From Bloomberg:
Zhou Sees China Stimulus Scope, Zeti on Ringgit: Asia at the IMF
Asian policy makers who gathered in Washington for the International Monetary Fund’s spring meetings signaled readiness to preserve policy space, said the U.S. should get its impending interest-rate increase over with, and anticipated China’s growing influence in global currency markets and infrastructure development. (Read here)
Millionaire-Led Party Wins Finnish Vote Vowing to End Recession
Finland’s Center Party, led by self-made millionaire Juha Sipila, won national elections as Finns look for a path out of the country’s economic sclerosis.
After three years of recession, the next government will need to repair the damage done by lost trade with Russia and the demise of a consumer electronics industry once led by Nokia Oyj. The decline of the paper industry has also wiped out thousands of jobs, leaving unemployment above 10 percent as economic growth hobbles along at half the euro-zone average. (More)
Deutsche Bank’s Postbank Faces Indefinite Strike Amid Review
Deutsche Bank AG employees in its Postbank unit voted in favor of striking indefinitely, escalating protests as they seek job protections amid a companywide strategic review that may lead to the division’s sale. (Read here)
Arenas Debates More Stimulus as He Pledges Chile Balanced Budget
Chile’s Finance Minister Alberto Arenas opened the door to extending this year’s fiscal stimulus to the years ahead, while reiterating the government’s commitment to balancing the structural budget by 2018.
“A debate on counter-cyclical fiscal policy for more time in Chile is a debate that is welcome and we will be making an evaluation,” Arenas said Sunday in an interview in Washington, where he is attending the International Monetary Fund and World Bank’sspring meeting. (Continue)
Nigeria, Algeria See Oil Prices Staying Low for a Long Time
Oil prices are likely to stay low for a long time after falling more than 40 percent in the past year, said officials from two OPEC nations.
Nigeria and Algeria both warned that oil prices, currently at around $60 a barrel, probably won’t recover to the 2011-2013 level of more than $100 a barrel. (More here)
Copper Bulls Backing Away as China Woes Trump Supply Concerns
Investors are backing away from copper after the biggest two-month rally since 2012.
The problem is that demand is slowing in China, which accounts for about half of global copper use. Producers including Freeport-McMoRan Inc. say Chinese buying hasn’t picked up as it normally does at this time of year, and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Societe Generale SA are among banks predicting lower prices. (Read more)
World Braces for Taper Tantrum II Even as Yellen Soothes Nerves
The world economy is about to discover if to be forewarned by the Federal Reserve is to be forearmed.
Two years since the Fed triggered a selloff of their assets in the so-called “taper tantrum,” the finance chiefs of emerging markets left Washington meetings of the International Monetary Fund praising Chair Janet Yellen for the way she is signaling plans to raise U.S. interest rates. (Continue)
Euro Area Seeks Greece Roadmap to May Agreement to Avoid Default
Greece needs to show euro-area nations what it could deliver by mid-May to unlock new aid payments and avoid default, the European commissioner in charge of euro matters said.
Finance ministry deputies will hold a conference call April 22, followed by the April 24 meeting of ministers from the currency bloc. The gathering in Riga, Latvia’s capital, is a chance to lay out a path to a May agreement, European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said in an interview in Washington. (Read more)
Iranian Commander Rejects Nuclear Inspections at Military Bases
International inspectors won’t be allowed access to military bases in a deal with world powers to curb Tehran’s nuclear program, a top Iranian commander said.
“They will not even be permitted to inspect the most normal military site in their dreams,” said Brigadier General Hossein Salami, deputy head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to the state-run Press TV news channel. (Continue reading)
Greece Remains Defiant as Creditors Up Pressure for a Deal
Greece said it won’t renege on election pledges to end austerity measures, even as creditors pressed for a compromise to free financing and avert a worsening crisis. (More)
China to Investors: Don’t Forget That Stocks Can Lose Money Too
After the longest-ever rally in Chinese equities, investors are getting a reminder that the $7.3 trillion market isn’t just a one-way bet.
