Monday, March 28, 2016

Today's Headlines

Posted by Gary .....at 2:36 PM
Bloomberg: 
  • Belgium Hunts Third Airport Bomber as Death Toll Increases. Belgian police, trying to identify a suspect seen with two suicide bombers at the Brussels airport, released video footage of the unknown man in an appeal for information about him as the death toll increased in last week’s terrorist attacks. Another suspect, whom Belgian media had reported may have been the third bomber at the airport, was released from custody on Monday, the federal prosecutors office in Brussels said. The clues that led to the arrest of this suspect -- identified as Faycal C. -- were not supported by further investigation, according to a statement. The surveillance-camera video posted on the website of the federal police on Monday shows a man in a white jacket and wearing a hat and glasses, pushing a luggage cart next to the two bombers who blew themselves up in the March 22 assaults. The video, about 30 seconds long, includes a slowed-down segment and close-ups of the man’s head. The other two airport attackers have been identified as Ibrahim El Bakraoui, who was deported from Turkey last year on suspicions of planning to cross to Syria, and Najim Laachraoui, who was also sought in connection with the Paris attacks in November. The suicide blasts ripped through the departures hall at the airport in Zaventem. Officials there are testing repair work and temporary arrangements before making a decision on when to re-open the terminal to passengers, even on a partial basis.
  • China Stocks Fall as Property Curbs Overshadow Industrial Profit. China’s stocks fell as property developers slumped after some of the nation’s biggest cities introduced real-estate curbs, overshadowing a rebound for industrial companies’ profits. The Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.7 percent, erasing a gain of as much as 1 percent. Poly Real Estate Group Co. and Gemdale Corp. led declines for developers. Shenzhen joined Shanghai in introducing measures late last week to tame soaring real-estate prices, including increasing down-payment requirements. Industrial profits broke a seven-month losing run to climb 4.8 percent in the January-February period. Property prices in the largest Chinese cities have begun to diverge severely from values in less-populated areas, spurring People’s Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan to warn lenders this month about increased credit risk from this trend. Shenzhen will also limit local residents to purchases of two homes, while Shanghai will tighten approval criteria for non-resident homebuyers and ban unregulated lending. “Developers are facing some headwinds as these measures are likely to cause immediate negative impact on the demand side,” said Wu Kan, a fund manager at JK Life Insurance in Shanghai. 
  • Copper Processing Fees in China Tumble. (video)
  • Red Meat, It's What's for Dinner Again as Beef Prices Tumble. Beef is making a comeback. After decades of diners shunning steaks and burgers for healthier protein options such as chicken and turkey, Americans will eat an estimated 54.3 pounds of the red meat this year -- the first increase since 2006 and almost half a pound more per person than in 2015, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Cheaper prices are spurring discounts and new menu items at restaurant chains, including Chili’s and Wendy’s Co. Protein-centric diets such as the Paleolithic, or Paleo, and Autoimmune Protocol that eliminate grains and sugar also are fueling the shift. In February, a pound of uncooked ground beef retailed for $4.38, about 7 percent below a year ago, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
  • Valeant(VRX) CEO Pearson Subpoenaed to Testify at Senate Hearing.
Wall Street Journal:
Fox News:
  • The women marked for death by Islamic fatwa face threats with fear, courage. (video) Twenty-seven years ago, Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini called for the death of a British author, giving new fame to Salman Rushdie and infamy to the term “fatwa.” Rushdie, whose “The Satanic Verses” had been deemed offensive to Muslims, remains threatened by the Islamic decree, but six American women who lack the resources of a best-selling author also have been marked for death by Muslim leaders. Some have been driven from their homes and jobs and even forced to live the rest of their lives in hiding, with little hope that the fatwa will be lifted. “It is not safe, of course, not even in the West, for anyone who has a fatwa of death issued against them,” Nonie Darwish told FoxNews.com.
CNBC:
  • Buyback fuel for the bull market is losing steam. (video) Stock buybacks, which have helped power the 7-year-old bull market, are showing their first signs of retreat in at least three years. Share repurchases decreased 3.4 percent in the fourth quarter from the previous three-month period and are tracking at a 21-month low in March, according to respective data from S&P Dow Jones Indices and TrimTabs.
Zero Hedge:
The Telegraph:
  • Can anything stop Japan from falling into the abyss? The country’s annual Spring time assault on wages seems to have passed with little more than a whimper this year despite being billed as one of the most anticipated economic events in Japan’s recent history. Translating as “spring wage offensive”, Shunto marks the annual Japanese ritual of wage bargaining between business groups and labour unions.

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