Monday, October 21, 2013

Today's Headlines

Bloomberg: 
  • European Stocks Rise for Eighth Day as Philips, Akzo Gain. European stocks gained for an eighth day as companies from Royal Philips NV to Akzo Nobel AG reported profit that beat estimates and investors speculated the Federal Reserve may maintain stimulus measures into next year. Philips, the world’s biggest lighting manufacturer, and Akzo Nobel, the Dutch maker of Dulux paint, jumped more than 5 percent. Actelion Ltd. rallied to a six-year high as its lung drug Opsumit won U.S. approval. SAP AG added 4.8 percent after the maker of business-management software posted increased third-quarter earnings and reiterated its full-year forecast. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index advanced 0.3 percent to 319.54 at the close of trading, the highest level since June 2008.
  • Nickel glut extends to fourth year on China supply. The global glut of nickel will extend into a fourth year in 2014 as new technology lowers costs for Chinese furnaces producing record amounts of a lower-grade substitute that helped drive prices into a bear market.
  • Coffee Tumbles to Lowest Since March 2009 on Expanding Supplies. Coffee fell to the lowest in more than four years as dry weather helps improve growing conditions in Brazil, the world’s largest producer and exporter. Most of Brazil’s growing areas will get sun this week, as alternating periods of rain and dry weather allow farmers to work in fields and spur crops that will be collected next season to flower multiple times, Marcio Custodio, a forecasting director at Sao Paulo-based Somar Meteorologia, said today in a telephone interview. The beneficial conditions will boost output, he said.
  • WTI Crude Falls to $100; First Time Since July on Supply. West Texas Intermediate fell below $100 a barrel for the first time since July amid forecasts that crude stockpiles increased to a three-month high in the U.S., the world’s biggest oil consumer. Futures declined as much as 1.2 percent, after losing 1.2 percent last week. U.S. crude inventories probably climbed by 3 million barrels to 373.5 million in the week ended Oct. 11, a Bloomberg News survey before a government report today showed. That would be the highest level since July. A Nigerian rebel group said it plans to escalate a violent campaign of disrupting oil production by targeting offshore fields. 
Wall Street Journal: 
  • Margin Debt Hits New High. Investors took a record level of debt out against their portfolios last month, and borrowing made the biggest monthly jump since January. Last month, investors borrowed $401.2 billion against their portfolios, exceeding April’s record of $384.4 billion, according to the New York Stock Exchange. The Big Board’s member brokerage firms report the level of borrowing, known as margin debt, held against client accounts monthly. Debt rose 4.8% in September from the previous month, the biggest single-month jump since January. That was larger than the corresponding rise in the S&P 500, which gained 3% despite tensions in Washington that led to the first partial U.S. government shutdown in 17 years this month.
CNBC: 
  • More youth not in school, without jobs. Almost 6 million young people are neither in school nor working, according to a study released Monday. That's almost 15 percent of those aged 16 to 24 who have neither desk nor job, according to The Opportunity Nation coalition, which wrote the report.
Zero Hedge: 
Business Insider:
  • DRUCKENMILLER: 'I'm A 60-Year-Old Washed Up Money Manager'. It has become harder for me, because the importance of my skills is receding. Part of my advantage, is that my strength is economic forecasting, but that only works in free markets, when markets are smarter than people....It's not predicting anything the way it used to and that really makes me reconsider my ability to generate superior returns. If the most important price in the most important economy in the world is being rigged, and everything else is priced off it, what am I supposed to read into other price movements? 
New York Post: 
Telegraph:

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