Daily Sources 7/28

CHINA HOUSING BUBBLE TO UNDERMINE ECONOMY

Yongheng Deng, Joseph Gyourko and Jing Wu at Vox EU argue that the Chinese housing bubble is likely to undermine the entire economy. Richard Smith at naked capitalism argues that the Chinese banking system is likely to go bust.

NO NEW UK COAL FIRED POWER PLANTS WITHOUT CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE TECHNOLOGY

Fiona Harvey at the Financial Times reports that the UK government indicated Tuesday that no new coal-fired power plants can be built without carbon capture and storage technology.

"[Energy Secretary] Mr [Chris] Huhne predicted: 'We will see the first new nuclear power station on track for 2018.'"

JAPAN TO BUILD UP SUBMARINE FLEET

Greg Scoblete at the Compass reports that Japan is to increase its submarine fleet for the first time in 36 years. The plan is apparently to counter the Chinese build-up.

JAPAN'S REFINING UTILIZATION HITS A 10 WEEK HIGH

Yuji Okada at Bloomberg reports that refining utilization hit a 10 week high as Japanese companies restarted idled plants. Capacity utilization hit 75%. A hotter than usual Summer may soften the dent in margins.

JORDAN'S KING ABDULLAH II AND ISRAEL'S NETANYAHU MEET

CNN reports that Jordan's King Abdullah II and Israel's Netanyahu are meeting to discuss the Israeli Palestinian peace process in a regional context.

SAUDI ARABIA'S HOUSING MARKET READY TO TAKE OFF?

Frontier Markets reports that it is.

IS EGYPT TOO BIG TO FAIL?

Michael Collins Dunn at the MEI Editor's Blog considers whether Egypt is too big to fail and if so how that has affected the political culture there.

BANGLADESH TO IMPORT 250 MW FROM INDIA STARTING 2012

UPI reports that India and Bangladesh have concluded a deal for Bangladesh to import 250 megawatts of electricity from India starting 2012.

"Under the deal, state-owned Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. will invest and construct 50 miles of transmission line, which it will own, operate and maintain. PGCIL will recover the construction costs under a fixed rate over 35 years."

NIGERIAN OIL RESERVES DOWN 4.8%

Platts reports that Nigeria's oil reserves are down 4.8% on the year due to decreased exploration efforts by oil companies in the region. The oil companies are leery of continuing exploration efforts due to legislation the Nigerian government is considering which would leave little room for companies to profit from investments.

INVESTMENT IN DURABLE GOODS UP

Timothy R. Homan at Bloomberg reports that investment in non-military capital equipment climbed 0.6% last month after a revised upwards jump of 4.6% in May.

"'Business investment remains the bright spot in an otherwise dull economic outlook,' said Jay Feldman, an economist at Credit Suisse in New York. 'Corporations have actually underinvested quite dramatically in recent years and, to some extent, we are catching up.'"

CRUDE OIL STOCKS JUMP 7.2 MILLION BARRELS

The EIA reported that crude oil stocks jumped by 7.2 million barrels the week ended July 23rd to 360.8 million barrels. Gasoline stocks climbed by 0.1 million barrels and distillate stocks grew by 0.9 million barrels. Refinery utilization was at 90.6%. The price of gasoline climbed 2.7 cents to 274.9 cents for the week ended July 26th.