Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:

• Ukraine to Block Russian Aid Trucks as It Tightens Noose Around Rebels. Ukraine refused to let a convoy that Russia says is loaded with humanitarian aid enter the country in its current form, arguing the mission doesn’t adhere to international rules and must be led by the Red Cross. Russia’s Emergencies Ministry said 280 trucks with 2,000 metric tons of donated food, medicine and water left Moscow for rebel-held eastern Ukraine today. Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said they are carrying military gear in the guise of aid. The Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross said it’s not in charge of the convoy at the moment and has asked for details of what it contains. The ICRC needs “some clarification first regarding modalities, practical steps that have to be implemented prior to launch such an operation,” Laurent Corbaz, its head of operations for Europe, said in a video on the Red Cross website. “We seriously need security guarantees, for example, and direct contact with all the parties; this is not settled yet. We need as well to know precisely what is inside the convoy, the size of this convoy, and the various material that is going to be handed over.”

• Maliki Meets Commanders as Tensions Rise in Baghdad. Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki met with military officers today in the latest sign he won’t hand power willingly to his designated successor, as U.S. and Iraqi forces battled Islamist militants. Maliki ordered his commanders to keep out of the political crisis that has gripped Baghdad since President Fouad Masoum asked a rival Shiite politician to form a government, according to footage of the meeting shown on television. Earlier, militiamen and soldiers had fanned out across the capital in a show of force. A car bomb killed six people in the city.

• EON Emerging Markets Foray to Cut Profit as Russia Slows. Germany’s largest utility sought relief from upheaval in the energy industry at home by investing in emerging markets. It’s not gone to plan. EON SE (EOAN) reports first-half earnings tomorrow and ventures in Brazil, Turkey and Russia are expected to contribute to a 24 percent drop in profit from last year, according to analysts including B. Metzler Seel Sohn & Co. KGaA. The company has challenges in all three countries, picked because they were held to offer better growth than Europe. In Brazil, investments earmarked for utility Eneva SA (ENEV3) have risen almost fourfold as the business of billionaire partner Eike Batista collapsed. Earnings at Turkish venture Haci Omer Sabanci Holding AS (SAHOL) have been held back by a weak currency, and Russia’s economy is slowing because of the Ukraine crisis. 

• Weakest Oil Demand Growth Since ’12 Allays Supply Risk, IEA Says. Global oil demand growth eased to its weakest since 2012 last quarter, calming world markets amid threats to supplies in the Middle East and North Africa, according to the International Energy Agency. The IEA cut estimates for oil demand growth this year and next after the annual expansion in fuel consumption slowed to 700,000 barrels a day in the second quarter, the lowest level since early 2012.

• India CPI Tops Estimate in Test for Rajan as Industry Moderates. India’s consumer-price inflation quickened more than economists estimated, adding pressure on central bank Governor Raghuram Rajan to keep interest rates elevated even after factory output slowed. The consumer-price index rose 7.96 percent in July from a year earlier, compared with a upwardly revised 7.46 percent in June, the Statistics Ministry said in New Delhi today. The median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of 43 analysts was for a 7.4 percent increase. Industrial production rose 3.4 percent in June compared with a 5.6 percent gain predicted in a separate survey and a revised 5 percent in May.

• German Yields Falling Toward 1% Shows Japan-Style Risks Building. Germany is on the brink of joining an exclusive club of nations able to borrow for a decade at less than 1 percent. For strategists predicting such a scenario, that’s because the European Central Bank isn’t doing enough to prevent a Japanese-style deflationary spiral from taking hold. 

• Euro Falls to Almost Nine-Month Low as Confidence Sags.

• European Stocks Decline as Investors Watch Ukraine Crisis. European stocks fell, following their biggest rally since April, as companies including Henkel AG and Hargreaves Lansdown Plc declined, while a Russian aid convoy left for Ukraine. Henkel lost the most since September 2011 after warning that earnings growth will slow amid conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. Hargreaves Lansdown retreated 2.9 percent after UBS AG recommended selling the shares. Prudential Plc gained 2.2 percent after reporting better-than-forecast first-half profit. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index slipped 0.2 percent to 328.74 at the close of trading.

Wall Street Journal:

• Syrian Forces Advance on Aleppo, Rebels Fear Another Siege. Fall of Largest Rebel-Held City Could Benefit Islamic Jihadists Along With Regime.

CNBC:

• Icahn sees 'major asset bubble,' touts activists.

• How Youngstown, Ohio became a poster child for post-industrial America.

• Home sales, price gains cool as summer lingers.

ZeroHedge:

• ISIS And The Coming Escalation In Iraq.

• Bubble Market Stunner: Revenueless Biotech Goes Public, Drops, Trades For Six Days, Then Voids Entire IPO.

• France's 'Recovery' In 1 Hard-To-Believe Chart. (graph)

• China Begins Direct Sales Of Fruit & Vegetables To Russia.

• Will A Hawkish Janet Yellen Be JOLTed By Most Job Openings Since 2001? (graph)

• Ukraine Blocks Russian Humanitarian Convoy, Accuses Kremlin Of Sending "Disguised Military Gear".

Business Insider:

• Junk Bond Funds Just Experienced A 6-Sigma Event. (graph)

• Tensions Still High In Missouri 'War Zone' After Monday's Riots.

• 4 Times Russia Used The Pretext Of Assistance To Invade A Neighbors.

• Startling Photos Show Yazidis Under Siege By ISIS Fleeing Into Syria By The Thousands. (pics) 

• The Forces That Have Kept Profit Margins Fat Are Reversing.

• Islamic State Carves Out A Jihadist Hub In Heart Of Middle East.

• The Outlook For Germany In One Word: 'Grim'. (graph)

Reuters:

• German investor morale plunges on Ukraine, growth worries. German analyst and investor morale plunged in August to its lowest level in more than 1-1/2 years as the crisis in Ukraine took its toll, a survey showed, suggesting that Europe's largest economy is running out of steam. Mannheim-based think tank ZEW's monthly survey of economic sentiment, published on Tuesday, fell for an eighth consecutive month to 8.6 in August, from 27.1 in July. That was its lowest since December 2012, as tensions in Ukraine hit stock markets and robbed firms of the confidence to invest at a time when worries about German economic growth are gaining ground.