_Economy and Finance

PGGM Launches HF Platform 10-28-2010 | Source: emii.com PGGM is looking to invest directly in selected hedge funds to raise transparency and reduce costs, IPE reports. The €100 billion asset manager will invest through segregated managed accounts rather than pooled funds.

MarketView Office Market Frankfurt Q3 2010 In the first nine months of the year, office space take-up of 371,000 sq m was 25% higher than the figure reported for the same period last year; 35% of the take-up figure is accounted for by owner-occupiers. The positive take-up trend reflects the improving outline economic conditions in the city on the River Main. Author(s): several Source: CB Richard Ellis Published: 19.10.2010 http://www.immopro24.com/market-report/marketview-office-market-frankfurt_966.html

Alternative Investing: Fine Art - CNBC Investing In Fine Art Can Mean Pretty Profits By: Shelly K. Schwartz, Special to CNBC.com If you’d added a few paintings to your portfolio over the last few years, instead of all those bank stocks, your retirement nest egg might be looking a little different right now. Indeed, for the ten-years ended July 2010, the price index of all fine art work sold more than once worldwide has produced a nearly 11 percent annualized return, outperforming the Standard & Poor’s 500 index of large cap stocks and most other asset classes, including bonds and commodities—though gold was the clear frontrunner during those years, according to artprice.com in France, which tracks the market. ...

BarCap Launches Beta Commodity Fund 10-14-2010 | Source: emii.com Barclays Capital is launching the Barclays Pure Beta Commodity fund to offshore life bond investors, Financial Times reports. The vehicle aims to invest in mid to long-term commodity prices.

Frankfurt's Office Market Revives on Improved Rental Prospects By Peter Woodifield - Oct 7, 2010 Frankfurt’s office property market will probably attract the most investment this year since 2007 as the strengthening economy fuels demand for space, CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. and Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. said. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-06/frankfurt-s-office-property-market-revives-on-improved-prospects-for-rents.html

Quarterly report on the euro area (Quarterly report on the euro area. 3. October 2010. Brussels. PDF. 40pp. Tab. Graph. Free.) pdf: KC-AK-10-002-EN-N ISSN: 1830-6403 The October issue of the Quarterly Report focuses on the process of corporate balance sheet adjustment in the euro area, and on its implications for the economic recovery in the medium term. Based on an analysis of previous instances of such rebalancing processes, it finds that these tend to be associated with lasting adverse macroeconomic consequences such as low output growth. From a policy perspective this suggests that the adjustment of corporate balance sheets currently underway in the euro are should ideally be accompanied by measures to strengthen the banking sector and to front-load growth-enhancing economic reforms.

EU Debt Crisis - Moody's Warns It May Downgrade Ireland Again - CNBC Moody's warned on Tuesday that it may cut Ireland's credit rating again, pointing to the huge bill for cleaning up its banks announced last week, a weak economic recovery and rising borrowing costs. As well as the bank bill, Moody's said poor recent data shoed a cloudy outlook for the recovery of domestic demand and pointed to the sharp rise in Irish bond yields since its last rating action in July. "Ireland's ability to preserve government financial strength faces increased uncertainty as a result of (these) three main drivers, which together would further increase its debt and aggravate its debt affordability," Dietmar Hornung, Moody's lead sovereign analyst for Ireland, said in a statement. ...