Japan says economy contracted 7.1 per cent in April-June on bigger drop in business investment + MORE Sep 8th

Rich Chinese are the key focus of luxury car show in VancouverSouth China Morning Post (subscription)Vancouver is a city where the rich like to flaunt their wealth with expensive cars, and many of those extremely wealthy are now ethnic Chinese. Many of those trophy cars were on show at the Luxury & Supercar Weekend at the picturesque Vancouver's …and more »

HONG KONG – China’s exports grew more than forecast in August while imports shrank unexpectedly for the second month in a row, a reminder of the fragile recovery in the world’s No. 2 economy, customs data showed Monday.
Exports rose 9.4 per cent last month, down from a 14.5 per cent expansion in July but higher than many economists had been forecasting.
Imports, however, contracted 2.4 per cent, after shrinking 1.6 per cent the month before, at odds with the expectations of economists, who though imports would return to growth last month.
The figures indicate that global demand for China’s manufactured goods is holding up but domestic demand continues to stumble, exacerbated by a slump in the property market.
“While some of this weakness is because of falling prices of imports, especially of raw commodity imports, the momentum of imports is also weak in real terms. This reflects sluggish domestic demand,” especially in industries such as real estate, said Louis Kuijs, chief China economist at RBS…

[View the story "Noted in Scotland: 'Yes' ahead " on Storify]

Related reading: Disunited Kingdom: Scotland’s separatists cling to hope

LONDON — The British government plans to offer Scotland more financial autonomy in the coming days as polls predict a very close vote in the upcoming referendum on Scottish independence.
Chancellor George Osborne told BBC on Sunday that the government is finalizing plans to give Scotland “much greater” fiscal and tax autonomy and will unveil the proposals in the coming days.
He spoke after polls showed a tightening of the vote ahead of the landmark September 18 referendum on whether Scotland should become independent from Britain. The latest surveys show those who favour independence gaining ground despite British government warnings about possible pitfalls.
Osborne said the polls show how important every vote will be and reiterated that an independent Scotlandwould not be able to use the British pound.
He said Britain’s three main political parties understand Scottish voters want more autonomy and that the new proposals would be substantive…

TOKYO – Japan’s economy contracted at a larger than earlier estimated annual rate of 7.1 per cent in April-June, the government said Monday.
Revised data showed business investment fell more than twice as much as estimated before, or 5.1 per cent, while private residential spending sank 10.4 per cent. The earlier estimate showed the economy contracting 6.8 per cent.
The recovery of the world’s third-largest economy has slowed following an increase in the sales tax to 8 per cent from 5 per cent on April 1.
The economy grew at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6 per cent in January-March. In quarterly terms, the economy contracted 1.8 per cent in April-June from the previous quarter.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has championed an aggressive stimulus program aimed at ending chronic deflation that has discouraged corporate investment, dragging on growth. But a sustainable recovery will require strong corporate and private spending, since exports and public spending appear are doing little to lift growth…

Instead of tackling a complex new investment mission, the Fed should establish a clear portfolio wind-down process.