Today's Headlines

Bloomberg: 

• Greek Talks Said to Be Going Nowhere. (video) 
• Greek Bonds Rise as Official Says Nation Close to Accord on Debt. (video) Greece’s government bonds rose after the nation said it will start drafting an accord on Wednesday with international creditors to unlock much-needed bailout funds. Yields on Greece’s two-year notes dropped the most in a week, even after international officials including European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said a deal wasn’t imminent. A Greek official, who asked not to be identified, said an agreement that included changes to the nation’s pension system and a long-term solution on debt was close.
• Negative Rates in Europe Prompt Demand for Investment Safeguards. Credit markets in Europe are so distorted that investors are demanding assurances they won’t have to pay borrowers for lending money after key benchmark interest rates turned negative. Debt issuers from Volkswagen AG to a subsidiary of Rabobank are inserting clauses into their deal documents to protect creditors from having to pay if rates on their investments fall below zero. The euro interbank offered rate, which is dropping, is a benchmark for a notional amount of more than $180 trillion of debt including asset-backed securities, corporate loans, floating-rate bonds and exchange-traded derivatives, according to the European Money Markets Institute. The European Central Bank’s unprecedented stimulus measures are warping credit markets and causing confusion for investors.
• Commodity Trader Default No One Saw Coming Deepens Brazil Rout. No one saw this default coming. Before Ceagro Agricola Ltda., a Brazilian commodity trader, told bondholders on May 22 that it wouldn’t make an interest payment this month, its $100 million of notes traded at about 95 cents on the dollar. They quickly collapsed to a record low 20.6 cents that day. The default -- the sixth this year in Brazil -- highlights the increasing perils faced by creditors of companies exposed to declines in both raw-material prices and the real. Ceagro Agricola, which cited “significant losses” due to adverse economic conditions, followed two sugar producers and an oil-services company in halting debt payments. Unlike those companies, this one came as a shock. 
• Europe Stocks Rise to One-Month High on Greek Debt Deal Optimism. European stocks rose to a one-month high amid optimism that Greece has made progress on a debt deal with its creditors. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index added 1.3 percent to 408.88 at the close of trading.
• Iron-Ore Supply Cuts by Majors Just Won’t Work, Says Goldman(GS). The world’s biggest iron ore miners are right to press on with expansions into an oversupplied market as reining in supply growth would hurt efficiency and be hard to coordinate, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. “Efforts to support prices via voluntary production cuts would be counter-productive,” analyst Christian Lelong wrote in a report on Wednesday. While such cutbacks are appealing in theory, any such proposal is misguided, according to Lelong.
• Long Slog to Build Power Lines May Imperil Obama’s Carbon Cuts. A seven-year quest to connect windmills in Kansas to customers as far away as Virginia highlights a challenge facing the Obama administration’s plan to use renewable energy to cut carbon emissions: getting transmission lines built to carry the electricity. Clean Line Energy Partners’ 780-mile Grain Belt Express, proposed in 2008, has already been reviewed by regulators in four states. Even if everything goes as planned, it will be four more years before electricity starts flowing. It’s one of almost 200 high-voltage power line projects that have been proposed, some of which may be needed for President Barack Obama to meet his goal of beefing up renewable energy. But an approval process that can take 10 years means many won’t even be in operation before the administration’s proposed plan to cut power-plant emissions goes into effect. “Everybody is pushing to come up with the lowest cost solution,” says Michael Skelly, Clean Line’s president. To do that, “we have to change how we do transmission. All the entities involved have to move much more quickly,” he said. It’s a dilemma because wind blows hardest in the interior plains and transmission lines are needed to connect with populous cities to the west and east that need the power.

ZeroHedge: 

• How Clinton Foundation Donations Led To Billions In Weapons Sales To Autocratic Regimes.
• Obama Loses Immigration Battle As States Block Executive Order.
• JPMorgan Warns Greece "Is Not Investable" As Germany Denies Any Deal Progress.
• When Stock Buybacks Go Horribly Wrong. (graph)
• Buy This Company Quickly For $10 Million Before It IPOs On The Shenzhen Exchange. (graph)
• Mary Meeker Warns "Pockets Of Over-Valuation... Growth Rates Are Slowing" In Her Latest 'State Of The Internet' Presentation.
• Need To Manipulate Markets? Just Email The Bank Of England At hammer@bankofengland.co.uk.
• The Real Story Behind Deutsche Bank's Latest Book Cooking Settlement.
• Shake Shak(SHAK) Slumps As "Chicken Spin-Off" Gains Disappear.
• WTI Crude Crumbles Back To 6-Week Lows (Under $57.50). (graph)

Business Insider:

• Oracle(ORCL) won another battle in its epic war with Google(GOOG), and the whole computer industry is nervous about it.
• The most staggering part of FIFA's $150 million bribery scandal.
• Tiffany(TIF) is surging.
• The war on coal is real, and one side is clearly winning.
• There is a new giant among oil traders.
• JIM CHANOS: There's a 'disaster waiting to happen' in the oil and gas industry.
• Even Wall Street's China bulls are worried. (graph)

Telegraph: 

• Spain risks euro split over radical new ECB mandate. Madrid proposes European Central Bank adopt a "Federal Reserve-style" mandate to prevent dangerous imbalances in the single currency.

Het Financieele Dagblad:

• Fink Says Concessions to Greece More Dangerous Than Grexit. A Greek exit from the euro area is less disastrous then making concessions, citing an interview with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink. Says that if concessions are made, other countries may also demand them. Says it's unacceptable Alexis Tsipras wants to reverse earlier agreements on reforms.

Handelsblatt:

• IMF's Blanchard Says Eurozone Can Withstand Grexit. IMF's Blanchard says solution for Greece still possible. Says earlier Grexit fears now less important.