The Wall Street Journal: Morgan Stanley (MS), perhaps like few other investment firms in the Street knows and understands the nature of the Chinese economy. Mainland’s economy is clearly a directed system derived from a combination of state and market. But imperfections always exist, whether it involves advanced economic capitalistic systems or semi-state directed ones. What’s important are the prospects of the country’s economy. In China’s case, the prospects insist on a continued economic boom. In addition, the govt.’s economic policies have consistently supported high levels of growth. That’s why Morgan Stanley intends to broaden its business in China despite a recent slowdown in investment spending and the economy (the economy still expanding by around 10%). Wei Sun Christianson, the chief executive of the U.S. investment bank’s China operation said Wednesday “In the long run, we do believe China is going to be unstoppable; not only that, it will be unimaginable in terms of the pace of growth”. [WSJ]
Financial Times: Mexican billionaire and telecommunications tycoon Carlos Slim, acquired a 6.4% stake in New York Times Co., making him the third-largest investor in the newspaper publisher outside of the controlling Sulzberger family. The purchase which was disclosed in a US regulatory filing on Wednesday, comes after hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners and Firebrand Investments added 1.9 million Times shares in August through share purchases and a series of equity swap, increasing their Class A stake in the publisher to nearly 20%. Mr Slim’s son-in-law and the communications director of Mr Slim’s Carso Group, told the FT ”the investment is purely financial,” he said. “It’s a great company, the price is cheap and it gives a good dividend.” New York Times shares (NYT) have fallen more than 30% in the past 12 months. The Publisher’s shares closed today at $13.96, gaining after hours $0.90 cents to $14.86 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. [FT]
CNN Money: It’s certainly a matter of preference, but I think this is one of those articles you definitely don’t wanna miss. It’s about sex, drugs and OIL. AP notes, government officials handling billions of dollars in oil royalties ($11 billion total last year) from oil and gas companies – partied, rigged contracts, used cocaine and marijuana, had sex with and accepted golf and ski outings from employees of energy companies they were dealing with, the Interior Department’s top watchdog said Wednesday. The transgressions so far have involved 13 former and current Interior Department employees in Denver and Washington. The reports also said former head of the Denver royalty-in-kind office, Gregory W. Smith, used cocaine and had sex with subordinates. [CNN Money]
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