A roundup of what The Globe and Mail's market strategist Scott Barlow is reading this morning on the World Wide Web.
There's a whole bunch of China news this morning but to be honest, I'm losing interest a bit. The Canadian equity market has been increasingly driven by FIRE stocks – finance, insurance, and real estate – while the miners languish. For now, the China story is less important to Canadian investors.
That said, there are two China-related stories that do have the potential to affect Canadian portfolios in the months ahead. The Economist notes that China is quietly moving to re-open the spigots of credit expansion in an effort to protect economic growth targets. This might be a bad idea for China long term, but it will help domestic miners.
China's quiet shift to fiscal and monetary mini-stimulus. - The Economist
See also: China to boost bank lending power, though IMF says no need – Reuters
In a story that's far less welcome to resource investors, Reuters columnist Clyde Russell urges China to crack down on the practise of importing metals for the sole purpose of using them for collateral for new loans.
Time to end commodities as finance tools in China – Reuters
The logistics of the home renovation business in London is a little strange. The New Statesman reports that for many wealthy homeowners, the only way to expand the size of their residence is too dig down. The weird part is that construction firms have realized that it makes more sense to just bury the digging machines in the basement when the work is done than remove them.
London's buried diggers – The New Statesman
Richard Bernstein is my pick as the best U.S. market strategist working. Yesterday, the research firm Mr. Bernstein founded released a new market strategy based on high quality, global dividend income. The report is worth reading for its clarifications on the term "quality" alone.
Richard Bernstein Advisors Quality Income Index – Full report here
Tweet of the Day from Societe Generale foreign exchange strategist @kitjuckes: "if u haven't got msg that this close to 0 bound, mon policy does more for asset prices than for economy, u haven't been awake"
Diversion 1: The Economist honours both WWII veterans and writing skills far, far beyond mine by re-releasing this report from June 10, 1944.
June the Sixth – The Economist
Diversion 2: Yes, this is an extended Neymar-oriented advertisement for headphones, but it's a brilliant (and expensive one) one that has me counting down the hours until my beloved England FC gets their heads handed to them by the Gli Azzurri.
The Game Before the Game – Youtube
Scott Barlow