Monday, October 31, 2016

Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
  • DNC’s Brazile Said to Have Leaked Debate Question to Clinton. Donna Brazile, a top official with the Democratic National Committee who also was a CNN analyst, allegedly notified Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in March about a question to be asked at a “town hall” debate during the primaries, according to documents posted by WikiLeaks. It marks the second purported e-mail indicating Brazile had tipped off the Clinton campaign to questions that were supposed to be kept secret during the Democratic primaries, when the DNC was ostensibly neutral. The alleged e-mail posted Monday said Clinton would be questioned by a woman from Flint, Michigan, about the town’s tainted water. An alleged memo released earlier told the campaign Clinton would be asked about the death penalty at another event that month. 
  • China Developers Face Threat of Funding Cost Jump Amid Curbs. China’s developers face higher financing costs after regulators stepped up efforts to rein in the borrowing that has fueled a red-hot property market. The Shanghai Stock Exchange raised the threshold for property firms to sell the bonds that it regulates, people familiar with the matter said Friday. Along with curbs on home sales and mortgages, the rules will likely strain access to cash and prompt more builders to seek money overseas, pushing up dollar note yields, according to Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. and Bank of China Hong Kong Ltd.
  • Italy’s Bonds Slump as Polls Show Nation Rejecting Renzi Vote. Italy’s bonds were the worst performers among their euro-area peers in the past month as polls increasingly signaled a constitutional referendum may be rejected by voters, threatening to destabilize the government. Italian 10-year debt yields climbed earlier to the highest level since June as a survey showed that a majority of respondents would vote against constitutional reforms led by Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. In the referendum scheduled Dec. 4, 39 percent of Italian voters would likely vote “No” and 35 percent would support it, according to a Demos & Pi poll for la Repubblica, published Oct. 30.
  • Pound Is October’s Worst Performer as Brexit Angst Haunts Market. (video) The pound is the world’s worst-performing currency this month, trailing behind about 150 peers, as the first signs of how Brexit will look emerged in October. Sterling posted its biggest monthly decline versus the dollar since the U.K. voted in June to leave the European Union amid speculation that the government is headed for a so-called hard Brexit, where unfettered access to Europe’s single market is sacrificed for immigration controls. The pound dropped after political headlines and comments from lawmakers and central-bank officials underlined its vulnerability as concern about Britain’s exit from the world’s largest trading bloc intensified.
  • Declines in Energy Shares Cap Month of Worry for European Stocks. (video) As October drew to a close, a slump in oil added to the list of woes that have held back gains for European stocks. BP Plc and Royal Dutch Shell Plc fell at least 1.4 percent after an unresolved OPEC accord following weekend talks raised questions on whether the world’s biggest oil producers can implement supply cuts at an official gathering in November. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 0.5 percent, the worst drop in two weeks.
  • One Measure of Risk Just Hit Its Highest Level in Four Months. (video) As the presidential election race narrows after Friday’s surprise FBI announcement, stock investors are finally showing some jitters. Hedges against a market decline surged immediately following reports that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is reviewing files that may be related to an investigation of Hillary Clinton’s e-mail practices when she was secretary of state. The ratio of bearish versus bullish options changing hands on the Chicago Board Options Exchange jumped the most since June to match a four-month high. 
  • Apple's(AAPL) Margins Lose Their Shine.
Wall Street Journal:
Zero Hedge:

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