competes with older, more skilled applicants. Alex Lothspeich, 17 and from Charlotte, North Carolina, is choosing not to enter the workforce to focus on high school.

Both illustrate changes sweeping the teen labor force. Young Americans such as Alvin who want to work can’t find jobs as unemployment among 16-to-19-year-olds stands at more than three times the rate for all workers. At the same time, more teens are taking Lothspeich’s tack, forsaking paid positions to concentrate on getting into college.

Just one in three teens in the U.S. worked or looked for a job in January, a record-low since 1948 when the Labor Department data starts. That lack of on-the-job experience could cost future workers, who may lag behind on basic skills their parents developed waiting tables or running registers, some economists say.

“Work experience complements skill, and the combination of the two is more valuable than either one alone,” said Anthony Carnevale, director of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. “It is more difficult to get going, to get onto the on-ramp, in the American economy than it used to be.”

[AnneD]

17. Guess that shoots down...

the meme that minimum wage is needed as entry for teenage workers. I am glad to see kids focus more on education, I just wish there wasn't so much educational 'deform' going on.

Think they will finally give those adult fast food workers a living wage?

[xchrom]

20. a living wage? let's not hold our breath.

i'd rather see them focus on school my own self.

[Demeter]

25. Properly educated, these youths will overturn the 1%

and the more abuse heaped upon them, the sooner it will happen.

The Elite are so short-term pillaging here, for long-term certain death by revolt.

[AnneD]

29. So true...

these exclusive private schools that the 1% kids go to does not tolerate these race to the bottom education deforms.

My daughter received the best education I could patch together in a public school system and went to a first class fine arts college. She has seen the 1% up close. She has never lost her humanity. I listened to Chris Hedges. He was plucked from the middle class and given a 1% education. He in turn has educated the rest of us. We have leaders in the ranks of the young. They too will rise.

[xchrom]

9. Fed Adopts Foreign-Bank Capital Rules as World Finance Fragments

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-18/fed-sets-foreign-bank-capital-rules-as-world-finance-fragments.html

The Federal Reserve approved new standards for foreign banks that will require the biggest to hold more capital in the U.S., joining other countries in erecting walls around domestic financial systems.

Banks with $50 billion of assets in the U.S. will have to meet the standard under a revised rule approved yesterday, which raised the threshold from $10 billion proposed in 2012. The central bank left out two controversial elements of the original proposal, saying those were still being developed.

Walling off U.S. units of foreign banks, designed to protect taxpayers from having to bail them out in a crisis, may increase those companies’ borrowing costs and hurt their profitability. The firms say it will also raise borrowing rates for governments and consumers.

“This implies concern by policy makers in the U.S. regarding the speed and robustness of the evolving European framework for bank resolution,” said Barbara Matthews, managing director of BCM International Regulatory Analytics LLC, a Washington-based consulting firm. “It will put pressure on the Europeans to push ahead with a strong resolution regime.”

[xchrom]

10. Big-Money Politics Groups Get Clarity From IRS They Hate

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-19/big-money-politics-groups-get-clarity-from-irs-they-hate.html

Groups that want to spend millions of dollars on political campaigns without disclosing their donors are getting a clear road map on how to do so from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.

And some of the groups don’t like it one bit.

Republicans criticize the proposed IRS rules as an attack on free speech because they would limit voter guides and candidate forums. The rules also would provide a legal path for groups organized under section 501(c)(4) of the tax code to air campaign ads.

That would give some of the biggest players from the 2012 campaign, including Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies, greater certainty to run ads in ways that don’t risk their tax-exempt status going forward. They could run issue-based ads that mention candidates’ names months before an election, and then switch to a direct pitch closer to the vote.

[xchrom]

11. Richest Scandinavians Seek Weak Krone in Bid to Push Up Pay

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-19/richest-scandinavians-seek-weak-krone-in-bid-to-push-up-pay.html

Norway’s biggest labor union urged the central bank to keep a lid on the krone as the group looks for ways to secure pay gains without overheating the economy of Scandinavia’s richest nation.

In a prelude to collective bargaining talks set to start in March, Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions head Gerd Kristiansen yesterday rejected employer proposals to keep wage increases of below 3 percent.

“It’s very important that Norges Bank keep the pressure on the krone so it’s low because that’s easier for our export industry,” the 58-year-old union leader said in an interview yesterday. “Our members should get their part in the growth Norway is seeing and we should get our hands on the pension system that the employers are currently controlling.”

