STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Tuesday, 8 July 2014

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Tuesday, 8 July 2014[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 7 July 2014

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 7 July 2014
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Dow Jones 17,024.21 -44.05 (-0.26%)
S&P 500 1,977.65 -7.79 (-0.39%)
Nasdaq 4,451.53 -34.40 (-0.77%)


[font color=green]10 Year 2.61% -0.02 (-0.76%)
30 Year 3.44% -0.02 (-0.58%) [font color=black]


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[font size=2]Market Conditions During Trading Hours[/font]
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(click on link for latest updates)
http://tools.investing.com/market_quotes.php?
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[font size=2]Euro, Yen, Loonie, Silver and Gold[center]

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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Market Data and News:[/font][/font]
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Economic Calendar
Marketwatch Data
Bloomberg Economic News
Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Bank Tracker
Credit Union Tracker
Daily Job Cuts
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Economic Blogs:[/font][/font]
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The Big Picture
Financial Sense
Calculated Risk
Naked Capitalism
Credit Writedowns
Brad DeLong
Bonddad
Atrios
goldmansachs666
The Stand-Up Economist
The Automatic Earth
Wall Street on Parade
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Essential Reading:[/font][/font]
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Matt Taibi: Secret and Lies of the Bailout


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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Government Issues:[/font][/font]
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LegitGov
Open Government
Earmark Database
USA spending.gov
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Videos:[/font][/font]
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Charlie Rose talks with Roubini
Charlie Rose talks with Krugman
William Black: This Economic Disaster
Bill Moyers with Kevin Drum and David Corn
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[font color=red]Partial List of Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 [/font][font color=red]
2/2/12 David Higgs and Salmaan Siddiqui, Credit Suisse, plead guilty to conspiracy involving valuation of MBS
3/6/12 Allen Stanford, former Caribbean billionaire and general schmuck, convicted on 13 of 14 counts in $2.2B Ponzi scheme, faces 20+ years in prison
6/4/12 Matthew Kluger, lawyer, sentenced to 12 years in prison, along with co-conspirator stock trader Garrett Bauer (9 years) and co-conspirator Kenneth Robinson (not yet sentenced) for 17 year insider trading scheme.
6/14/12 Allen Stanford sentenced to 110 years without parole.
6/15/12 Rajat Gupta, former Goldman Sachs director, found guilty of insider trading. Could face a decade in prison when sentenced later this year.
6/22/12 Timothy S. Durham, 49, former CEO of Fair Financial Company, convicted of one count conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, 10 counts of wire fraud, and one count of securities fraud.
6/22/12 James F. Cochran, 56, former chairman of the board of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and six counts of wire fraud.
6/22/12 Rick D. Snow, 48, former CFO of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and three counts of wire fraud.
7/13/12 Russell Wassendorf Sr., CEO of collapsed brokerage firm Peregrine Financial Group Inc. arrested and charged with lying to regulators after admitting to authorities he embezzled "millions of dollars" and forged bank statements for "nearly twenty years."
8/22/12 Doug Whitman, Whitman Capital LLC hedge fund founder, convicted of insider trading following a trial in which he spent more than two days on the stand telling jurors he was innocent
10/26/12 UPDATE: Former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta sentenced to two years in federal prison. He will, of course, appeal. . .
11/20/12 Hedge fund manager Matthew Martoma charged with insider trading at SAC Capital Advisors, and prosecutors are looking at Martoma's boss, Steven Cohen, for possible involvement.
02/14/13 Gilbert Lopez, former chief accounting officer of Stanford Financial Group, and former controller Mark Kuhrt sentenced to 20 yrs in prison for their roles in Allen Sanford's $7.2 billion Ponzi scheme.
03/29/13 Michael Sternberg, portfolio mgr at SAC Capital, arrested in NYC, charged with conspiracy and securities fraud. Pled not guilty and freed on $3m bail.
04/04/13 Matthew Marshall Taylor,fmr Goldman Sachs trader arrested, charged by CFTC w/defrauding his employer on $8BN futures bet "by intentionally concealing the true huge size, as well as the risk and potential profits or losses associated."
04/04/13 Matthew Taylor admits guilt, makes plea bargain. Sentencing set for 26 June; faces up to 20 years in prison but will likely only see 3-4 years. Says, "I am truly sorry."
04/11/13 Ex-KPMG LLP partner Scott London charged by federal prosecutors w/passing inside tips to a friend in exchange for cash, jewelry, and concert tickets; expected to plead guilty in May.
08/01/13 Fabrice Tourré convicted on six counts of security fraud, including "aiding and abetting" his former employer, Goldman Sachs
08/14/13 Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout charged with wire fraud, falsifying records, and conspiracy in connection with JP Morgan's "London Whale" trade.
08/19/13 Phillip A. Falcone, manager of hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners, agrees to admit to "wrongdoing" in market manipulation. Will banned from securities industry for 5 years and pay $18MM in disgorgement and fines.
09/16/13 Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout officially indicted on charges associated with "London Whale" trade.
02/06/14 Matthew Martoma convicted of insider trading while at hedge fund SAC (Stephen A. Cohen) Capital Advisors. Expected sentence 7-10 years.
03/24/14 Annette Bongiorno, Bernard Madoff's secretary; Daniel Bonventre, director of operations for investments; JoAnn Crupi, an account manager; and Jerome O'Hara and George Perez, both computer programmers convicted of conspiracy to defraud clients, securities fraud, and falsifying the books and records.
05/19/14 Credit Suisse, which has an investment bank branch in NYC, agrees to plead guilty and pay appx. $2.6 billion penalties for helping wealthy Americans hide wealth and avoid taxes.








