09Jul2015 Market Close: Averages Close In The Green But The Trend Is Down As Investors Loose Buying Courage

Fund managers: Resist giving up on foreign stocks, even with all the stress they’ve caused

NEW YORK (AP) — Will they stick with it? Many investors are second guessing their decision to move into international stock funds, largely at the expense of U.S. stocks, in recent years.

That’s because fear is spiking about troubles in Greece and China, while the U.S. economy continues to trudge along. Investors are feeling those big swings in global markets more now, after pumping $208 billion into international stock mutual funds and exchange-traded funds in the 12 months ended in May. Just $4.5 billion went into U.S. stock funds over the same time, according to Morningstar.

It’s tempting to retrench and stick with just U.S. stocks given all the turmoil abroad. But many fund managers who have the freedom to invest anywhere in the world say the Greek drama and other travails haven’t changed their view of world markets all that much.

Not only are they sticking with foreign markets, they’re using recent price drops to pick up European and other stocks at cheaper prices.

Former trader Hayes denies trades were bribes for brokers, Libor trial hears

LONDON (Reuters) – Tom Hayes, the former trader on trial over rate-rigging charges, denied on Thursday that fake trades he had performed to generate commissions for brokers amounted to bribes for their help in manipulating benchmark interest rates.

What Happens Next In Greece (In 2 Simple Charts)

Over the course of six painful months, negotiations between Athens and Brussels have produced innumerable “deadlines”, “ultimatums”, and “last chance” summits, none of which have produced a lasting deal or a Grexit. In fact, until the deposit outflows started to accelerate and Greek PM Alexis Tsipras took the dramatic step of putting creditors’ proposal to a popular vote, many observers were beginning to lose interest, perhaps believing that the farce might just continue indefinitely.

This Sunday however, is being billed as the day; the deadline to end all deadlines and the very last chance for Athens to remain in the EMU. Meanwhile, pressure on Tsipras — who, according to The Telegraph, likely thought he would be drinking beer with Varoufakis over quiet lunches by now — is building from both sides, with far-left Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis swearing that the “referendum ‘no’ vote is not going to become a humiliating ‘yes'”, and Germany showing few signs of weakness. The intractable nature of the situation was brought into sharp relief earlier when MNI described Tsipras’ “new” proposal which, by all appearances, looks as though it will be unacceptable to Germany and to the harlinders within Syriza.

In an effort to help cut through the confusion, we you bring you the following two graphics which shed some light on what lies ahead regardless of what transpires between now and Monday.

From Deutsche Bank:

Iron Ore Got You Down? Try Nuclear Waste

Hit by tumbling iron-ore prices, mining companies deep in the Australian outback are exploring a new strategy for cash: storing nuclear waste.

The Latest: Greek energy minister urges government not to sign 3rd bailout

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The latest from the Greece’s financial crisis (all times local): ___ 10:00 p.m. Greece’s energy minister is urging the government not to sign a third bailout, despite the risk of the country being forced out the euro.

Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis told a business conference Thursday that “the choices we have are tough … but the worst, the most humiliating and unbearable is an agreement that will surrender, loot and subjugate our people and this country.”

Warehouse Crackdown Cuts Aluminum Costs

Manufacturers of goods from cars to soda cans are benefiting from declining aluminum costs, a sign that new warehouse rules aimed at loosening the grip of Wall Street banks are having the desired effect.

Citi ordered to pay Mercuria $14 million in China metals financing suit: report

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Citigroup Inc has been ordered to pay Swiss-based commodities merchant Mercuria almost $14 million as part of prolonged legal wrangling over Chinese metals financing deals hit by suspected fraud, a report on Wednesday said.

Trouble A’brewing; This Time It Is Different

Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog,

This time it is different, but not in the way that the cheerleaders intended.

We’ve seen a lot of extraordinary extremes and divergences in the past fifteen years, but nothing quite like this. Courtesy of longtime correspondent B.C., here is a chart of the Chicago Fed’s National Financial Conditions Index, the Fed Funds Rate and the 1-Year Treasury Yield, and a measure of corporate bonds and the 10-year Treasury yield.

When the National Financial Conditions Index rises above the zero line, bad things tend to happen to the stock market and the economy. This index spiked before the recessions in 1977, 1981, 2000 and 2008, and rose before the stock market nosedived in 1987.

Meanwhile, the Fed Funds Rate and the 1-Year Treasury Yield have been bouncing along the zero boundary since late 2008. In the past 40 years, we’ve never seen the Fed Funds Rate and the 1-Year Treasury Yield effectively at zero for such an extended time, and the National Financial Conditions Index moving decisively higher.

This time it is different, but not in the way that the cheerleaders intended.

Greek “Compromise” Proposal Leaked, And There May Be A Problem

Moments ago MarketNews reported that during today’s “marathon governmental meeting” in which Greek PM Alexis Tsipras sat down with his party to hammer out and complete the “compromise” Greek proposal to be sent to the Troika before midnight, the prime minister told his ministers that he was “ready for compromises,” suggesting he was willing to clash with the ultra-left part his party, Syriza.

So far so good, and perhaps indeed suggestive of a big step down. The problem emerges upon a closer read of the proposal, which is clearly not nearly “capitulatory” enough.

Recall that earlier today BofA’ Chief European Economist Gilles Moec, accurately, said that only a “complete capitulation” by Tsipras would get Germany to agree to the Greek proposal.

However, as presented by MNI, the proposal is anything but: according to the draft

The 30% discount in VAT for most islands is maintained but it excludes the so called “big” islands which get the biggest percentage of tourist reservations.

The draft keeps the VAT for hotels to 13% but raises the Value Added Tax for the food industry to 23% which was a creditors’ demand.

The governmental commitment to freeze early retirements remains.

The biggest surprise is once again in the biggest hurdle: pensions. Recall that as we accurately predicted two weeks ago, it was the government’s unwillingness to directly cut pensions that led to the IM …

Nasdaq Gives Up All “China & Greece Are Fixed” Gains, Dow 500-Point Pump-&-Dump

Who could have seen that coming? A US equity rally on the basis of an entirely manipulated Chinese stock market rally overnight and hope for a last minute Greek deal (dashed by calls for a massive EUR80billion bailout which zee Germans will never give in to). The Dow just experienced a 500-point-pump-and-dump as this morning’s exuberant TV anchors are suddenly silenced by the reality that China and Greece matter after all…

After peaking right at the US Open (up over 1.4%) the Nasdaq has led the drop…

Maybe China does matter after all…

The Dow had quite a ride too…

NYSE Outage Caused by Software Update

The nearly four-hour outage at the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday was caused by a problem in a software update installed Tuesday evening, the exchange said in a message to customers.

IBM Sees a Path to Higher Capacity Chips

A consortium of which the company is a part has made working versions of ultradense seven-nanometer chips, capable of holding much more information than existing chips.