Archive - Jul 17, 2014 - Story

• Bubble Paranoia Setting in as S&P 500 Surge Stirs Angst (BBG)
• But how will math PhDs determine "fair value" - Wall Street Techs Take Secrets to Next Job at Their Peril (BBG)
• U.S., EU Escalate Russia Sanctions as Putin Holds Firm (Bloomberg)
• Australia Becomes First Developed Nation to Repeal Carbon Tax (WSJ)
• Gaza humanitarian truce goes into force, hours after tunnel clash (Reuters)
• Barclays, Deutsche Bank Said to Face U.S. Senate Hearing (BBG)
• ECB Asset Buying Far Off and May Not Come, Hansson Says (BBG)
• Time Warner win would make Murdoch U.S. media king (Reuters)
• Costly Vertex Drug Is Denied, and Medicaid Patients Sue (WSJ)
• China Rallying for All Wrong Reasons to Top-Rated Analyst (BBG)
• GM recalls some cars with problematic switches; judges others safe (Reuters)

Slowly but surely, all those cans that many hoped were kicked indefinitely into the future, are coming back home to roost. The biggest impact on global risk overnight have been undoubtedly the expanded Russian sanctions announced by Obama yesterday, which have sent the Russian Micex index reeling to six week lows (as it does initially after every sanction announcement, only for the BTFDers to appear promptly thereafter), with the biggest hits saved for the named companies such as Rosneft -5.6%, Novatek -5.1%, and others Alrosa -5.7%, VTB Bank -4.3%, Sberbank -3.4% and so on. Then promptly risk off mood spilled over into broader Europe and at last check the Stoxx600 was down 0.8%, with Bund futures soaring to record highs especially following news (from the Ukraine side) that a Russian warplane attacked a Ukrainian fighter jet. Not helping matters is the end of the dead cat bounce in Portugal where after soaring by 20% yesterday on hopes of a fresh capital infusion, Espirito Santo has once again crashed, dropping as much as 11%, driven lower following downgrades by both S&P and Moodys, as well as the realization that someone was pulling everyone's legs with the rumor of an equity stake sale.