European Union Rules Out Immediate Aid Boost, Banks on ECB to Fight Crisis. European finance ministers ruled out immediate aid for Portugal and Spain or an increase in the 750 billion-euro ($1 trillion) crisis fund, counting on European Central Bank bond purchases to calm debt-spooked markets. A week after handing Ireland an 85 billion-euro lifeline, the finance chiefs voiced confidence that Spain and Portugal will tame their budget deficits and said the existing credit line is enough to defend them in an emergency. “It’s very difficult to calm the financial markets, but we repeated today one more time that we do everything to secure the financial stability in the euro zone,” Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker told Bloomberg News late yesterday after chairing the ministers’ meeting in Brussels.
ECB's Wellink Says 'It's Not Up To' Central Bank to Save Euro-Area Nations. European Central Bank Governing Council member Nout Wellink said it is not the central bank’s task to rescue euro-area countries with funding problems. “It’s not up to the ECB to save countries where governments run the risk of becoming insolvent,” Wellink, who also heads the Dutch central bank, said at a panel discussion in Amsterdam today. “We are not here to take over, on our balance sheet, the risks of the national economies of Europe.”
Ireland's Lenihan to Present Budget as 'Political Risk' on Bailout Mounts. Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan will outline 6 billion euros ($8 billion) worth of spending cuts and tax increases today, seeking to seal an international bailout to rescue the state’s finances and banks. Lenihan will lay out the 2011 budget in parliament in Dublin at 3:45 p.m., adding to measures of about 14 billion euros over the last two years.
Buyout Bets Wane as Swaps Show Economy Keeps LBOs in Check: Credit Markets. Buyout speculation that sent credit derivatives on companies from Cardinal Health Inc. to Dell Inc. soaring two months ago is waning as rising unemployment keeps the takeover revival in check. The average cost of credit-default swapson 15 companies including the Dublin, Ohio-based drug distributor and the computer maker founded by Michael Dell has dropped 33 basis points to 148 basis points, compared with a decline of 2.5 basis point for a benchmark swaps index. Swaps on Cardinal Health have plunged to 60 basis points from as high as 148.3 on Oct. 25. Bets on a surge in leveraged buyouts are being foiled as the sluggish recovery limits private-equity and bank deals. While the LBO pace has more than tripled to $133 billion this year from 2009, that compares with the record $1.6 trillion in announced deals from 2005 to 2007, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
China Outstrips Fed With Liquidity Risking 2011 Inflation Spike. China’s reluctance to allow a stronger exchange rate has hamstrung its efforts to rein in inflation and endangered a campaign to shift the economy toward domestic demand. The central bank continues to add liquidity, with money supply rising 19 percent in November from a year ago, according to the median estimate of 29 analysts in a Bloomberg News survey before a government release this month. That needs to be curbed to 15 percent to 16 percent to rein in inflation, said Fred Hu, the former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. chief China economist who has founded financial advisory firm Primavera Capital Group. China has held off executing a series of interest-rate increases in part because that would put pressure on a currency officials have kept down to shelter exports. The strategy will leave inflation accelerating past 4 percent for 2011, a three- year high, according to a separate survey. The cost: diminished consumer spending and narrower margins for domestic industries. “China is behind the curve” on reining in the monetary measures adopted during the global financial crisis, said Hu, 47, who is based in Beijing and gives talks to Communist Party members on the economy. “Policy makers have been complacent and failed to anticipate the inflationary consequences of the massive stimulus program.”
Citigroup(C) to Shed Government 'Handcuffs' as Treasury Starts Selling Stake. Citigroup Inc., recipient of a $45 billion taxpayer-funded bailout in 2008, came a step closer to severing government ties as the U.S. Treasury Department began selling its remaining stake in the third-biggest U.S. bank. The 2.4 billion Citigroup shares, valued at $10.7 billion at yesterday’s closing price of $4.45 each, may be sold as early as today, according to Bloomberg data. Morgan Stanley, which since April has sold 5.3 billion Citigroup shares on behalf of the government in open-market sales, will underwrite the offering, the Treasury Department said yesterday in a statement.
