1. Barnes wins Booker Prize he once named “posh bingo”


    The 65-year-old triumphed with “The Sense of an Ending,” which at 150 pages was described by one review as a “novella.”It was his fourth time on the Booker shortlist — Barnes was previously nominated for “Flaubert’s Parrot” in 1984, “England, England” in 1998 and “Arthur and George” in 2005.Stella Rimington, a former British spy chief who chaired the panel of judges this year, told reporters:”We thought that it was a book which, though short, was incredibly concentrated and crammed into this very short space a great deal of information you don’t get out of a first reading.”It’s one of these books, a very readable book, if I may use that word, but readable not only once but twice and even three times.”Ion Trewin, administrator of the prize, said it was not the shortest work to have won the Booker. That honor goes to Penelope Fitzgerald’s “Offshore” which came it at 132 pages in 1979.Rimington and her judges came under fire in recent weeks for stressing the importance of “readability” when judging the winner, a term interpreted by some as dumbing down one of English-language fiction’s top accolades.Writers from the Commonwealth, Ireland and Zimbabwe are eligible.The sniping in the narrow world of British “literati” even led to a rival award being set up to champion what its backers said was a more high-brow approach to writing.A VERY LITERARY SPATRimington defended her stance, arguing that entertainment and literary criticism were not mutually exclusive.”We were not talking about only readability as some of you seem to have thought,” she told a press conference before a glitzy dinner and awards ceremony at London’s medieval Guildhall.”We were talking about readability and quality. You can have more than one adjective when you are talking about books.”Asked whether she had been bothered by the media debate in the run-up to the announcement, she replied:”I’ve had a long life in various different careers, and I’ve been through many crises of one kind or another (against) which this one pales, I must say.”We’ve been very interested by the discussion, I must say,” she added. “We’ve followed it sometimes with great glee and amusement but certainly the fact that it’s been in the headlines is very gratifying.”The Sense of an Ending, published by Random House imprint Jonathan Cape, tells the story of Tony, a seemingly ordinary man who discovers that his memories are not as reliable as he thought.Rimington said the five-strong panel of judges was initially split over Barnes, but ended up in the same place.”I can tell you there was no blood on the red carpet, nobody went off in a huff and we all ended up firm friends and happy with the result.”Barnes may have mixed feelings about finally winning the Booker.The win means a cheque for 50,000 pounds ($80,000), a flurry of media attention and, perhaps most importantly, a major boost in sales.But the author has been critical of the award in the past, likening it to “posh bingo” and berating judges for being “inflated by their brief celebrity.”This year he was up against Carol Birch for “Jamrach’s Menagerie,” Canadian authors Patrick deWitt and Esi Edugyan for “The Sisters Brothers” and “Half Blood Blues” respectively, and debut British novelists Stephen Kelman (“Pigeon English”) and A.D. Miller (“Snowdrops”).

  2. When debt monetisation makes sense


    If push comes to shove and Japan runs into difficulties finding buyers for its low-yielding government bonds, a little debt monetisation — a dirty word for central banks — would not be a bad thing. Tomoya Masanao, managing director and head of Japan portfolio management at PIMCO, told the Reuters Rebuilding Japan Summit that if private investors are not willing to buy JGBs, then the central bank should fill the breach. “If the Japanese private sector does not have enough ability to fund the government, it’s natural that the central bank should step in,” Masanao said. Such a move would weaken the currency, and that would be a positive for an economy that is now grappling with a strong yen on top of the many other economic challenges it is facing. For now, Japan faces no such threat of private investors being unable to lend the government a hand. As Masanao noted, Japanese corporations and households tend to save even more money when the fiscal deficit rises — as is almost certain as government reconstruction spending kicks in after the massive March 11 earthquake, tsnuami and nuclear scare. Indeed, a chart below shows the remarkably strong relationship between government borrowing and household savings over the years. Benchmark Japanese government bond yields are hovering near 1 percent and have only breached the 2 percent threshold twice since falling below that level in 1997. As the population ages, household savings rates have fallen. But with household financial assets at $18.5 trillion — and a little more than half of that kept in cash and low-yielding bank deposits — the supply of funds heading into JGBs remains ample, even with debt set to surpass 200 percent of Japan’s $6 trillion GDP this year. With the euro zone debt crisis raging more than a year later, the question of whether Japan faces its own debt crisis has been hotly debated. Still, the trigger for any Japan debt crisis remains far off and will be of a much different nature than Europe’s troubles. Beyond its savings, Japan enjoys steady trade surpluses (despite the record deficit coming out of the disaster), and for that reason does not rely on foreign investors . Of course, the Bank of Japan already buys a hefty chunk of government bonds, even while arguing this does not equate to monetisation and fighting against any pressure to monetise. Only when Japan’s current account balance flips into deficit will warning signs start to flash. If Japan has to lean more on the kindness of foreign investors, then sustaining such a heavy debt becomes a dicier prospect. What debt monetisation won’t do is improve Japan’s potential growth rate. And that’s why Masanao thinks public debate is urgent,  not just on how the debt will be dealt with over the longer term, but whether Japan is willing to take steps to boost growth and end the steady deflation that has gripped the economy for years. As Masanao says, the special factors that have allowed Japan to support such a mountain of debt are fading. “The mechanism that has worked to date may be gradually crumbling.”

