Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:

• Greece Back in Recession as Bailout Impasse Drains Economy. Greece’s economy fell back into recession in the first quarter, raising pressure on the government to reach an agreement with creditors over the next bailout payment. Gross domestic product contracted 0.2 percent in the three months through March after shrinking 0.4 percent in the previous period, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said Wednesday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey was for a 0.5 percent drop.
• Greece’s Creditors Said to Seek 3 Billion-Euro Budget Cuts. (video) Greece’s anti-austerity government needs to raise at least three billion euros ($3.4 billion) through additional fiscal measures by the end of this year to meet the minimum budget targets acceptable by creditors, an official with knowledge of the discussions said. The reductions would bring the primary budget surplus in 2015 to just over 1 percent of gross domestic product, a target Greek Interior Minister Nikos Voutsis said today is acceptable. Without any change in fiscal policy, Greece would end 2015 with a budget deficit of about 0.5 percent of GDP, the official said. The so-called primary budget balance doesn’t include interest payments. 
• NATO Urges President Putin to Stop Aiding Ukraine Rebels. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization expressed fears about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s nuclear-weapons plans and demanded an immediate halt to his support for separatists in eastern Ukraine. With Putin stepping up Cold War rhetoric, foreign ministers from NATO nations meeting in Antalya, Turkey, urged him to help end the conflict in the battle-scarred region amid signs that Russian-backed rebels are using a cease-fire agreed in February to re-equip and prepare another offensive. 
• European Stocks Reverse Gains as German Equities Tumble on Euro. A drop in German equities sent European stocks lower, reversing earlier gains as the euro climbed. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index slipped 0.2 percent to 395.47 at the close of trading. Euro Stoxx 50 Index futures expiring next month lost 0.6 percent at 5:03 p.m. in London. The Stoxx 600 rose as much as 1.1 percent earlier as data showed the euro area’s economy expanded at its fastest pace in almost two years.
• IEA Says OPEC Battle for Oil Market Share Only Just Started. OPEC’s push to defend its share of the global oil market has just begun and the International Energy Agency said the group may further increase production, a strategy that caused prices to crash last year. Gulf-based members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries are boosting supplies as they escalate a battle to preserve sales volumes, the IEA said in its monthly market report. While the U.S. shale oil industry appears to have “blinked” in the face of OPEC’s move, countries including Russia are coping better than expected with low prices and the agency increased its overall 2015 estimate for non-OPEC production.
• BHP(BHP) Chief Warns Lower Iron-Ore Prices Are Here to Stay. BHP Billiton Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Andrew Mackenzie warned that lower iron-ore prices are here to stay. “The growth in demand for iron ore is happening at a slower rate than the addition of low-cost supply,” he said in a phone interview from Barcelona Tuesday. “Which is why we’re bearish about iron-ore prices in the medium-to-long term.”
• U.S., Russia, Japan, China, Korea Hit With EU Steel Duty. The European Union imposed tariffs as high as 35.9 percent on electrical steel from the U.S., Russia, Japan, China and South Korea, seeking to curb competition for EU producers such as ArcelorMittal and ThyssenKrupp AG.
• There’s a Tourist Problem in $7.8 Trillion of U.S. Company Bonds. Wondering what the next shoe to drop in the $7.8 trillion U.S. corporate-bond market might be? The answer could be a dollar rout that’d prompt foreign buyers to bail. As the dollar has surged in the past year, overseas investors have poured cash into the debt, seeking returns from both the strengthening currency and corporate credit in the world’s biggest economy. Investors from Europe to China now own about 35 percent of the market, up from about 20 percent in 1999, according to data compiled by Wells Fargo & Co. If the dollar weakened significantly at the same time that bond yields rose -- meaning losses on both the currency and price sides of the equation -- those investors might very well leave, Wells Fargo analysts Nathaniel Rosenbaum and George Bory wrote in a May 11 report.
• Goldman(GS), BofA(BAC) Among Banks Said to Face Fresh Swaps Scrutiny. The European Union is re-evaluating its antitrust probe into whether 13 of the world’s biggest banks conspired to shut exchanges out of the credit-default swaps market after a series of mishaps nearly derailed the four-year-old case, according to people familiar with the matter. EU officials are weighing whether to send a revised antitrust complaint to smooth over cracks exposed at a May 2014 hearing, said one of the people, who asked not to be named because the matter is confidential. The review is nearly finished and regulators aim to decide on the next steps within a couple of months, the person said. 
• ETF Assets Set to Overtake Hedge Funds This Year. ETFs at $3 trillion means they’ll eclipse hedge funds.

ZeroHedge:

• ETF Issuers Quietly Prepare For "Market Meltdown" With Billions In Emergency Liquidity. (graph)
• Mark Hanson Is In "Full-Blown, Black-Swan Lookout Mode" For Housing Bubble 2.0.
• The US Is In Recession According To These 7 Charts. (graph)
• China Lashes Out At US: "Refrain From Provocative Action".
• Q2 GDP Forecast Cut To 0.7% By Atlanta Fed. (graph)
• Market Open Ramp Ends With A Whimper As Bund Yields Suddenly Spike. (graph)
• Crude Pumps & Dumps After Inventory Draw Slows & Production Rises. (graph)
• Gold & Silver Surge On Heavy Volume As Dollar Dives After Retail Sales Slump. (graph)
• "QE Doesn't Work... But We Can't Wait For More".
• Import Prices Plunge For 9th Month In A Row, Biggest Drop Ex-Fuel Since 2009. (graph)
• US Retail Sales Hint At Recession, Weakest Since Financial Crisis. (graph)
• The Central Problem With Central Banks: They Become The Greater Fools/Bag-Holders.

Business Insider:

• Macy's(M) offers an ominous insight about American consumers.
• Everything China's doing isn't working.
• Saudi Arabia is tightening the screws on US shale.
• The bond market is sending shock waves, and Wall Street insiders are worried.
• HSBC WARNS: The world economy faces a 'titanic problem'. Whereas previous recoveries have enabled monetary and fiscal policymakers to replenish their ammunition, this recovery — both in the US and elsewhere — has been distinguished by a persistent munitions shortage. This is a major problem.
• Iran warns the Saudi coalition that blocking an aid ship bound for Yemen will 'spark a fire'.