Obama Brings CEOs to White House Huddle as 44th President Changes Himself. The president who promised change for a country that was brought to the brink of depression is seeking advice from business leaders two years later for what may be his own makeover as he tries to find jobs for 15 million unemployed Americans.
Wall Street Journal:
Deal Struck on Tax Package. Grand Bargain Includes One-Year Drop in Wage Levy, Estate Tax of 35%. President Barack Obama reached agreement Monday with Republican leaders in Congress on a broad tax package that would extend the Bush-era income tax cuts for two years, reduce worker payroll taxes for one year and give more favorable treatment to business investments. Other elements of the deal include a temporary reinstatement of the estate tax at 35%—the level favored by most Republican lawmakers—as well as an extension of jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed.
Merger of Bookstore Giants Is Pushed. A major shareholder of Borders Group Inc. proposed that the bookseller acquire much bigger rival Barnes & Noble Inc., in a gamble to unite the two giant but struggling retailers at a time of major tumult in the book industry.
China's Bright Food Nears Purchase of GNC. China's Bright Food Group Co. is close to a deal to buy U.S. vitamin retail chain GNC Holdings Inc. for between $2.5 billion to $3 billion, people familiar with the matter said, the latest sign of growing Chinese appetite for U.S. companies. A deal for Pittsburgh-based GNC, which is owned by Ares Management and the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board, could be announced in the next few days, the people added.
Spill Panel Accuses Varco of Hindering Inquiry. The top lawyer for the presidential panel investigating the BP PLC oil spill has accused a Houston-based, oilfield-services firm of hindering the panel's inquiry by refusing to turn over software that could be used to determine what crew members on the doomed Deepwater Horizon rig were seeing on their computer screens the night of the deadly blast.
Chrysler Financial Bidding Begins. Two banking giants are in negotiations to purchase Chrysler Financial Corp., the auto lender owned by Cerberus Capital Management LP, according a person close to the matter. A deal valued at several billion dollars could be reached in the next few weeks, though there is no assurance the talks will lead to a sale.
U.S. Steps Up Push on Korea Crisis. In a Phone Call, Obama Urges China's Hu to Rein In Ally; Clinton Rules Out Talks With North Until Provocations Stop. President Barack Obama and China's President Hu Jintao spoke about the continuing crisis on the Korean peninsula, with the Chinese leader calling for calm and Mr. Obama urging Beijing to rein in its neighbor and ally.
Schwarzenegger Declares Fiscal Emergency in California. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a fiscal emergency in California today and called the legislature into a special session to address the state’s budget deficit. Schwarzenegger also presented a package of solutions, worth a total $9.9 billion, to help solve it. These include program reductions, alternate funding solutions and shifting funds. Among the governor’s proposals is a plan to lower the deficit by $6.2 million in 2010-11 and $25 million in 2011-12 by increasing monthly health care premiums in families with incomes from 150% to 250% of the federal poverty level.
Watch as David Einhorn Makes a Mockery of One-Man Fed "Expert Network" Larry Meyer. (video) One of the Fed's more arrogant former apparatchiks (of the "100% confidence" interval) Larry Meyer, currently at expert network Macroeconomic Advisors which is used by the likes of Pimco to get inside information on what the Fed will do at its upcoming meetings, appeared on CNBC earlier and attempted to school David Einhorn on "Economics 101."
CNN Money:
The 'Tax' You Can't Avoid: Oil Prices Rising. The price of crude is perilously close to $90 a barrel and the average cost for a gallon of gas is inching toward $3 nationwide. If they keep climbing, that could put a serious dent in economic recovery hopes for 2011. A spike in oil and gas prices is often referred to as a tax on consumers. That's because people have little choice but to suck it up and pay higher prices. As a result, consumers may spend less on other things that are not considered as vital. Part of the problem is that the Federal Reserve may be fueling (pardon the pun) the rise in oil with its controversial plan to buy $600 billion in long-term Treasury bonds. Fed critics argue that this quantitative easing program, the second since the onset of the financial crisis two years ago, may weaken the dollar further and lead to higher commodity prices.