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[font size=3][font color=red]This thread contains opinions and observations. Individuals may post their experiences, inferences and opinions on this thread. However, it should not be construed as advice. It is unethical (and probably illegal) for financial recommendations to be given here.[/font][/font][/font color=red][font color=black]

[kickysnana]

1. Technology is grand when it works. Minnesota is finally drying out.

Slowly I am making contact with DNA relatives and made contact with the first one ever for my mitochondrial DNA. That ggg..grandmother came from Alsace-Lorraine to PA in the 1700's, a Huguenot refugee who claimed to be of the Bourbon Royalty. Probable, no, possible, yes.

As the "Hunt for the real Christopher Columbus" said if you were not Catholic Church sanctioned, illegitimate or of a heretical religion you did not exist. Oh and if you really wanted to start over in the New World you had to become a Methodist because, everything was relayed back and forth to your home Catholic Parish in the old country.

I have a rare maternal halo-type World Wide they say. But 55% of Romani are that halo-type and the Royal family of a Middle Eastern Country. Oh and ethnicity does wash out. My Dad gave me a lot more Norwegian DNA than he did Dutch. Sadly I am 98.8% Northern European. Where is the romance in that? In that Northern European is 2.9% Neanderthal. Not high for Europe but high for the World Wide 650,000 people who have participated.

However the Norwegian DNA seems to have survived almost intact. One of my "close" relatives in Norway is actually an 8th cousin, but in 10 different Norwegian lines so we match as close as 3nd cousins.

Just in time for a family reunion this week but our weekend PCA was ill so I did not get to go. But because Technology again I got so see a lot of pictures and hear some stuff.

Some fool called me about reviewing my stock portfolio today. That elicited a good laugh. Aunties Medicab actually took her to her doctor today rather to the same street in another city like a few weeks ago. I have witnesses, I told the dispatcher 3 times the name of the city and zip code. Her doctor had just changed clinics so she did not know the landmarks.

My international incident cousin is visiting her kids again. Fingers crossed everything turns out alright.

[Hugin]

2. Which service did you use for the DNA typing?

I've been considering doing it as a gift for my Dad. While he's still around to enjoy the experience. He has always been interested in the real family history. Although, it might be best to keep Mom's side under seal. J/K

[Demeter]

28. It's not so much what you have, as what you do with it

DNA tells about your ancestors....history about you!

My sister is cataloging family photos, trying to figure out who all these people, long gone, are. I'm so glad she has the time for that...I'd have to be chained and beaten to take on that job!

[xchrom]

3. SHARES DRIFT AFTER US PULLS BACK FROM HIGHS

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WORLD_MARKETS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-07-08-05-07-21

TOKYO (AP) -- Stock markets drifted lower Tuesday after U.S. indexes pulled back from record highs and investors awaited fresh data from China and corporate earnings.

In Europe, France's CAC-40 lost 0.4 percent to 4,387.15 and Germany's DAX dropped 0.6 percent to 9,853.92. Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.3 percent, to 6,802.08.

In both Europe and the U.S., investors are watching for earnings reports that could provide a gauge of the strength of the recovery. U.S. markets looked set for a lackluster start, with Dow and S&P 500 futures both down 0.2 percent.

U.S. indexes last week rallied to new highs following a government report that showed the world's largest economy generated a stronger-than-expected 288,000 jobs in June.

[xchrom]

4. 4 IN 10 US HOMES ARE CELLPHONE ONLY, SKIP LANDLINE

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MED_CELLPHONES_ONLY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-07-08-00-11-54

ATLANTA (AP) -- More American households are ditching their old telephones: 4 out of 10 only use cellphones, a government survey shows.

