Iran Selling 45 Billion Euros of Reserves for Dollars. Iran’s central bank began the first phase of the 45 billion-euro ($55 billion) sale of some of its reserves for dollars, the state-run Jaam-e-Jam newspaper reported, citing people it didn’t identify. The bank is selling 15 billion euros in the first of three stages, which will be completed by Sept. 22, the newspaper reported on its website on May 31. Iran will “substantially” decrease its oil sales in euros, the paper said. It informed Japan and other crude-oil customers of the change, Jaam-e-Jam said. The Persian Gulf country’s euro reserves are 55 percent of the total, and would be reduced to 20 to 25 percent after the sale is complete and after oil sales in euros have been reduced, the paper said. Iran’s shift out of euros has been prompted by the single currency’s decline, said Jaam-e-Jam, which is owned by the state broadcaster. Other central banks, including those of the Persian Gulf states, also are selling their euro reserves, it said.
Wealthy Investors Betting on Property, Stocks, Barclays Says. Wealthy investors globally are avoiding derivatives and hedge funds and turning to property and stocks following the global financial crisis and economic downturn, Barclays Wealth said, citing a survey.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said that high budget deficits are the main cause of the financial crisis.
Spain's $38 Billion Maturing Debt Fuels Sovereign Swaps Surge. Credit-default swaps on European sovereign debt rose for the third day as speculation Spain will struggle to refinance $38 billion of debt next month stoked concern the region’s deficit crisis may worsen. Swaps on Spanish government debt jumped 17 basis points to 270, according to CMA DataVision, nearing the record 274 basis points set two days before the European Union pledged $1 trillion on May 10 to ease the region’s budget troubles. The Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe Index of swaps on 15 governments rose 8 basis points to 156.5, approaching the all- time high of 161 on May 25. Spain, which lost its top grade from Fitch Ratings last week, has to refinance more than 48 billion euros ($59 billion) of debt between June and September, with the majority due next month, according to Bank of America Corp. data. “Worries over the amount of debt maturing over the next three months is casting a shadow over the market and clouding investor sentiment,” said Gary Jenkins, head of credit research at Evolution Securities Ltd. in London. Credit-default swaps on Portugal rose 18 basis points to 364, according to CMA. Contracts on Greece jumped 44.5 basis points to 766 while Ireland was up 22 at 283 and Italian swaps climbed 17 basis points to an all-time high of 249. The cost of insuring against losses on company debt also rose with the Markit iTraxx Crossover Index of swaps linked to 50 companies with mostly high-yield credit ratings climbing 11 basis points to 586.5, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.
German Cabinet Backs Short-Selling Ban to Help Euro. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Cabinet backed a ban on naked short-selling of credit-default swaps on euro-area government bonds and stocks of German companies, as the government moved to anchor steps to stop speculators in law. The proposal, approved by ministers meeting in Berlin today, also gives Germany’s Finance Ministry and the BaFin regulator leeway to ban euro-related derivatives trades without seeking further endorsement by lawmakers, according to the text of the bill e-mailed by the Finance Ministry.
Japan May Face Fiscal Crisis in 15 Years, Komine Says. The Japanese government may suffer fiscal collapse in 10 to 15 years if the ruling Democratic Party of Japan maintains its expansionary spending policy, said Takao Komine, a professor at Hosei University and former bureaucrat. Even though “Japan’s fiscal conditions are very severe, people were saying voicing such concern was like crying wolf,” Komine, 63, said in an interview in Tokyo yesterday. “However, since the wolf has appeared in Greece, people have started worrying it may show up in Japan as well.” Global scrutiny of sovereign debt has intensified as fiscal deficits in Europe swell, a crisis Finance Minister Naoto Kan has said the government needs to learn from as Japan’s public debt approaches 200 percent of gross domestic product. He also said Japan’s debt may exceed households’ financial assets around 2020, causing uncertainty over whether Japanese will be able finance government bonds. “Japan’s finances may collapse eventually, but it’s a story that may take 10 years or 15 years,” said Komine, who also sits on a government committee that charts the economic cycle. “But if the market’s trust is shaken, such a tipping point will come earlier.”
