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The A register – Analysis Extremist green campaigning group WWF – endorsed by no less a body than the European Space Agency – has stated that economic growth should be abandoned, that citizens of the world’s wealthy nations should prepare for poverty and that all the human race’s energy should be produced as renewable electricity within 38 years from now. Most astonishingly of all, the green hardliners demand that the enormous numbers of wind farms, tidal barriers and solar powerplants required under their plans should somehow be built while at the same time severely rationing supplies of concrete, steel, copper and glass. Read article
The Street – Over two dozen Italian banks were downgraded by Moody’s Investors Services Monday as the rating agency kicked off a promised multi-week revision of its assessment of Western-European financials. The downgrades ranged from one to four notches, with banks such as Cassa di Risparmio di Ferrara scraping the ratings basement with a D- and Intesa Sanpaolo SpA hitting the top of the range with a C+. UniCredit SpA — one of the country’s largest institutions — had its rating cut to C-. Read Article
Reuters – The European Central Bank has stopped providing liquidity to some Greek banks as they have not been successfully recapitalized, the ECB said on Wednesday, confirming news earlier reported exclusively by Reuters. The news sent the euro lower against the dollar, fanning concerns among investors and in Greece that the country may have to leave the euro zone. Read Article
CNBC – Greek depositors withdrew 700 million euros ($900 million) from the nation’s local banks recently, said President Karolos Papoulias, though the exact timing of the transfer was unclear. Citing a conversation he had with Greek Central Bank Governor George Provopoulos, Papoulias said “that the strength of banks is very weak right now.” Stocks declined following the report after being up earlier in the day. Read Article
Gizmodo – Kodak may be going under, but apparently they could have started their own nuclear war if they wanted, just six years ago. Down in a basement in Rochester, NY, they had a nuclear reactor loaded with 3.5 pounds of enriched uranium—the same kind they use in atomic warheads. But why did Kodak have a hidden nuclear reactor loaded with weapons-grade uranium? Read Article
Bloomberg – Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and Merrill Lynch & Co. employees discussed helping naked short-sales by market-maker clients in e-mails the banks sought to keep secret, including one in which a Merrill official told another to ignore compliance rules, Overstock.com Inc. (OSTK) said in a court filing. The online retailer accused Merrill, now part of Bank of America Corp., and Goldman Sachs of manipulating its stock from 2005 to 2007, causing its shares to fall. Read Article
Telegraph – The number of people out of work fell by 45,000 between January and March to 2.63m, official figures show. The unemployment rate fell to 8.2pc over the period, down from 8.3pc the previous quarter and below analysts’ estimates that it would rise by 0.1pc. The number of people in work increased by 105,000 to almost 30m, but this was entirely due to a rise in part-time workers, prompting concerns of “underemployment” in Britain as workers are forced to accept shorter hours when they really want full-time jobs. Read Article
Guardian – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been warned by its internal research team that there could be a permanent doubling of oil prices in the coming decade with profound implications for global trade. “This is uncharted territory for the world economy, which has never experienced such prices for more than a few months,” the report warns. Read Article
Baltic Course – The registered unemployment rate in Latvia at the end of April 2012 was 12.9% of economically-active residents, which is 1.2 percentage points more than in March, the State Employment Agency informed LETA. The agency explains that the unemployment rate represents the proportion of unemployed residents, registered with the Employment Agency, in the total number of economically active residents. Read Article
Financial Times – The situation in the euro zone has become so bleak that it is giving rise to the most improbable rumours. The latest to make the rounds of European hedge fund managers suggests that the euro will be tied to the dollar at close to parity, a dramatic fall from its current level of just under $1.30 and one that would involve the printing of hundreds of billions of euros. Read Article
The Australian – Most of the scientists advising the federal government on coal-seam gas pollution have financial links with the mining industry. Four of the six members of the interim independent expert scientific committee on coal-seam gas and coalmining have a financial connection with mining companies, the Environment Department has revealed. Read Article
NYtimes – The state budget shortfall in California has increased dramatically in the last six months, forcing state officials to assemble a series of new spending cuts that are likely to mean further reductions to schools, health care and other social programs already battered by nearly five years of budget retrenchment, state officials announced on Saturday. Read article