That's twice the rate from just five years ago, although the pace of dumping landlines seems to have slowed down in recent years.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been tracking phone use for a decade, and the number of households only using cellphones had been rising by about 5 percentage points each year. Lately, the increases have been smaller and last year it only went up 3 percentage points to 41 percent of U.S. homes.

Why the slight leveling off? Experts could only speculate. The lead researcher on the CDC report, Stephen Blumberg, said it could be people are holding onto their landlines because it is part of their Internet and cable TV package. Or it could mean that we're hitting a ceiling for those people willing to completely abandon landlines, said John Palmer, a researcher at the Autonomous University in Barcelona, Spain, who was not involved in the report.

[Demeter]

29. People on the move don't need landlines

"Settlers" can take advantage of them.

[DemReadingDU]

31. I still have a landline

For some odd reason, there are dead zones in the house that cellphones do not work.

[xchrom]

5. TRADE TALKS ON $1 TRILLION IN ENVIRONMENTAL GOODS

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_WTO_ENVIRONMENTAL_TRADE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-07-08-05-12-22

GENEVA (AP) -- Diplomats from the United States, China and the European Union began talks Tuesday with 11 other countries toward a deal that would cut tariffs on almost $1 trillion of environmental goods.

The proposed agreement at the World Trade Organization would cover 86 percent of trade in goods such as solar panels and wind turbines for producing energy, filters for wastewater treatment and catalytic converters for air pollution control. U.S. exports of environmental goods reached $106 billion last year, and have grown 8 percent a year since 2009.

The negotiations also include Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Switzerland, and Chinese Taipei. They are meant to build on a list of 54 environmental goods put together by members of APEC - the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation for Pacific Rim economies - for which the governments hope to reduce tariffs to five percent or less by the end of 2015.

The first stage of negotiations aims to eliminate tariffs or customs duties on a broad range of environmental goods, EU trade officials said. A second stage could also address what's known as non-tariff barriers and environmental services.

[xchrom]

6. SURVEY FINDS MATH, SCIENCE GRADS EARN TOP DOLLAR

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_COLLEGE_GRADS_JOBS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-07-08-03-21-24



WASHINGTON (AP) -- It seems to matter less whether your alma mater is public or private than what you study - math and science in particular - when it comes to finding a high-paying job after college, according to a report released Tuesday by the Education Department.

The survey of the class of 2008, by the National Center for Education Statistics, provides an interesting snapshot of the nation's educated elite following a crushing economic recession: Overall, college grads reported lower unemployment rates compared with the national average, although black and Asian college graduates were twice as likely to be out of work than their white classmates. College grads from private four-year schools earned about the same as those from public four-year schools, about $50,000 a year.

But while a paltry 16 percent of students took home degrees in science, technology, engineering or math, those who did were paid significantly better - averaging $65,000 a year compared with $49,500 of graduates of other degrees.

The findings are based on a survey of 17,110 students conducted in 2012, about four years after the students obtained their bachelor's degrees.

[xchrom]

7. GERMAN EXPORTS, IMPORTS DISAPPOINT IN MAY

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_GERMANY_ECONOMY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-07-08-03-46-13

BERLIN (AP) -- German exports fell more than expected in May while imports dropped sharply, adding to data that point to a weak second quarter for Europe's biggest economy and also pushing up the country's trade surplus.

The Federal Statistical Office said Tuesday that exports were down 1.1 percent compared with the previous month, a steeper drop than the 0.4 percent decline economists expected. Imports fell 3.4 percent.

Germany's May trade surplus was 18.8 billion euros ($25.6 billion), up from 17.7 billion euros in April.

Germany's economy grew a robust 0.8 percent in the first quarter compared with the previous three-month period, but disappointing recent data have fed expectations of slower second-quarter growth.

[xchrom]

8. US TREASURY BILL RATES FALL AT WEEKLY AUCTION

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TREASURY_BILLS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-07-07-17-04-47

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills fell in Monday's auction, with rates reaching their lowest level in two weeks.

The Treasury Department auctioned $25 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.030 percent, down from 0.040 percent last week. Another $23 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 0.060 percent, down from 0.065 percent last week.

The three-month and six-month rates were the lowest since the bills averaged 0.025 percent and 0.050 percent, respectively, on June 23.

The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,999.24 while a six-month bill sold for $9,996.96. That would equal an annualized rate of 0.030 percent for the three-month bills and 0.061 percent for the six-month bills.

[xchrom]

9. ITALY PLEDGES REFORMS, BRUSHES AWAY DEBT DISCORD

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_EUROPE_ECONOMY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-07-08-04-43-17

BRUSSELS (AP) -- Italy's finance minister says his country and the European Union must focus on pushing through structural reforms to boost growth, not rely on easing rules limiting government debt.

Pier Carlo Padoan, whose country holds the rotating EU-presidency, said Tuesday in Brussels his goal is "to help all countries to find incentives and pressure to reform."

