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Large banks and trading firms are frantically trying to determine whether they have fallen victim to a suspected commodities fraud emanating from the giant Qingdao Port in northeast China. Citigroup and several other large Western banks are concerned that their loans may lack the appropriate collateral, big stockpiles of copper and aluminum at the port. The banks have inspectors on the ground who are trying to assess whether enough of the metals are there. The worry stems from suspicions that a Chinese companies pledged the same collateral for multiple loans. Chinese authorities are investigating the matter. The case could have broad repercussions for the commodities market and the Chinese economy. Banks have funneled billions of dollars into the Chinese economy through these murky transactions, and commodities prices have been falling over concerns that such lending will dry up. Western banks, including Citigroup, are bracing for any potential fallout. Just months ago, Citigroup fell victim to a multimillion-dollar fraud in Mexico. If the Qingdao developments harm the bank, regulators and shareholders are likely to press it to explain why its controls had failed again. Chinese companies are at risk, too.

By Maria Gallucci - Global economic growth is expected to dip this year, following the fiercely cold winter that plagued the United States and turbulence in Ukraine and the world's financial markets. The World Bank on Tuesday said it reduced its global growth forecast to 2.8 percent this year, down from a January projection of 3.2 percent, Bloomberg News reported. The U.S. forecast was cut to 2.1 percent from 2.8 percent, and outlooks for Brazil, Russia, India and China also fell -- a sign that emerging economies aren't moving fast enough or investing sufficiently in domestic structural reforms, which are needed to accelerate economic expansion, according to the Washington-based institution. It recommended smaller budget deficits, higher interest rates and productivity-boosting measures to stave off future financial unrest, Bloomberg said. The growth setbacks, however, might be short-lived. The 2015 projection for global economic growth held steady at 3.4 percent, Bloomberg noted, and growth is expected to regain speed this year despite earlier weaknesses, the World Bank said in its Global Economic Prospects report. "The financial health of economies has improved. ... But we are not totally out of the woods yet," Kaushik Basu, the lender's chief economist, said. "A gradual tightening of fiscal policy and structural reforms are desirable to restore fiscal space depleted by the 2008 financial crisis. In brief, now is the time to prepare for the next crisis."

October 30, Wednesday, China's money market rates pointed on to a four-month high, a day following the country's central bank instill funds into the market to relieve worries that it was preparing to considerably constrict credit situation. The seven-day report rate, observed as a key measure of confidence to lend in the interbank markets, rose to around 5.59 percent - up about 64 basis points from the prior day. Analysts said that the jump in rates was seasonal in nature and at this stage were not too concerned about a repeat of events in June when a surge in money market rates fueled fears of a credit crunch in the world's number two economy. They further mentioned that liquidity infused into the market this week had not been huge enough to shove overnight lending rates considerably lower. On Tuesday via an open market operation, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) infused 13 billion yuan ($2.13 billion) into money markets. "Liquidity remains tight and the repo operation yesterday was small," said Nizam Idris, managing director, head of strategy, fixed income and currencies atMacquarie Bank. "China is still in the process of fine-tuning rates." Chris Weston, chief market strategist at trading firm IG, added: "Month end is coming up and of course tax implications are being blamed for higher rates." No fear With the benchmark Shanghai Composite stock index up 0.75 percent in afternoon Asia trade, Chinese markets became visible to take the spike in money market rates in stride. Analysts put this down to assumptions that the PBOC would approach into the market with better injections of cash to alleviate any doubts that it was geting ready to constrict monetary conditions in a big way. On Tuesday and Thursday, the PBOC usually carry out reverse-repurchase operations, an opportunity for it to inject liquidity into Chinese money markets. "They [PBOC policymakers] will probably provide liquidity on Thursday - at this point they don't wa

Janet Yellen said in prepared remarks to be delivered in a confirmation hearing on Thursday that the Federal Reserve helped restart the economy after the recession, but still there's more work to be done. "We have made good progress, but we have farther to go to regain the ground lost in the crisis and the recession," reads the statement. Yellen is at present serving as vice-chair on the Federal Reserve Board, she is nominated by President Obama to succeed Ben Bernanke as head of the central bank. Bernanke's second term ends January 31, and in spite of the protests from a few Tea Party members, Yellen is mostly anticipated to be long-established for the position before then. Ten in the morning Eastern, Thursday, her hearing before the Senate Banking Committee is scheduled.

