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The pound falls in value to $1.30 as Mr. Boris Johnson rejects the requirement stated by Mr. Macron of France that Britain must follow EU rules. Mr. Johnson says Britain  will choose sovereignty over anything else, creating the possibility of a hard Brexit. He says the UK should not be expected to follow EU rules, anymore than the EU should be expected to follow UK rules. Business leaders hope these are opening statements only. 

Mr. Johnson want a Canada style agreement or failing this an Australia style agreement, and failing this he would stay with the existing Withdrawal Agreement with the EU he negotiated earlier. The UK wants to complete negotiations for a deal by December 31, 2020.

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Kim Kyung-jae, aide to former president Kim Dae Jung, and reconciliation with the daughter of military backed president Park Chung Hee who ruled in the 1970's and suppressed dissent. Presidential candidate, Ms. Park Geun-hye, is reaching out to dissenters who suffered during her father's military regime. Much of the industrialized part of S. Korea is in the southeastern provinces, and Ms. Park's father pushed development in this region. There is a development gap with the southwestern provinces where much of the dissent to the military regime took place. The gap is still being healed many years later. Ms. Park's conservative party hopes to get 20% of the vote from the southwestern provinces with her efforts at reconciliation, up from the current conservative party president Lee Myung-bak who won 9% of the vote there. Moon Jae-in, the liberal candidate for president, is from the city of Busan in the southeastern provinces and hopes to increase his vote in the southeast to 40%.

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The warning light is again on for Greece in the beginning of 2012, as the rapidly deteriorating economy makes a 50% loss by private creditors insufficient to help it meet repayment or refinancing of bonds coming due in 2012. Additional funds will be needed from EU countries unwilling to do this. 14.5 billion euros in Greek bonds come due on March 20, 2012. Greece also faces a public increasingly resistant to austerity cuts. A vountary exchage of existing Greek bonds by private creditors for new bonds at 50% face value and maturing over a longer period will be done under English law. This will be harder to change in the future. Most of the existing bonds were issued under Greek law which can be altered by Greece's parliament.

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Prime minister Modi spends the morning of his birthday at the Kunho National Park in Madhya Pradesh, a region known for its tigers. The cheetah population had disappeared in India and in this park over years of poor park management. Cheetahs were flown in from Namibia in Africa to Gwalior by special plane to give the cheetahs a new chance in their old habitat. Biodiversity is considered a big part of climate change action, in restoring habitat for animals in national parks a similar goal is achieved for restoring national parks.

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Gerard Baker in the WSJ points to issues of transgender, illegal migrants in US cities, and race in politics as issues on which the "correct" views were causing anxiety for the American public. Parental anxiety on transgender at school for their children, public anxiety on illegal migrants in American cities, and anxiety about race as a defining factor in political life. The illegal flow of fentanyl and loss of life in the US is a basic issue- how could the US as the largest advanced economy in the world become so feeble that it cannot stop illegal flows of fentanyl and human smuggling. Baker also says that he doubts that the new Department of Government Efficiency will work and eliminate waste, that he thinks imposing tariffs will depress domestic productivity and reduce living standards of the people. And that installing what he calls "oddballs" will work except to create chaos. On the issues of infrastructure, cost of  manufacturing revival in the US which were issues in 2016 and turned into the agenda of the Biden years little is said, and on cost of living nothing tangible about reversing the 20-30 percent of price increases in housing and groceries that have happened in the pandemic years 2019-2023. ...

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By March 2014 the U.S. stock market has seen 5 years of gains since the low reached in 2009. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) increased 151% since March 9, 2009, when it hit a low with the global financial crisis. The Dow was at 16452 on March 7, 2014, the S&P 500 at 1878. This makes it the fifth longest running-comparable to the one after 1987- and the fifth in gains since 1900, according to Ned Davis Research. S&P 500 trades at 16 times component companies earnings for the past year, according to the FactSet, similiar to the level at which stocks peaked in 2007. Using a measure developed by Robert Shiller with a 10 year average of earnings gives a P/E ratio of 25 times earnings, compared to historical average of 16.5, and 27.5 in 2007. Shiller's measure reached its current level in 2003 before the bull market ended in 2007. The biggest support for the stock market has been Federal Reserve support by buying $3 trillion in bonds in the open market since 2008. This support is gradually being reduced as the economy recovers....

