Bloomberg:
- China Trade Surplus Seen by BofA at One-Tenth Customs Figure. China’s trade surplus is one-tenth the official $61 billion reported so far this year after accounting for fake transactions used to disguise hot-money inflows, Bank of America Corp. says. The true surplus is about $6 billion, according to Lu Ting, Bank of America’s head of Greater China economics in Hong Kong. That would be the smallest for January-April since the nation posted a $10.8 billion deficit in 2004. Lu’s calculations suggest the surplus shrank instead of tripling from a year earlier, a sign that global demand is restraining rather than boosting the world’s second-largest economy. Bank of America’s estimate underscores the size of possible discrepancies in the trade data, which has been disputed by analysts for four months, and broader skepticism about Chinese statistics from gross domestic product to jobs. “Growth is weak in China now -- the overstated export growth means the real growth is slightly weaker,” said Shen Jianguang, chief Asia economist at Mizuho Securities Asia Ltd. in Hong Kong. “We are expecting to see a fairly big drop in export growth in the coming months” as regulators crack down on so-called hot-money inflows, he said.
- Block Says China Banks’ Bad Loans Spread Beyond Government Debt. Carson Block, the short seller who runs Muddy Waters LLC, said China’s bad-loan problem is more widespread than just local government debt and includes public and private sector borrowing. Non-performing loan “figures greatly understate the potential scope of the problem of poor-quality loans,” Block said in an e-mail. “We believe that the PRC banking system will be hit hard by the unwind, and that the government will be forced to recapitalize a number of the banks.”
- Dead Hogs in River No Obstacle as China Pork Prices to Climb. A three-month slump in hog prices in China, the world’s biggest consumer of pork, is poised to end as the government stockpiles frozen meat and shoppers look past a safety scare, the country’s top pig processor said.
- Yen Drops as BOJ Meets While Asian Stocks Retreat; Silver Falls. The yen weakened against all of its 16 major peers as the Bank of Japan starts a two-day policy meeting. Asian stocks retreated from a five-year high and silver led losses in metals as investors weighed the pace of Federal Reserve stimulus efforts.
- China Is Seeking U.S. Assets. Agency Sets Up New York Office to Make Real-Estate, Private-Equity Purchases. China's currency-reserves manager has set up a New York operation to invest in private equity, real estate and other U.S. assets, according to people with knowledge of the move. The move by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, or SAFE, which oversees the world's largest stockpile of foreign-exchange holdings, comes as it steps up diversification away from U.S. government debt, the people said.
- Fed Paper Urges Trading Revamp. A Federal Reserve official has called for fundamental changes in financial markets to slow trading and allow investors to better compete with the ultrafast computer programs used by some participants. A paper due to be presented Tuesday by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago proposes altering the structure that allows a nonstop stream of trades and instead execute orders every half-second. The proposal is expected to ignite controversy among some traders and exchanges, which have invested heavily in the technology to profit from ultrafast trading. The paper said high-frequency trading has inflated transaction costs, with limited benefits for liquidity and pricing.
- How to Cut a Job in Italy? Wait, and Wait Some More. It took Whirlpool Corp. WHR -0.90% eight months to close its 1,000-person factory in Fort Smith, Arkansas, last year amid falling sales. In Italy, the world's biggest appliance maker has been trying for three years to cut 500 jobs—with only partial success.
- Role of Health-Law 'Navigators' Under Fire. Lawmakers across the country are tussling over the Obama administration's plans to create a small army of assistants to guide millions of Americans as they sign up for new health-insurance options available this fall. Backers of the health-care overhaul face an uphill battle to spread the word about the law, in the face of consumer research that suggests most uninsured people know little about it and are skeptical about the value of health insurance generally. Some Democrats have openly worried that the administration is doing too little to make sure the enrollment process goes smoothly.
- David Rivkin and Lee Casey: The IRS and the Drive to Stop Free Speech. Such a scandal was bound to happen after the government started trying to rule the expression of political views.
- Search for survivors after massive tornado strikes areas near Oklahoma City, killing at least 51. A tornado at least a half mile-wide with 200mph winds churned through Oklahoma City's suburbs Monday afternoon, killing at least 51 and causing significant property damage for the second day in a row, forcing rescue crews to search for survivors in the debris of flattened homes, businesses and two schools. Amy Elliott, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Medical Examiner's Office, said the death toll is expected to rise. Oklahoma City Police say seven of those deaths were children at Plaza Towers Elementary School, which was hit by the tornado, Fox 25 reports. Oklahoma police also told Fox News' Casey Stegall, on the ground in Moore, Okla., that at least four people were killed at a 7-11 convenience store.
- Watchdog report says DOJ official retaliated against ‘Furious’ whistle-blower, lied about it. The former U.S. Attorney for Arizona could be disbarred, after an investigation found he lied to the Justice Department about his role in trying to discredit the federal whistle-blower who exposed the botched gun-running scheme known as Fast and Furious. An Office of Inspector General report showed that Dennis Burke -- the former chief of staff for Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano appointed as U.S. Attorney for Arizona by President Obama in September 2009 -- lied when asked if he leaked sensitive documents to the press meant to undermine the credibility of ATF whistle-blower John Dodson. The IG report also said Burke likely leaked the memo in retaliation for Dodson's whistle-blowing, and challenged the credibility of statements he made to congressional investigators.
CNBC:
Zero Hedge:
Business Insider:
Real Clear Politics:
Reuters:
- Urban Outfitters(URBN) sales miss Street estimates, shares fall. Teen apparel retailer Urban Outfitters Inc's sales missed analysts' estimates even as reduced discounting helped shore up profit in the first quarter. Shares of the company fell as much as 4 percent to $42.77 in post-market trading on Monday.
- EU draft bank rescue law would not shield big deposits. A draft law that a group of European Union lawmakers voted for on Monday would shield small depositors from losing their savings in future bank rescues, but customers with more than 100,000 euros in savings when a bank failed could suffer losses.
- Sluggish Thai growth deepens fears of wider Asian slowdown. Thailand’s economy grew more slowly than expected in the first three months of this year, adding to a slew of recent disappointing data from other Asian economies that have cast a shadow over one of the world’s fastest-growing regions. The Thai economy contracted by 2.2 per cent seasonally adjusted from the previous quarter.
Piper Jaffray:
- Rated (HAS) Overweight, target $55.
- Rated (MAT) Overweight, target $53.
- Rated (LF) Overweight, target $11.
- Asian equity indices are -.50% to +.25% on average.
- Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 101.0 unch.
- Asia Pacific Sovereign CDS Index 84.75 unch.
- FTSE-100 futures -.12%.
- S&P 500 futures -.06%.
- NASDAQ 100 futures -.02%.
Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate
- (TDW)/.61
- (AZO)/7.21
- (HD)/.76
- (BBY)/.24
- (MDT)/1.03
- (DKS)/.48
- (TJX)/.62
- (INTU)/2.93
- (NTAP)/.68
- (ADI)/.52
- (SKS)/.18
- (TECD)/1.06
- None of note
- None of note
- The Fed's Dudley speaking, Fed's Bullard speaking, Germany/UK inflation data, weekly retail sales reports, JPMorgan Homebuilding Conference, Goldman Basic Materials Conference, (JPM) shareholder meeting, (MET) investor conference and the (ARMH) investor day could also impact trading today.
No comments:
Post a Comment