The Closer
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ROUND-UP Back to risk-off today as the US 10-year Treasury yield closed just below 1.7 per cent, almost hitting the lows of last September. The US S&P 500 closed down 1.51...
Listen: UK urges European leaders to act over eurozone crisis
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With Spanish banks being downgraded by Moody's, Greece heading for new elections (and a possible exit from the euro), and eurozone growth grinding to a halt, the UK is making loud calls for action. I filed this report for Radio New Zealand's Morning...
Bernard Jenkin on Afghanistan
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This afternoon I attended the second half of a Global Diplomatic Forum conference on “Two Years of the UK Coalition Government’s Engagement with the World”. Barbara Serra from Al Jazeera vigorously chaired a session on the UK’...
Trap door opens under US Treasury yields
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1.697 per cent at pixel time. Worries about Europe, collateral crunching, people changing their minds about buying Facebook (which, by the way, priced at $38 a share)… take your pick....
If the eurozone is serious about growth, it can have it | Mariana Mazzucato
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Cameron's exhortation to 'get your house in order' is specious: the ECB needs to focus investment on rebalancing the economyIn the recent elections in Greece and France, voters voted loudly for politicians who argue that with record levels of unemplo...
Hungarian cases at the European Cout of Justice part 1 - some taxes
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I collected some cases of the European Court of Justice in the area of consumer protection and taxes where Hungary was affected. I start with taxes, the second part will deal with consumer protection cases. Let’s start with a tax case where Hun...
GUTS instead of BRICS
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"The West is not in decline, at least not in its entirety. Rather, the financial crisis has created a two-speed West. Four large countries -- Germany, South Korea, Turkey, and the United States -- are actually increasing their international infl...
[JPM Whale-Watching Tour] The high yield tranche piece
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Coverage of the $2bn $3bn loss emanating from JPMorgan’s Chief Investment Office on its synthetic credit portfolio continues a pace, and FT Alphaville’s tour continues too....
George Osborne attempting to look cool while listening to a rock band
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A favourite YouTube clip in the Scrapbook office is from Armando Ianucci’s Time Trumpet, in which a shallow David Cameron was filmed moving a charity wristband so it was clearly visible to the media – before quickly glancing to check tha...
Serbia: The Calm Before the Storm?
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The 6 May elections created a false sense of tranquility in Serbia...
Funnily enough, operational risk is more prevalent in Germany than Greece
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Settlement fails.Whether one considers them a systemic problem or not is definitely debatable.A new study by post-trade experts Omgeo (based on a survey by Global Custodian) nevertheless,...
New Project on "Unjustified Threats" Provisions
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While researching whether there are any new developments relating to section 21 of the UK Trade Marks Act 1994, the so-called "unjustified threats provision" (a friend and fiend of many UK trade mark practitioners), this Kat came across this informat...
Open letter to the UK left: Do you want the EU to break up?
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Open letter to the UK hard-left, from the Alliance for Workers Liberty: RMT anti-EU protesters (Photo: Andrew Wiard ) Dear comrades, Do you really want the European Union to break up? The majority of Greek workers do not. In the 6 May election, 70% v...
Open letter to the UK left: Do you want the EU to break up?
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Open letter to the UK hard-left, from the Alliance for Workers Liberty: RMT anti-EU protesters (Photo: Andrew Wiard ) Dear comrades, Do you really want the European Union to break up? The majority of Greek workers do not. In the 6 May election, 70% v...
Hollande's cabinet shows Sarkozy how to do gender equality – see, easy | Agnes Poirier
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For the first time, the French cabinet has an equal number of men and women, thanks to increased parity in higher educationNicolas Sarkozy promised a parity government in 2007, but failed to deliver. Five years later, newly elected president Françoi...
Coudenberg
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Today I went to the Bozar for an exhibition entitled ‘Brussels 2040; three visions for a metropolis.’ Three teams of architects had been invited to brainstorm and their competing visions were on show. They contrasted interestingly. One te...
Highly Recommended: Jonah Goldberg's The Tyranny of Clichés
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If you haven't yet bought The Tyranny of Clichés by Jonah Goldberg, go out (or go online) and do so now.Jonah Goldberg discusses his book and its ideas on Coffee and Markets with Pejman Yousefzadeh and Kevin Holtsberry.His previous book, also outst...
The undercollateralisation risk
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Central counterparty clearing and settlement was always intended to make the financial system safer.If you use a CCP, the idea goes, you’re far more robustly protected...
How to carry out the perfect snub | Jean Hannah Edelstein
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Queen Sofia of Spain shows it's a straightforward business, as long as you keep these dos and don'ts of snubbery in mindOne can decry the anachronism that is any royal family until one's face is the hue of royal blood, but sometimes even those of us...
Closer, Ever Closer
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Over the past two decades—in line with the region’s growing role in the global economy—Asia’s equity markets have become increasingly sensitive to global financial developments. More specifically, we have discovered that equity returns in A...
Poland’s Central Bank Says Ready for Zloty Intervention, Market Skeptical
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The National Bank of Poland is able to step into the zloty market at any time, a central bank official said Thursday, but market participants doubt the Polish currency is weak enough for the bank to intervene.
Kosovo: CCC opens for minority organization accreditation
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On 26 April, the Consultative Council for Communities (CCC) opened a process for accreditation of all active minority organizations in Kosovo. ECMI Kosovo provides all necessary support and follows the process closely. Continue reading →...
Kosovo: President Jahjaga signs CCC statute amendment
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On April 18, Kosovo President Jahjaga signed a Decree that amends the statute of the Consultative Council for Communities (CCC), reports ECMI Kosovo in its April Newsletter. Continue reading →...
About that Spanish bank downgrade…
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Yes, it is definitely happening and it looks comprehensive.The FT’s Madrid correspondent, former Alphavillan Miles Johnson writes…Moody’s is preparing a sweeping...
Dylan Grice on sovereign comeuppance
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Maybe all the Anglo-Saxon central banks have done is create the illusion that our sovereigns are more solvent than they are, and that our budget constraints are really a safe distance away....
Official North Korea website gets Kim Jong Il’s name wrong
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The official website of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea may not be the most-visited sites on the internet — but they might at least put enough effort in to get their former leader’s name right. On the page featuring biogra...
The new EU roaming rules: an overview (Updated with actual law)
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Last week, the European Parliament voted for new price reductions for roaming in the European Union. This was a big success for our campaign and will make using your mobile phone abroad a lot more affordable over the next two … Continue readi...
Hungarian Minister Lauds Creativity of Economic Policies
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Hungary’s Economy Minister Gyorgy Matolcsy described his government’s controversial economic policies of the past two years as part of a fundamentally creative approach--similar to the approach of artistic geniuses--that helped part with what he...
