Good morning. On the upcoming Japanese VAT hike…

http://www.bondvigilantes.com/blog/2014/03/04/japan-hikes-consumption-tax-in-april-will-retail-sales-spike-in-march-only-to-collapse-afterwards/

8% earnings growth = 8% stock market return, right? Read this and you will know it is wrong…

http://www.thereformedbroker.com/2014/03/03/nonsense-forecasts/

…and while we are on the subject of profits: maybe I am slow today, but what is the logical explanation here?

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-03-04/50-profit-growth-and-historical-realities

“The Best Investment Strategy? Getting Out of Our Own Way”

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/03/your-money/stocks-and-bonds/the-best-investment-strategy-getting-out-of-our-own-way.html

Yet another visualisation of the income distribution

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2014/03/income-distribution-like-you-have-never-seen-it/

No clue why this one has popped up, but this might come in handy at one time.

http://qz.com/183536/flooding-could-cost-europe-32-billion-a-year-by-2050-four-times-as-much-as-it-does-now/

Bill Gross monthly newsletter: always interesting to read, right?

http://www.pimco.com/EN/Insights/Pages/The-Second-Coming.aspx

Interesting chart on emerging market bonds and loans!

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-hidden-debts-of-russia-and-ukraine-2014-3

Some worrying signals are coming from China

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-03-04/china-verge-first-corporate-bond-default-once-more

…but the official party line remains: steady as she goes…

http://qz.com/183911/china-vows-to-keep-economic-growth-steady-but-what-it-really-needs-is-a-soft-landing/

Good news! It has become less expensive to live in Paris! Well, compared to New York, that is…

http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2014/03/daily-chart-1

Cool, interactive data, but whether it is actually relevant, I am not sure…

http://www.newyorkfed.org/change-in-debt/

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