Archive - Aug 2, 2013 - Story

• Low Wages Work Against Jobs Optimism (WSJ)
• Tourre’s Junior Staff Defense Seen Leading to Trial Loss (BBG)
• Russia gives Snowden asylum, Obama-Putin summit in doubt (Reuters)
• Fortress to Blackstone Say Now Is Time to Sell on Surge (BBG)
• Brazil backs IMF aid for Greece and recalls representative (FT), previously Brazil refused to back new IMF aid for Greece, says billions at risk (Reuters)
• Google unveils latest challenger to iPhone (FT)
• Swaps Probe Finds Banks Manipulated Rate at Expense of Retirees (BBG)
• Academics square up in fight for Fed (FT)
• Potash Turmoil Threatens England’s First Mine in Forty Years (BBG)
• Dell Deal Close but Not Final (WSJ)

A week that has been all about acronyms - GDP, PMIs, FOMC, ECB, BOE, ADP, ISM, DOL, the now daily record highs in the S&P and DJIA - is about to get its final and most important one: the NFP from the BLS, and specifically an expectation of a July 185K print, down from the 195K in the June, as well as an unemployment rate of 7.5% down from 7.6%. The number itself is irrelevant: anything 230 and above will be definitive proof Bernanke's policies are working, that the virtuous circle has begun and that one can rotate out of everything and into stocks; anything 150 or below will be definitive proof the Fed will be here to stay for a long time, that Bernanke and his successor will monetize everything in sight, and that one can rotate out of everything and into stocks, which by now are so disconnected from any underlying reality, one really only mentions the newsflow in passing as the upward record momentum in risk no longer reflects pretty much anything.