Written by Gary
Afternoon markets continued their slide downward as hopes dim for a Greece accord. The OPEC cartel’s latest strategy report forecasts oil prices won’t reach $100 and could drop below $40. The U.S. Dollar has traded sideways with a fair amount of volatility while gold dropped 20 points right after the opening, but has recovered half of the loss.
Todays S&P 500 Chart
The Market in Perspective
Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
Noble’s Rosetta Deal Is OPEC’s ProblemDeals and financing are putting off a shakeout in the U.S. oil sector. | |
Wall St. ends down on global woes, oil weighs (Reuters) – U.S. stocks fall on worries about Greece’s precarious financial condition and slowing growth in China, while energy stocks fell on weaker oil prices. | |
America’s Vanishing Worker: The Truth Behind The “Recovery” PropagandaThe biggest paradox of the so-called US recovery is that in the same report in which the US Department of Labor reported that the US unemployment has dropped to a depression-low 5.4%, a level suggesting near zero “slack” in the labor force, the BLS also indicated that the number of people not in the labor force rose to a fresh all time high of 93.2 million, keeping the participation rate at a level first seen in 1978. How does one make sense of this glaring contradiction and paradoxical data, which one one hand suggest the recovery is fully in place, while on the other screams depression? For the answer we go to the WSJ’s report on the curious case of America’s vanishing worker. To be sure, this “curious case” covers nothing new for regular Zero Hedge readers, but may explain to casual observers how it is possible that America’s labor metrics have devolved to such a Schrodingerian state in which the US labor market is both alive and dead, depending on whose propaganda one observes. For the answer, the WSJ tracks the career, or rather lack thereof, of Denny Ryder of Decatur, Illinois, 47 years old, who is one of hundreds of thousands of (former) employees in the industrial Midwest who has been forced to move away, retire or give up on finding a job. As a result, the unemployment rate in this has fallen even as De … | |
Nomura Loses Suit Over Fannie, Freddie SalesA federal judge said Nomura Holdings Inc. wasn’t truthful in a sale to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, in a suit by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. | |
Trouble May Trickle Down From Companies’ Top LinesAhead of the Tape: Now that a drop in corporate revenue for the first quarter looks all but assured, there is reason to worry about the bottom line for the rest of the year. | |
U.S. Stocks Trade LowerU.S. stocks slipped Monday, pulling back one session after the Dow posted its biggest one-day gain in more than three months. | |
Angry Greeks Occupy Siemens Office; “Won’t Become German Colony”Earlier today we reported that German FinMin Wolfgang Shaeuble has now suggested that the best alternative for Greece’s embattled socialist ‘savior’ government may be to put euro membership to a referendum. In Shaeuble’s words, Tsipras should “ask the Greek people to decide whether it’s ready to accept what is necessary or whether it wants the alternative.” What is “necessary” of course, is the implementation of more austerity measures, as the country’s current fiscal reform efforts have fallen well short of what’s necessary for creditors to unlock the next tranche of much needed financial assistance. The “alternative” to which Schaeuble refers, is redenomination risk or, more simply, the introduction of a parallel currency which will promptly collapse in value and wreak havoc across the country’s already beleaguered economy. Greeks, of course, aren’t even the slightest bit interested in subjecting themselves to further belt-tightening and as the following from Reuters makes clear, Greek citizens are at their breaking point not only with austerity, but with the Germans as well:
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GE would offer concessions to win EU approval for Alstom deal: executive (Reuters) – A General Electric Co executive said on Monday that the company would be willing to consider concessions in order to win European approval to acquire the power equipment unit of France’s Alstom . | |
In Asia, Debt Market Gets TougherAs growth slows in Asia, bond investors have become more demanding, seeking higher interest rates and better terms for the debt. | |
Administration Gives Conditional Approval for Shell to Drill in Arctic The move is a major victory for Shell, but environmentalists say a possible accident there could have far-reaching consequences. | |
Greece Moves to Pay Debt, but European Finance Ministers Unsatisfied Athens authorized a payment to the International Monetary Fund as eurozone officials noted “open issues.” | |
Bank parents or main units seen pleading guilty over FX: sourcesNEW YORK (Reuters) – The parent companies or main banking units of as many as five major banks, rather than their smaller subsidiaries, are expected to plead guilty to U.S. criminal charges over manipulation of foreign exchange rates, people familiar with the matter said. | |
Germany floats Greek referendum on reform, others doubt timing BRUSSELS (Reuters) – EU paymaster Germany suggested on Monday that Greece might need a referendum to approve painful economic reforms on which its creditors are insisting, but Athens said it had no such plan for now and others warned a vote could delay vital aid. | |
OPEC Forecasts Oil As Low As $40 For Next DecadeWhether it is more posturing ahead of OPEC’s June meeting is unclear but the message from ‘sources’, according to The Wall Street Journal is “OPEC won’t agree to go lower,” with regard global market share (which has fallen from more than 50-% to just 32% currently). The cartel’s latest strategy report forecasts oil prices won’t reach $100 – “$100 is not in any of the scenarios,” in the next decade (and could drop below $40) with its most optimistic scenario $76 in 2025 (which only Qatar and Kuwait can cover expenditures with). “If they want to sustain the organization, they have no choice,” but to reintroduce production quotas, adding any concession by stronger members would be temporary. A return to quotas? As The Wall Street Journal reports,
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Volkswagen to break up MAN: Frankfurter Allgemeine ZeitungFRANKFURT (Reuters) – Volkswagen Group will break up MAN and transfer its truck and bus businesses, as well as MAN Latin America, into VW’s new Truck & Bus Holding GmbH, German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said. | |
Wall St. Slides Back as Hopes Dim for Greece Accord Markets in Asia ended higher after an interest rate cut by China cheered investors. | |
Drillers Answer Low Oil Prices With Cost-Saving Innovations Even as boom towns go quiet, oil production chugs along thanks to rapid gains in technology to extract more with less. Above, Statoil oil wells undergo tests near Runge, Tex. | |
30Y Treasury Yield Tops 3.00% For Only 2nd Time In Over 5 Months, Stocks SlideHaving briefly tested above 3.00% on Thursday, for the first time since December 2nd, 2014, the post-payrolls reaction continues today with 30Y yields up 9bps and back above the 3.00% Maginot Line. We note, additionally, that as Deutsche reports, net short exposure to Treasuries is back at the extremes of its recent range. Now up 16bps from post-payrolls knee-jerk… Which spooked stocks… With Treasury shorts near extremes… Charts: Bloomberg
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Comcast names Carlyle Group’s Michael Cavanagh as CFO(Reuters) – Comcast Corp on Monday named Carlyle Group LP Co-President Michael Cavanagh as chief financial officer, bringing on a prominent dealmaker after its failed attempt to acquire Time Warner Cable Inc . | |
No Deal: Eurogroup Concludes Meeting On Greece, No Further Fund DisbursementAs expected, and as tipped here earlier, today’s Eurogroup meeting concluded without an agreement between Greece and its creditors as both sides cited “progress” and regurgitated familiar rhetoric around the need for a “comprehensive list of reforms”, and a universal desire for a favorable outcome. Full statement:
And from chairman Dijsselbloem: DIJSSELBLOEM SAYS INSTITUTIONS BRIEFED EUROGROUP ON GREECE DIJSSELBLOEM SAYS GREECE NEGOTIATIONS HAVE ADVANCED DIJSSELBLOEM SAYS … |
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