LA Times:
Near Death, Elizabeth Edwards Quits Cancer Treatment. Elizabeth Edwards, the political wife whose name was hurled into the gossip scene when it was revealed her husband had had a love child with another woman, has only a few days to a few weeks to live, according to a friend of the family.
Politico:
Dems Aim For 100+ Bills in 1 Swoop. Democratic efforts to push through more than 100 public lands and water bills in the lame duck session are reaching a fever pitch, with the recognition this is the last chance many of them have to become law. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has tasked Democratic leaders on at least three committees to come up with a list of bills that could get past a GOP filibuster.
Reuters:
US Jobs Outlook Improves, Europe's Worsens - Manpower. Job seekers in the United States face better prospects in the coming quarter compared with three months ago, but the hiring outlook has worsened in much of Europe, notably in countries like Ireland and Spain where debt problems have eroded employer confidence. Of 36 countries and territories included in Manpower Inc's quarterly poll of hiring intentions, 15 showed improved job prospects for the first quarter, four were unchanged and 17 showed weaker hiring plans than three months ago.
Congress Likely to Cut US Ethanol Aid, Not End It. Congress is likely to extend the major U.S. ethanol incentive, rather than let it expire at the end of the month, but it will cut the tax credit by 20 percent or so, an analyst and an industry spokesman said on Monday.
Telegraph:
Euro Collapse 'Possible' Amid Deepening Divisions Over Bail-Out. Under questioning from MPs on the Treasury Select Committee, Stephen Nickell, a member of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) and a former Bank of England rate-setter, said a collapse of the single currency was "a possibility".
The Guardian:
Greece seeks longer to repay €110bn IMF bailout loan as austerity bites. IMF team flies in to Athens amid fears over economic recovery and reforms as EU predicts public debt at 160% of GDP by 2013. Like some visiting potentate, the head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, will be given a red carpet welcome when he visits Greece tomorrow but the pomp and circumstance will not be able to hide lingering fears over the debt-choked country's economic future.
China Daily:
China's inflation cycle is at a "critical point," requiring "disciplined and comprehensive policies," citing Stephen Roach, non-executive Asia chairman at Morgan Stanley. The Asia nation needs to convince the market that its shift to a "prudent" monetary policy "has teeth" by adopting tougher anti-inflationary measures, Roach said.
China Securities Journal:
The period around this weekend may be a "window" for China to raise interest rates, citing analysts at domestic banks and brokerages. The central bank may raise rates around the time set for the release of November's inflation data, which has been scheduled for Dec. 13, citing Li Huiyong, an analyst at Shenyin & Wanquo Securities, who forecast consumer prices may rise 6.1% last month. Lu Zhengwei, an economist at Industrial Bank Co., sees a rate increase as being likely between today and Dec. 18.
Financial News:
China should avoid breaking asset bubbles as it may lead to a "hard landing" for the country's economy, citing Liu Yuhui, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Evening Recommendations Morgan Stanley:
Reiterated Overweight on (GOOG), added to Best Ideas List, boosted estimates, raised target to $730.
BMO Capital Markets:
Rated (GOOG) Outperform, target $700.
Night Trading
Asian equity indices are -.25% to +.50% on average.
Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 107.50 +1.0 basis point.
Asia Pacific Sovereign CDS Index 107.75 +.25 basis point.
Consumer Credit for October is estimated at -$1.0B versus $2.1B in September.
Upcoming Splits
None of note
Other Potential Market Movers
The JOLTs Job Openings report for October, IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism Index for December, weekly retail sales reports, ABC Consumer Confidence reading, Goldman Sachs Financial Services Conference, CSFB Holiday Conference, UBS Media/Communications Conference, Morgan Stanley Clean Tech Conference, (LLL) investor conference, (MMM) analyst meeting, (ARM) analyst meeting, (RBC) analyst meeting, (CAH) analyst day, (NVLS) mid-quarter update, (SHOR) analyst meeting and the (TXN) mid-quarter update could also impact trading today.
BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly higher, boosted by technology and commodity shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open mixed and to rally into the afternoon, finishing modestly higher. The Portfolio is 100% net long heading into the day.
North American Investment Grade CDS Index 92.0 bps -.90%
European Financial Sector CDS Index 135.27 bps +6.34%
Western Europe Sovereign Debt CDS Index 181.50 bps +2.25%
Emerging Market CDS Index 210.10 bps -.22%
2-Year Swap Spread 23.0 unch.
TED Spread 18.0 +1 bp
Economic Gauges:
3-Month T-Bill Yield .12% -1 bp
Yield Curve 252.0 -1 bp
China Import Iron Ore Spot $167.10/Metric Tonne -.42%
Citi US Economic Surprise Index -12.10 -2.5 points
10-Year TIPS Spread 2.19% -1 bp
Overseas Futures:
Nikkei Futures: Indicating +28 open in Japan
DAX Futures: Indicating +9 open in Germany
Portfolio:
Higher: On gains in my Retail, Ag and Technology long positions
Disclosed Trades: None
Market Exposure: 100% Net Long
BOTTOM LINE: Today's overall market action is mildly bullish as the S&P 500 trades slightly higher despite rising eurozone sovereign debt angst and recent equity gains. On the positive side, Education, Gaming, Internet, Steel, Gold, Alt Energy and Coal shares are especially strong, rising more than 1.0%. Cyclical and Small-Cap shares are outperforming again. Copper is rising slightly despite euro weakness. The 10-year yield is falling -7 bps to 2.94%. On the negative side, Disk Drive and Paper shares are under mild pressure, falling more than .75%. The Spain sovereign cds is rising +6.37% to 312.82 bps, the UK sovereign cds is jumping +6.3% to 71.76 bps, the China sovereign cds is climbing +4.24% to 73.43 bps and the Ireland sovereign cds is gaining +3.05% to 552.54 bps. Today's overall market action remains more positive than the major averages would suggest as stocks consolidate recent gains on light volume. I expect US stocks to trade mixed-to-higher into the close from current levels on seasonal strength, investment manager performance angst, diminishing economic fear, short-covering and less financial sector pessimism.
Germany Snubs Peas to Boost Aid, Sell Joint Bonds. Germany rejected calls to increase the European Union’s 750 billion-euro ($1 trillion) aid fund or introduce joint bond sales, signaling its refusal to bear extra costs to stamp out the debt crisis. With European finance ministers gathered in Brussels today for their monthly meeting, German Chancellor Angela Merkel rebuffed pleas from Belgium and central bankers to boost the emergency fund to save countries such as Portugal and Spain from falling prey to speculation. “Right now I see no need to expand the fund,” Merkel told reporters in Berlin. She said EU treaties bar joint bond sales, which might force up Germany’s borrowing costs, the lowest in the euro area.
Biggs Says Technology at Start of Bullish Cycle on Asian Demand: Tom Keene. Demand from Asia is spurring a bull market for computer and software makers, according to Barton Biggs, manager of the Traxis Partners LLC hedge fund. “The big capital spending cycle, the last one, was from 1995 to 2000, and it was a transforming cycle,” Biggs, the managing partner of New York-based Traxis and former chairman of Morgan Stanley Asset Management, said in an interview today on “Bloomberg Surveillance” with Tom Keene. “The developments in terms of the cloud, storage and a whole series of new devices is the beginning of a new technology cycle.” While the peak season for spending by technology companies was once Christmas, the cycle for semiconductor makers and companies such as Apple Inc. has changed to revolve more around the Chinese New Year in January or February, Biggs said. “I feel really good about the markets here,” Biggs said. “Everything’s not perfect. The Case-Shiller, in terms of U.S. housing, and the European problems haven’t been solved. But nevertheless, it’s pretty clear the world is emerging from the soft spot it was in and we’re getting poised for pretty decent growth.”