The comments came after weeks of discussions during which Italy urged an easing of the 28-nation bloc's rules limiting the member nations' budget deficits and overall debt level.

Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who also chairs the meetings of the 18-nation eurozone, insisted the good conditions in bond markets allowing governments to take on debt more cheaply should not distract from the necessity of "getting some work done in terms of reforms."

[xchrom]

10. EU'S UNITED FRONT ON RUSSIA FALLING AMID GAS NEEDS

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/eus-united-front-russia-falling-amid-gas-needs

VIENNA (AP) — A clutch of countries is breaking ranks with the EU's efforts to put economic and diplomatic pressure on Russia over Ukraine and building a pipeline meant to carry huge amounts of Russian gas to their doorstep.

But their defiance of a European Union stop work order is more significant than just another missed chance for Europe to call out the Kremlin. Russian natural gas already accounts for around a third of the EU's needs. The South Stream pipeline could increase Russian supplies to Europe by another 25 percent, potentially boosting Moscow's leverage long after the Ukraine crisis fades.

Adding to the skein of Russian pipelines already ending in Europe, South Stream would go through Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Slovenia, Austria and Italy in one leg and Croatia, Macedonia, Greece and Turkey in a second. The European Commission, the EU executive, has ordered a construction moratorium over concerns with Russia's dual role as pipeline owner and gas supplier. It has also delayed some political talks on the pipeline amid the crisis in Ukraine.

"Developments in Ukraine and Russia have demonstrated that the EU's priority is to diversify its energy sources," says spokeswoman Sabine Berger of the EU Energy Commissioner's office.

[xchrom]

11. Japan And Australia Are Launching A 'Special Military Relationship'

http://www.businessinsider.com/r-japans-abe-declares-special-relationship-with-australia-on-visit-2014-08

CANBERRA/TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told Australia's parliament on Tuesday that the two nations were launching a "special relationship" of cooperation on areas such as defense after putting aside any lingering enmity from World War Two.
Abe, warily eying China's rapid military buildup and more assertive claims to islands held by Japan in the East China Sea, has been courting governments from Canberra to Southeast Asia in recent months. China is Australia's largest trading partner.

"Today I stand in front of you, who represent the people of Australia, and state solemnly that now Japan and Australia will finally use our relationship of trust," Abe told a joint session, the first such speech by a Japanese leader.

He and Australian counterpart Tony Abbott were to sign an agreement on military equipment and technology transfers, a week after Abe loosened curbs on Japan's military, as well as an economic partnership pact.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/r-japans-abe-declares-special-relationship-with-australia-on-visit-2014-08#ixzz36rz2882I

[xchrom]

12. Nicaragua Approves $40 Billion Shipping Canal That Would Link The Pacific To The Caribbean

http://www.businessinsider.com/r-nicaragua-approves-route-for-40-billion-canal-linking-oceans-2014-07

MANAGUA (Reuters) - A Nicaraguan committee approved a proposed route on Monday for a $40 billion shipping channel across the Central American country that would compete with the Panama Canal.

The committee of government officials, businessmen and academics approved a 172 mile (278 km) route from the mouth of the Brito river on the Pacific side to the Punto Gorda river on the Caribbean that was proposed by executives from the HK Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Co Ltd (HKND Group).

The Hong Kong-based HKND group, which is leading the project, is headed by Chinese lawyer Wang Jing, who also heads Chinese company Xinwei Telecom Enterprise Group.

The proposed canal would pass through Lake Nicaragua, Central America's largest lake, and will be between 230 meters and 520 meters (755 feet to 1,706 feet) wide and 27.6 meters (90 feet) deep, said HKND engineer Dong Yunsong.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/r-nicaragua-approves-route-for-40-billion-canal-linking-oceans-2014-07#ixzz36rzZnTes

[xchrom]

13. This New Tax Law Undercuts National Sovereignty And Undermines The Rights Of US Citizens Abroad

http://www.businessinsider.com/facta-in-lebanon-2014-7

This week the United States began implementing the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or Fatca. The legislation will be applied worldwide, but in many countries it has raised legal issues since Fatca can violate domestic legislation. Lebanon, whose banks have readily embraced Fatca, is one such place.

In reality, Lebanese banks didn’t have much of a choice. Fatca has been imposed by the United States on banks and other financial institutions internationally, obliging them to report to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on their American account holders with accounts above $50,000. If the financial institutions are deemed non-compliant, 30% of their gross payments from American payers are to be withheld. This can be onerous; hence, all financial institutions whose transactions go through the United States have no alternative but to accept Fatca.

What this means specifically is that at the end of every year banks will inform the IRS about their American clients, reporting the total sums in their account, interest, and transactions. In that way, the IRS believes, it will become extremely difficult for Americans overseas to underreport, or not report, their income in order to evade taxes.

