news18may11
COMMODITIES
China drought - Central China in areas surrounding Wuhan city are experiencing the worst drought in 50 years, affecting half of all crops and causing estimated economic losses of more than 300 million yuan - Bloomberg
USA
M Whitney: The Hidden State Financial Crisis My latest research into opaque state financial statements suggests taxpayers will be surprised by how much pensions are underfunded - WSJ
M Whitney again sounds alarm on state/local governments -
this time she warns that the rising cost of local government pensions could cause money to be redirected from public services and ultimately hurt the economy. FT
What's Wrong With Tech CEOs? Is it time for activist boards to take a hand at Microsoft, Yahoo and Cisco? WSJ
PIMCO El-Erian - Feudal IMF job process must change “I don’t want the job, but the process must be open and fair” FT
EUROPE
UK BOE minutes - “Were the downside risks to household spending to materialize, a path for policy weaker than that implied by market prices might become appropriate.” Bloomberg
ASIA
China will raise the prices for electricity generators sell to grid operators by 0.02 yuan per kilowatt hour in central Hunan and Jiangxi provinces and southwestern Guizhou province - Reuters
China’s annual housing inflation slowed slightly in April with prices rising 4.3 percent (vs. +5.2% in Apr). Home prices in Beijing rose 2.8 percent in April from a year ago, slowing from a 4.9 percent pace in March. In Shanghai, the annual price increase slowed to 1.3 percent last month, from a gain of 1.7 percent in March. Reuters
China mortgage rates - Some banks in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing raised the interest rates they charge for mortgage loans to buy a first home to 10 percent more than the benchmark rate set by the central bank - Bloomberg
China's central bank and financial institutions spent CNY310.7 billion to absorb foreign exchange flowing into the country in April, down 23.8% from CNY407.9 billion in March - DJ