Norway, backed by an $830 billion sovereign wealth fund, is struggling to absorb an oil and gas industry that has driven up production costs. That’s threatened to hamper competitiveness for some of the country’s biggest exporters such as Norsk Hydro ASA. (NHY) Though the currency has eased 13 percent against the euro over the past year, it’s still 27 percent overvalued, according to a gauge of purchasing power by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

[xchrom]

12. Sweden May Shelve Tougher Bank Rules If Recovery Is at Risk

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-19/sweden-may-shelve-tougher-bank-rules-if-recovery-is-at-risk.html

Sweden’s government signaled it won’t push for stricter bank rules than those already agreed on if there are signs that doing so would put an economic recovery at risk.

“What you constantly need to take into the equation is not to hurt the growth that’s about to accelerate, but to find a suitable balance,” Financial Markets Minister Peter Norman said yesterday in an interview in Stockholm. “This is an economic experiment” and “a delicate balance,” he said.

The comments mark a change in tone after Sweden forced through some of the world’s strictest bank capital standards. Earlier this year, Finance MinisterAnders Borgcriticized lenders for paying what he characterized as excessive dividends, arguing the cash will be needed to comply with even tougher reserve rules in future. Swedish banks, including Nordea Bank AB (NDA), Swedbank AB (SWEDA) and SEB AB, have warned that setting capital requirements too high could jeopardize the recovery.

Norman said yesterday the government will watch to see how existing proposals affect the largest Nordic economy before considering new measures.

[xchrom]

13. Ukraine President Threatens Opposition Amid Civil War Warning

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-18/ukraine-fighting-leaves-at-least-18-dead-as-kiev-barricades-burn.html

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych threatened to crack down on anti-government protesters after the bloodiest clashes in the country’s three-month standoff killed at least 25 people.

The opposition “has crossed the line when they called people to arms,” Yanukovych said on his website today. “This is an outrageous violation of the law. My advisers happen to be trying to talk me into a tough scenario, the use of force. But I have always considered the use of force a false route.”

Yanukovych, backed by Russia, is seeking to end the crisis that has destabilized the country of 45 million. Activists last night repelled a police attempt to clear their main protest camp in central Kiev. Hundreds remained on Independence Square this morning, including reinforcements from the western city of Lviv, with squadrons of police ringing their burning barricades. The violence drew a sharp reaction from global leaders.

“We may be witnessing the first hour of a civil war,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told lawmakers in Warsaw today. “We are dealing with an ongoing destruction of the country. If people are dying and being injured during protests, it’s the authorities who are responsible. There are no doubts about that in Kiev.”

[xchrom]

15. Europe Mending as Markets Signal Even Portuguese Get Work

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-19/igloo-in-southern-portugal-shows-euro-economy-on-the-mend.html

It took 11 months and the sale of his 2008 Ford Focus to pay the bills before Nuno Silva found a job as a supervisor at a food warehouse in southern Portugal.

The pay isn’t great -- about 15,000 euros ($20,600) a year -- and sub-zero inside temperatures turn his workplace in one of Europe’s sunniest spots into an igloo.

“Some of my friends who also lost their jobs are finding work,” the 35-year-old Silva said Feb. 13, opening day at the distribution center operated by Jeronimo Martins SGPS SA, Portugal’s biggest food retailer. “Things seem to be improving in terms of jobs in Portugal.”

That diagnosis applies to Europe as well. While the 18-nation euro economy is still generating less output and providing work for fewer people than before the financial crisis started in 2008, it has also stopped incubating the toxic mix of debt and political irresolution that brought history’s most ambitious monetary experiment close to breaking point.

[xchrom]

16. Indian Drugmakers Must Know Quality-Control Rules, FDA Says

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-18/india-drugmakers-carry-onus-of-knowing-rules-u-s-fda-head-says.html


Indian companies supplying a quarter of the medicines used in the U.S. must take responsibility for the quality-control necessary to export their products, the top U.S. drug regulator said as it ramps up inspections.

The comments by Margaret Hamburg, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration commissioner, follow an eight-day trip to India to meet with pharmaceutical companies on production quality. The U.S. is increasing scrutiny of generic drugs made in India, and in the past nine months banned imports from four plants belonging to Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. (RBXY) and Wockhardt Ltd. (WPL)

The FDA will expand its offices in India, train regulatory officials in the nation and step up inspections of overseas plants, Hamburg said in an interview with Bloomberg TV India in Mumbai yesterday. Until recently, the U.S. wasn’t inspecting manufacturers in other countries at the same frequency as in the U.S., the commissioner said. That’s changing, she said.

“If a company wants to do business in the United States, the responsibility is on them to understand the rules and requirements,” Hamburg said. “We want to work closely with companies.”

[Demeter]

26. If we are going to play roulette with American lives, why not buy from China? They're cheaper

and they can use these counterfeit drugs instead of the pricey European ones for the death penalty, too.

