1 US factories chug on, Asia lags behind (Khaleej
Times) US manufacturing activity rose for a second straight month in April but
at a slightly slower pace, as new orders and production fell. The Institute for
Supply Management said its index of national factory activity slipped to 50.8
last month from a reading of 51.8 in March. A reading above 50 indicates
expansion in the manufacturing sector. A gauge of orders received by factories
fell 2.5 points to 55.8 per cent.
Manufacturing, which accounts for about 12 per cent
of the US economy, has been hurt by weak export growth stemming from a strong
dollar and soft global demand. Economic growth slowed to a 0.5 per cent
annualised rate in the first quarter. Given a fairly robust labor market, which
is expected to boost sluggish consumer spending, economists expect gross
domestic product growth to rebound in the second quarter.
Asian factories, meanwhile, barely grew in April and
those in the eurozone did little better despite heavy discounting, setting a
sluggish tone for the global economy in the second quarter. Japanese
manufacturing activity shrank last month at the fastest pace in more than three
years as major earthquakes disrupted production, while the former bright spot
of India sank to a four-month trough and growth in China was all but flat.
The eurozone reading edged up only marginally,
painting a more subdued picture of an economy that grew an encouraging 0.6 per
cent between January and March. So far, the massive ECB stimulus and weaker
euro has yet to feed through to eurozone factories which operated only
marginally faster in April.
2 Biggest earnings drop for ANZ since 2008 (Straits
Times) Australia's No 4 lender, ANZ Banking Group, has posted its biggest
half-yearly decline in cash profit since 2008 and slashed dividends for the
first time in seven years on rising corporate defaults triggered by a mining
downturn.
The result marks the end of six years of record
profits for ANZ and comes a day after No 3 lender Westpac Banking Corp missed
earnings forecasts, confirming the negative trend for Australian banks as they
battle the commodities downturn and tougher capital requirements.
The big earnings drop at ANZ, the only major
Australian bank with a large presence in Asia, also comes in an election year
when banking sector misconduct is a hot issue following a series of scandals
including insurance fraud and rate rigging.
ANZ, which is shrinking its low-returning Asian
business, cut its institutional banking staff by 4,056 in the 12 months to
March 31 and reduced loans by A$14 billion, the lender said. While bad debt
charges are rising, Australia's major banks have small exposures to mining and
mining-related services and their total loan losses are near record lows.
3 Leicester, 5000-to-1 long shots, win Premier
League (Barney Ronay in The Guardian) For the past three months Leicester
City’s gloriously bold progress towards a first English top-flight title has
unfurled like a slow breaking wave. A draw against Manchester United on Sunday
afternoon left Claudio Ranieri’s collection of offcuts and rising talents a
step closer.
Tottenham’s failure to beat Chelsea on Monday night
was the final nudge. The wave has finally broken on a Premier League title some
are already calling the most unlikely sporting victory of all time.
The fairytale-ish aspects of this are well
rehearsed. At the start of the season Leicester were 5,000-1 with bookmakers to
win the league, a wager taken up by only 12 William Hill punters, among them
the 39-year-old Leicester carpenter Leigh Herbert whose fiver, offered up in
faith not hope, has now raked in £25,000. Three months into the season, with
Leicester already haring away at the top of the table, they were still 1,000-1
to win it. Still a freak, a blip, a hilarious blue-shirted glitch.
And yet the most striking aspect of the season’s
endgame has been the beautifully controlled way Leicester have closed things
out. It is only in the last few weeks that the realisation has dawned Leicester
haven’t just been edging this – they’ve been running away with it, already out
there on the victory lap of honour, ambling round the bases, high-fiving the
bench, ball safely dispatched above the bleachers.
This is a club whose previous highest league
position was a runners-up spot in 1929, who have been relegated or promoted 22
times in all. Too small to stay up, too big to stay down. In 2002 they nearly
went out of business altogether but were rescued by a consortium led in part by
their ex-player Gary Lineker. Two seasons ago they were fighting their way up
out of the second tier. In February last year they were bottom of the Premier
League and on their way down before a stunning late rally under Nigel Pearson,
who was abruptly sacked.
And now from nowhere we have this, a season that has
quite literally morphed into a Hollywood script. There have been surprising
champions before. In the past 55 years Nottingham Forest and Ipswich Town have
won the title the season after being promoted. That was then, though.
In the violently stratified air of modern-day Big
Football, a triumph like this seemed not just remote but impossible. The
website Sporting Intelligence has calculated Manchester United have spent more
on new players in the two-year reign of their current manager than the new
champions have in their entire 132-year existence. There is no back route to
the summit. The world has shifted. Some things simply can’t happen anymore.
This has.
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