Global Investing

Who’s tired of the ”Markets up on Greece, markets down on Greece” headlines of the past few weeks? (I am.)

Today it’s an up day, with world stocks hitting a six-month peak on hopes that Greece will secure a second bailout package next week (finally, really).

But beneath the optimism lies a dire Greek economic and fiscal situation.

The Greek economy slumped 7 percent in the last quarter of 2011, with the rate of contraction since Q4 2008 reaching a whopping 16 percent in cumulative, real GDP terms.

Weak growth is hampering efforts to consolidate the fiscal position. Goldman Sachs, in fact, expects the deep recession has fully offset budget consolidation efforts. Analysts at the bank write:

“The fiscal adjustment, which started off with an impressive deficit reduction of more than 5% of GDP in 2010 stalled in 2011… despite a significant fiscal effort.

Bahrain’s civil unrest — which had a one-year anniversary this week — has taken a toll on the local economy and left a deep scar on the Gulf state’s aspiration to become an international financial hub.

A new paper from the Sovereign Wealth Fund Initiative, a research programme at Center for Emerging Market Enterprises (CEME) at the Fletcher School at Tufts University, examines how the political instability of 2011 is threatening Bahrain’s efforts in the past 30 years to diversify its economy and develop the financial centre.

Asim Ali from University of Western Ontario and Shatha Al-Aswad, assistant vice president at State Street, argue in the paper that even before the revolt, Bahrain lagged in building the foundations of a truly international hub in the face of competition from Dubai and Qatar.

The passing of Greek austerity measures is fuelling a rally in peripheral debt today with Italian, Spanish and Portuguese yields falling across the curve.

However, one should not forget that peripheral economies are still under considerable risk of becoming the next Greece — rising debt and weak economic growth pushing the country to seek a bailout — as a result of tighter financial conditions.

Take this warning from JP Morgan:

Financial conditions have deteriorated far more in peripheral Europe than in the core. The drag from this on peripheral GDP is akin to that seen following the Lehman crisis.

Facial, massage and dating… what do they have in common?

These are the industries which seem to be recession-proof and saw improved sales and revenues in recent months.

The Professional Beauty Association says its main tracking indexes for the salon and spa industry all posted a rise in the fourth quarter of 2011, driven by stronger sales, traffic levels and a more optimistic outlook for the economy.

The Salon & Spa Performance Index, which is the main index of the three, is a quarterly composite index that tracks the health and outlook of the U.S. salon/spa industry.  It rose  1% from the third quarter of 2011 to stand at 102.9 in the fourth quarter. A base level measurement of 100 is used, with values above considered positive.

Tensions over Iran may be helping to push up oil prices as traders worry about a widespread embargo on the country’s crude oil but markets in neighbouring Gulf energy-rich economies are not benefiting.

One year after the Arab Spring started in Tunisia, investors remain sensitive to political risk in the Middle East.

Debt insurance costs have risen sharply this month for gas exporter Qatar and oil giant Saudi Arabia, just as global worries appear to be easing about the euro zone crisis.

Anemic economic growth in the United States has sparked fears the country was entering a Japan-style “lost decade.” The comparison also has implications for government bond markets. Some traders see the U.S. Treasury market’s new, lower-yielding structure as eerily reminiscent of trading patterns seen in JGBs (Japanese government bonds). Says George Goncalves at Nomura:

There has been much debate since the start of the '08 credit crisis over whether the US is turning into Japan and if so how to trade it. We have spent a fair deal of time over the last two years developing a framework for how US rates investors can leverage these insights to "Trading USTs like JGBs.” […] One thing is clear: momentum trading starts to wane and narrower ranges will become the norm in a low yielding world with the Fed on perma hold meanwhile a lack of alternative fixed income products is still forcing investors to buy USTs.

This does not mean that investors can remain permanently bullish on Treasuries, however, Goncalves warns.

Interesting to see that Poland wants to squeeze out more income from its state-owned enterprise (SOE) sector in the face of slowing economic growth and financing pressures.

Warsaw wants to double next year’s dividends from stakes in firms ranging from copper mines to utility providers to banks.

Fellow euro zone aspirant Lithuania has also embarked on reforms aimed at increasing dividends sixfold from what UBS has dubbed “the forgotten side of the government balance sheet”. It wants to emulate countries such as Sweden and Singapore where such companies are managed at arm’s length from the state and run along strict corporate standards to consistently grow profits.

Who said cosmetics are recession-proof and would be the last to be hit in the economic downturn? (I, at least, thought so.)

But whoever said so seems to be wrong. The Professional Beauty Association‘s three main tracking indices for the salon and spa industry extended a decline in the third quarter of 2011 to hit their lowest level in two years. 

The Salon & Spa Performance Index (SSPI) is a quarterly composite index that tracks the health and outlook of the U.S. salon and spa industry. It fell 1% from the second quarter to 101.9, posting the second consecutive quarterly decline.

More tough talk from Hungarian officials on the ‘unjustified’ weakness of the country’s currency, which has dropped 11 percent against the euro this year to all-time lows.

This time, it’s central banker Ferenc Gerhardt arguing that the weakness of the forint is out of sync with economic fundamentals and blaming it on the debt turmoil in the euro zone.

Perhaps he should look a little closer to home.

Hungary’s drift from orthodox economic policy since the centre-right government took over the reins last year has made it the most exposed of eastern European economies.

If it were about age, 40-somethings would cringe. But it seems a dead certainty that 40 now means 50 -- or even higher -- when it comes to predicting the chances of a recession taking place.

Going by past Reuters polls of economists, every time the probability hits 40 percent, the recession's already started or is perilously close to doing so.

After the brief recovery period from the Great Recession, Reuters once again started surveying economists several months ago on the chances of developed economies stumbling back into the muck.