Russia Poised to Control 50% of U.S. Uranium Output. ARMZ, the uranium-mining unit of Rosatom Corp., Russia's state-owned nuclear-energy company, may soon control as much as half of U.S. uranium production, after U.S. authorities approved its purchase of 51% of Canada's Uranium One Inc.. The purchase of the stake in Uranium One, which owns mines in Wyoming, was approved in Octobe4r by the Committee on Foreign Investments in the U.S. and last month by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Radware(RDWR) Jumps 20% After Calcalist Reports Riverbed(RVBD) May Seek to Acquire It. Radware Ltd., the maker of technology that helps Internet networks run more efficiently, jumped as much as 20 percent after Israeli newspaper Calcalist reported Riverbed Technology Inc. may seek to acquire it. Radware, based in Tel Aviv, gained $6.22, or 19 percent, to $38.98 at 9:59 a.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading, after earlier rising to as high as $39.45. The shares had more than doubled this year before today.
Peter Thiel's Clarium Hedge Fund Falls 23% This Year. Clarium LP, the hedge fund run by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, lost 23 percent this year, according to a note sent to clients. The $321 million fund declined 7.8 percent last month, according to the Dec. 3 note. Armel Leslie, a spokesman for Thiel’s San Francisco-based Clarium Capital Management LLC, declined to comment.
Carlyle to Buy Majority Stake in Credit Hedge Fund Claren Road. Carlyle Group, the world’s second- largest private-equity firm, agreed to buy a 55 percent stake in Claren Road Asset Management, a $4.5 billion long-short hedge fund focused on liquid credit assets. Citigroup Inc., which invested in Claren Road in 2006, and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s Petershill Fund, which bought a minority stake in 2008, will sell their holdings, according to an e-mailed statement by Washington-based Carlyle. Claren Road founders Brian Riano, John Eckerson, Sean Fahey and Albert Marino will continue to manage the day-to-day operations and make all investment decisions.
Italy, Spain Lead Increase in European Sovereign Credit Risk. Italy and Spain led an increase in the cost of insuring bonds sold by Europe’s peripheral nations, according to CMA prices for credit-default swaps. Swaps on Italy rose 8 basis points to 217 while Spain increased 9 basis points to 306. Contracts on Ireland were 11.5 baais points higher at 553 and Portugal was up 6 to 434. The Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe Index of swaps linked to 15 governments rose 3 basis points to 179.5.
Rogoff Says Europe's 'Denial' Won't Avert Greek, Irish Bond Restructuring. Europe’s debt crisis will probably result in bond restructurings in Greece, Ireland and Portugal even as policy makers say they have the weapons to avert default, Harvard University Professor Kenneth Rogoff said. “They can’t just be in a state of denial,” Rogoff said in a Bloomberg Television interview today. “They’ve tried to guarantee everything, to say, ‘Well, Germany is behind it and the IMF is behind it, it’s inconceivable for a euro-zone country to restructure.’” “We’ll be very lucky to avoid restructuring” in countries such as Greece, Ireland and Portugal, he said.
Fed's $600 Billion Credit Easing May Complicate Stimulus Exit, Lacker Says. Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Jeffrey Lacker said the purchases of $600 billion in U.S. Treasuries risk spurring inflation in a few years and may make it harder for the Fed to eventually withdraw the stimulus. “Further balance sheet expansion now could require more rapid balance sheet reduction later on, complicating the withdrawal of monetary stimulus when it becomes necessary to maintain price stability,” Lacker said today in a speech in Charlotte, North Carolina. “It is appropriate” to regularly review the purchases, he said.
Wall Street Journal:
Recruiters Expect Pickup In Hiring of Top Managers. Recruiters expect companies' executive-hiring plans to brighten, with business-development and sales executives most in demand, according to a November survey by Norwalk, Conn.-based ExecuNet Inc., an online networking site and job board. About 26% of search firms expected their clients to add executive jobs over the next six months, compared with about 5% that expected their clients to cut or not fill open positions. ExecuNet subtracts the second number from the first to calculate a hiring-index score. The 21-percentage-point difference between optimistic and pessimistic search firms in November was nearly 12 points greater than it was in October.
