27Jun2016 Market Close: US Markets Down Sharply, DOW Down 261 Points, Crude Settles Higher, Tomorrow May Be A Correction Melt Up

Stocks drop for second day after Brexit vote

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wall Street tumbled again on Monday after Britain’s shock vote to leave the European Union, sending major U.S. stock indexes to their worst two-day swoon in about 10 months.

Exclusive: Viacom lead director turned down offer for another director to meet Sumner Redstone

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Viacom Inc’s lead independent director Frederic Salerno vetoed an offer by Sumner Redstone’s attorneys to have another of Viacom’s independent directors meet face-to-face with the 93-year-old media mogul to get an understanding of his views on the media company, two sources familiar with the situation told Reuters.

U.S. officials try to calm markets, urge ‘responsible’ UK-EU divorce

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Senior Obama administration officials sought to calm jittery markets on Monday, insisting there was no financial crisis brewing after Britain’s vote to leave the European Union and urging officials on both sides to take a “responsible” approach to the looming separation.

S&P strips UK of last top-notch credit rating after Brexit vote

LONDON (Reuters) – Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s stripped Britain of its last remaining top-notch credit rating on Monday, slashing it by two notches from AAA and warning more downgrades could follow after Britons voted to leave the European Union last week.

Brent crude tumbles to seven-week low on dollar rally, Brexit turmoil

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Crude prices tumbled nearly 3 percent on Monday, with Brent hitting seven-week lows, as a rallying dollar and market uncertainty over Britain’s shocking vote to exit the European Union threatened to sap more strength from oil’s rebound this year.

French prosecutor seeks trial for UBS over client tax fraud-judicial source

PARIS (Reuters) – A French financial prosecutor requested Swiss bank UBS go on trial for covering up clients’ tax fraud as well as illegal prospecting, a judicial source told Reuters.

Illinois insurance regulator approves Aetna purchase of Humana

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Illinois Department of Insurance has approved Aetna Inc’s proposed $34 billion acquisition of Humana Inc provided it is approved by the U.S. Department of Justice, according to an order dated June 23 posted on the department’s website.

Chipotle launches rewards program to bring back customers

(Reuters) – Burrito chain Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc said it will launch a limited-period loyalty program, betting on a strategy it had previously shunned, to lure back customers after a string of food safety lapses last year.

British government puts sale of RBS, Lloyds stakes on hold after Brexit vote: sources

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s government has scrapped plans to sell stakes in Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group this year in the wake of the Brexit vote, sources said, a decision set to leave a multi-billion pound hole in its finances. The Treasury had planned to further reduce its exposure to the banks it took over during the financial crisis, by raising 9 billion pounds ($11.9 billion) via sales of stock to fund managers and a discounted offer to the p

Chicago Is Pushing For A Massive Bailout Of Its Public School System

It is well known that Chicago’s pension liabilities have completely decimated the city’s finances and currently stand at close to $20 billion. Faced with a significant challenge of meeting funding obligations as a result of a 2010 state law, Mayor Rahm Emanuel recently won a slight reprieve in the amount of money the city would have to contribute to fund the liabilities over the next few years, as recently Illinois lawmakers overrode Governor Bruce Rauner’s veto and will now change the legislation in order to allow the city to defer payments to fund pensions.

Under the prior legislation, Chicago was required to have its public safety workers pensions 90% funded by 2040, and called for an $834 million payment to be made in 2016 alone. The revised legislation reduces that amount to $619 million, and allows for smaller increases through 2020 while pushing the timeline for 90% funding out to 2055 – at which time the timeline will be extended once again of course, as it will never be possible for the City to come up with such funds.

Perhaps riding high on that small victory, Rahm Emanuel is now quietly asking the city to change investment rules that would allow Chicago to purchase debt from sister agencies such as the Chicago Public School system – said differently, Rahm Emanuel wants to bail out the Chicago Public School system.

Kremlin: Brexit Is Like Soviet Breakup

The last leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, previously said:

The most puzzling development in politics during the last decade is the apparent determination of Western European leaders to re-create the Soviet Union in Western Europe.

