Europe

How to Fix Financial Services Regulation

May 15, 2012 (Vietnamica) – Want a very quick solution to the privatized gains and socialized losses of modern financial services…? As I was reading of yet another spectacular mismatch between bank managers’ competence and their remuneration, and this time at JP Morgan no less, I realized there is a simple solution which really could be implemented.

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Stronger Dollar “Makes Gold Rally Difficult”, Chinese Buyers “On the Sidelines”, Indian Dealers “Just Buying What They Need”

May 12, 2012 (Vietnamica) – Wholesale market gold prices touched their lowest level since the first week of January Friday, hitting $1574 an ounce before recovering some ground, while stocks and commodities fell and US Treasury bonds gained, with dealers in major gold buying countries reporting continued limited demand for precious metals.

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Vietinbank Sold 5-year US$250 Mln International Bond; Offered Yield of 8.25 Pct

Vietinbank Sold 5-year US$250 Mln International Bond; Offered Yield of 8.25 Pct

May 11, 2012 (Vietnamica) — Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (Vietinbank, HOSE: CTG), on May 10, sold 5-year US$250 million international bonds. This is the first ever international bond offering by a Vietnamese financial institution. The bond was priced at 98.992 percent with a coupon of eight percent to offer a yield of 8.25 percent (The Asset, May 11).

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Precious Metals Steady as China Spurns Euro Debt, Greece Warned on Euro Exit

May 10, 2012 (Vietnamica) — Wholesale market prices to buy gold and silver repeated yesterday’s rally in London trade after a slight drop Thursday morning, rising back above $1594 and $29.30 per ounce respectively as platinum and palladium also stemmed this week’s sharp drops. “Technically, many are now oversold,” says a note from dealers Intl FC Stone, pointing to chart analysis and noting that gold trading volume on the Globex futures platform was 40% above the last month’s quiet average on both Tuesday and Wednesday.

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NATO’s Ordinary Future

May 9, 2012 (Vietnamica) — Whatever one thought of the Libya intervention, the details make for a bad advertisement about NATO. As one U.S. Air Force planner told me, “It was like Snow White and the 27 dwarfs, all standing up to her knees” — the United States being Snow White and the other NATO member states being the dwarfs. The statistics regarding just how much the United States had to go it alone in Libya — pushed by the British and French — despite the diplomatic fig leaf of “leading from behind,” are devastating for the alliance.

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Silver Falls to Lowest Since January, China and India Could Offer “Key Support” for Gold

May 8, 2012 (Vietnamica) — Wholesale market gold prices fell to $1625 an ounce during Tuesday morning’s London trading – their lowest level in over a fortnight – as stocks and commodities also ticked lower and the Dollar extended recent gains, with markets still digesting the weekend’s French and Greek election results.

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