[xchrom]

18. Thai Police Clashes With Protesters in Bangkok Leave 5 Dead

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-18/police-protesters-clash-in-thai-capital-as-two-people-killed.html

Clashes between anti-government protesters and police in Bangkok killed five people and wounded at least 65 yesterday, as the opposition edged a step forward in legal efforts to oust Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

Protesters fired guns and threw a grenade at police, injuring 33 officers seeking to clear demonstrators from an area in the historic district of the capital, said Songpol Watanachai, deputy chief of the Metropolitan Police. National Security Council head Paradon Pattanatabut said one officer was fatally shot in yesterday’s clash near Government House.

The demonstrators led by former opposition party powerbroker Suthep Thaugsuban have refused to negotiate with the government, saying the protest that began in October won’t end until an unelected council is put in place to reform what they say is a corrupt political system. Yingluck also faces the possibility of being impeached after Thailand’s anti-corruption agency said yesterday it had enough evidence to charge her with negligence for overseeing a state rice purchasing program.

“We will go to Yingluck’s lair -- the office of the Permanent Secretary of Defense,” Suthep told supporters late yesterday. “We will pursue her everywhere, anywhere, anytime, all the time. We will not stand by at the stages any more, we are on a mission to follow and chase Yingluck the murderer out of this country.”

[xchrom]

19. Australia Pushes Infrastructure as G-20 Growth Driver: Economy

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-18/australia-to-push-infrastructure-as-growth-engine-at-g-20-meet.html

Australia’s bid to sell state-owned infrastructure to help fund new projects will form a centerpiece of its Group of 20 agenda as the nation bets its plan to spur jobs is as relevant in Moscow, Mumbai and Michigan as it is in Melbourne.

Australia is aiming to coordinate strategies for debt-laden nations across the world with aging roads and bridges to invest in new projects, according to the host nation’s agenda outlined ahead of this weekend’s finance ministers and central bankers meeting in Sydney.

Domestically, Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey is working on a sales program to channel money into new projects and buoy business investment that’s shown a tepid response to record-low interest rates. With tensions between developing markets and the U.S. over the Federal Reserve’s reduction of its unprecedented monetary stimulus threatening to loom over the gathering, his infrastructure plan may be something most nations can agree on.

“All countries need to increase their potential growth rates,” said Mike Callaghan, head of the G-20 Studies Centre at the Lowy Institute in Sydney. “Countries like Australia, the U.S. and U.K. need to improve their infrastructure as part of their individual growth strategies.”

[xchrom]

21. Builders in U.S. Begin Work on Fewer Houses Than Forecast

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-19/builders-worked-on-fewer-u-s-houses-than-forecast-in-january.html

The pace of U.S. home construction declined more than forecast in January, indicating an unusually harsh winter probably played a role in slowing projects.

Housing starts fell 16 percent to an 888,000 annualized rate following December’s revised 1.05 million, the Commerce Department reported today in Washington. The decrease was the biggest since February 2011. The median estimate of 84 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for 950,000. Permits for future projects showed a smaller drop, a sign activity may stabilize as the weather improves.

The coldest January in two decades probably limited groundbreaking for homebuilders as construction dropped to a record low in the Midwest. At the same time, a strengthening labor market in 2014 may help the housing industry pick up from a slow start to the year even as borrowing costs rise.

“A lot of it is weather, obviously,” Richard Moody, chief economist at Regions Financial Corp. in Birmingham, Alabama, said before the report. Still, “the story is better job and income growth and you have all this pent-up demand. You’re seeing household formation start to improve and inventories have been pared down.”

[xchrom]

22. UK unemployment falls by 125,000 to 2.34 million

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-26255696

The number of people out of work in the UK fell by 125,000 to 2.34 million in the three months to December, according to the latest estimates.

The unemployment rate now stands at 7.2%, but the Office for National Statistics said the improvement in the labour market could be slowing.

Meanwhile, more women are in work than at any time since records began, at just over 14 million.

Average earnings have also increased, by 1.1% in the year to December

[xchrom]

23. Scottish independence: Scottish government to finance bond powers

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-26245684

The Scottish government will be given power to issue its own investment bonds, UK ministers have announced.

The move will give the Holyrood administration an extra source of financing when it gets new borrowing powers, in 2015.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander called the move "historic".

The Scottish government said it was "nothing new", arguing only independence would give Scotland full control of its economy and finances.

[Demeter]

27. They better plan on a national bank, too.

Anything else defeats the purpose.

[Demeter]

28. Well, thanks to the spike on oil futures, we have a consensus price here

$3.35 +/- 4 cents in Ann Arbor this morning. 35 cent jump in two weeks. For no discernible reason.