US Housing Market to Rebound in 2011 - Freddie Mac Economist. Macroeconomic factors suggest the U.S. housing market will improve in 2011, Freddie Mac's chief economist said in a note Monday. Accelerating economic recovery, low mortgage rates, a bottoming of home prices and increased affordability of homes at current low prices will be behind the improvement, said Frank Nothaft, the chief economist at the mortgage finance company.
Barron's:
Apple(AAPL), Sprint(S): Einhorn's Favorite Picks(After Gold). “I still like Apple. Apple is a very interesting company. You buy one Apple device, you want to buy more Apple devices. Your kids buy Apple devices, you buy them, now all of a sudden you have to get your employer to support it. Before you know it, they’re using iPhones and iPads and all kinds of things. This is not the early stage, ’cause gosh knows, the stock has done great for a long time. But, net out the cash, it’s a market multiple, which is extraordinary for a company doing as well as this.”
CNBC:
Goldman Sachs(GS) 2011 Forecast: Stocks, Gold, Oil Higher. Goldman Sachs is bullish on the U.S. economy for 2011, and forecasts U.S. stocks will see their third straight year of gains. The investment banking powerhouse sees the S&P 500 gaining nearly 25 percent to a level of 1450 in the next 12 months, fueled by strong corporate profits, easy monetary policies and an improving U.S. economy. Goldman sees stocks gaining as the U.S. economic growth accelerating from 2.5 to 4 percent by the end of 2012, but says investors will continue to have doubt.
Here It Is: The Justice Dept. Announces The Details of Wall Street Crackdown. The big announcement we've all been waiting for is a bit of a letdown because its almost all ponzi schemes and the biggest we've read about is a $880 million scheme - nothing compared to the billions Madoff scammed from investors.
GE(GE) and JPMorgan(JPM) Got Lots of Fed Help in '08. Newly disclosed records show that during the 2008 financial crisis, the Federal Reserve essentially lent $16.1 billion to General Electric by buying short-term corporate i.o.u.’s from the company at a time when the public market for such debt had nearly frozen. And on Sept. 15, 2008, the day Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy protection, JPMorgan Chase received a $3 billion loan from the Fed. The loan was extended under one of several Fed programs tapped by the Wall Street bank, one of the more robust financial institutions to weather the crisis. The two companies received help even as their chief executives, Jeffrey R. Immelt of G.E. and Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan, sat on the nine-member board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. “In my view, it is an obvious conflict of interest for C.E.O.’s of banks and large corporations who serve on the Fed’s board of directors to have received cheap loans from the Fed,” Senator Bernard Sanders, a Vermont independent who wrote the legal provision requiring the Fed to make the disclosures, said in a statement on Sunday. “While they got a huge amount of government support, small businesses are going bankrupt because they can’t receive affordable credit, workers are losing their homes to foreclosure, and consumers are being charged 25 percent to 30 percent interest rates on their credit cards by the very same banks that were bailed out,” he added. G.E. was one of the largest beneficiaries of the Fed program to buy commercial paper, or short-term i.o.u.’s. A few institutions — among them Bank of America, UBS, Barclays and Citigroup — sold even more to the Fed. In contrast, JPMorgan got far less help under the program for investment banks than some of its Wall Street rivals, like Citigroup, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley, which each tapped the program on more than 100 occasions. Goldman(GS), previously an investment bank, became a Fed-regulated bank holding company during the crisis. It tapped the Fed program to help investment banks 52 times, owing $18 billion to the Fed at one point — receiving far greater support than JPMorgan. The chairman of the New York Fed at the time, Stephen Friedman, was a Goldman director and former chairman of Goldman. The Fed granted Mr. Friedman a waiver so he could continue serving as chairman of the New York Fed. While awaiting the waiver, Mr. Friedman bought shares of Goldman around the time the bank received Fed support.
