InformedTrades

The Financial Stability Board wrote a report in April this year saying that ETFs might present new, unexpected risks to financial stability. The full report is available for download by clicking here.

Wall Street's biggest bond traders are stockpiling Treasuries at the fastest pace since 2007 on speculation the Federal Reserve will announce a plan this week to buy longer-term debt to spur the faltering economy.

Investors have pulled more money from U.S. equity funds since the end of April than in the five months after the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., adding to the $2.1 trillion rout in American stocks.

Same Sunday, Different Day. As the FX market opens, the accrued rumors from this weekend, once again focusing squarely on Greece have come to a fore. The immediate result: a EURUSD which is down 100 pips from the Friday close.

The main event is the three-ring circus of the U.S., Europe and China and their respective currencies, the dollar, euro and the yuan. The dynamic is straightforward - all three would like a cheaper currency, relative to the others, to help exports. China has the least justification for cheapening, so it considers a peg the next best thing - at least their currency doesn't go up. The U.S. has the most clout - it has the leading reserve currency and a printing press so it can just print its way to devaluation. Europe desperately wants to depreciate but is dependent on China to buy its sovereign bonds and dependent on the U.S. for dollar liquidity in the form of swap lines so it has no leverage over the other two. Besides, Germany has a history of maintaining a strong export sector even with a strong currency because of its efficiency, homogenous culture and labor-management cooperation. This was true in the 1970's with the strong Deutschemark and it's largely true today. This dynamic plays out as you might expect. The U.S. devalues against yuan and the euro - it gets all of what it wants. China revalues upward against the dollar, but keeps a peg to the euro - it gets half of what it wants. And the euro remains strong against the dollar and pegged against yuan - so it gets none of what it wants. This has been the prevailing paradigm since June when the Chinese finally let the yuan appreciate against the dollar in a serious way.

President Obama on Monday will call for a new minimum tax rate for individuals making more than $1 million a year to ensure that they pay at least the same percentage of their earnings as middle-income taxpayers, according to administration officials.

Nonviolent protestors occupied the Wall Street area in peaceful, yet loud, demonstrations Saturday. The event, which is being called #OccupyWallStreet and #TakeWallStreet on Twitter, included a variety of groups with different agendas.

A state-run Chinese newspaper has warned of rising Mid-East conflicts if the U.S. vetoes Palestine's bid for UN membership next week. Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas is expected to request UN induction next Friday, while Washington warns the move will be "counter-productive".

Mandarin could become a compulsory part of the school curriculum in the Karachi, Pakistan's commercial capital, and the surrounding province of Sindh, in a move that is further evidence of the warming relations between Islamabad and Beijing. The authorities want Mandarin to be taught by 2013 to all secondary school children in the region, according to a Sindh government statement.  It may be wishful thinking in a province where over 40 per cent of people can't read at all. But as a sign of China's growing influence it's significant.

Argentina's export quotas on corn and other foodstuffs have sparked fresh controversy about government interventionism in the agriculture sector, especially in light of rising global food demand. In conjunction with export taxes, these limits effectively lower domestic food prices and hence, farmer revenues. Farmers argue that these export quotas, ostensibly established to combat food price inflation and to guarantee food security, not only are preventing them from enjoying the fruits of high global demand but are keeping domestic prices artificially low.

Identities of people involved in the alleged JP Morgan conspiracy to manipulate the price of silver have been exposed, along with the mechanisms of the manipulation of silver.  I was contacted two days ago by key people familiar with this situation.  This was described by an individual out of London who is very familiar with the lawsuit as, "The biggest news in a long time because these are actual people who are coming out and naming names of individuals who were involved in this alleged conspiracy with JP Morgan to actively manipulate the price of silver.  People may go to jail over this.  JP Morgan has all barrels pointing at them as traders are named in this suit, including senior traders at JP Morgan."

A Chinese company few Americans have heard of is gearing up for what could be the largest Internet IPO in U.S. history. The company, Beijing Jingdong Century Trading Co., runs 360buy.com, a fast-growing online-shopping site that sells a broad range of goods, mostly direct to consumers, much like Amazon.com Inc. This business-to-consumer part of China's online shopping market is expected to expand more than fivefold to 650 billion yuan ($100 billion) over the next three years, according to Beijing-based research firm Analysys International.

The debt markets have been warned. A key rate setter-for China's central bank let slip - or was it a slip? - that Beijing aims to run down its portfolio of US debt as soon as safely possible. "The incremental parts of our of our foreign reserve holdings should be invested in physical assets," said Li Daokui at the World Economic Forum in the very rainy city of Dalian - former Port Arthur from Russian colonial days.

UBS shares are diving after the bank unexpectedly has announced that a rogue trader has cost it $2 billion. The stock has fallen at one point by nearly 10%.

The future of mobile payments has the potential to invade your senses. MasterCard is showing off what could be the next wave of innovation in payments this afternoon at an event in New York City. Imagine being able to wave at your TV and order a order a pizza. Or get a coupon because your smartphone was listening to a commercial. These possibilities are not as far-fetched as you might think. MasterCard Labs is working on proof-of-concept for these payment solutions and more. Not all of these futuristic designs will make it to market, but enough of them will that user behavior will be fundamentally changed within the next decade.

The U.S. Geological Survey has revised downward the magnitude of Thursday morning's earthquake off Cuba to magnitude 5.1 from magnitude 6.0. [Updated at 5:20 a.m. ET] A magnitude 6.0 earthquake hit off the southeastern coast of Cuba early Thursday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

European banks are losing deposits as savers and money funds spooked by the region's debt crisis search for havens, a trend that could worsen economic and financial conditions. Retail and institutional deposits at Greek banks fell 19 percent in the past year and almost 40 percent at Irish lenders in 18 months. Meanwhile, European Union financial firms are lending less to one another and U.S. money-market funds have reduced their investments in German, French and Spanish banks.

The scheme promises farm gate prices of Bt14,800/tonne to farmers, 55 per cent higher than domestic prices in August. Rice farmers - whose support in July's election was crucial to the overwhelming victory of the new government of prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra - are going to be happy, but as Nomura points out, the urban poor not so much.

Now Russia has shown itself less than enthusiastic about the great Bric plan to save the world, sorry, Europe. Echoing Chinese premier Wen Jiabao, a senior Russian official said on Wednesday that Europe must come up with a clear strategy for rescuing its debt-ridden states  before Moscow could commit to increasing its eurozone bond holdings. With India also cautious about the Brazilian-inspired assistance proposal, it seems that a Bric-wide agreement is a long way off.

Recent talks between Italy and China centred on possible investments in Italy's industrial sector, not the purchase of government bonds, an Italian ministerial source said on Tuesday.