Nasdaq Proposes Tiered Circuit Breakers to Supplement SEC Rules. Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. announced a proposal to temporarily halt trading for any stock it lists in the U.S. when its price moves a specified amount, supplementing a Securities and Exchange Commission plan to pause transactions during periods of volatility. The trading curb would be triggered by levels depending on the price of the stock, according to Wayne Lee, a spokesman for New York-based Nasdaq. For shares trading below $1.75, the threshold is a 15 percent rise or fall, he said. Between $1.75 and $25, it’s 10 percent; $25 to $50, 5 percent; and more than $50, 3 percent, he said. The SEC proposed a halt last month for Standard & Poor’s 500 Index companies that rise or fall at least 10 percent in 5 minutes.
Wall Street Journal:
Rich Chinese Flee to Avoid Taxes, Anger. Maryland and New Jersey aren’t the only ones experiencing wealth flight. An article in the Straits Times says the rich in China are increasingly fleeing home to avoid taxes, government crackdowns and rising popular resentment. Some of the most popular destinations include Australia, Canada, Singapore and the U.S.
NBC Boss Eyes $30M+ Exit Deal From Comcast. General Electric(GE) has finalized details of Jeff Zucker's exit deal from NBC Universal, according to sources familiar with the situation. Zucker will leave "a couple of months" after Comcast Corp. closes its agreement to acquire a 51 percent stake in the media giant from its current owners General Electric and Vivendi -- with an exit package of roughly $30 million to $40 million, under the proposed exit deal, those sources said.
Business Insider:
Google's(GOOG) Windows-Killer Coming This Fall. Google (GOOG) plans to launch its own operating system for laptop PCs sometime in the "late fall," an executive said at the Computex PC show this morning.
Contaminated Cocaine Can Cause Flesh to Rot. Cocaine abusers -- already at risk for an abnormal heartbeat, blood pressure problems, hallucinations, convulsions and stroke -- can add another potential health complication to the list: rotting flesh.
Rahm Emanuel Subpoenaed by Blagojevich: Attorney. President Obama's chief of staff Rahm Emanuel was subpoenaed by the defense to testify in Rod Blagojevich's upcoming trial, a Blagojevich attorney told the Chicago Sun-Times.
Rasmussen Reports:
Daily Presidential Tracking Poll. The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 26% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty percent (40%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -14 (see trends).
Foxconn Technology Group confirmed another employee death in China. AFP cited China Labor Watch and a relative of the dead man as saying that Yan Li, 27, died on May 28 of exhaustion after working the night shift for a month at a plant in Shenzhen.
Interfax:
Terrorists are trying to gain access to nuclear, biological and chemical materials in Russia and other Commonwealth of Independent States countries, citing Alexander Bortnikov, head of Russia's Federal Security Service.
Handelsblatt:
European governments were too quick to adopt the euro and set up the currency union for ideological reasons, Oliver Williamson, co-winner of the 2009 Nobel Economic Prize, was cited as saying. While a shared currency makes sense, developing the European Union takes time, Williamson said. It's problematic that the euro deprives member countries of some monetary policy options, the professor emeritus at the Univ. of California at Berkeley said.
Cinco Dias:
Spanish banks are being charged more to borrow on the interbank market than lenders elsewhere, citing Banco Pastor SA Chairman Jose Maria Arias. Spanish banks are charged 1% to borrow overnight by foreign banks, compared with a global average of .3%.
China Ministry of Commerce:
China's government bought pork for stockpiling in an attempt to stabilize market prices and protect the interests of farmers, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement on its website today.
Bond New Issues Shut as Bank Default Swaps Rise: Credit Markets. The market for corporate bond sales remained shut as concern that banks in Europe will take more writedowns and losses led investors to shun all but the safest government securities. There were no corporate bond sales in the U.S. today, compared with $2.2 billion on the corresponding day following the holiday weekend in 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The global new issue market failed to revive after declining to $70 billion last month, less than half of April’s tally and the least since August 2003, Bloomberg data show. The cost of protecting against losses in bonds of European lenders rose as the Markit iTraxx Financial Index of credit- default swaps on 25 European banks and insurers climbed 13.5 basis points to 173.5 basis points, the highest in more than three weeks and the biggest increase since May 14, JPMorgan Chase & Co. prices show.
Gaza Situation 'Unsustainable,' Clinton Says as Ship Approaches. Pro-Palestinian activists are sending another ship to try to breach Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip, setting up another possible confrontation with the Israeli navy, as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the situation in Gaza “unsustainable and unacceptable.”
