Bernard Hickey is away again today but will be back on Monday, so the team here at interest.co.nz have put together this alternative Top 10. It's not Bernard's, but we hope you find it worthwhile anyway.
1. A profitable business
The financial crisis was a money-maker for the US Federal Reserve. Research published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found the central bank’s various emergency lending and liquidity efforts helped generate US$13 billion in profit between August 2007 and December 2009, when the tools were most used. The programs generated US$20 billion in gross income against US$7 billion in costs.
2. Dilbert
3. Why isn't Wall Street in jail?
Matt Taibbi gets stuck in again, in this Rolling Stone piece. Financial crooks brought down the world's economy - but the Feds are doing more to protect them than to prosecute them, he observes. And he likes his graphic quotes ... "You put Lloyd Blankfein in pound-me-in-the-ass prison for one six-month term, and all this bullshit would stop, all over Wall Street," says a former congressional aide. "That's all it would take. Just once."
4. A chronic disease
The number of US households behind on mortgage payments fell during the fourth quarter to the lowest level in two years, buoyed by the broader economic recovery. But the number of loans in foreclosure remained at its highest level since the mortgage crisis began, in part because banks slowed their foreclosure processes late last year to fix document-handling problems that surfaced in September.
5. The data ...
| first thing | --- 52 week --- | |||||||
| Today | yesterday | high | low | |||||
| -------- | -------- | --------- | --------- | |||||
| FX rates | NZ$1=US$ | 0.7602 | 0.7523 | 0.7964 | 0.6584 | |||
| NZ$1=AU$ | 0.7508 | 0.7544 | 0.8212 | 0.7408 | ||||
| Gold | in US$/oz | 1,383 | 1,375 | 1,421 | 1,082 | |||
| in NZ$ | 1,819 | 1,828 | 1,877 | 1,546 | ||||
| Copper | in US$/t | 9,925 | 10,107 | 10,147 | 6,091 | |||
| in NZ$ | 13,056 | 13,435 | 13,493 | 8,951 | ||||
| Crude oil | in US$/bl | 86.23 | 84.95 | 91.91 | 69.89 | |||
| in NZ$ | 113.43 | 112.92 | 121.36 | 101.30 | ||||
| US Treasuries | 30 yr bond | 4.67% | 4.66% | 4.78% | 3.61% | |||
| Dow | DJIA 30 | 12,300 | 12,289 | 12,300 | 9,688 | |||
6. The impact of climate change on strategic asset allocation
With 1.6 million of us now in KiwiSaver, we are going to be taking a whole lot more interest in fund performance in the future. But how will your fund perform in an era of significant climate change? Does that phenomena have investment choice implications? Mercer has done a major investigation, and reports how to adapt.
7. XXL Toys for the Super Rich
The seriously rich are living it up in decadent style on luxury yachts. And they particularly value German craftsmanship. Shipyards like Lürssen and Blohm & Voss are backed up by dozens of smaller companies that cater to the billionaires' every whim - even on-board showers that squirt champagne.
8. Up and down
Hot on the heels of Kiwibank's mortgage rate cut, HSBC has now trimmed its six month fixed rate to 5.49% down 0.25%. And they added a bonus - the rate will be 4.99% if you take their home and contents insurance policy. New loan generation is at very low levels, and banks are going to need to be creative to stem the decline in their mortgage books.
RaboDirect has cut its 5 year term deposit rate to 6.45% from 6.70% this morning.
9. Better than expected
The Crown accounts for the six months to December 2010 have come in slightly better than forecast. Expenses are down, tax receipts are up. That is not quite what I would have expected if I was forecasting a double-dip and that Q4 Q2 GDP will be negative.
10. Climbing over the wall
There is nothing quite like 'banning' something to make it exotic and attractive - especially to the young. China's "great firewall" strategy is having the unintended consequence of making the world outside seem very attractive - and spawning subversive innovation, something that ironically may benefit China in the long run, as it feeds an "innovation arms-race". The same tensions are being played out in the Mid-East and Africa right now as well.
No chart with that title exists.
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