Bloomberg:
- Iranian Nuclear Accord Prospects Clouded as French Object. Envoys from Iran and world powers may not agree to an accord today that would ease the decade-long dispute over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, an Iranian official said. Participants are likely to issue a joint statement and meet again in 14 days, said the Iranian official, who asked not to be named because of the talks’ sensitivity. At the same time, talks continued behind closed doors in Geneva, with little information emerging to help separate posturing and negotiating tactics from high-stakes bargaining among top diplomats from the seven countries involved, including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
- Hong Kong Luxury Property Prices Choked by Tightening. Hong Kong businessman Raymond Chiu says he has perfect credit and is prepared to spend about HK$16 million ($2 million) on a 1,000-square-foot apartment in the city’s Mid-Levels residential area. There’s just one catch. The government requires a 50 percent down payment. That’s “really putting us off,” said Chiu, 45, who owns an information technology consulting company. “I run a business so cash flow is important. It’s frustrating because this is non-negotiable, though I have perfect credit history.”
- Euro Recovery Seen Fizzling as Growth Crawl Supports Draghi Cut. Euro-area growth data this week may show the region’s nascent recovery slowing to a crawl, supporting Mario Draghi’s case for an interest-rate cut to help the economy get back to its feet. Gross domestic product in the region rose just 0.1 percent in the third quarter, according to the median forecast of 41 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. In the 3 1/2 hours before that report on Nov. 14, economists predict a series of data releases to show growth slowing in Germany and stalling in France, with Italy remaining mired in an unprecedented slump.
- Chinese Developers Decline on Tightening Fears. Chinese developer shares fell the most in two weeks amid concerns that Beijing and Shanghai will implement new measures to curb demand and rising property prices, prompting other cities to follow suit. An index tracking property companies listed in Shanghai fell as much as 3.1 percent and was 2.5 percent lower at the 11:30 a.m. local-time break, heading for its biggest decline since Oct. 25. China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.2 percent.
- Asian Stocks Outside Japan Fall Before China Plenum Ends. Asian stocks outside Japan fell as investors await the conclusion tomorrow of a meeting of China’s leaders on economic reform. Japanese equities rose after better-than-expected U.S. payrolls data weakened the yen. Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc., an operator of supermarkets and department stores controlled by billionaire John Gokongwei, slumped 5.4 percent on its trading debut following the largest Philippine initial public offering. Nexon Co., a maker of online games, plunged 22 percent in Tokyo after its net-income forecast missed estimates. Honda Motor Co., a Japanese carmaker that gets 47 percent of its revenue in North America, added 1.7 percent. The MSCI Asia Pacific excluding Japan Index lost 0.5 percent to 467.63 as of 12:56 p.m. in Hong Kong.
- Rebar Falls Amid Concern That Property Curbs May Reduce Demand. Steel reinforcement-bar futures in Shanghai fell amid concern that the Chinese government is strengthening measures to rein in the property market, reducing demand for the building material. Rebar for May delivery, the most-active contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, fell as much as 0.8 percent to 3,633 yuan ($596) a metric ton, before trading at 3,643 yuan at 10:07 a.m. local time. Futures declined 0.3 percent last week.
- Gold Vault Opens in China as Bullion Goes From West to East. A gold vault that can store 2,000 metric tons, double China’s projected consumption this year, opened in Shanghai this month as owner Malca-Amit Global Ltd. seeks to benefit from rising demand in Asia’s largest economy.
- Facebook(FB) Director Andreessen’s Firm Sells Third of Shares. Facebook Inc. (FB) Director Marc Andreessen’s venture-capital firm sold a third of its holdings in the world’s biggest social-networking service after the stock price reached a record last month. Andreessen Horowitz sold 2.28 million shares on Nov. 6, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday. The shares were sold at about $49 to $50 apiece, making the divestment worth more than $111 million, the data show. The firm still holds 4.57 million shares.
- BofA(BAC) Should Pay $863 Million in Fannie Mae Case: U.S. Bank of America Corp. should pay the maximum penalty of $863 million for selling defective loans to Fannie Mae (FNMA) and Freddie Mac (FMCC), given the egregiousness of the fraud, U.S. prosecutors told a federal judge. Bank of America’s Countrywide unit was found liable by a jury in Manhattan federal court last month for selling the government-sponsored entities thousands of defective loans in the first mortgage-fraud case brought by the U.S. to go to trial.
- Big Banks May Block Traders From Chat Rooms. Big banks are considering blocking employees from computer chat rooms that have become pervasive tools of the modern trading floor, but which face mounting scrutiny from regulators as potential venues for collusion and market manipulation. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Credit Suisse Group AG are discussing internally whether to disable computerized chat rooms that electronically link traders across multiple banks and are used by tens of thousands of employees globally, according to people familiar with the discussions.
- Stocks Regain Broad Appeal. Individual Investors Are Returning to Stocks, Which Could be Bad. Five years after the financial crisis, individual investors are piling into stocks again amid signs that the U.S. economy is slowly gaining steam. The buyers, many with investment portfolios that were scorched during the market meltdown, are climbing aboard a ride to new highs in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. But the renewed optimism among retail investors is considered by many professionals to be a warning sign, thanks to a long history of Main Street arriving late to market rallies.
- Health-Law Rollout Weighs on Obama's Ratings, Agenda. Approval, Personal Favorability Polling Sags, Creating New Complications for Second Term.
- 'Long-Only' Funds Lose Their Hedge'Long-Only' Funds Lose Their Hedge. What do you call a hedge fund that doesn't hedge? The latest growth area for the industry. On the heels of a multiyear market rally, a slew of hedge-fund firms are launching "long-only" funds betting that at least some stocks have further to climb. The moves come amid a brutal stretch for short bets against companies, traditionally a key strategy for hedge funds. The new funds also represent a shift by hedge-fund managers—known for their sophisticated tactics and exclusivity—into the kind of old-fashioned stock picking more associated with Main Street mutual funds.