Prudential Says in Talks With AIG to Scrap AIA Deal. Prudential Plc said it’s in talks to pull out of its $35.5 billion takeover of American International Group Inc.’s main Asian unit after failing in its attempt to cut the price. London-based Prudential said if the deal with AIG to buy AIA Group Ltd. is terminated, as it expects, the board will scrap plans for a rights offer that would have helped fund the purchase. Ending the deal will cost Prudential about 450 million pounds ($660 million), including a break fee of 153 million pounds, it said.
Foxconn Group to Raise Wages by at Least 30%. Foxconn Technology Group, the assembler of Apple Inc.’s(AAPL) iPhones, will raise workers’ salaries by at least 30 percent, more than previously indicated, after a series of suicides at the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer. The increase was reported earlier by the Economics Daily. Hon Hai said on May 28 it might raise pay in China by 20 percent. “It’s been a while since we increased wages, hence the decision,” Ding said today by phone. “Raising pay and the suicide issues are two separate matters,” he said when asked if the move will reduce suicides at Foxconn. At least 10 people have died this year at Hon Hai’s manufacturing complex in Shenzhen and police are treating the deaths as suicides, prompting Chairman Terry Gou to recruit counselors and install nets on dormitory buildings.
China's Stocks Face 'Further Downside," Nomura Says. Investors should remain cautious on China’s stocks as they face “further downside” risk, according to Nomura Holdings Inc., which closed out a recommended switch into Hong Kong-listed Chinese banks from Asian resource stocks. “While consensus seeks to re-enter the market, we remain much more cautious.” The Shanghai Composite Index, tracking mainland Chinese stocks, has declined 22 percent this year, the worst performer in Asia, as policy makers took steps to cool the real estate market and concern grew that widening budget deficits in Europe could derail global growth.
Hatoyama to Resign Over Base Row. Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said he announce his resignation at an emergency plenary meeting of ruling party lawmakers later Wednesday. Calls have been growing within the Democratic Party of Japan for his resignation after a recent plunge in the cabinet's approval rating and his awkward handling of the relocation of a U.S. military base in Okinawa. Mr. Hatoyama said DPJ leader Ichiro Ozawa also accepted his resignation request.
Spill Draws Criminal Probe. The U.S. has launched criminal and civil investigations into the Gulf of Mexico oil spill—the latest move by the Obama administration to show it is taking aggressive action amid bipartisan criticism of its response to the disaster.
Jindal Takes Lead Role Criticizing the Cleanup. In the gathering frustration over failures to stop the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has emerged as one of the staunchest critics of the response by the federal government and BP PLC(BP).
Lawyers Marshal Their Suits. Just as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill has surpassed the scope of the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill, it appears the torrent of related litigation has, too. Lawyers here are busy trying to increase the size and scope of the lawsuits they have filed on behalf of people who contend they were harmed in some way by the disaster spreading along the Gulf of Mexico coast. Families of employees killed in the April 20 explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig, leased by BP PLC, have filed suits, as have many of the 115 survivors of the incident and some of the rescuers who plucked people from the burning waters. There are suits from those who say they have been hurt economically, including shrimpers, oystermen and fishermen, seafood processing plants, deep-sea fishing operations and businesses and municipalities that rely on tourism. Environmental groups have filed litigation of their own. Oil industry employees out of work because of a six-month moratorium on deep-water drilling could have a legal claim as well. The opening of criminal and civil investigations by the government, announced Tuesday, will likely fuel efforts by plaintiffs' attorneys.
Atomic Waste Gets 'Temporary' Home. Three months after the U.S. cancelled a plan to build a vast nuclear-waste repository in Nevada, the country's ad hoc atomic-storage policy is becoming clear in places like Wiscasset, Maine. Wiscasset doesn't even have a nuclear-energy plant anymore. The Maine Yankee facility was shuttered back in 1996 after developing problems too costly to fix, and the reactor was dismantled early this decade. What's left is a bare field of 167 acres cleared and ready for development—except for one thing. Left behind are 64 enormous steel-and-concrete casks that hold 542 metric tons of radioactive waste. Seventeen feet tall and 150 tons apiece, the casks are protected by razor wire, cameras and a security force. Meant for temporary storage next to energy plants, these containers are now serving as de facto indefinite repositories around America.
Texas Questions E-Book Publishers. The Texas attorney general is making inquiries about the electronic book market, according to people familiar with the matter, a business where pricing recently has been shaken up by Apple Inc. and the way e-books are sold for the iPad.
