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LAGARDE CALLS FOR GLOBAL BITCOIN REGULATION

Bitcoin, the world’s leading cryptocurrency, must be governed by coordinated global regulations, Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, said on 13 January at the Reuters Next economic forum. Her call for controls echoed that of other policymakers in several countries. The digital currency “is a highly speculative asset which has conducted some funny...

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GERMANY’S ECONOMY POSTS SECOND-WORST LOSS IN ALMOST 70 YEARS

Germany’s GDP shrank 5 percent in 2020, its worst performance since contracting 5.7 percent during 2009’s financial crisis and the second-worst since the 1950s, the country’s statistics office reported, referring to the outcome as a “deep recession.” Economists had forecast a 5.1 loss for last year. The actual decline was closer to 5.3 percent, the...

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CORPORATE BOND MARKET RISKS SHAKEOUT

Having climbed to $900 billion globally, the market for corporate bonds is becoming increasingly risky, fund managers warned in a 16 January Financial Times article. Lending standards had become less stringent before the pandemic arrived, pushing worldwide corporate bonded debt from $575 billion in 2016 to $887 billion last June. Then, during 2020’s economic crash,...

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EUROPE BRACES FOR INFLATION

Across Europe, investors and policymakers are expecting to see prices rise across a broad range of goods and services as central banks hold to policies of cheap money and a new U.S. stimulus initiative boosts global spending. The five-year inflation swap rate for the euro – essentially a gauge of what investors think the inflation...

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LAGARDE: KEEP THE MONEY FLOWING

Governments and central banks must not end economic stimulus programs too soon, even if inflation rates rise and economies seem to be recovering, European Central Bank (ECB) president Christine Lagarde said in 13 January comments at the Reuters Next economic forum reported by the Financial Times. Although pent-up consumer demand is likely to bring an...

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FRANCE: 2021 WILL BE WORSE THAN 2020

Remember the mainstream media sideshow when the politicians launched the COVID War last year that wrecked the global economy, destroyed millions of businesses, and put billions out of work?  It was the “Greatest Shows on Earth” brought to you by Presstitute clowns and their sidekicks blasting across the airwaves that there was nothing to worry...

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GOING DOWN, GOING BUST, GOING OUT

OIL INDUSTRY CUTS MORE JOBS. Royal Dutch Shell is lopping 330 jobs from its North Sea operations over the next two years, most of them office slots in Aberdeen. About 1,500 Aberdeen workers already have taken voluntary buyout deals. Shell also is vaporizing 900 jobs from its Netherlands center, about 10 percent of that locale’s...

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OUTLOOK BLEAK FOR MORTGAGE-BACKED BONDS

Vacancy rates for urban apartments stand at or near record levels around the U.S., while millions of low-income earners have stopped paying rent but remain in their homes under state and federal eviction bans. Those factors are jeopardizing the future of the $1.2-trillion market in mortgage-backed securities, which bundle individual mortgages into packages sold to...

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MANHATTAN APARTMENT RENTALS SNAP BACK

In December, 5,459 apartment leases were signed in Manhattan, 94 percent more than a year earlier, according to real estate agency Douglas Elliman and research firm Miller Samuel. For three-bedroom apartments, which averaged $8,000 monthly rent, leasings were up 171 percent from a year previous, the report noted.  This marks the third consecutive month of...

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PRIVATE EQUITY FIRMS LOAD UP ON CHEAP DEBT TO BUY COMPANIES

Taking advantage of low-interest rates, private equity firms are taking on more and more debt to buy more and more companies. BC Partners is borrowing $480 million to take over Women’s Care Florida, lifting its debt to nine times its earnings. Odyssey Investment Partners is shouldering $600 million in loans to buy Protective Industrial Products,...