Wednesday, November 06, 2013

Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
  • Brent Crude Traders Claim Proof BFOE Boys Rigged Market. Four longtime traders in the global oil market claim in a lawsuit that the prices for buying and selling crude are fixed -- and that they can prove it. Some of the world’s biggest oil companies including BP Plc (BP/), Statoil ASA (STL), and Royal Dutch Shell Plc conspired with Morgan Stanley and energy traders including Vitol Group to manipulate the closely watched spot prices for Brent crude oil for more than a decade, they allege. The North Sea benchmark is used to price more than half the world’s crude and helps determine where costs are headed for fuels including gasoline and heating oil.
  • European Stocks Advance as Alstom, ING Rise on Earnings. European stocks climbed to a five-year high after companies from Alstom SA to ING Groep NV posted earnings that beat analysts’ estimates, and as industrial data from Germany and the U.K. improved. Alstom gained the most in 16 months after posting operating profit that exceeded estimates and saying it will seek to raise as much as 2 billion euros ($2.7 billion) from asset sales. ING jumped 3.5 percent after net income beat projections. Adecco SA (ADEN) rose 3.6 percent after the world’s largest provider of temporary workers predicted that demand for flexible labor will increase in Europe as the economy recovers. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index added 0.4 percent to 323.26 at the close of trading, its highest level since May 22, 2008.
  • Yellen Met With Blankfein, Dimon as Prospects as Fed Chief Rose. As speculation grew that Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Janet Yellen would be nominated to lead the central bank, her appointment book beginning in April became peppered with meetings with the titans of finance. Yellen’s calendars from February through July, obtained by Bloomberg News through a Freedom of Information Act request, show 30-minute meetings or phone calls with chief executive officers from some of the biggest banks. These included John Stumpf of Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) on April 3, Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) on April 10, James Gorman of Morgan Stanley on April 15 and Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. on June 7.
Fox News:
  • Virginia squeaker sends shivers through Dems. Vulnerable Democrats must have watched in dismay as Democrat Terry McAuliffe barely clung to victory on Tuesday. Having spent three times more money than his rival and with the backing of his popular patrons, Bill and Hillary Clinton, McAulliffe was breezing to victory just three weeks ago. But his once-stout lead in the polls over Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli nearly vanished as voter outrage over the crash landing of ObamaCare nearly wrecked the race. A double-digit lead turned into a three-point scrape. Exit polls showed intense opposition to ObamaCare that helped Cuccinelli, who was written off by the national GOP and who had to lug along the scandal-plagued administration of Republican incumbent Gov. Bob McDonnell
CNBC: 
  • Stand by…a hefty drop's on the way: Nomura's Janjuah. Global stock markets are set to peak in the next few months but hungry investors should beware, according to Bob Janjuah, Nomura's uber-bearish strategist, who believes a hefty dip in global stock markets is just around the corner.
Zero Hedge: 
ValueWalk:
Business Insider:
MNI:
  • US MBA Text: Refis -8.0%; Mkt Composite -7.0% Nov 1 Week. Mortgage applications decreased 7.0 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending November 1, 2013. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 7.0 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 8 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index decreased 8 percent from the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 5 percent from one week earlier and is at its lowest level since the end of December 2012. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 7 percent compared with the previous week and was unchanged from the same week one year ago.
Washington Post:
  • The Sin of Omission in Obamacare. Among the many rules I grew up with, two stand out. The first was to never call someone a liar, which was considered the worst character indictment one could issue. The accuser had best be prepared to fight or be fleet of foot. The other was a dictum so oft- repeated that it is permanently tattooed on my brain: “If you’ll lie by omission, you’ll lie by commission.”
Newsmax:
  • Reuters Poll: 56% of Uninsured Oppose Obamacare. The uninsured view the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, more favorably since online marketplaces opened - 44 percent compared with 37 percent in September, according to the Reuters/Ipsos poll. It found that 56 percent oppose the program compared with 63 percent in September.
Reuters: 
  • Brazil mobile market shrinks, first time in 5 yrs. Brazil's mobile phone market saw a net decline in subscribers in September, shrinking 0.06 percent to 268.3 million active phone lines, according to phone regulator Anatel. It was the first monthly drop since June 2006. The numbers highlighted a shift in Brazil's cooling wireless market from a race for market share to a push for profitability as sales stagnate. 

No comments: