Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:

• Euro-Area Jobless Rate Rises to Record Amid Recession: Economy. The euro-area jobless rate rose to 12.2 percent from 12.1 percent in March, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said today. That’s in line with the median of 37 economists’ estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. Inflation accelerated in May to 1.4 percent, led by rising prices for food and services, a separate report showed. 
• Russia Stocks Drop to 5-Week Low as Crude Slumps, Banks Retreat. Russian equities fell to a five-week low, extending a fourth-straight monthly drop as crude oil tumbled and the nation’s biggest lenders declined. The Micex Index (INDEXCF) retreated 0.8 percent to 1,350.48 by 11:41 a.m. in Moscow, poised for a 2.5 percent drop in the month. Financial stocks led the declines among industry groups along with utilities, losing 1.2 percent on average.
• Brazil Real Touches Lowest in Four Years, Spurring Intervention. Brazil’s real declined to its weakest level in four years, spurring the central bank to intervene in the foreign-exchange market for the first time since March to bolster the currency. The real pared its drop as the central bank sold 17,600 out of 30,000 currency swap contracts worth $877 million. Yields on interest-rate futures contracts rose the most in four years after policy makers unexpectedly stepped up the pace of increases in borrowing costs on May 29, saying inflation was undermining the economic recovery. “Today, it’s less about the level of the real and more the pace of the move,” Flavia Cattan-Naslausky, a strategist at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, said in a telephone interview from Stamford, Connecticut. “That made the central bank nervous.
• Junk Bonds Losing 0.3 Percent in May to Snap 11 Months of Gains. Junk bonds are headed for their first monthly loss in a year as dealers take on more of the debt amid rising yields and a record pace of issuance. Dollar-denominated speculative-grade bonds have declined 0.3 percent in May after returning 15.4 percent the previous 11 months, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch index data. 
• Regulators Said Set to Decide Systemically Risky U.S. Non-Banks. U.S. regulators plan to vote next week on whether to label some non-bank companies a potential risk to the financial system, a move that would put them under heightened Federal Reserve supervision, according to three people familiar with the matter. 
• Oil Heads for Monthly Drop as OPEC Keeps Output Target. West Texas Intermediate crude dropped, heading for a second monthly decline, as OPEC kept its output target unchanged for a third consecutive time and U.S. inventories climbed to the highest level in 82 years. Futures fell as much as 1.7 percent after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries maintained its objective of 30 million barrels a day at a meeting in today in Vienna. Ministers from the 12-member group will next gather on Dec. 4. U.S. crude supplies increased 3 million barrels to 397.6 million last week, the most since 1931, a government report showed yesterday.

CNBC:

• Rising Yields May Stifle Boom in Dividend Stocks.

Zero Hedge:

• Why Is The Smart Money Suddenly Getting Out Of Stocks And Real Estate? 
• April Income Lower Than Expected, Leads To Weaker Spending; Savings Rate At Unsustainable Lows. (graph)
• Europe's Scariest Chart Goes Parabolic. (graph)
• Britain To Arm Syrian Rebels; Russia Retaliates By Shipping 10 MiGs To Assad.
• April Core Retail Sales Were Just Revised From A 100% Beat To A Miss.
• Chicago PMI Soars To Highest Since March 2012 Crashing Expectations, Respondents Despondent. (graph)

Business Insider: 

• There Are Four Big Military Developments In China That Startle The US.
• This Reuters Editorial Is The Most Stinging Indictment Of Wall Street Bankers We've Read In A While.
• Here's The Chart That Shows How Investors Fled From Emerging Markets This Week.

Denver Post: 

• Fire Ben Bernanke as Fed CEO: Opinion.

ValueWalk:

• 100 Largest Hedge Funds Manage 61% Of Industry Capital. The mean AUM of the top 100 hedge funds is a little under $13.9 billion. Seventeen of the 100 largest hedge funds have AUM of more than $20 billion. About 75% of the of the top 100 hedge funds are based in the United States. A study conducted by Preqin reveals that the top 100 hedge funds manage about 61 percent of the hedge fund industry’s total capital. Preqin says in its May edition of Hedge Fund Spotlight that hedge funds currently have about $2.3 trillion of assets under management, of that $1.4 trillion is managed by the top 100 hedge funds.

Forbes:

• Rate Shock: In California, Obamacare To Increase Individual Health Insurance Premiums By 64-146%.

Reuters:

• Some Italian banks risk problems, central bank chief says. Some Italian banks face probable difficulties and shareholders must be ready to dilute their stakes and encourage mergers, the country's central bank governor said on Friday. Bank of Italy Governor Ignazio Visco said in a keynote speech that Italy's banks had been weakened by the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis and ensuing recession and some are now "at risk of being in difficulty." Visco did not specify which banks he was referring to.
• Brazil stocks falls more than 2 pct, economic growth concerns.
• METALS-Copper slips on uncertainty ahead of China factory report.
• Portugal union calls strike against government austerity. Portugal's largest labour union has called a general anti-government strike for June 27 to protest against public sector pay cuts, layoffs and other austerity measures imposed to meet EU/IMF bailout terms. The strike will encompass workers in the country's public and private sectors, CGTP chief Armenio Carlos told reporters on Friday, adding that all other unions were welcome to join.
• Stimulus concerns push Europe shares to 1-mth closing low. European shares slid to a one-month closing low on Friday, hit by profit taking at the end of a 12th straight month of gains and after strong U.S. data reignited concerns about a cut in stimulus measures there. The FTSEurofirst 300 index finished 0.9 percent down at 1,216.17 points, the lowest close since early May.
• EURO DEBT SUPPLY-Spain borrowing costs seen up in edgy market. Spanish borrowing costs will likely rise at bond sales next week as concern over when the U.S. Federal Reserve might scale back its economic stimulus brakes a rally in riskier assets. 
• INVESTMENT FOCUS-Sell emerging markets in May, and maybe June and July too.

Real Clear Markets:

• 'Financialization' Of the Economy Suffocates Living Standards.

Telegraph:

• Storm clouds ahead for Barack Obama: less than half of Americans now view their president as ‘honest and trustworthy'. 
• Japan's problems could make the eurozone's look like a garden party by Jim O'Neill. One of the questions I have been asked most frequently over the past couple of years is: what happens if, and when, bond yields rise?  
• Is Brussels trying to force the UK out of the EU?

Valor Economico:

• Brazil Govt Sees GDP Growth of Less Than 3% in 2013. Inflation remains main concern of govt.

The Economic Times: 

• BSE Sensex tanks 455 pts as RBI comment, GDP scare mkt. MUMBAI: Stocks collapsed today with the BSE benchmark Sensex tumbling by 455 points -- the biggest drop in 15 months -- to end below 20,000 mark on on frantic selling after RBI's poor inflation outlook and GDP falling to decade's low came as double whammy to investors betting on rate cut. Investor wealth fell by a whopping Rs 1.1 lakh crore as across market 1,600 scrips ended lower out the 2,500 traded. Stocks in realty, oil & gas, banks, FMCG and PSUs bore the maximum brunt of selling as 12 out of 13 indices closed down. The 30-share Sensex resumed lower and remained in negative terrain throughout the day to settle at one-week low of 19,760.30, a fall of 455.10 points or 2.25 per cent. This is its worst drop since 478-point fall on February 27, 2012.