However, there are several problems with Fatca. One involves principle. The legislation mandates hitherto-unprecedented intrusion into the private affairs of Americans overseas. Few things are more private than an individual’s personal financial accounts or business relationships, and Fatca tears away the blanket of privacy and demands that foreign financial institutions effectively spy on their American clients.

***this seems more like right wing Taxed Enough Already crap.

Read more: https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/commentaryanalysis/554379-imperial-irs#ixzz36s4lvtGm

Read more: https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/commentaryanalysis/554379-imperial-irs#ixzz36s4a18QI

[xchrom]

14. U.K. to Fight for City of London in Court Clash With ECB

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-07/u-k-to-fight-for-city-of-london-in-court-clash-with-ecb.html

Bruised by David Cameron’s defeat over the leadership of the European Union’s executive arm, the U.K. faces its next clash with the EU tomorrow. It touches a sensitive point -- the City of London.

Britain’s lawyers will take on the European Central Bank in a hearing at the bloc’s top court -- fighting policies they argue would punish the nation’s financial hub because the U.K. has kept the pound sterling.

Cameron’s government is attacking ECB policy documents stating that clearinghouses handling trades in euros should be based in the single currency area. Britain says that amounts to an ultimatum that London-based clearers must relocate to the euro area or “be precluded from access to the financial markets in the Eurosystem” on the same terms as rivals that are located there.

“This is one more example of the gradual transformation of the single market into a euro-zone market, which is not what the U.K. or other non-euro countries have signed up to,” Syed Kamall, leader of the EU Parliament’s European Conservatives and Reformists group, said in an e-mail. “It is absolutely vital that we get legal clarity as to whether this is an acceptable shift or not.”

[xchrom]

15. Europe Stocks Fall as Spain Bonds Drop With Brent, Pound

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-07/japan-futures-fall-on-yen-as-kiwi-slips-oil-extends-drop.html

European stocks fell for a third day, U.S. equity-index futures declined and Spanish bonds retreated on signs the economic recovery in Germany and the U.K. is losing momentum. The pound weakened and Brent oil dropped, while Russia led emerging shares higher as Ukraine regained territories.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index lost 0.6 percent by 10:45 a.m. in London. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slipped 0.2 percent. Russia’s Micex climbed to the highest level since October, and Indonesian shares rallied for a third day before an election tomorrow. The yield on 10-year notes from Spain and Italy increased three basis points. The pound declined 0.2 percent to $1.7102. Brent dropped 0.5 percent.

U.K. manufacturing unexpectedly slumped the most in 16 months in May and German exports contracted more than estimated, data showed today. The U.S. will sell $27 billion of three-year Treasuries today as investors seek clues as to the timing of interest-rate increases in the world’s largest economy, a day before the Federal Reserve will publish minutes of its June meeting. Alcoa Inc. (AA) unofficially starts the second-quarter U.S. earnings-reporting season today.

“Equities are near all-time highs and the air will only get thinner,” said Heinz-Gerd Sonnenschein, a strategist at Deutsche Postbank AG in Bonn, Germany. “We need a strong results season now to support equities because investors will keep wondering when the Fed will hike rates and this can bring some nervousness to the market.”

[xchrom]

16. ECB Money for Next to Nothing Spells Polish Zloty Gains

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-08/ecb-money-for-next-to-nothing-spells-polish-zloty-gains.html

Mario Draghi’s plan to spur lending in the euro region means more gains for Poland’s zloty, according to the currency’s best forecasters.

Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd., which topped a Bloomberg ranking of zloty analysts in the second quarter, expects a “gradual” appreciation of the zloty in the coming quarters, with corresponding inflows into local-market debt, said Lee Hardman, a currency strategist in London. Investors should buy three- and four-year government bonds as the zloty is set to gain versus the euro, according to Barclays Plc, the second most-accurate diviner of the currency pair.

European Central Bank President Draghi is pumping cash into the 18-nation currency bloc, the buyer of more than half of Polish exports, in an effort to bolster credit supply and avoid deflation. Polish economic growth will accelerate to 3.6 percent this year, the fastest pace in three years, while inflation falls short of the central bank’s target until 2016, the Narodowy Bank Polski said yesterday.

“The ECB easing policy further will improve the growth outlook for the euro zone, which will have a positive spill-over impact and encourage capital flows into Poland,” Hardman said by phone July 4. “The zloty will be supported by a strengthening economic recovery.”

[xchrom]

17. Iraq Imperils Turkish Exports as Deficit to Bonds at Risk

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-08/iraq-imperils-turkish-exports-as-deficit-to-bonds-at-risk.html

Turkey’s progress in cutting the biggest current-account deficit among emerging markets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa is under threat as fighting disrupts exports to neighboring Iraq.

