03Aug2015 Market Close: Brent Slides To Lowest Point Since January, 2015, U.S. Dollar Rests At Resistance, Short Term Indicators Bearish

AIG profit lifted by AerCap, China investment; raises buyback

(Reuters) – Insurer American International Group Inc reported a 5.6 percent jump in quarterly operating profit, driven by investments in one of China’s biggest insurers and earnings from aircraft leasing company AerCap.

Energy leads Wall Street lower as oil tumbles

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks ended lower on Monday as tumbling oil prices dragged energy shares to a three-year low and factory data from China added to concerns about weakening growth in the world’s second-largest economy.

Regulators Question High-Speed Trading in Treasurys

Senior officials at the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve questioned the benefits of high-frequency trading in U.S. Treasury markets, suggesting market overseers are building the case for new rules targeting the firms.

More Pressure on SEC Over Its Judges

A federal judge gave the Securities and Exchange Commission seven days to say if it will change the way it appoints its administrative law judges.

Puerto Rico Makes Only 1% Of Required Payment On Public Finance Corporation Bonds – Full Statement

Over the weekend Puerto Rico was supposed to make a modest principal and interest payment of some $58 million due on Public Finance Corp. bonds, which however few expected would be satisfied. As a reminder, on Friday, Victor Suarez, the chief of staff for Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla, said during a press conference in San Juan that the government simply does not have the money.

Moments ago Melba Acosta, president of the Government Development Bank, confirmed as much, when he announced that only $628,000 of the $58 million payment, or just about 1%, had been paid.

Below is the full statement from Acosta on the service of PFC Bonds:

Today, Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico (“GDR”) President Melba Acosta Febo issued the following statement on the service of Public Finance Corporation (PFC) bonds:

Due to the lack of appropriated funds for this fiscal year the entirety of the PFC payment was not made today. This was a decision that reflects the serious concerns about the Commonwealth’s liquidity in combination with the balance of obligations to our creditors and the equally important obligations to the people of Puerto Rico to ensure the essential services they deserve are maintained.

“PFC did make a partial payment of Interest in respect of its outstanding bonds. The partial payment was made from funds remaining from prior legislative appropriations in respect of the outstanding promissory notes securing the PFC bonds. In accordance with the terms of these bonds, which stipulate that these obligations are payable solely from funds specifically appropriated by the Legislature, PFC applied these funds—totaling approximately $628.000— …

Brent Crude Falls Below $50 a Barrel

The world’s benchmark oil price fell to less than $50 a barrel Monday for the first time in six months as a sluggish global economy and rampant oil boom keep crude markets falling.

U.S. Stocks Lower as Oil Prices Drop

U.S. stocks were dragged lower Monday by a continued fall in the price of oil and as investors digested a slew of mixed economic data.

Higher Spending Should Drive Up Car Makers’ Margins

Car sales probably can’t get much stronger than they were in July, but Americans will find another way to spend their money.

Why The Commodity Carnage Matters (In 1 Simple Chart)

How many more times will we be told that “it” doesn’t matter… or it is “transitory” with regard any and every flashing red warning signal from asset values that are not centrally manipulated with regard asset values that are ‘plunge protected’? Well to try and kill one of those myths off, we present the following chart… showing how a collapse in commodity prices is unequivocally bad for US equity markets…

Go on – say it – “it’s different this time”… and then explan why a 25 year correlation that makes perfect sense from a causal perspective should just be ignored because – just like China – the central bank has your back.

Source: @Not_Jim_Cramer

Politicians from Both Sides of the Aisle: Corruption Has Destroyed America

We’ve thoroughly documented pervasive corruption in America.

There are some very juicy quotes from high-level insiders about corruption in the USA.

Jon Schwarz has rounded up a good collection of recent quotes on corruption from both sides of the aisle:

• “Now [the United States is] just an oligarchy, with unlimited political bribery being the essence of getting the nominations for president or to elect the president. And the same thing applies to governors and U.S. senators and congressmembers. … So now we’ve just seen a complete subversion of our political system as a payoff to major contributors …” — Jimmy Carter, former president, in 2015.

• “You have to go where the money is. Now where the money is, there’s almost always implicitly some string attached. … It’s awful hard to …

Stocks Plunge in Greece as Athens Exchange Reopens

Bank shares were particularly vulnerable, as trading restarted after a five-week shutdown. And a decline in Greek manufacturing underscored broader problems.

Layoffs Surge As Oil Price Outlook Remains Sober

Submitted by Andy Tully via OilPrice.com,

Lately the leaders of some of the world’s biggest energy companies have been saying oil prices will remain depressed for some time – perhaps for the next five years – and now they’ve decided to cut their costs in the most painful way possible: massive job cuts.

Royal Dutch Shell announced July 30 that it expects to eliminate 6,500 positions. The announcement came the same day it reported that earnings in the second quarter were $3.4 billion, 33 percent lower than the $5.1 billion it made during the same period of 2014.

The same day, the British utility Centrica said it plans to cut fully 6,000 jobs and reduce the size of its division for producing oil and gas. The day before, Chevron Corp. of the United States expected to eliminate 1,500 positions.

And as oil producers struggle to rein in spending elsewhere in their operations, the pain is being shared by the oil service companies they rely on. The Italian energy contractor Saipem, for example, says it plans to cut 8,800 jobs in two years.

“We have to be resilient in a world where oil prices remain low for some time,” Shell CEO Ben van Beurden said in the statement. “These are challenging times for the industry, and we are responding with urgency and determination.”

It may be too early to determine whether the price of oil, which began falling a year …

Comex On The Edge? Paper Gold “Dilution” Hits A Record 124 For Every Ounce Of Physical

Over the weekend, we got what was merely the latest confirmation that when it comes to sliding gold prices, consumer of physical gold just can’t get enough. As the Times of India reported over the weekend, India’s gold imports shot up by about 61 per cent to 155 tonnes in the first two months of the current fiscal “due to weak prices globally and the easing of restrictions by the Reserve Bank. In April-May of the last fiscal, gold imports had aggregated about 96 tonnes, an official said.”

This follows confirmations previously that with the price of gold sliding, physical demand has been through the roof, case in point: “US Mint Sells Most Physical Gold In Two Years On Same Day Gold Price Hits Five Year Low”, “Gold Bullion Demand Surges – Perth Mint and U.S. Mint Cannot Meet Demand”, “Gold Tumbles Despite UK Mint Seeing Europeans Rush To Buy Bullion” and so on. Indicatively, as of Friday, the US Mint had sold 170,000 ounces of gold bullion in July: the fifth highest on record, and we expect today’s month-end update to push that number even higher.

Oil sinks to six-month low amid weak data, slump in gasoline

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Oil sank to six-month lows on Monday with Brent crude falling below $50 a barrel on sluggish U.S. and Chinese economic data and bets for weaker gasoline consumption in the United States after tearaway demand earlier in the summer.

Sprint Needs to Speed Up to Outrun T-Mobile

Ahead of the Tape: Sprint may have good news and bad news Tuesday: subscriber numbers should stabilize but it still is in danger of losing its No. 3 market-share spot.

U.S. factory activity dips; consumer spending cools

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. factory activity slipped in July and consumer spending advanced at its slowest pace in four months in June, indicating that the economy had lost some momentum recently.