Japans økonomi minister og mest sentrale banker fredag oppfordret Washington å løse sine politiske gridlock, advarsel gjeld standard kan føre til grim "consequences" for den globale økonomien. TOKYO: Japans økonomi minister og mest sentrale banker fredag oppfordret Washington å løse sine politiske gridlock, advarsel gjeld standard kan føre til grim "consequences" for den globale økonomien. Nåværende uføret, hvor avslag av en høyreekstrem bakdel av det republikanske partiet å passere et budsjettforlik har resultert i en regjeringen nedleggelse, påvirker allerede valutamarkedene, finansminister Taro Aso sa advarsel det kunne forverres. Jeg tror dette kunne sannsynligvis føre til en situasjon hvor dollaren vil bli solgt og yen skal kjøpes,"fortalte Aso reportere. Yen har allerede steget til flere måneder diskant mot dollar, som handelsfolk flytter fra greenback og til trygg havn av den japanske valutaen. Fallende dollar er dårlige nyheter for Japans eksportører, en sentral pådriver for vekst i verdens tredje største økonomi, fordi svekker deres repatriated fortjeneste. Japanske enheten ble skiftet hender på 97.08 til dollar i slutten asiatisk handel. Men "min følelse er... gjeld grensen vil ha et internasjonalt betydelig innvirkning, sa Aso refererer til en truende 17 oktober frist som den amerikanske regjeringen trenger lovgivere å heve taket på hvor mye penger det kan låne. "Med mindre det er løst raskt, vil vi se ulike konsekvenser." Japan er store innehaver av amerikanske statsgjeld. Bank of Japan guvernør Haruhiko Kuroda ekko Aso bekymringer, men sa hvis følelsesmessig ladet standoff kunne løses raskt, det ikke må spore fledgeling U.S. økonomisk utvinning. Usikkerhet Kuroda, en tidligere leder av asiatiske utviklingsbanken, sa var kjernen fordi usikkerhet ville sette en belastning på global vekst. "Hvis en slik situasjon blir det kanskje har en alvorlig innvirkning på den amerikanske økonomien og verdensøkonomien

The World Bank's most recent Global Economic Prospects (GEP) report, released this week, says a global economic recovery is underway, underpinned by strengthening output and demand in high-income countries. Global GDP growth in 2014 will be 2.8 percent and it is expected to rise to about 4.2 percent by 2016, according to the report, which the World Bank publishes twice a year. Average GDP growth in developing countries has reached 4.8 percent in 2014, faster than in high-income countries but slower than in the boom period before the global financial and economic crisis of 2008. Demand side stimulus or supply side reforms? The global economic slowdown that struck in 2008 was caused by a financial crisis that resulted in large part from the bursting of an enormous, fraud-ridden mortgage lending bubble in the US. The crisis led to varying responses in different countries. The GEP report's authors said that in general, developing countries privileged demand stimulus policies over structural reforms during the past several years. For example, in 2008 to 2009, China implemented a four trillion-renminbi ($586 billion) stimulus program as a direct response to the slowdown in global trade caused by the global financial crisis. Critics pointed to over-investment in China as a risk to continued fast growth. The country is now struggling to contain a real estate bubble of its own. The World Bank wants China and other emerging countries to refocus on structural reforms. "A gradual tightening of fiscal policy and structural reforms are desirable to restore fiscal space depleted by the 2008 financial crisis," the bank's chief economist, Kaushik Basu, has said. "In brief, now is the time to prepare for the next crisis."