We need to find a fairer way of providing Goods and Services to the rest of the people on Earth.Cryptocurrencies and/or Gold Standard of money....maybe the answer to fight hyperinflation caused by too much printing of paper/fiat currencies by Governments and Central Banks all over the World. (https://nomorefiatmoneyplease.blogspot.com)
[SHANGHAI] China's transport ministry has asked port operators to reduce their fees in a move it says will help spur the development of the country's shipping industry.
The world's largest trading nation has pledged to help modernize its domestic shipping industry as it looks to secure its supply chains. It has earlier said it would introduce tax and other regulatory reforms.
Port operators will only be allowed to charge shipping lines fees for a limited number of services ranging from parking to waste disposal to berthing, the Ministry of Transport (MoT) said in a joint statement with top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).
The ministry also slashed extra fees that operators could charge during holidays and night-time sailings by 45 per cent, and reduced port security charges for 20- and 40-foot containers, according to the statement posted on the NDRC's website on Thursday.
The MoT said the new rules would take effect from Sept 20.
Thailand sets impeachment vote date for former MPs
Thailand's junta-picked parliament Thursday will vote next week on the impeachment of 248 ex-lawmakers, the majority from the ousted ruling party of Yingluck Shinawatra, in a move that could decimate her family's political base
PHOTO: REUTERS
[BANGKOK] Thailand's junta-picked parliament Thursday will vote next week on the impeachment of 248 ex-lawmakers, the majority from the ousted ruling party of Yingluck Shinawatra, in a move that could decimate her family's political base.
The former MPs face a five-year ban from politics if the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) votes in favour of impeachment on 14 August, threatening to remove more key allies of the Shinawatra clan whose parties have swept every election since 2001.
The ex-lawmakers are accused of supporting an amendment to the country's charter aimed at making the upper house a fully elected chamber that was later deemed unconstitutional.
If impeached they would follow in the footsteps of Yingluck, who fell foul of the NLA in January over a separate issue.
"The assembly has finished hearing the case against the former MPs" and will vote next Friday, NLA speaker Jetn Siritharanont told AFP.
A successful impeachment requires 132 out of 220 assembly members to vote in favour, he added.
Thailand's generals say their May 2014 coup was necessary to restore order after months of often violent anti-Yingluck protests paralysed Bangkok.
But critics say it was the latest attempt to claw back power from the Shinawatras for the kingdom's elites and their supporters in the military and judiciary.
Anusorn Iamsa-ard, deputy spokesman for Yingluck's Puea Thai party, said the party was "not concerned" over the impeachment.
"The standards have been set by earlier cases where no one was impeached," he told AFP, referring to a NLA vote in March when 38 senators were not impeached over the same issue.
Ms Yingluck, Thailand's first female premier, was impeached and banned from politics for five years in January over her administration's controversial rice subsidy programme.
She also faces up to 10 years in jail in an ongoing criminal trial on accusations of criminal negligence over the populist scheme, which paid farmers in the rural Shinawatra heartland twice the market rate for their crop.
Goldman sees oil staying lower for longer to end supply glut
Goldman Sachs Group Inc says crude prices need to remain lower for a longer time to allow the oil market to find equilibrium amid a supply glut.
PHOTO: REUTERS
[MOSCOW] Goldman Sachs Group Inc says crude prices need to remain lower for a longer time to allow the oil market to find equilibrium amid a supply glut.
Storage may be filled by the fall with global crude oversupply running at 2 million barrels a day and low-cost producers continuing to boost output, Goldman analysts including Jeffrey Currie said in a report dated Thursday. Low prices are needed to offset productivity gains and keep investment to a minimum, the report said.
Oil last month slumped the most since 2008 on signs the global surplus is persisting. Royal Dutch Shell Plc said in July it is braced for a prolonged downturn as the US is producing near the fastest rate in three decades and Opec's largest members pump record volumes.