Shipments to Iraq, Turkey’s biggest market after Germany, slid 21 percent in June from a year earlier, the Turkish Exporters Assembly said July 1. A prolonged crisis caused by the advance of Islamic State militants may weigh on the trade gap as exports drop and oil prices rise, the Turkish central bank said last week.

The bond market is already wobbling. Yields on two-year notes climbed 19 basis points this month, after a half-point improvement in the deficit to 7.48 percent of economic output in the first three months helped fuel the best rally in emerging markets in the second quarter. While a doubling of interest rates in January reined in spending on imports, the central bank has cut borrowing costs for the past two months.

“The Iraqi crisis is credit negative for Turkey,” Alpona Banerji, a senior analyst at Moody’s Investors Service in London, said in comments relayed by a spokeswoman over the phone on July 3. “A prolonged conflict would have a material effect on both Turkish exports and growth.”

[xchrom]

18. Global Borrowers Avoid $70 Billion Debt Distress in U.K. Courts

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-08/global-borrowers-avoid-70-billion-debt-distress-in-u-k-courts.html


U.K. courts, which processed $24.3 billion of distressed debt in the past year, are increasing their advantage as a jurisdiction by making it easier for global companies to avoid insolvency.

Borrowers from Vietnam to Germany used English schemes of arrangement to reorganize more than $70 billion debt in the past five years, with French swimming-pool products maker Zodiac Marine & Pool becoming the latest non-U.K. incorporated firm to ask a London judge to help it amend 1 billion euros ($1.36 billion) of loans last week.

It’s become easier for international borrowers to seek help in the U.K. courts since Apcoa Parking AG won approval to switch the law governing its 640 million euros ($885 million) of debt from German to English earlier this year. Companies like schemes of arrangement because the process typically allows them to overcome objections from minority creditors and implement a debt deal without applying for insolvency.

“English restructuring procedures are now often the first port of call for many non-English companies in distress,” said Kon Asimacopoulos, a partner at Kirkland & Ellis International LLP in London. “Schemes are, more than at any time previously, very effective restructuring tools.”

[xchrom]

19. Gotham’s Batman of Short Sellers Takes Down Spain’s Gowex

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-07/short-seller-yu-channels-batman-in-takedown-of-gowex.html

The insolvency of Spanish Wi-Fi provider Let’s Gowex SA (GOW) has drawn attention to a secretive New York short seller named Daniel Yu, who compares his work to the heroic deeds of Batman.

Yu, founder of Gotham City Research LLC, named his firm after the city where the comic-book hero fights crime. Like the Caped Crusader himself, Yu is protective of his privacy and declined to reveal his age, educational details or the number of people who work for him. In interviews with Bloomberg News, he said he devoted himself to betting against troubled companies after getting burned by an investment in mortgage lender Freddie Mac in 2008.

“If you pay close attention to Batman, he always worked within the spirit and the letter of the law,” Yu said by phone from New York on June 23. “He’s not a vigilante. He realizes that the authorities have scarce resources and limited personnel. We are driven by the desire to show people that the world doesn’t belong to seemingly untouchable wrong-doers.”

Gowex, the Spanish Wi-Fi provider, said yesterday it will file for insolvency and its chief executive officer resigned after admitting he reported false financial results for at least the past four years. Gotham City Research said the company’s wireless sales were at most 10 percent of what was reported, sending the stock to a 46 percent plunge on July 1. The shares had surged 312 percent from the end of September to an April peak.

[xchrom]

20. ECB Summons Bankers for Catch-Up as Stress Test Looms

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-07/ecb-summons-bankers-for-catch-up-as-stress-test-looms.html

Europe’s lenders are running out of time to get their books in order before the European Central Bank passes judgment on them.

As executives from 128 banks meet in Frankfurt this week with some of the officials examining them, managers of the ECB’s Comprehensive Assessment are working out a mid-October date for final disclosure and guiding lenders through a conclusive stress test. Meanwhile institutions including Erste Group Bank AG (EBS) are stepping up efforts to take the sting out of the outcome by acknowledging losses and raising fresh capital.

Aiming to create a clean sheet for the region’s wounded lenders and foster credit to the economy, the ECB is urging them not to wait until the results of its health check are out. As its Asset Quality Review comes to an end this month, a round of quarterly earnings should boost the 104 billion euros ($141 billion) worth of measures cited by the ECB as already taken by banks to strengthen balance sheets.

“The comprehensive assessment is as much about the process as the results,” said Bridget Gandy, managing director for financial institutions at Fitch Ratings Ltd. in London. “It shouldn’t be that you have to wave a stick at the banks and tell them to get the capital in after the results, they should be -- and largely are -- doing whatever they can now.”