  3. GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks, euro rally on crisis hopes, U.S. data


    * Brent settles above $114 on optimism over debt end game* Euro extends gains against dollar after U.S. retail data* Bonds succumb to rising equity markets, retail salesBy Herbert LashNEW YORK, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Global stocks and the euro rallied on Friday over growing optimism that Europe is on track to resolve its festering sovereign debt crisis and after data showed a surprising surge in U.S. retail sales.The benchmark S&P 500 posted back-to-back weekly gains for the first time since early July while the euro headed for its best week in nine months against the U.S. dollar and gold marked its biggest weekly rise in six weeks.Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs began two days of talks in Paris on Friday, which investors hope will provide a basis for a draft plan in time for a European Union summit on Oct. 23.”Right now we are trading on hopes of a decisive policy response,” said Jens Nordvig, head of G10 FX strategy at Nomura Securities in New York.The euro rose 0.8 percent to $1.3881.While investors do not expect a comprehensive strategy to Europe’s debt crisis to come out of the meeting, there was growing optimism that the meeting would put Europe on track for a solution. In addition, data that U.S. retail sales grew by 1.1 percent in September, the fastest pace in seven months, boosted investor sentiment on the economy’s prospects.The data, coupled with earnings from Google late Thursday that trounced analysts’ expectations, led investors to shrug off a rating downgrade on Spain by Standard & Poor’s and an unexpected slump in U.S. consumer confidence in October.The sales data also was expected to help lift forecasts for growth in gross domestic product even though a resolution to Europe’s debt crisis was the real focus for investors.”The data hasn’t mattered for a couple of months. It matters here and there, but most of what today is, is Europe,” said John Canally, investment strategist for LPL Financial in Boston.”Just getting the details of this plan out there and making the details work is the most important thing,” Canally said.For the week, the Dow gained 4.9 percent, the S&P 500 jumped 6 percent and the Nasdaq shot up 7.6 percent.The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 166.36 points, or 1.45 percent, at 11,644.49. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 20.92 points, or 1.74 percent, at 1,224.58. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 47.61 points, or 1.82 percent, at 2,667.85.Google shares jumped 5.9 percent to $591.68 after the Internet search company said growth at its mobile business and a strong emerging market lifted its third quarter, allaying worries that a slowing Europe was hurting business.In Europe, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top regional shares closed up 0.95 percent at 975.52 points, while MSCI’s all-country world equity index gained 1.4 percent.The increased appetite for risk also lifted the price of crude oil more than 3 percent and pushed down the U.S. dollar and government debt, usually beneficiaries of bearish news.”The outlook is good and getting better by the day. Risk is back on,” said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ in New York.Crude prices were propelled by the hopes that European leaders would soon agree on how to curtail the euro zone debt crisis.Early hints that China may loosen credit as inflation cools also boosted gains while investors mostly ignored a preliminary reading of U.S. consumer sentiment that sagged to 57.5 from 59.4 in September, a Thomson Michigan survey showed.November Brent crude settled up $3.57 at $114.68 a barrel on the day of its expiry. Brent crude for December delivery rose $3.26 to $112.46 a barrel.U.S. crude settled up $2.57 at $86.80 a barrel.U.S. Treasury debt prices fell, with 30-year yields posting their largest weekly gain in a year after the retail sales data cut the safe-haven allure of U.S. government debt.Benchmark 10-year note yields, meanwhile, rose for a third straight week, their best three-week advance since late December.The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note was down 20/32 in price to yield 2.25 percent.Spot gold prices rose $12.89 to $1,679.00 an ounce.U.S. gold futures for December delivery settled up $14.50 at $1,683 an ounce.