"The rebalancing of supply and demand will likely prove to be far more difficult than what was previously priced into the market," Goldman said. "The risks remain substantially skewed to the downside."
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Even after the balance between supply and demand is restored by 2016, prices may not rebound as Iran emerges from sanctions and other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries seek to earn revenue by increasing output, Goldman said.
Goldman maintained a near-term target for West Texas Intermediate of US$45 a barrel.
WTI for September delivery fell 27 cents to US$44.88 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 11:13 am in London.
The oil industry is struggling after making investments when crude was US$100 a barrel, Goldman said.
"Energy companies at present cannot earn their cost of capital over the long term," according to the report. "They are wealth-destroying propositions from the get go."
Thousands evacuated as Taiwan readies for biggest typhoon of 2015
The strongest typhoon of the year was bearing down on Taiwan's east coast Thursday, forcing the evacuation of more than 2,000 from outlying islands popular with tourists.
PHOTO: REUTERS
[TAIPEI] The strongest typhoon of the year was bearing down on Taiwan's east coast Thursday, forcing the evacuation of more than 2,000 from outlying islands popular with tourists.
Typhoon Soudelor, packing maximum wind gusts of up to 209 kilometres (129.9 miles) per hour, was 790 kilometres southeast of Hualien county as of 5:30 pm local time (0930 GMT).
It is currently categorised as a moderate storm by Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau, although other observatories in the region class it as a severe typhoon.
Soudelor, predicted to strengthen as it approaches Taiwan, is expected to batter the island hardest between late Friday and early Saturday.
A sea warning has already been issued and the weather bureau has said it will also put out a land warning later Thursday.
Around 2,600 people, including tourists and residents, have been evacuated from Green Island and Orchid Island off the coast of the eastern county of Taitung, according to the tourism office.
Ferry services to the outlying islands were suspended Thursday.
"It's (currently) posing a threat to the sea off the eastern half of Taiwan and the Bashi Channel," said the weather bureau.
"The chance of the typhoon strengthening later is still expected." Taiwan celebrates Father's Day on August 8 and the inclement weather is expected to disrupt many families' plans.
The government warned all departments to take precautionary measures ahead of Soudelor's landing, including preparing for floods, landslides and fallen trees.
"Although it won't have the same effect of Typhoon Morakot, this typhoon is still very well developed," Premier Mao Chi-kuo said Thursday, referring to the storm that killed some 600 people in 2009, most buried in huge landslides.
"It must not be taken lightly," he added in a statement.
Around 32,000 soldiers were on standby for disaster relief, the ministry of national defence said Thursday.
Weather across the Taiwan was still calm Thursday afternoon with blue skies in the capital Taipei and temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius.
Europe moves to reduce risk in US$505t derivatives market
Banks and investors in the European Union will have to send trades of some interest-rate swaps to a third party under new rules intended to make financial markets safer.
PHOTO: AFP
[LONDON] Banks and investors in the European Union will have to send trades of some interest-rate swaps to a third party under new rules intended to make financial markets safer.
The banks and major investors that hold the derivatives will have to use a third party called a clearinghouse to process their trades, the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, said in a statement on Thursday.
The Group of 20 nations in 2009 mandated clearing for many swaps contracts in an attempt to reduce the damage that would be caused by a major financial institution defaulting on its payments.
"Today we take a significant step to implement our G-20 commitments, strengthen financial stability and boost market confidence," said Jonathan Hill, the EU commissioner for financial services. "This is also part of our move toward markets that are fair, open and transparent."
Banks have traditionally traded interest-rate swaps between themselves in over-the-counter, or off-exchange, transactions. By redirecting these transactions to a clearinghouse, the derivatives market should become safer. If a counterparty goes bust, the clearinghouse will spread the losses incurred between all its member firms. Companies have to post collateral with clearinghouses to use them.
Financial institutions held OTC swaps with a notional value of $505 trillion at the end of 2014, according to a survey from the Bank for International Settlements. The real value of the contracts is far smaller because firms often hold contracts which cancel each other out.