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21. Sometimes Banks Buy a Lot of Stock

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-07-07/sometimes-banks-buy-a-lot-of-stock

Let's say you want to sell a lot of stock. I can offer you two ways to do that:

You can publicly announce that you're selling a lot of stock, watch what that does to the stock price (try to guess!), and then sell the stock a day later at the new (lower?) price. Oh and pay me a 3 percent commission. Or
You can just sell me the stock at 2 percent below the last sale price, and I'll figure out what to do with it.
Weirdly option 2 is not dominant? Companies are like, no no, I'll take the risk that my stock goes down, and pay you a hefty fee, instead of paying you a smaller fee to take all the risk. But here is a good Bloomberg News article about how option 2 -- the "block trade" or "bought deal" -- is becoming more popular, and at ever tighter pricing. The average bought deal discount so far this year is 3 percent (that is, a stock that last traded at $100 is sold to the underwriting banks at $97, for net proceeds to the seller of $97), versus a typical fee for a "marketed deal" of around 3 or 4 percent1 (that is, a stock that last traded at $100 announces a deal, drops a few points to $98, and then the seller pays $3 or so in fees for net proceeds of maybe $95).

Now this comparison is very unfair -- bought deals tend to be concentrated among bigger, better-known companies where the risk of a price drop is lower, and less time and effort are needed to market the deal -- but it's something I've always wondered about. There are a lot of places in banking where the customer pretty much gets to decide how much to pay the bank, and the bank is willing to work for a big traditional fee or for a fee determined by a hotly competitive auction or for nothing or whatever the client wants. And yet the normal option is the well-paid one.

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22. Gold Shines Again as Hedge Funds Boost Wagers on Advance

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-07/gold-shines-again-as-hedge-funds-increase-holdings-commodities.html

Gold is precious again.

After investors sent bullion tumbling in 2013 by the most in three decades and kept dumping the metal earlier this year, demand is now up and prices are defying bearish forecasts. Money managers increased net-long positions for a fourth straight week through July 1 and holdings in exchange-traded products are climbing at the fastest pace since 2012.

“Gold’s performance has proven the bears wrong so far this year,” John Kinsey, who helps manage about C$1 billion ($935 million) at Caldwell Securities Ltd. in Toronto, said in a telephone interview yesterday. “We look for further strength through the balance of the year.”

While the latest government data point to an improved U.S. economy and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Societe Generale SA predict prices will retreat by year-end, inflation concerns and pockets of unrest are sending investors into gold as a haven. Prices extended gains after the Federal Reserve signaled earlier this month that it will keep interest rates near record lows and violence spread in Iraq and Ukraine.

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23. How to Win Billions in Federal Contracts on a Permanent Tax Holiday

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-08/tax-runaways-win-billions-in-u-s-contracts-despite-bans.html

American manufacturer Ingersoll-Rand Co. (IR) forged the tools that carved the Panama Canal and shaped Mount Rushmore. When it shifted its legal address to Bermuda in 2001 to reduce taxes, the maneuver sparked bipartisan outrage in Congress.

“These corporations have turned their back on their country,” Nevada Democrat Harry Reid fumed from the Senate floor, adding that his father, a hard-rock miner, had wielded an Ingersoll-Rand jackhammer. “There is no reason the U.S. government should reward tax runaways with lucrative government contracts.”

Over the next dozen years, Congress passed law after law to prohibit American companies that reincorporate overseas from doing business with the federal government.

Those laws haven’t worked. Benefiting from loopholes and a cooperative Obama administration, the companies avoid the ban on federal contracts as effectively as they avoid U.S. taxes.

Ingersoll-Rand continues to score federal work worth hundreds of millions of dollars, touting projects for the Army and Navy in sales brochures. The company’s strategies have even included trying to piggyback on the eligibility of other companies, according to two former Ingersoll-Rand employees.

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24. Japan’s Current-Account Surplus Masks Export Weakness

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-08/japan-s-current-account-surplus-beats-economist-estimates-in-may.html

Japan posted a fourth straight current-account surplus, as income from overseas investments masks the failure of the yen’s slide to boost exports.

The excess in the widest measure of trade was 522.8 billion yen ($5.1 billion) in May, the finance ministry reported in Tokyo today, beating the median forecast of 417.5 billion yen in a Bloomberg survey. Exports rose 2 percent from a year earlier.

Export volumes remain under the level when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe came to power in December 2012, despite the yen’s 16 percent slide against the dollar over the period. Abe’s task is to ensure his growth strategy -- the third of his so-called three arrows of Abenomics -- gives companies enough of an edge over overseas rivals to boost outgoing shipments.

