_Economy and Finance

Bloomberg Singapore Jobs, S. Korea Output Reflect EU Trade Impact: Economy By Shamim Adam and Eunkyung Seo - Apr 30, 2012 1:53 PM GMT+0900 Singapore’s unemployment rate unexpectedly rose and growth in South Korean industrial output slowed in March, underscoring the continued impact of Europe’s crisis on Asian economies reliant on trade.

Starwood Capital hires Peter Denton in £1bn European lending drive Posted on April 26, 2012 11:45 am by James Wallace Starwood Capital, the global private equity real estate firm, has hired BNP Paribas’ Peter Denton to spearhead a £1bn European debt fund, with flexibility to invest across the capital stack. http://costarfinance.com/2012/04/26/starwood-capital-hires-peter-denton-in-1bn-european-lending-drive/

Bloomberg Bernanke Takes On Krugman’s Criticism Ignoring Own Advice By Jeff Kearns and Craig Torres Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke took on Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman yesterday and called his advice to reduce unemployment by boosting inflation “reckless.”

http://info.drillinginfo.com/ Mississippi Lime Activity by Matt Menchaca on April 23rd, 2012 Earlier this week I posted an introductory blog on the Mississippi Lime play in northern Oklahoma and southern Kansas. While that blog covering some basic geology, I wanted to follow up with some operator activity and production metrics. Who are the main operators in the play and which are the best producing counties? Using Drilling Info and DI-Desktop this was a pretty quick and simple task. Here is a map showing operators drilling horizontal and directional wells into the Mississippi Limestone sequence over the past 3 years.

Bloomberg Geithner Calls China’s Changes on Yuan Very Significant By Ian Katz U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said China’s decision to widen the yuan’s trading band against the dollar reflects changes that are “very significant and very promising.”

http://info.drillinginfo.com/ Unconventional meets Conventional – The Mississippi Lime by Matt Menchaca on April 16th, 2012 The first thing I do when looking into a new play is get an understanding of the geology. It makes sense to me to get a grasp of what makes the play a play. The geographic area of exploration in the Mississippi Lime is north central Oklahoma and into south central Kansas.

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/ Exxon's big bet on shale gas April 16, 2012: 5:00 AM ET America's most profitable company now produces about as much natural gas as it does oil. CEO Rex Tillerson thinks the fracking party has just begun. By Brian O'Keefe, assistant managing editor FORTUNE -- For Rex Tillerson fracking is more than a revolutionary approach to drilling oil and gas -- it's part of his personal history. Simply mention the word to the CEO of Exxon Mobil (XOM) and he starts reminiscing about his days as a young engineer. It was 1976, and Tillerson had been sent to East Texas for his second assignment at the company. His job was to follow around rigs drilling for natural gas and "complete" the wells. That meant experimenting with a process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. By pumping water, sand, and chemicals down into a well at high pressure, he could cause cracks in the stone where the gas was trapped and allow more of it to flow. ...

Frankfurt's office market makes a strong start to the year 4 Apr, 2012, Frankfurt • No sign of springtime sluggishness • With a lease volume of 130,000 square metres in the first quarter, Frankfurt's office space market started the new year well • Market players appear active http://www.cushwake.com/

Bloomberg Service Industries in U.S. Kept Expanding in March: Economy By Alex Kowalski - 2012.04.04 12:42 PM Service industries in the U.S. grew in March, capping the strongest quarter in a year and indicating the world’s largest economy will keep generating jobs.

It is JPMorgan's responsibility to "stay actively engaged" in policy debates that will affect our company" and that doing so is a "constitutional right." You read constantly that banks are lobbying regulators and elected officials as if this is inappropriate. We don't look at it that way. - Jamie Dimon , JPMorgan Chase CEO, in his annual letter to shareholders, April 4, 2012 http://money.cnn.com/2012/04/04/news/economy/jamie-dimon-lobbying/index.htm http://finclip.blogspot.com/2012/04/cnnmoney-jamie-dimon-lobbying-is-good.html

But the result of the financial reform has not been intelligent design. Simplicity, clarity and speed would be better for the system and better for the economy. - Jamie Dimon , JPMorgan Chase CEO http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-04/dimon-rails-against-contrived-and-confusing-rules.html http://finclip.blogspot.com/2012/04/bloomberg-dimon-letter-derides.html

He(Jamie Dimon)’s combative by nature. And like a lot of these alpha dogs, when he’s backed into a corner, he’s going to bark back. - Michael Driscoll , visiting professor at Adelphi University in Garden City, New York. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-04/dimon-rails-against-contrived-and-confusing-rules.html http://finclip.blogspot.com/2012/04/bloomberg-dimon-letter-derides.html

Reuters Americans brace for next foreclosure wave By Nick Carey GARFIELD HEIGHTS, Ohio | Wed Apr 4, 2012 7:09pm EDT GARFIELD HEIGHTS, Ohio (Reuters) - Half a decade into the deepest U.S. housing crisis since the 1930s, many Americans are hoping the crisis is finally nearing its end. House sales are picking up across most of the country, the plunge in prices is slowing and attempts by lenders to claim back properties from struggling borrowers dropped by more than a third in 2011, hitting a four-year low.

Bloomberg Related News: Executive, U.S., Finance Dimon Letter Derides Contrived, Confusing Financial Rules By Dawn Kopecki - 2012.04.04 05:02 PM Jamie Dimon, chairman and chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), used his annual letter to shareholders to rail against “contrived” and confusing financial rules that he said may stymie lending.

CNNMoney Jamie Dimon: Lobbying is good, Washington is bad By Charles Riley @CNNMoney April 4, 2012: 6:22 PM ET NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon defended his bank's lobbying practices on Wednesday, writing in his annual letter to shareholders that the firm's activities are wholly appropriate and that ham-handed government officials are slowing down the recovery.

I think that people should own some gold and I think that people should own some equities, because before the collapse will happen, with Mr. Bernanke at the Fed, they're going to print money and print and print and print. So what you can get is a bad economy with rising equity prices. - Marc Faber , in CNBC, 04/02/2012 CNBC: 'Massive Wealth Destruction' Is About to Hit Investors: Faber

Somewhere down the line we will have a massive wealth destruction that usually happens either through very high inflation or through social unrest or through war or credit market collapse. Maybe all of it will happen, but at different times. - Marc Faber , in CNBC, 04/02/2012

CNBC.com 'Massive Wealth Destruction' Is About to Hit Investors: Faber Published: Monday, 2 Apr 2012 | 8:12 AM ET By: Jeff Cox CNBC.com Senior Writer Runaway government debts have triggered uncontrolled money printing that in turn will lead to inflation that will decimate portfolios, according to the latest forecast from "Dr. Doom" Marc Faber.