CTV — An industry-funded program that offers high school teachers a six-day trip to Fort McMurray to “experience Alberta’s oilsands” is being expanded across the country. While the operators of Inside Education say they work hard to ensure their programming offers plenty of balance, others say informing educators about controversial developments shouldn’t be left to those with most to gain from them. Read article
Bloomberg – China cut the amount of cash that banks must set aside as reserves for the third time in six months, pumping money into the financial system to support lending after data showed a slowdown in growth is deepening. Reserve ratios will fall 50 basis points, effective May 18, the People’s Bank of China said on its website yesterday. The level for the nation’s largest lenders will decline to 20 percent based on previous statements. Read Article
Bloomberg – JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said the firm suffered a $2 billion trading loss after an “egregious” failure in a unit managing risks, jeopardizing Wall Street banks’ efforts to loosen a federal ban on bets with their own money. The firm’s chief investment office, run by Ina Drew, 55, took flawed positions on synthetic credit securities that remain volatile and may cost an additional $1 billion this quarter or next, Dimon told analysts yesterday. Losses mounted as JPMorgan tried to mitigate transactions designed to hedge credit exposure. Read Article
Greek Reporter – While Greek politicians squabble over who can – or can’t – form a coalition government in the wake of May 6 elections in which anti-austerity rage caused a fractured result, more than 1,000 businesses in Greece are closing up shop each week, victims of a deep recession caused by pay cuts, tax hikes and slashed pensions that have made many Greeks simply stop spending on anything than goods needed for their survival. Read Article
BBC – Major UK-based firms cut secret tax deals with authorities in Luxembourg to avoid millions in corporation tax in Britain, the BBC’s Panorama has found. The programme obtained confidential tax agreements detailing plans to move profits off-shore to avoid what was a 28% corporate tax rate at the time. Those involved include pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and media company Northern & Shell. Both firms told the programme they have a duty to be tax efficient. Read Article
Daily Mail – Britain has become a nation of sleeping pill addicts since the start of the economic downturn, figures revealed yesterday. Stress-related insomnia has been blamed for a sharp increase in the number of people prescribed powerful drugs to help them sleep. The annual cost to the NHS of handing out the pills has risen by a sixth in the past three years to nearly £50million. Read article
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“Only strong personalities can endure history, the weak ones are extinguished by it”
- Nietzsche
NY Times – Regulators are investigating potential civil violations surrounding the $2 billion loss that JPMorgan Chase disclosed on Thursday, raising further questions about trading activities at the nation’s biggest bank. The Securities and Exchange Commission recently opened a preliminary investigation into JPMorgan’s accounting practices and public disclosures about the trades, according to people briefed on the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case is not public. Read Article
Independent – Panasonic’s January-March losses ballooned 10-fold to 438 billion yen (£3.4 billion), completing a year of record red ink at the Japanese electronics maker battered by natural disasters and an ailing TV business. The firm racked up a 40.7 billion yen loss for the same period the previous year. Read Article
BBC – The eurozone economy is forecast to shrink this year as its debt crisis continues to bite. The European Commission’s spring forecast confirmed its prediction of a 0.3% contraction in 2012 in the economies of the 17 countries that use the euro. It predicted growth of 1.0% for the eurozone in 2013. European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn said “a recovery is in sight” for the eurozone. Read Article
Reuters – China’s economy stuttered unexpectedly in April with lower than expected output data, softening retail sales and easing prices suggesting economic headwinds might be stiffer than thought, requiring more robust policy responses to counter them. Industrial output expanded at its slowest annual pace in April in nearly three years, while fixed asset investment growth dipped to its lowest in almost a decade. Read Article
BBC – Bosses of the UK’s biggest companies earn millions in “excess remuneration”, a report reveals. Pay packages designed to incentivise FTSE 100 chief executives had little effect on company performance, it found. Reckitt Benckiser, ICAP, and BG Group are among the “worst value FTSE 100 companies”, said Zurich-based financial research firm Obermatt. Read Article
