- Greece Aid Accord Looks Elusive as Tsipras Sticks to Red Lines. An agreement between Greece and its international creditors to unblock financing and avert a default looked elusive after Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said he won’t strike a deal at any cost. “There’s no doubt that an agreement must be reached,” Tsipras said late Friday at a conference in Athens. “But those who think that the Greek side’s resistance can be tested or that its red lines will fade as time passes, would do well to forget it.”
- U.S. Concerned With Pace, Scope of China Reclamation in Sea. Secretary of State John Kerry expressed U.S. concerns Saturday that China is seeking to establish de facto control of the South China Sea by expanding shoals and islets in disputed waters. In a meeting today with counterpart Wang Yi, Kerry said he urged China “to take actions that will join with everybody in helping to reduce tensions and increase the prospect of a diplomatic solution,” to conflicting territorial claims within the strategic international waterway.
- German Bonds’ Worst Run Since 2012 Makes Inflation Data Critical. A rekindling of the inflation outlook that helped trigger German government bonds’ worst weekly run since 2012 faces scrutiny next week with the release of final data on euro-area consumer prices for April. Bonds across the euro-area fell this week, extending a slump that wiped as much as 344 billion euros ($393 billion) off the market capitalization of the Bloomberg Eurozone Sovereign Bond Index. That’s after the securities surged in the first quarter, when the European Central Bank began its bond-buying plan to support waning price growth in the region.
- Clintons Report Earnings of at Least $30 Million Since 2014. The Democratic presidential candidate and her husband have a net worth
between $11 million and $53 million, according to new financial
disclosures – not including real estate and personal items.
Bill and Hillary Clinton earned at least $30 million in income from speeches last year and in the first four months of 2015, the couple's financial disclosures filed Friday with the Federal Elections Commission show. That's based on payments for about 100 speeches, according to the filing, which Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign provided to Bloomberg News late Friday.
- The Plight of the Middle East’s Christians. Ancient communities in Syria and Iraq are in mortal peril. Can the West find a way to preserve the Christian presence in the Middle East—and stave off a ‘clash of civilizations’? The Christian communities of Syria and Iraq have survived 2,000 years of tumult and war. In some of them, prayers are still said in Aramaic, the language that Jesus used in daily life. These communities now tremble on the brink of destruction.
- Army's elite Delta Force kills top ISIS official, Abu Sayyaf, in rare Syrian raid. (video) U.S. personnel overnight killed a key Islamic State leader in charge of the group's oil and gas operations in a raid in eastern Syria, the White House said Saturday. A team of Delta Force commandos slipped across the border from Iraq under cover of darkness Saturday aboard Black Hawk helicopters and V-22 Osprey aircraft, according to a U.S. defense official knowledgeable about details of the raid.
ZeroHedge:
- How Big Government Kills The American Dream.
- UK PM David Cameron Proclaims: It’s Not Enough To Follow The Law, You Must Love Big Brother.
- Are You Ready For The Coming Debt Revolution?
- China Creates Perpetual Leverage Machine After Dropping Debt Directive. (graph)
- Global Trade Is "In The Doldrums", BofAML Says. (graph)
- Massively Levered Beta: Tepper Adds $1.3 Billion, Or 33% Of Long Equity AUM, In SPY, QQQ Calls.
- 5 Things To Ponder: Reading While Waiting List. (graph)
- Gold & Silver Surge As Bond-Buying Bonanza Stalls Stocks. (graph)
- Stock Indicator Suggests Big Move (Lower?) Coming, (graph)
- Leading German Keynesian Economist Calls For Cash Ban.
- Martin Armstrong Warns Of The Coming Crash Of All Crashes. (graph)
- This May Just Be The Start Of The Oil Price War Says IEA.
- Inside China's Insane IPO Market: Full Frontal.
- Greece Will Default On June 5 Without Deal, IMF Leaks.
- Google(GOOG) could launch a huge counterstrike against Amazon(AMZN) in a few weeks.
- The NTSB is investigating whether Amtrak 188 was hit by a 'projectile' before it derailed.
- Luxury brands are suing Alibaba(BABA) over counterfeit goods.
- Some top activist investors are betting big on McDonald's(MCD).
- Asian American groups file federal complaint against Harvard for alleged 'racial quotas'.
- Egypt's first freely elected leader sentenced to death.
- Bush's tough week spells big trouble for him.
- IMF Sees Little Progress in Greek Talks. IMF Director of European Department Poul Thomsen told IMF's Board Thursday that there's mostly progress in process, not substance, in Greek bailout talks. IMF officials have no access to ministers, don't know whether commitments by Greek bureaucrats in so-called Brussels Group have political backing. Situation is far from ideal, Thomsen said. IMF has no clear view of Greece's liquidity situation. Greece, creditors disagree on pension system reform, labor market deregulation, fiscal policy for 2015, public administration overhaul.
- Hedge funds loom large in oil price moves. Forget the interplay between supply and demand. When it comes to oil prices, hedge funds and speculators are exerting an uncommonly large influence, say many in one of the world’s most important markets. Oil traders have watched future prices rally to their highest level this year, within touching distance of $70 a barrel, even as the price of physical cargoes flounders under the weight of a massive oversupply.
- Russia to Build Up Troops in Crimea to Respond to NATO. Russia has right to deploy all kinds of weapons in Crimea, citing Russian ambassador to NATO Alexander Grushko.
- Greece won't be able to make IMF repayments, beginning with a June 5 payment, unless an agreement is reached with international partners, UK's Channel 4 reports, citing a leaked IMF memo dated May 14.
