Archive
Reuters blog archive
from MacroScope:
Abe’s European spring break: Japan stimulus sends euro zone yields to record lows
It wasn't just the Nikkei. Euro zone government bonds rallied following Japan's announcement of a massive new monetary stimulus. That sent yields on the debt of several euro zone countries to record lows on bets that Japanese investors might be switching out of Japanese government bonds into euro zone paper, or might soon do so.
The Bank of Japan on Thursday announced extraordinary stimulus steps to revive the world's third-largest economy, vowing to inject about $1.4 trillion into the financial system in less than two years in a dose of shock therapy to end two decades of deflation.
Austrian, Dutch, French and Belgian borrowing costs over ten years fell to record lows as investors piled into euro zone debt offering a pick-up over Germany. The bond rally was led by 10- and 30-year maturities after the BOJ said it would double its holdings of long-term government bonds.
According to one trader:
There is no question that Asian demand for semi-core is quite strong and I think, in light of yesterday's BOJ move, the expectation is that that's going to continue.
from Photographers Blog:
Under the ice
Lake Weissensee, Austria
By Michael Dalder
I’ve been diving for almost 15 years, but due to family matters it has fallen off my list lately. So a new picture assignment at Lake Weissensee in mid-February 2013 just came right to my diver’s heart: The Underwater Ice hockey Championships.
Underwater Ice hockey is not played on top of the ice like ice hockey is usually played but underneath it. That’s where diving comes into the game because the underwater ice hockey players are in fact apnea divers who want to give their sports an additional sportive kick.
from Photographers Blog:
Taking the ski path less traveled
Innsbruck, Austria
By Dominic Ebenbichler
The tragedy of Dutch Prince Johan Friso, who was buried in an avalanche while skiing in Austria last February and who has since been in a coma, generated the idea to shoot a story about freeride skiing and how ski professionals are trying to minimize any possible risks.
I'm lucky to have easy access to some of the best European freeride skiers as they are either part of my family or good friends with whom I go skiing with. I asked one of my cousins, Christoph Ebenbichler, who is a professional skier, if he would like to be part of this story. We discussed the riders who we wanted to work with on the story and the basic topics we wanted to cover, and decided to focus on showing the beauty of skiing in the back country combined with showing the professional approach everybody should have when skiing off piste. I contacted the skiers and they were all happy to work with me on the project.
from Photographers Blog:
Demon face
Heitwerwang, Austria
By Dominic Ebenbichler
Tourists or foreigners have to look twice when attending a Perchten festival in the western Austrian region of Tyrol. Some probably think there is something wrong with the countryfolk - dressing up like demons, wearing head to toe animal skins and wooden masks, behavior that could easily be associated with some kind of a devil's cult. It just doesn't seem to be normal.
The explanation goes back to the years about 500 AD. Back then farmers performed pagan rites to disperse the ghosts of winter to help bring a fruitful harvest. They thought it might work with terrifying masks which should scare even ghosts. And what is more scarier than the devil himself? Right, nothing! Even ghosts have to be scared by the devil.
from Photographers Blog:
Pinball dreams
Vienna, Austria
By Heinz Peter-Bader
A collector once said: "When you buy your first pinball machine, it is fine with your wife. When you buy your second pinball machine, she asks "Why? You have one already". After number three and four she believes you must be crazy. But after the fifth pinball machine she proudly tells her friends that her husband is a collector.'
Guenter "Pindigi" Freinberger from Austria owns 493 pinball machines. Well, 492 actually, after my visit...
from Photographers Blog:
Shooting Skiing: Old School vs. New School
By Dominic Ebenbichler
Growing up in the western Austrian province of Tyrol, you learn to ski very early in life. I actually started to ski when I was one and a half years old, which was almost as early as when I learned to walk. Every single kid in our country dreams of being a famous ski racer and therefore all kids are competing in kid races during the winter. I was no exception there, thus it isn't astonishing that I now like to shoot World Cup ski races. The very first race of the season every year in Soelden is always a very nice shooting experience.
We used to cover this event with two photographers, but this year it was a little bit different as we decided to try cover it with only one photographer -- me. We also decided to try to introduce a fresh, newer style to shooting these races. Most photographers were focusing on sharp, tight action shots, the style of the last decade of shooting ski races. Every single racer produces the same picture actually.
from Photographers Blog:
Lipizzaners return home
By Heinz-Peter Bader
It was a beautiful late summer day with blue sky and not a single cloud when I went to the village of Piber some 200 km (124 miles) west of Vienna to see the world famous Lipizzaner horses. Well, actually, the 40 young studs were not famous yet, but some of them would be selected to become famous some day - members of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna.
SLIDESHOW: DANCING HORSES OF VIENNA
The young Lipizzaners spend their summers in the mountains, and the return back to the stud is traditionally celebrated. They are decorated with flowers, receive blessings in front of the local church and are presented to the people before they arrive at their stable after a 16 km (10 mile) walk.
from Global Investing:
Olympic medal winners — and economies — dissected
The Olympic medals have all been handed out and the athletes are on their way home. Which countries surpassed expectations and which ones did worse than expected? And did this have anything to do with the state of their economies?
An extensive Goldman Sachs report entitled Olympics and Economics (a regular feature before each Olympic Games) predicted before the Games kicked off that the United States would top the tally with 36 gold medals. It also said the top 10 would include five G7 countries (the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany and Italy), two BRICs (China and Russia), one of the developing countries it dubs Next-11 (South Korea), and one additional developed and emerging market. These would be Australia and Ukraine, it said.
from Photographers Blog:
Buzzing with bees
By Lisi Niesner
An unsettling night followed this story. It felt as if something was scuttling on my skin. It was a tickling feeling which made me scratch and I saw bugs bustling around in my mind’s eye. In the morning I could not remember exactly what I had dreamed, but the one thing I knew, all night long I had heard the buzz in my head.
I got plenty of mosquito bites, a bee sting, and on top of that several times I encountered stinging nettles and thistles while shooting Vienna’s city beekeepers. The Austrian organization Stadtimker, retains wild bees and honey bees in the city area of Vienna. Everybody who has a little garden or a roof-top can join and make room available for one or more bee hives. The beekeepers build up the hives and fully care for them generally once a week.
from Mark Leonard:
Terminating the European status quo
VIENNA -- When Arnold Schwarzenegger declared "I'll be back" at the end of the first Terminator film, very few thought he was talking about returning to Austria. Yet here in Vienna, where Schwarzenegger made a surprise trip this week, there is speculation that his political career will be resurrected – Lazarus-like – in his abandoned homeland. And if he does take the leap, the Terminator could find himself playing a walk-on part in the most grandiose story of his career: the breakdown of the postwar European political order.
The talk is that Schwarzenegger could be one of the most visible faces supporting a putative new "Alliance for Austria" party that is being planned. The man behind it is the expatriate self-made billionaire Frank Stronach, who has pledged to launch a revolution in this placid corner of Central Europe. Last month he released a glossy eight-page personal manifesto that starts with the memorable phrase "unhappily, government is made up of politicians.” Pledging to rectify this anomaly, he talks about instituting lotteries that will allow ordinary people to suggest topics for parliament to debate, introducing a flat tax, and scrapping all corporate taxation for companies that invest in Austria.
