Archive - Sep 3, 2013

• Mediterranean 'Ballistic Targets' Were Part of Israeli Test – Defense Ministry (RIA)
• Microsoft to Buy Nokia’s Devices Unit for $7.2 Billion (BBG)
• Long-Term Jobless Left Out of Recovery (WSJ)
• Swiss banks apologize for assisting tax cheats (Reuters)
• As Obama pushes to punish Syria, lawmakers fear deep U.S. involvement (Reuters)
• India Looking to Expand Rupee-Payment System (WSJ)
• Citigroup Dialing Back Its 'Alternative' Holdings (WSJ)
• Libya Seeks New Solutions to Oil Crisis (WSJ)
• Lenovo Chief Yang Shares Bonus With Workers a Second Year (BBG)

The equity futures euphoria carryover from this weekend, buoyed by sentiment that the Syrian war is postponed if not cancelled, carried over into Tuesday morning despite news that Israel had launched a missile test, which looked at from almost any angle was an attempt at provoking a response from its adversaries. Also the Chinese boost driven by a solid beat in the country's two manufacturing PMIs persisted despite a drop in the August Non-manufacturing PMI reported last night. So once again we have returned to a state where good news is good news and bad news can be ignored. This, even with the Taper announcement just two weeks away. Of note also is that overnight Nokia shares surged 40% after Microsoft announced that it is to buy Nokia mobile business. In tandem, other EU based related names such as STM and Ericsson also gained ground, trading up 3% and 4.5% respectively. Nokia shares traded sharply higher today after Microsoft said it will pay €3.79bln to purchase substantially all of Nokia's devices & services business and will also pay €1.65bln to license Nokia's patents. A fitting farewell present from Steve Ballmer perhaps. Once again, keep an eye on Syria as the president begins his congressional consultations to take the escalation to the next level, with or without provocations from Israel.

Update from AFP: Mediterranean missile launches were US-Israel drill: Israel media

Moments ago Russian RIA news agency reported that Russia’s Defense Ministry said, citing its ballistic missile early warning system, that the launch of two "ballistic targets" has been detected in the Mediterranean,  "The launch was detected at 10:16 Moscow time (06:16 GMT) by a radar in the southern Russian city of Armavir, a Defense Ministry spokesman said. The targets’ trajectories ran from the central to the eastern Mediterranean, the spokesman said. A diplomatic source in the Syrian capital, Damascus, told RIA Novosti that the targets fell into the sea. The Russian Embassy in Damascus said it did not have any information about the launch, and the streets and residents of the Syrian capital appeared calm, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported. Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported the launch to President Vladimir Putin, the spokesman told Russian journalists. The Defense Ministry's press service was not immediately available for further comment."

Demolishing the American War Brief Piece by Piece