Monday, January 07, 2013

Today's Headlines

Bloomberg: 
  • U.S. Debt May Rise as D.C. Dysfunction Draws Downgrade, UBS Says. Treasury yields, now at almost eight- month highs, are set to reverse course as political wrangling in Washington and a “likely” U.S. credit downgrade drive investors to the safety of government debt, according to UBS AG. “Treasuries are likely to rally over the next month or two,” Mike Schumacher, head of global-rates strategy at UBS, said in a Bloomberg Television interview on “Market Makers” with Erik Schatzker and Stephanie Ruhle. “The market doesn’t know how the political risk plays out.”
  • Draghi Seeks Extended Calm in 2013 on Fading Euro Economy. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi will turn his attention to nursing the euro region back to economic health this week as the urgency to deploy emergency crisis measures recedes after three years.
  • European Stocks Decline on Valuation.
  • Copper Falls as Report May Show Weaker German Factory Orders. Copper fell for a third session in London before a report that may show German factory orders slid for a third month in four, fanning concern about the euro-zone crisis debt threatening to choke demand. The Economy Ministry in Berlin may say tomorrow orders dropped 1.4 percent in November, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
  • Gold Drops for Third Straight Session on Fed’s Stimulus Signals. Gold futures declined for the third straight session on signs that Federal Reserve policy makers may end monthly purchases of U.S. debt this year. The drop today followed the longest run of weekly declines since May 2004.
Wall Street Journal: 
  • Obama Nominates Brennan for CIA, Hagel for Pentagon. President Barack Obama nominated longtime counterterrorism chief John Brennan to serve as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, placing a trusted aide at the helm of the spy organization. The announcement Monday afternoon came in conjunction with Mr. Obama's pick for defense secretary, former Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel. In choosing Mr. Brennan to succeed David Petraeus, who resigned last year after admitting to an affair, Mr. Obama is returning to a model of having a CIA director with close White House ties. Mr. Petraeus, a decorated four-star general, wasn't considered part of Mr. Obama's inner circle
  • China Censorship Protests Widen. Protests by journalists over alleged heavy-handed censorship at one of China's most daring newspapers have garnered high-profile support in the media and blogosphere, with prominent academics, bloggers and even movie stars joining in.
Fox News:
  • Obama Antagonizes with Hagel Pick. It’s an antagonistic selection, to be sure. Hagel is disliked by Republicans for his foreign policy attacks on the party during the Bush years and strongly opposed by pro-Israel groups for his seemingly neutral stance on the Arab-Israeli conflict. Hagel’s swaggering talk in a post-Senate interview about the “Jewish lobby” and its undue influence on American foreign policy is a huge red flag for Jewish Americans who work very hard to make the U.S. alliance with Israel something beyond the reach of culture and religion.
CNBC: 
Reuters:

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