Bloomberg Businessweek:
China's Stocks Decline to 13-Month Low; Bank of China Plunges. China’s stocks fell, sending the benchmark index to a 13-month low, on concern fundraising by banks and a slowdown in European manufacturing growth will curb investor demand for equities and hurt earnings. Bank of China Ltd. plunged 6.3 percent as the lender began a 40 billion yuan ($5.9 billion) convertible bond sale. Jiangxi Copper Co. and PetroChina Co. paced declines among resource producers. “I am cautious about the market outlook,” said Chen Wenzhao, a strategist at China Merchants Securities Co. in Shanghai. “Economic growth has already peaked. There isn’t any big buying opportunity.” The Shanghai index has dropped 22 percent this year on concern growth at the world’s third-largest economy will slow after the central bank raised bank reserve requirements three times to avert asset bubbles and the government has stepped up measures to rein in rising housing prices.
CNBC:
Soaring Costs Force Canada to Reassess Health Model. Pressured by an aging population and the need to rein in budget deficits, Canada's provinces are taking tough measures to curb health care costs, a trend that could erode the principles of the popular state-funded system. British Columbia is replacing block grants to hospitals with fee-for-procedure payments and Quebec has a new flat health tax and a proposal for payments on each medical visit -- an idea that critics say is an illegal user fee. And a few provinces are also experimenting with private funding for procedures such as hip, knee and cataract surgery. It's likely just a start as the provinces, responsible for delivering healthcare, cope with the demands of a retiring baby-boom generation. Official figures show that senior citizens will make up 25 percent of the population by 2036. "There's got to be some change to the status quo whether it happens in three years or 10 years," said Derek Burleton, senior economist at Toronto-Dominion Bank. "We can't continually see health spending growing above and beyond the growth rate in the economy because, at some point, it means crowding out of all the other government services. At some stage we're going to hit a breaking point," Burleton said. In some ways the Canadian debate is the mirror image of discussions going on in the United States. Canada, fretting over budget strains, wants to prune its system, while the United States, worrying about an army of uninsured, aims to create a state-backed safety net. Healthcare in Canada is delivered through a publicly funded system, which covers all "medically necessary" hospital and physician care and curbs the role of private medicine. It ate up about 40 percent of provincial budgets, or some C$183 billion ($174 billion) last year.
Cramer: US Needs to Refinance to Prevent Liquidity Crisis. The US government is making the same mistake as those who took out variable rate mortgages, Cramer said. They share the belief that they would save money with the low rates in the short-term, only to get slammed when mortgages were reset during the financial crisis. Right now, the US is borrowing a lot of short-term money that comes due in a few years, rather than taking advantage of the massive demand for Treasuries — the safest place to put your money thanks to European contagion locking in slightly higher, but still incredibly low rates for the long-term.
Fox News:
Three SEC Lawyers Reportedly Used Agency Computers to Access Pornography. Three attorneys at the Securities and Exchange Commission tried to access pornography on government computers 201 times during just one two-week period reviewed by the SEC’s inspector general, a new report from him said Tuesday. One attorney alone tried 99 times during the period to view porn -- and tried 528 times in the previous one-month period, the inspector general, David Kotz, wrote in a new semi-annual report to Congress. The second attorney tried 66 times during the two-week period and the third attempted 51 times. The agency’s security software blocked the requests, the report said, but the lawyers still found ways around the software and “successfully accessed sexually explicit or sexually suggestive websites from their government computers.”
NY Times:
SEC Is Said to Seek to Bar Wall St. Financier. As it investigates a suspected kickback scheme in New York’s pension system, the Securities and Exchange Commission has been pushing to bar Steven L. Rattner, a prominent financier and former adviser to the Obama administration on the auto industry, from working in the securities industry for up to three years, according to three people told of the discussions.
A Series of Lucky Coincidences Involving Goldman Sachs(GS) and BP Plc(BP). We uncovered some amusing correlations, most notably between the BP plc sellside ratings by Goldman BP analyst Michelle della Vigna and the Goldman Sachs Asset Management holdings of BP plc. These are summarized on the attached chart. Yet for the ADHD challenged here is the punchline: GSAM dumped 40% of its holdings shortly after Goldman went from Neutral to Buy on the stock, and concurrent with fiduciary release by Peter Sutherland who left BP for good on January 1, 2010 to return to his full-time Goldman Sachs International Chairmanship duties.
