- Obama Meets Ukraine Leader Amid Fighting on Russia Border. President Barack Obama met Ukrainian President-elect Petro Poroshenko for the first time as the leaders seek ways to defuse a pro-Russian uprising that’s claimed almost 200 lives in the former Soviet republic. Poroshenko told reporters he’s committed to a “peaceful” process, while Obama pledged to step up non-lethal military support to Ukraine. The leaders held talks today in Warsaw, Poland, Ukraine’s western neighbor and a leading critic among European Union and NATO members of Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March, which the U.S. and the EU consider illegal.
- Tiananmen Vigil Draws Hong Kong Crowds 25 Years After Crackdown. Tens of thousands of people attended a vigil in Hong Kong last night to mark the 25th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, calling on China to vindicate the student movement that led the protests. Visitors to the event at Victoria Park were greeted with loudspeakers broadcasting slogans and banners demanding an end to the rule of the Chinese Communist Party. A human-sized Goddess of Democracy statue stood in the park, where many were sitting. As night fell, hundreds lit candles and observed a moment of silence at 8:38 p.m. after organizers placed wreaths to commemorate those who lost their lives.
- Iron Ore Cargoes at Record as Mines Boost Production. Iron ore shipments from Australia’s Port Hedland expanded to a record in May as mining companies boosted output, helping to push benchmark prices to the lowest level since 2012 and contributing to a rising global surplus. Exports from the world’s largest bulk export terminal surged to 36.1 million metric tons from 34.8 million tons in April and 27.9 million tons in May 2013, data on the port authority’s website showed today. Shipments to China were a record 29.9 million tons in May compared with 28.9 million tons in April and 23.3 million tons a year earlier, the data showed. The global seaborne surplus will jump from 14 million tons last year to 72 million tons in 2014 and 175 million tons in 2015, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said in a May 20 report. Worldwide supplies will expand 10 percent in 2014, outstripping the 3.7 percent rise in demand, Morgan Stanley predicts. A further slide in the price would place competitors under pressure, Rio Tinto (RIO) Group Chief Executive Officer Sam Walsh said in an interview with Bloomberg Television yesterday, describing $80 as too low.
- Investors Flag Risk of ECB Disappointing After Europe Bond Rally. Firms from Pioneer Investment Management Ltd. to AllianceBernstein Holding LP say the odds are high that measures the European Central Bank will announce to stimulate the region’s economy will fall short of the bond market’s lofty expectations. Yields on bonds from Belgium, France, Italy and Spain have fallen to records in the past month amid speculation policy makers meeting tomorrow may add unconventional measures, such as quantitative easing, in addition to lowering interest rates. The euro has fallen about 2.7 percent from a more than two-and-a-half year high of $1.3993 on May 8 before ECB President Mario Draghi said the central bank was “comfortable” taking measures to boost inflation.
- Europe Stocks Little Changed as Investors Seek ECB Clues. European stocks were little changed as investors weighed data on the euro-area economic growth for clues to European Central Bank’s policy decision tomorrow. Volkswagen AG dropped 1.5 percent, leading automakers lower, as it sold 2 billion euros ($2.7 billion) of preferred shares to help pay for the takeover of Scania AB. Dufry AG rallied the most since October 2011 after agreeing to buy travel retailer Nuance Group. Coloplast A/S rose 3.2 percent after projecting annual growth of as much as 10 percent in revenue excluding acquisitions for the next three to five years. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index added less than 0.1 percent to 343.56 at the close in London.
- Profit Decline Waves U.S. Economy Caution Flag: Chart of the Day. Falling corporate earnings pose a risk for the current U.S. economic expansion that deserves more attention from investors, according to Albert Edwards, a global strategist at Societe Generale SA. The CHART OF THE DAY shows how Edwards drew his conclusion in a report yesterday. He tracked profit after adjustment for changes in inventory values and depreciation, an accounting charge that reduces the value of assets. The figures are compiled quarterly by the Commerce Department. Adjusted pretax earnings fell 9.8 percent in the first quarter, according to data released last week. The drop was the steepest since the fourth quarter of 2008, when profit tumbled 26 percent in the midst of a recession and financial crisis.
- Prudential(PRU), MetLife(MET) Gain as Senate Eases Dodd-Frank Law. Prudential Financial Inc. (PRU) and MetLife Inc. (MET) rallied after the Senate approved a bill that gives Federal Reserve regulators more flexibility in how they apply capital rules to the biggest U.S. life insurers.
- Medtronic(MDT) Said to Evaluate Takeover of Smith & Nephew. Medtronic Inc. (MDT), one of the world’s largest medical-device makers, is evaluating a takeover of London-based Smith & Nephew Plc (SN/) that could see the U.S. company move its tax domicile overseas, people familiar with the matter said.
- Data problems found with 2 million ObamaCare sign-ups, document shows. More than 2 million people who got health insurance under President Obama's law have data discrepancies that could jeopardize coverage for some, a government document shows. About 1 in 4 people who signed up have discrepancies, creating a huge paperwork jam for the feds and exposing some consumers to repayment demands, or possibly even loss of coverage, if they got too generous a subsidy.
- Bergdahl had left base before, according to 2010 report. If Bowe Bergdahl walked off his base voluntarily before ending up in the hands of the Taliban -- as several of his former fellow soldiers are claiming, it may not have been the first time the then-private first class wandered away in serious violation of military regulations, Fox News has learned. The exact circumstances that led to Bergdahl's capture in Afghanistan are not known to the public, but a classified 2010 Army investigation concluded he had “willfully walked off base,” two senior defense officials told Fox News.
- Beige Book: Economic growth increases in all 12 districts. Economic growth increased in all 12 Federal Reserve districts, a relatively upbeat Fed Beige Book showed on Wednesday. The pace of growth was described as "moderate" to "modest," according to the release, which details economic projections from the central bank's members.
- China Scrambling After "Discovering" Thousands Of Tons Of Rehypothecated Copper, Aluminum Missing. (graph)
- The Penguin Parade Begins: Goldman, BofA, Credit Suisse All Cut Q2 GDP Forecasts By 0.5% On Average.
- France Responds To US BNP Fine, Will Train Hundreds Of Russian Seamen To Operate French-Made Warship.
Reuters:
- Fed may shun global risk rules banks spent billions to meet. The Federal Reserve may scrap elements of international measures aimed at assessing bank health in favor of imposing its own rules, frustrating bankers who have spent billions of dollars retooling their books to meet global standards.
- US to levy fresh tariffs of up to 35% on Chinese solar panels. Beijing said the US had “ignored the facts” as it responded on Wednesday to US plans to impose additional import duties of up to 35.2 per cent on Chinese-made solar panels in an escalation of the trade war in the industry that began in 2012.
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