Bloomberg:
- Ukraine’s Top Diplomat Says Risk of War With Russia Grows. Ukraine’s foreign minister said the chances of war with Russia are increasing as thousands of Russian troops gather on his country’s border. “We are ready to respond,” Foreign Minister Andrii Deshchytsia said in an interview broadcast today on ABC-TV’s “This Week” program. “The Ukraine government is trying to use all the peaceful, diplomatic means and diplomatic means to stop Russians, but the people are also ready to defend their homeland,” he said.
- NATO Must Be Ready to Counter Russian Threat, Top Commander Says. U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove said the buildup of Russian troops on the country’s border with Ukraine means NATO forces need to reposition themselves and increase their readiness. Russian troops massing at the border are “very, very sizable and very, very credible,” Breedlove, the top NATO commander, said today at the German Marshall Fund conference in Brussels. “We need to think about our allies, the positioning of our forces in the alliance and our readiness of our forces in the alliance, such that we can be there to defend against them if required, especially in the Baltics and other places."
- China Manufacturing Gauge Unexpectedly Falls as Slowdown Deepens. A Chinese manufacturing index (SHCOMP) unexpectedly fell, underscoring the risk that leaders will need to add stimulus to meet this year’s economic-growth goal. The Purchasing Managers’ Index from HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics dropped to 48.1 in March, the companies said today. The preliminary reading compares with the 48.7 median estimate of 22 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News and the final number of 48.5 in February.
- Chinese Investors Call for More Transparency in Trust Products. Defaults in China’s $1.8 trillion trust industry are triggering protests and spurring calls from legal experts for clearer rules on sales of investment products.
- Turkey Shoots Down Syrian Warplane After Border Incursion. Turkey downed a Syrian warplane that crossed into its airspace yesterday, escalating already inflamed tensions with its neighbor as the Turkish government battles widening corruption allegations. The Turkish air force fired a missile yesterday at a Syrian MiG-23 that had ignored four warnings and briefly penetrated 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) into Turkish airspace, Turkey’s military said in a statement.
- Japan’s Plutonium Potential Stokes China Tensions on A-Bomb Risk. Japan is planning to start a $21 billion nuclear reprocessing plant, stoking concern in China the facility’s output could be diverted for use in an atomic bomb. The issue will be one of the flashpoints for a summit on nuclear security that Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and China’s President Xi Jinping are due to attend in The Hague today. It’s adding to bitterness marked by territorial disputes and left over issues from World War II between Asia’s two largest economies. “Japan has stockpiled large volumes of sensitive nuclear materials, including not only plutonium but also uranium, and that’s far exceeding its normal needs,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters on March 11.
- Asian Stocks Rise as Japan Reopens Before China Data. Asian stocks rose, with the regional benchmark index paring last week’s losses, as Japanese markets reopened ahead of a private gauge of factory production in China. Japan’s Topix (TPX) index gained 1.2 percent after a three-day weekend. Macquarie Group Ltd. gained 3.6 percent as Australia’s biggest investment bank said it expects full-year earnings to rise as much as 45 percent. Yamato Holdings Co., a parcel delivery company, surged 4.9 percent in Tokyo on a report it will form a tie with China Post Group. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.5 percent to 133.43 as of 9:22 a.m. in Tokyo after declining 1.2 percent last week. The MSCI Asia Pacific excluding Japan Index gained 0.1 percent.
- Stein Says Fed Should Weigh Financial Risks of Loose Policy. Federal Reserve Governor Jeremy Stein said monetary policy should be less accommodative when bond markets are overheated even if it raises the risk of higher unemployment. The remarks suggest financial stability should receive strong consideration as the Fed pursues its two mandates -- stable prices and maximum employment -- because financial crises can do so much damage to jobs and growth. “All else being equal, monetary policy should be less accommodative -- by which I mean that it should be willing to tolerate a larger forecast shortfall of the path of the unemployment rate from its full-employment level -- when estimates of risk premiums in the bond market are abnormally low,” Stein said. He didn’t comment on the current stance of policy.