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A New York hedge fund Elliott Management Corp. finally makes a settlement with the new Argentine government of president Mauricio Macri. It took 15 years and 5 different administrations in Argentina. Eliott gained $2.4 billion 10-15 times the original investment on Argentine bonds made in 2001, but requiring extraordinary persistence from hedge fund manager Mr. Newman at Elliott Management Corp and Mr. Singer. In 2001 the Argentine bonds traded at 20 cents to the dollar, and Mr. Newman who had made large gains on Peruvian bonds saw this as a good investment. By 2008 the bonds instead traded at pennies on the dollar, and the Argentine government later settled with 93% of bondholders at 30 cents to the dollar. The holdouts were three hedge funds, including Elliott. The Argentine government of Kirchner opposed any settlement with the holdouts. The situation changed with the election of Mauricio Macri in 2015, who made resolution of the issue a priority, so that Argentina could borrow in global financial markets and grow its economy. The U.S. Supreme Court had rejected Argentina's appeal of a U.S. District Court ruling prohibiting paying interest on exchanged bonds when payment had not been made to the holdout hedge funds- which led to the settlement with Elliott, and closing a long and difficult chapter for Argentina....

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Delivering the mail by boat across Penobscot Bay, Maine in the northeast U.S. The mail has been delivered to six small and rugged islands here in Maine's coastal area by the same family since 1905. This could be the last year as Maine has a 14 day quarantine for visitors from outside. Maine has the largest median age in the country at 45. Known for its coastline it gets millions of visitors in the spring and summer months adding $6.5 billion to its economy. Depending on this tourism are thousands of small businesses. Coronavirus is changing the rhythm of life even here in a place which has known quieter rhythms.

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The 153rd birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. October 2 is also the birth anniversary of Lal Bahadur Shastri, India's second prime minister, who is admired for his simplicity and decisiveness. The Hindu also shows the return after Covid of China's Gandhi Jayanti celebration at Chaoyang park with recitation of his famous quotes by Chinese schoolchildren. Yuan Xikun, a famous Chinese sculptor completed the statue of Gandhi on the banks of a lake in serene surroundings in 2005.

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Fears of nervous investors is now touching the bond markets. AIG's insurance subsidiaries traded their bonds at prices ranging from 38 cents on the dollar to around 81 cents, from more than 50 cents on the dollar a month ago, according to MarketAxess. Investors are worried that future restructurings will cause cash generated by AIG's units to go to the government before its bondholders, as the government has already chalked up a huge bill of $177 billion for AIG. Long term bonds of triple rated General Electric Company, which with GE Capital is the largest US corporate debt issuer, dropped last week to 63 cents on the dollar. Again investors are worried that they may not get all their money back. And again GE's CFO Sherin had to reassure investors that GE's capital position was strong. The bonds of Citigroup are trading at 70 cents on the dollar. Sales of blocks of securities called "bid lists" are not a good sign, as big groups of sales are an indication investors are desperate to unload investments quickly. Bonds issued by Goldman Sachs and General Electric without the government's backing have dropped to 96 cents on the dollar and 73 cents on the dollar, respectively in the last few days. Their government backed debt trades at close to full value or 100 cents on the dollar. ...

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Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp. announces a test flight of the Mitsubishi Regional Jet for the second quarter of 2015. The plane seats 76-88 passengers and is designed for short haul flights. Deliveries would begin in 2017. This is Japan's effort to develop its aircraft industry. Mitsubishi has 375 orders. Bombardier of Canada and Embraer of Brazil dominate this segment of the market in a duopoly. Embraer is expected to retain its 61% of the market and Mitsubishi is likely to take 22% on the market for No. 2, with 4000 deliveries in the period 2017-2033, according to analysts. Shareholders in the company include Japan Development Bank and Toyota Motor.

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Libyans in the Benghazi region in the east and in the rest of the country went to vote for the first time in Libya's history. A historic moment even as the eastern region, which has 60 of 200 seats, is calling for higher representation. Under the present arrangement 100 seats go to the west, 60 to the east, and 40 to the south. The transitional government announced a change that a new election will take place for a smaller constituent assembly to write the constitution, with half the seats going to the east. This is an effort to get the support of people in the Benghazi region, which led the fight against the Gaddafi regime.

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Unemployment in the eurozone drops to 7.7% in 2017. Unemployment in Spain drops to 17%.