And in the wake of Brexit, today’s Kremlin said much the same thing:

It’s obvious that the U.K. is going through a “turbulent, confusing and unpredictable period,” Dmitry Peskov [Vladimir Putin’s spokesman] told reporters on a conference call Monday. Russia “has gone through the collapse of the Soviet Union and many generations clearly remember the period of the Soviet collapse, that period of uncertainty.”

***

The USSR was dissolved in December 1991, more than 18 months after Lithuania led the Baltic republics in declaring independence.

Given that the Soviet Union was anti-democratic and authoritarian, and that EU appears to be pushing to destroy the sovereignty of individual European nations, the analogy might not be that far off.

Behold Corporate Incest

The list of SolarCity directors who will vote on Tesla’s $2.86 billion bid is getting shorter, as Bloomberg reports two more directors have recused themselves, as the incestuously deep connections between the two companies create clear potential conflicts of interest, according to analysts and experts in governance issues.

A few of the directors are related by blood, others have through longstanding personal and professional relationships and some made significant investments in both companies…

“The conflict is very ripe,” said Steven Davidoff Solomon, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley’s School of Law. “Elon Musk is entering into a transaction where he’s going to make hundreds of millions of dollars. The market isn’t happy about it. And they’re not playing by the usual conflict playbook. That’s a triple strike against them.”

Invest or Incest?

Greenspan Warns A Crisis Is Imminent, Urges A Return To The Gold Standard

On Friday afternoon, after the shocking Brexit referendum, while being interviewed by CNBC Alan Greenspan stunned his hosts when he said that things are about as bad as he has ever seen.

“This is the worst period, I recall since I’ve been in public service. There’s nothing like it, including the crisis — remember October 19th, 1987, when the Dow went down by a record amount 23 percent? That I thought was the bottom of all potential problems. This has a corrosive effect that will not go away. I’d love to find something positive to say.”

Strangely enough, he was not refering to the British exodus but to America’s own economic troubles.

Today, Greenspan was on Bloomberg Surveillance where in an extensive, 30 minutes interview he was urged to give his take on the British referendum outcome. According to Greenspan, David Cameron miscalculated and made a “terrible mistake” in holding a referendum. That decision led to a “terrible outcome in all respects,” Greenspan said. “It didn’t have to happen.” Greenspan then noted that as a result of Brexit, “we are in very early days a crisis which has got a way to go”, and point to Scotland which he said will likely have another referendum on its own, predicting the vote would be successful, and Northern Ireland would “probably” go the same way.

His remarks then centered on the Eurozone which he defined as a truly “vulnerable institution,” primarily due to Greece’s inclusion in its structure. “Get Greece out. They’re a toxic liability sitting in the middle of a very important economic zone.” Ironically, the same Eurozone has spent countless hours doing everything in its power to show just how unbreakable the un …

Groundhog Day for Banks as Market Winter Extended

“Brexit” will once again delay a return to normalcy for American banks.

‘Brexit’: The U.K.’s New Political Risk Equation

The pain goes on for the pound. The U.K.’s reputation as a haven has been tarnished.

Don’t Expect Nike Shares to Grab This Rebound

The coming Summer Olympic Games likely won’t be the positive catalyst investors might expect for Nike’s stock.

Market Extra: 3 ways Brexit is shaking up bond portfolios

Parts of the bond market, such as certain sovereign bonds, are traditionally viewed as haven-investments in times of market turmoil, while others, such as high-yield bonds, also known as junk bonds, are strongly correlated with the stock market and typically behave like risk assets.

Bond Report: U.S. Treasury yields plunge to 4-year lows

U.K. government bond prices surged on Monday, pushing yields below 1% for the first time ever as investors sought safe-haven assets in the wake of Britain’s vote to leave the European Union last week

The Wall Street Journal: Hewlett Packard Enterprise research chief Martin Fink departing

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. on Monday announced the planned retirement of its research chief along with other management and organizational changes, the latest signs the big technology company wants to streamline operations and speed up decision-making.