China’s securities regulator jolted traders after the close of local bourses Friday when it banned a source of financing for margin trades and made it easier for short sellers to wager that stocks will fall. Offshore futures and exchange-traded funds linked to the world’s second-largest stock market sank, with the iShares China Large-Cap ETF tumbling 4.2 percent in the U.S. The Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.4 percent at 9:54 a.m. local time. (Continue)
China-Pakistan to Sign $28 Billion in Projects During Xi Visit
Pakistan and China will sign agreements for energy and infrastructure projects valued at $28 billion during President Xi Jinping’s visit to Islamabad that starts Monday, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said Sunday. (Read more)
Ruble Slides on Bets World’s Biggest Currency Rally Went Too Far
The ruble tumbled the most in almost three months amid speculation the world’s best-performing currency had climbed too far too fast given the outlook for an economy on the brink of recession. (More here)
Gundlach Says Market Hasn’t Seen Full Impact of Fed Moves
DoubleLine Capital’s Jeffrey Gundlach, the bond manager who has beaten 99 percent of his peers over the past five years, said the full impact of the Federal Reserve’s “extreme policies” have yet to be felt in the market.
The Fed has been “very well-intentioned,” Gundlach said, speaking in an interview on Sunday on Wall Street Week. “The ultimate consequences of all these extreme policies have yet to be felt and will be felt.” (More)
Russia Kept at Junk Rating With Negative Outlook by S&P
Russia’s foreign-currency credit rating was kept one step below investment grade at Standard & Poor’s as policy makers struggle to boost growth and the financial system risks weakening due to a lack of external funding amid sanctions. (Continue)
From Around the Web:
Peak earnings week to follow big global selloff (MarketWatch)
Earnings season may have gotten a little bit tougher as heavyweights from the industrial, consumer staples, and tech sectors report this week following a big Friday selloff.
Stocks fell apart on Friday on global jitters, sending both the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -1.54% and Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -1.52% down 1.3% for the week, and the S&P 500 index SPX, -1.13% down 1%. (Read here)
More Than Half Of All Global Government Bonds Are Yielding 1% Or Less (Zero Hedge)
Earlier today, we were quite shocked when we heard two statements by central bankers uttered during a press briefing in Washington. (More)
Deutsche Bank compares the Chinese economy to a pubescent teenager (BusinessInsider)
China released some ugly economic data this week.
GDP expanded 7% year-on-year, below the 7.3% pace of Q4 2014 and in line with expectations. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, this was even weaker, rising 1.3% versus expectations for an increase of 1.4%. (Read more)
What to Do If a Feud Threatens Your Family Business (HBR)
Reading the banner headlines about family businesses gone sour — Market Basket, Rollins,L’Oreal, among others — people often conclude that conflicts in family businesses spiral out of control like mighty tornadoes that destroy everything in their paths. Actually, strong disagreements are inevitable in all human relationships, but families that own businesses are more at risk for serious conflict than ordinary families because the power, status, and money at stake are greater, and so the decisions that these families face are also of greater consequence. (Continue reading)
IBM Venture With China Stirs Concerns (NYTimes)
HONG KONG — Shen Changxiang, who once supervised the cybersecurity of China’s strategic missile arsenal and spearheaded computer security research for the navy, has warned of the perils of his country’s reliance on American technology. (Read more)
Harvard professor reveals why America's infrastructure is so awful, who is to blame, and how we can finally fix it (BusinessInsider)
If there's one thing most Americans agree on, it's that our national infrastructure blows.
But we never do anything about it.
Why not? Who's to blame? And how can we finally fix it?
Harvard Business School professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter has written a new book about this. It's called "Move." It's coming out in May and you can pre-order it here. (More)
The Apple Watch is already wiping the floor with the entire smartwatch market (BusinessInsider)
The Apple Watch is on fire: KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo estimates that Apple's debut smartwatch has sold more than 2.3 million units since preorders opened, MacRumors reports. (More here)