TechCrunch:
U.S. Online Advertising Expected to Grow 14% in 2010. Online ad spending is expected to grow nearly 14 percent this year in the U.S. to $25.8 billion, according to a revised forecast by eMarketer. Its last forecast in May projected about 11 percent growth to $25.1 billion. The market research firm also expects U.S. online advertising to keep growing at double-digit rates through 2014, when it estimates the total will reach $40.5 billion.
MSNBC:
WikiLeaks Publishes List of Worldwide Infrastructure 'Critical' to Security of U.S. A list drawn up by U.S. officials of companies and installations around the world regarded as "critical" to the security of the United States has been published online by controversial website WikiLeaks. The list includes factories, ports, fuel companies, drug manufacturers, undersea cables, pipelines, communication hubs and a host of other "key resources." Its publication was denounced as "irresponsible" by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Philip Crowley, amid fears it could be used as a list of targets by terrorists, Britain's Times newspaper reported. "This is the kind of information terrorists are interested in knowing," added Rifkind, who now serves as chairman of the British parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee.
Rasmussen Reports:
Most Say Continuing Offshore Drilling Ban Will Hurt Economy. The Obama administration announced last week that it is continuing the ban on offshore oil and gas drilling along the Eastern seaboard and in the eastern portion of the Gulf of Mexico. Most voters expect that decision to drive up gas prices and hurt the economy. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 54% of Likely U.S. Voters believe the new seven-year ban will increase gas prices, while just 11% think it will make gas prices go down. Twenty-five percent (25%) expect the ban to have no impact on prices at the pump. Similarly, only 15% of voters feel the ban is good for the economy. Fifty-four percent (54%) predict that it will be bad for the economy, but 20% say it will have no impact.
The Daily Beast:
Bernanke's Arrogance Problem by Zachary Karabell. Last night, the Fed chief trumpeted tax code changes and brushed off critics with his department’s typical over-confidence. Zachary Karabell on Bernanke’s desperate attempts at spin.
Politico:
Obama Signals Yield on Tax Cuts. President Barack Obama conceded Monday that he’ll probably have to let the Bush tax cuts for the rich be extended as part of a deal with Republicans, arguing that such an agreement was necessary to ensure that taxes for the middle class don’t increase on Jan. 1.
Reuters:
Spain May Extend State of Emergency After Strike. Spain will extend a state of emergency if needed to prevent further travel disruption, its prime minister said on Monday, after a wildcat strike by air traffic controllers grounded flights last week. Controllers only returned to work after the Socialist government sent in the army to take over control towers and threatened controllers with jail.
Telegraph:
WikiLeaks: Top Chinese Official Doesn't Believe GDP Figures. China's economic figures are unreliable and not to be trusted, according to Li Keqiang, one of the country's most senior officials. The 55-year-old is widely tipped to become China's next prime minister and is currently the country's executive vice premier, with responsibility for macro-economic management. However, in private talks with the US ambassador in 2007, when he was still just the head of the Chinese province of Liaoning, Mr Li cast doubt on China's much-vaunted economic statistics. A diplomatic cable leaked by Wikileaks, the whistle-blowing website, reveals that Mr Li described China's gross domestic product figure as "man-made" and "therefore unreliable". Chinese officials have repeatedly been found to have artificially inflated their local GDP figures in order to win face and hit their targets. Mr Li said he used three ways of evaluating Liaoning's economic activity, focusing on electricity consumption, the volume of rail cargo and the amount of bank loans disbursed. "By looking at these three figures, Li said he can measure with relative accuracy the speed of economic growth," the cable said. "All other figures, especially GDP statistics, are 'for reference only,' he said smiling," it added.
El Confidencial:
Spain's financial system needs more capital, according to Jose Maria Azner, the former Spanish prime minister. "The system needs more capital and without it, it won't be able to emerge from the brutal crisis it finds itself in," citing Aznar.
