12 October 2018 FT — Articles to Read
Question: What are 51 hobbies that cost less than $10?
Trump blames ‘out of control’ Fed as investors dump equities – Pg. 1
– Global stock markets are heading for their worst week in six months as investors spooked by rising interest rates sold equities worldwide, …
– Yesterday’s sell-off was most pronounced in Asia, where rising borrowing costs combined with mounting trade tensions between the US and China to hit technology stocks particularly hard
– …yesterday’s drop was one of the broadest and most international of the recent turbulence
– Bond market turbulence – which pushed the benchmark US Treasury yield to a seven-year high of 3.26% this week – has unnerved investors and bled into equities….
– Higher interest rate increase the cost of corporate borrowing, raising fears that years of cheap money are ending
– US inflation data for September narrowly missed forecasts, temporarily assuaging fears that the Fed might have to raise rates more quickly
Lagarde defends Fed against Trump – Pg. 2
– …the IMF managing director called for global leaders not to break the system of international co-operation that she said had served the world well since the second world war, and rejected US complaints that China was engaged in competitive devaluations of the renimbi
IMF braced for emerging market danger signals – Pg. 2
– Inevitably, emerging market stocks yesterday mirrored the US equity declines…
– This year, the IMF has already agreed to its biggest bailout, a $57bn loan package for Argentina, and is considering a request from Pakistan for a loan estimated at $7bn
– Optimists point to the fact that since the 1990s, many emerging market countries are in a stronger position, having allowed their currencies to float and having bolstered their foreign exchange reserves
Chinese Finance – Pg. 7
– The country’s top financial regulators last year launched a campaign to stop corporations from moving vast quantities of capital offshore – at its peak in 2016, $220bn was channeled out in foreign direct investment
– The rise and partial fall of the centrally controlled asset management companies illustrates the ways that China’s financial sector and its economy have been transformed over the past two decades. The four groups, born out of a Chinese banking crisis, were created by the finance ministry in 1999 to absorb a pile of non-performing loans at the country’s four largest commercial banks
– The recapitalization of the financial sector was bankrolled by China’s central bank with 10-year bonds maturing in 2009, at which time the AMCs were expected to default and be liquidated, having accomplished their sole task of offloading the bad debt from the banking system
– Emboldened, the “bad banks” rapidly expanded to entrench themselves in China’s financial system, picking up licenses for securities broking, insurance, trusts, property development, private equity investments and financial leasing. They also bought commercial banks in China and Hong Kong and employ thousands of people in dozens of separate business units dedicated to high-yielding lending
– Offshore corporate lending by AMCs were often structured to appear like investments rather than loans
– Global markets have felt the ripple of the AMCs pulling back from the high-yield bond market
Answer: (1) Origami (Prof Note: I mentioned giving a girl a dozen origami roses at a talk I gave at UMD rather than spending the $100+. There were several women in the audience whose faces literally imploded.); (2) Learning to code; (3) Disc Golf (Prof Note: I have considered installing these at Cat Ghaut. We would be the only Disc Golf on both islands); (4) Dancing (Prof Note: Bust a move!); (5) Running (Prof Note: Shoes are $100+ and you need to protect your knees with good shoes); (6) Whittling (Prof Note: Be careful for your fingers); (7) Learning languages; (8) Geocaching; (9) Meditation; (10) Card tricks (Prof Note: Ok…this is cool!); (11) Hiking (Prof Note: I consider this a death march. It is great going out but ever step forward requires a tired step back); (12) Kitting (Prof Note: Awesome though I would love to quilt…did I just actually publish this statement?! J); (13) Rock collecting; (14) Reading books (Prof Note: love reading!!! Expand one’s mind); (15) Stargazing (Prof Note: Love it!); (16) Exercising; (17) Coupon; (18) Cross-stitching; (19) Yoga; (20) Blogging; (21) Adult Colouring; (22) Acting; (23) Snorkeling; (24) Juggling (Prof Note: Cool!); (25) Journaling (Prof Note: Be careful about discovery, i.e. keep the journal private); (26) Writing poetry (Prof Note: Awesome!); (27) Fostering animals; (28) Mixing music; (29) Quilling; (30) Chess; (31) Phone Photography; (32) Pencil Drawing; (33) Cooking; (34) Volunteering; (35) Mentoring; (36) Gaming; (37) Solving puzzles; (38) Self-Improvement; (39) Foraging; (40) Insect Collecting; (41) Arrowhead Hunting; (42) Seashell Collecting; (43) Magic Tricks; (44) Movie Watching; (45) Dog Training; (46) Preserving Flowers; (47) Writing Letters to a Pen Pal; (48) Yo-Yoing; (49) Macrame; (50) Beading