- Zuckerberg Says Obama Moves on NSA Spying Don’t Go Far Enough. Facebook Inc.(FB) Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg left a meeting with President Barack Obama unsatisfied with administration assurances that the government can protect privacy while continuing surveillance. Zuckerberg and five other Internet and technology executives were invited to the White House yesterday to discuss National Security Agency spying following revelations the NSA may have infected millions of computers globally with malware to advance surveillance.
- Malaysia Airlines Flight 370: U.S., U.K. Deeply Involved in Sparking Indian Ocean Search. Intelligence Agencies Supplied Satellite Images, Analysis That Launched Effort.
- Apple(AAPL) in Talks With Comcast(CMCSA) About Streaming-TV Service. Companies Discuss Service That Would Try to Bypass Web Congestion.
- Stock buybacks likely to peak with end of cheap debt. Corporate share buybacks, which have risen to record amounts along with market highs, may begin to lose their luster for investors as an earnings booster as the end of cheap debt nears and fundamental growth gets more scrutiny.
Fox News:
- GOP, Democrats spar over Obama's foreign policy, amid new fears of Putin takeovers. Top Democrats and Republicans squared off Sunday over President Obama’s foreign policy, in the aftermath of Russia taking over part of Ukraine and amid new fears that Russian President Vladimir Putin is just getting started.
- Hollande allies trail in French local vote, far-right gains - polls. France's anti-immigrant National Front (FN) made strong gains in the first round of local elections on Sunday as President Francois Hollande's Socialists and his allies suffered losses, according to early exit polls.
Zero Hedge:
- Japan's Self-Defeating Mercantilism. (graph)
- The Most Important Company In Europe. (graph)
Business Insider:
Reuters:
Reuters:
- U.S. CFTC ratchets up probe of exchange-for-futures deals - FT. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has stepped up a probe into more than a million energy, metals, foreign exchange and other swap transactions, the Financial Times reported on its website on Sunday, citing anonymous sources.
- China credit strains rise as Beijing embraces failure. Credit warning signs are flashing for heavily indebted Chinese semiconductor, software and commodities firms as the government cautiously steps aside to let market forces play a bigger role in deciding winners and losers.
Financial Times:
WirtschaftsWoche:- European regulators warn as risky loans rise above bubble peak. Debt investors are abandoning normal creditor protections on European leveraged buyout loans as they snap up riskier securities at a faster rate and in greater proportions than at the peak of the credit bubble. Growing volumes of euro-denominated “covenant light” loans have now aroused the interest of European regulators, who are increasing their monitoring of lenders’ behaviour.
- EU May Start Tax-Haven Proceedings Against Countries. Task force has been created that is now asking Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands for comment of their corporate tax practices, citing EU antitrust chief Joaquin Almunia.
- China Researcher Sees 7% Economy Growth This Year. The Chinese economy may grow about 7% this year, and quarterly growth may trend lower in 2014, citing Wang Jian, a researcher under the National Development and Reform Commission. China may face an overcapacity crisis next year and a possible international financial crisis can't be ruled out, Wang is cited as saying.
Weekend Recommendations
Barron's:- Bullish commentary on (AAPL), (TGT), (MDR), (VC), (ESRX) and (MTB).
- Bearish commentary on .
- Asian indices are unch. to +1.0% on average.
- Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 134.0 -5.5 basis points.
- Asia Pacific Sovereign CDS Index 95.75 -1.0 basis point.
- FTSE-100 futures -.61%.
- S&P 500 futures -.01%.
- NASDAQ 100 futures -.01%.
Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate
- None of note
8:30 am EST
- The Chicago Fed National Activity Index for February is estimated to rise to .1 versus -.39 for January.
- The Preliminary Markit US Manufacturing PMI for March is estimated to fall to 56.5 versus 57.1 in February.
- None of note
- The Eurozone Flash PMI could also impact trading today.