“The strength of recovery in global demand will play a bigger role than the currency in affecting Japanese exports,” said Koichi Fujishiro, an economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute in Tokyo. “Sluggish exports can be attributed to the rising ratio of overseas production.”

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25. Fracking Fears Grow as Oklahoma Hit by More Earthquakes Than California

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-07/oklahoma-temblors-outpace-california-as-fracking-booms.html

Squinting into a laptop perched on the back of his pickup, Austin Holland searches for a signal from a coffee-can-sized sensor buried under the grassy prairie.

Holland, Oklahoma’s seismology chief, is determined to find the cause of an unprecedented earthquake epidemic in the state. And he suspects pumping wastewater from oil and gas drilling back into the Earth has a lot to do with it.

“If my research takes me to the point where we determine the safest thing to do is to shut down injection -- and consequently production -- in large portions of the state, then that’s what we have to do,” Holland said. “That’s for the politicians and the regulators to work out.”

So far this year, Oklahoma has had more than twice the number of earthquakes as California, making it the most seismically active state in the continental U.S. As recently as 2003, Oklahoma was ranked 17th for earthquakes. That shift has given rise to concern among communities and environmentalists that injecting vast amounts of wastewater back into the ground is contributing to the rise in Oklahoma’s quakes. The state pumps about 350,000 barrels of oil a day, making it the fifth largest producer in the U.S.

[DemReadingDU]

32. More earthquakes linked to fracking in other states

7/7/14
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However, Oklahoma is not the only place in America that has seen an unprecedented increase in small- to medium-sized earthquakes at the same time that fracking has increased in the area. A sharp increase in earthquakes corresponding with increased fracking activity has been seen in Ohio, Arkansas, Texas, and Kansas.

The quakes have been relatively small for now, but some scientists have warned that seismic activity stands to get stronger and more dangerous as fracking increases. “I think ultimately, as fluids propagate and cover a larger space, the likelihood that it could find a larger fault and generate larger seismic events goes up,” Western University earth sciences professor Gail Atkinson said at a Seismological Society of America conference in May.

Because of this and other warnings, the U.S. government is beginning to track the risks that these so-called “frackquakes” pose, and start including them on official maps that help influence building codes. Though the U.S. Geological Survey is known for mapping regular earthquakes and alerting local governments about their risks, it has never taken man-made quakes into account. It made the decision to do so, however, after finding that two strong earthquakes in heavily-drilled areas of Colorado and Oklahoma in 2011 were likely the result of wastewater injection from fracking.

more...
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/07/07/3456931/oklahoma-frackquakes/

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26. Rajaratnam Words Prove Guilt, U.S. Says at Trial’s End

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-07/rengan-rajaratnam-s-own-words-prove-guilt-u-s-says.html

Former hedge-fund manager Rengan Rajaratnam’s own words prove he conspired with his brother, imprisoned Galleon Group LLC co-founder Raj Rajaratnam, to commit insider trading, a prosecutor told jurors on the eve of deliberations.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Randall Jackson today cited secretly recorded calls between the two brothers in which Rengan refers to an alleged supplier of inside information as a “scumbag” and says the tipper was “a little bit dirty” as evidence of their scheme to milk sources for illegal information.

“Why is he referring to him as a ‘scumbag’?” Jackson asked the jury. “That’s not the kind of comment you have when you’re talking to someone about normal business.”

Rengan Rajaratnam, 43, is accused of conspiring with his brother to get nonpublic information in 2008 to trade ahead of deals involving Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) and Clearwire Corp. Raj Rajaratnam was convicted of insider trading in 2011 and is serving an 11-year prison term.

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27. Greece Resists Troika on Third Bailout as Draghi Protests Delays

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-07/greece-resists-troika-on-third-bailout-as-draghi-protests-delays.html

Greece fought off calls to consider a third bailout as European Central Bank President Mario Draghi warned that the pace of economic fixes is slowing, officials said after euro-area finance ministers met yesterday.

Greece has ruled out further aid -- which would come with another raft of conditions -- after its current rescue ends, a Greek official told reporters in Brussels. According to the so-called troika of International Monetary Fund, ECB and euro-area authorities, Greece may need one anyway, an EU official said.

Further emergency aid will probably be needed as the government still faces a funding shortfall, can’t count on financial-market support and is slipping further behind on its commitments to overhaul the economy, the EU official said. The troika’s concerns were underlined by Draghi’s warning to Greek Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis that Greece should not assume its reforms have been completed.

At stake is Greece’s ability to win debt relief from its euro-area creditors. This writedown is the main reward that authorities have to offer if Greece meets its commitments -- or withdraw if the Mediterranean nation falls short

[Demeter]

30. Heading home

We spent the night in Eire, PA. Should be home tonight. More later.