Deepwater Horizon Response:
NOAA Expands Fishing Closed Area in Gulf of Mexico. NOAA has extended the northern and southern boundaries of the closed fishing area in the Gulf of Mexico to capture portions of the slick moving into waters off eastern Alabama and the western tip of the Florida panhandle, as well as some large patches of sheen moving onto the west Florida shelf and southward to Cuban waters. The closed area now represents 75,920 square miles, which is slightly more than 31 percent of Gulf of Mexico federal waters.
Real Clear Politics:
Republicans Jump Out to Historic Lead in Gallup Generic Ballot. Gallup's generic polling shows the number of voters saying that they would vote for Republicans rising three points from last week, while the number saying they will vote for Democrats dropped four points. The 49%-43% lead for the Republicans is the largest that the pollster has ever recorded for the party. Moreover, Democratic enthusiasm for voting this fall fell a point, while enthusiasm among Republicans stayed about fifteen points higher. This indicates an even wider lead for Republicans once Gallup imposes a likely voter screen this fall. There's any number of reasons for this: the public's perception of Obama's response to the oil spill, the shaky stock market performance last week, continued concern about the economy and spending.
Reuters:
US Justice Dept Seen Ill-Prepared for WMD Attack. The U.S. agency charged with coordinating public safety and security efforts after an attack involving a weapon of mass destruction is ill-prepared for the task, a report said on Tuesday. The Justice Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has done little training and preparation for this role, according to the report by the Justice Department's inspector general, Glenn Fine.The report criticized the Justice Department's leadership over its preparations for an attack, saying it failed to set up a Crisis Management Committee or name a senior official to coordinate the department's efforts. "The department is not fully prepared to provide a coordinated response to a WMD incident," its report said.
US Watchdog Expands Probe of SEC - BofA Settlement. A federal watchdog has expanded an investigation into what led regulators to accuse Bank of America (BAC) of misleading investors over its takeover of Merrill Lynch & Co, according to a report released on Tuesday.
Global Credit Conditions Worsened in May - Kamakura. The number of companies at risk globally of defaulting on their debt rose in May, reversing an improving trend and reflecting worsening credit conditions, risk management firm Kamakura Corp said on Tuesday. The proportion of companies at risk of defaulting on their debt globally rose 0.84 of a percentage point in May to 10.30 percent of the more than 29,000 companies Kamakura rates globally.
S&P to Review 35 Company Ratings on Drilling Ban.Standard & Poor's said on Tuesday it is reviewing its ratings on around 35 companies that have exposure to a temporary ban on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. S&P said it will review the ratings over the coming two weeks and will assess how the drilling ban will affect the operating exposures and cash flows of affected companies.
European Central Bank Governing Council member Christian Noyer said the euro's current exchange rate is "by no means an extraordinary level," citing an interview. The present crisis is a "fantastic opportunity to enhance the economic governance of the euro area," Noyer added. "I think this opportunity should be seized. The ECB has always been in favor of that," Noyer said. The so-called Volcker rule isn't discusses as an option for Europe recently, Noyer said, adding that Europeans may have to push the U.S. to implement banking-regulation measures such as the so-called Basel III rules. Banks which received sate aid "must be merged, sold or cut down by governments. There should be no exception," Noyer said.
Spiegel Online:
The German government is considering introducing a tax on fuel elements for energy companies as part of a package. Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition set up a working group that is also considering raising the tobacco tax, citing people close to the coalition.
Evening Recommendations Citigroup:
Rated (WINN) Buy, target $16.
Oppenheimer:
Rated (NUAN) Outperform, target $21.
Night Trading
Asian indices are -.75% to +.25% on average.
Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 151.0 +7.0 basis points.
Pending Home Sales for April are estimated to rise +5.0% versus a +5.3% gain in March.
5:00 pm EST
Total Vehicle Sales for May are estimated to rise to 11.4M versus 11.21M in April.
Upcoming Splits
None of note
Other Potential Market Movers
The Challenger Job Cuts report for May, weekly retail sales reports, weekly MBA mortgage applications report, Keefe Bruyette Financial Services Conference, Keybanc Industrial/Automotive Conference, Goldman Sachs Basic Materials Conference, Cowen Tech/Media/Telecom Conference, BofA Merrill Tech Conference, (ACE) Investor Conference, (CNC) Investor Day, (AXCM) Analyst Meeting, (MWE) Analyst Conference and the (LIFE) Investor Day could also impact trading today.
BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly lower, weighed down by commodity and financial shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open modestly higher and to weaken into the afternoon, finishing modestly lower. The Portfolio is 50% net long heading into the day.