The commission has made clearing compulsory for plain vanilla interest-rate derivatives, basis swaps, forward-rate agreements and overnight index swaps traded within the EU. It said that the mandate would be phased in over three years.
The estimated daily turnover in the EU of OTC interest-rate derivative contracts denominated in so-called G4 currencies - dollar, euro, yen and pound - was more than 1.5 trillion euros (US$1.6 trillion) as of April 2013, according to the commission.
LCH.Clearnet Ltd is the largest clearinghouse for swaps. The subsidiary of the London Stock Exchange Group Plc has 90 per cent of the overall market for swap clearing and a 70 to 80 per cent share of clearing for end clients, according to Nathan Ondyak, the firm's head of products and markets.
The clearing rules were issued as a delegated regulation. The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, which represents the interests of member states, have three months to object to the standards starting from Aug 21. In the absence of objections, the rules can enter into force.
China meddling in stock market seen discouraging return of foreign funds
[HONG KONG] Foreign fund managers who cut their China exposure amid the recent share rout are wary about putting the money back if Beijing continues to intervene heavily in its equity markets.
Many see Beijing's moves to counter the market slump as a significant setback to its economic reform push, adding to their difficulties predicting China share performance.
Even though state intervention arguably kept shares from falling further, fund managers say some measures to curb short-selling and the way Beijing handled the crisis have hurt confidence in its regulations and markets.
Given the size of the world's second-largest economy as well as its capital markets, they are not quitting China. But approaches have changed.
"We've put China into a more neutral position and we were able to ship some money from North Asia to Southeast Asia including India," said Ronald Chan, chief investment officer of Asian (ex-Japan) equities at Manulife.
Chan said it would be "premature" to move back into the mainland's A shares now, and whether this happens in the medium term depends on whether the Chinese government reduces its intervention.
Bhaskar Laxminarayan, chief investment officer at Bank Pictet & Cie (Asia) Limited, said that from an international perspective, "it doesn't matter which market it is, intervention is always considered as negative." "We are now getting interventions every day and that's a mistake," he said.
Amid a market rout since mid-June that made the Shanghai bourse slump over 30 per cent, Beijing has cracked down on "malicious" short selling, banned shareholders with large stakes from selling and investigated share dumping.
So far, there's been little sign of a sustainable market rebound with investors still jittery about sky-high valuations as well as fresh policy risks.
Such risk has added to the noise when considering China investments, said Laxminarayan, who believes A shares have further room to correct. He said China will remain underweight in his portfolio.
In past years, China has accelerated the pace of market liberalisation and relaxed controls in areas including yuan internationalisation. However, the command and orders Beijing have imposed following the recent market meltdown have made investors worry that China is shifting its focus away from its reform agenda and made them rethink their investment strategies.
Just before China's stock market peak in June, US index provider MSCI Inc told Beijing to further liberalise capital markets before it would include Chinese domestic shares in a global benchmark.
A fund manager at an Asian wealth management company in Hong Kong said China's interventions "have deeply hurt foreign investors' confidence in the market".
He said the crackdown on short selling will force foreign funds that invested via formal channels like the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) scheme to use unregulated channels to move money in and out of China.
The manager said that after he cut A-share exposure held through QFII, the proceeds have stood idle in the custodian bank due to his worries he could be accused of "malicious short-selling" if he seeks to move the money out. "The first thing we'd like to do after the market normalizes is to get our money out and we'll be very careful putting in any new money given lessons we've learnt this time around," he said.
Some managers, including Chan of Manulife, are considering creating more balanced products in China as they see increasing demand from clients wanting more exposure to bonds than equities.
Foreign investment in China's domestic securities markets remains small due to limited channels. It accounts for less than 2 per cent of the total $9.5 trillion capitalisation of the country's stock and bond markets, according to Reuters calculations.