- Vive La France on Iran. The French save the West from a very bad nuclear deal with Iran. We never thought we'd say this, but thank heaven for French foreign-policy exceptionalism. At least for the time being, François Hollande's Socialist government has saved the West from a deal that would all but guarantee that Iran becomes a nuclear power.
- Healthcare.junk. Scam artists are filling the vacuum left by the Obama website failure. So the national embarrassment known as Healthcare.gov and the 36 federal ObamaCare exchanges won't be fixed by the end of November after all, notwithstanding a month of assurances from the White House.
Fox News:
Business Insider: - Senate suggests even tougher sanctions on Iran until final deal reached on nuclear freeze. Senate leaders showed bipartisan support Sunday for tougher sanctions on Iran following failed talks this weekend toward curtailing that country’s nuclear-development program, but also indicated they would likely wait until after talking to Secretary of State John Kerry. Kerry and other Western leaders wrapped up talks Sunday after failing to agree on a deal, which purportedly stalled when France rejected a list of demands on Iran because they were too generous to mean an easing of international sanctions.
- Foreign buyers are getting in on US energy boom. Foreign investors are emerging as the biggest beneficiaries of the unfolding U.S. energy revolution—underscoring how the landscape is being dominated by small, nimble players profiting where oil majors seemingly cannot.
- Teens Are Deserting Facebook(FB), And They're Heading To Places Where Their Parents Can't Find Them.
New York Times:
- New China Cities: Shoddy Homes, Broken Hope. Three years ago, the Shanghai World Expo featured this newly built town as a model for how China would move from being a land of farms to a land of cities. In a dazzling pavilion visited by more than a million people, visitors learned how farmers were being given a new life through a fair-and-square deal that did not cost them anything.
Reuters:
Financial Times:- China inflation hits 8-month high amid tightening fear. China's annual inflation climbed to an eight-month high of 3.2 percent in October as food costs soared, fanning market worries about policy tightening as factory output and investment data pointed to signs of stabilisation in the economy. Inflation, which quickened slightly from 3.1 percent in September, was still lower than a median forecast of 3.3 percent in a Reuters poll and was below the official target of 3.5 percent for 2013.
- U.S. senator to block Obama's nominations over Benghazi. U.S. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham on Sunday said he will try to block White House nominations for key jobs until he gets more information on last year's attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, even after a TV network pulled back from a story on the attack that Graham had cited. Graham has threatened to block President Barack Obama's nominations of Janet Yellen to head the Federal Reserve and Jeh Johnson to head the Department of Homeland Security until the administration provides more information on how the attack occurred.
- ECB split stokes German backlash fears. Divisions at the heart of the European Central Bank over last week’s rate cut have revived fears in Frankfurt of a German popular backlash against the bank’s policy making, even as the ECB faces decisions critical to the eurozone’s future. People involved in the policy debates said divisions between northern and southern representatives on the ECB board have been mounting since market pressures on the eurozone relaxed, with council members freed up to revert to national interests.
- Reports of the survival of the eurozone may have been greatly exaggerated. Last week’s surprise interest rate cut by the European Central Bank (ECB) was largely a response to the looming danger of deflation in the eurozone.
- ECB President Draghi Abuses Euro-System, Ifo's Sinn Says. Mario Draghi "abusing" euro-system to give southern European countries cheap loans they wouldn't otherwise get on capital markets, Hans-Werner Sinn, head of German economic institute Ifo tells Bild in an interview.
CNA:
Xinhua:- TSMC's Chang Says Inventories May Take Longer to Digest. TSMC Chairman and CEO Morris Chang says it will take longer than previously expected for inventories in the industry's supply chain to adjust to more normal levels.
- China Auto Industry Capacity 'Far Exceeds' Demand. Overcapacity indicates outlook for local market won't be "optimistic" in the next few years, citing He Liming, head of China Automobile Dealers Association. As new production capacity is commissioned, price wars will become more likely.
- China Must Deepen Reform to Sustain Growth. Third Plenum of China's Communist Party is "sounding the horn to comprehensively deepen reform" as the country seeks to sustain growth, the party's mouthpiece, says in a commentary. China needs a new engine of growth and reduce its reliance on "crude investment," the commentary said. China's government needs to separate interests and power and use the market to spur economic vitality, it said. Ruling party needs to find a way for "self-purification" and improve its management of the country, the commentary said.
- China Should Aim to Start Property Tax Nationwide in 2015. China should aim to start a tax on individuals' property nationwide in 2015, citing a report from the government think tank China Center for International Economic Exchanges. The nation may revise a tax on coal and other resources in 2015 to levy based on prices, instead of volume as done currently, the report said.
Weekend Recommendations
Barron's:- Bullish commentary on (GLF), (LLL), (HBI), (XRX), (DVN), (AEO) and (IP).
- Bearish commentary on (DDD), (SSYS), (XONE) and (VJET).
- Asian indices are -.75% to +.25% on average.
- Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 136.25 -1.75 basis points.
- Asia Pacific Sovereign CDS Index 111.0 +3.75 basis points.
- FTSE-100 futures +.41%.
- S&P 500 futures -.13%.
- NASDAQ 100 futures -.17%.
Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate
- (WLH)/.30
- (BID)/-.47
- (RAX)/.16
- (NWSA)/.02
10:00 am EST
- None of note
- None of note
- The Japanese 30Y Bond Auction, CSFB Healthcare Conference, (CG) investor day and the (NCR) investor day could also impact trading today.
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