The Traderszone Network

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve is sketching out plans to prevent an abrupt contraction in its massive balance sheet next year, when some $500 billion in bonds expire and risk disrupting markets and the U.S. economic recovery. Though it ended a stimulative asset-purchase program last October, the Fed is still buying mortgage and Treasury bonds to replenish its $4.5-trillion portfolio as holdings mature.

Hedge fund mogul Daniel Loeb on Wednesday took aim at the “Oracle of Omaha,” calling beloved billionaire Warren Buffett a hypocrite. “I love how he criticizes hedge funds yet he really had the first hedge fund. He criticizes activists but he was the first activist,” Loeb, who runs $17.5 billion hedge fund Third Point, said about Buffett who has been running conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway for 50 years.

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This country offer expatriates the heftiest benefit packages in the Asia-Pacific region, according to a new survey.

Traders have pulled back on oil a day ahead of the release of US non-farm payroll data, which would provide clues as to the Federal Reserve’s timing for interest rate increases, which could in turn have a bearing on the dollar’s strength.
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A devastating brain drain is luring away the best and brightest of Greece’s workforce, several reports show, with estimates varying between 180,00 and 200,000 well-educated citizens leaving the cash-strapped nation.
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Lumber Liquidators is halting sales of all its Chinese laminate flooring effective immediately, in the face of lawsuits.

Sluggish demand at home is driving up the supply surplus at China’s steel mills to critical levels and will drive down global prices, analysts warn.