Frontrunning: May 18

• Al Qaeda names Egyptian militant Adel as interim chief - Al Jazeera (Reuters)
• Geithner: U.S. must deal with budget woes or pay more (Reuters)
• Pressure mounts on Strauss-Kahn to quit (FT)
• Europe Aims to Keep IMF Job After Strauss-Kahn (Bloomberg)
• The eurozone after Strauss-Kahn (Martin Wolf, FT)
• IMF issues stark warning to Greece on fiscal goals (Reuters)
• U.S. mulls White House aide Lipton for IMF No. 2 job (Reuters)
• Could Greece be the next Lehman Brothers? Yes – and potentially even worse (Guardian)
• Moody's Cuts Rating of Four Major Australian Banks (WSJ)
• Fed seeks annual US bank stress tests (FT)
• Mideast peace bid needed more than ever (Reuters)
• World Bank sees end to dollar’s hegemony (FT)
• BoE keeps 6-3 vote in May to hold rates at record low (Reuters)
• Japan Reactor Failings Offer Danger Signs for the U.S. (NYT)
• Hedge Farm! The Doomsday Food Price Scenario Turning Hedgies into Survivalists (Observer)
• Commodities may correct for next month or two-MF Global (Reuters)
• First troops to pull out of Afghanistan (FT)
• Saudi Arabia Defies Mideast Upheaval (Bloomberg)
• Libya Rebel Chief Says Aid Taking ‘Too Long.’ (Bloomberg)
• Some See Rise Ahead for Dollar (NYT)

Key global highlights, courtesy of Egan-Jones

• Asian stocks gain on earnings growth, Yen slide; Commodities, Oil advance.
• China April Home Prices gain as smaller cities defy efforts to curb prices.
• China is likely to face additional power shortages this year: Xinhua.
• U.S. April Industrial Production unexpectedly stalls on autos.
• U.S. Housing Starts unexpectedly fell in April to 523,000 pace.
• Advanced BioHealing to be acquired by Shire Plc for $750M.
• Analog Devices f'casts Q3 EPS of as much as 75 cents a share (cons est. $0.70/sh).
• BP, ConocoPhillips drops bid to build $35B Alaska pipeline.
• Coldwater Creek sees Q1 loss of $0.34/sh vs. cons est. for a loss of $0.10/sh.
• Dell beats by $0.11, misses on revs; reaffirms FY12 revs guidance.
• Delphi Automotive said to hire Goldman, JPMorgan to lead $1B IPO.
• Home Depot Q1 profit rises 12% on expense control. May same-store sales turns positive.
• J&J, McDonald’s, Caterpillar expected to sell bonds Tuesday as borrowing costs fall.
• LinkedIn increases IPO share price 29% as site’s value may top $4B.
• Mack Trucks, parent Volvo to pay $525M to settle class-action suit by Mack retirees.
• ONEOK repurchases $300M of common stock.
• Photronics posts Q2 loss of $8M on one-time debt costs. Revs rise 27% to $133.1M.
• Publicis to buy Rosetta Marketing for at least $575M.
• Saks Inc. Q1 net rose 51% to $28.4M. Revenue was $726M, up 9 percent.
• SAP forecasts $7B revenue from Mobile, In-Memory software by 2015.
• Skyworks to acquire SiGe Semiconductor for $210M cash, plus an addln $65M if certain performance targets are met.
• Target's April net income rises from $671M to $689M.
• TJX Q1 net drops 19.7% to $266M on AJ Wright store closings, but revs, customer traffic rise.
• Verizon COO McAdam says spectrum shortage is driving industry acquisitions.
• ViaSat misses by $0.01, reports Q4 EPS of $0.41. Revs rose 1.8% to $216.4M.
• Wal-Mart reported a 3% increase in net income, powered by international sale.

Economic Calendar: Data on MBA Mortgage Index, Crude Inventories & FOMC Minutes to be released today.

Earnings Calendar: AAP, ABMD, ALKS, ANF, BJ, CHMP, CHS, DE, EV, HOTT, JACK, KENT, KIRK, LTD, NTES, PETM, SPLS, TGT.

Comments

[SilverDoctors]

Tyler! IMF Head DSK's Accuser Lives in Bronx Apartment Complex EXCLUSIVELY for HIV/AIDS Patients! It all fits together!

http://silverdoctors.blogspot.com/2011/05/dsk-accuser-lives-in-bronx-hou...

[eftian]

 "The IMF warned Greece on Wednesday..."
that they will sodimize every maid in Greece if
the greek people don`t submit to their tyranny.

[Mae Kadoodie]

How is there pressure being put on DSK to resign?  Do they give you cell phone priveledges in Rikers?  In solitary confinement?  Nice accomodations if you can get it.

[downwiththebanks]

Did you hear TurboTax Timmy?  "He's not in a POSITION to run the IMF." 

[downwiththebanks]

Convenient for Uncle Sam that the new alCIAda chief hails from Egypt.

That will provide them with a convenient pretext for intervention when the REVOLUTION overthrows the junta - or when unrest among the masses threatens White Capital (since that's who alCIAda serves).

DSK's hit sure was timed up nicely to divert attention from BOTH the IMF meetings AND the Nakba Day Uprising, wasn't it?

Amazing how those coincidences line up.

[LRC Fan]

It seems like the perfect time for a false flag.  "Terrorist" attack in 3...2...1?  Or maybe it will be a flash crash.  Who knows. 

[XPolemic]

Moody's Cuts Rating of Four Major Australian Banks (WSJ)

BWA HA HA HA. THERE IS ONLY FOUR MAJOR AUSTRALIAN BANKS!!!

[writingsonthewall]

Tyler,

Slight correction on the news.

"The IMF names Egyptian militant Adel as interim chief"

"Europe Aims to Keep IMF chief Strauss-Kahn out of Riker's island"

"Saudi Arabia Denies Mideast Upheaval and says 'oil - it's all good, as much as you want, we got crude, we got black oil, we got green oil, we got all oil'"

Brought to you by the NTMSN (Not the main stream news)

[Smiddywesson]

You can't make this stuff up man, it is absolutely crazy.  The head of the IMF is charged with rape, right at the height of negotiations over our reserve currency status and the preservation of the EU.  He just happens to be a socialist, so he makes waves, and we can't have waves at these critical times, can we?  Unfortunately, he also was the widely favored "shoe-in" candidate the next French presidential election.  Now here's someone with a target on his back.  Every central banker has his photo on his dart board.  The head of WikiLeaks had a target on his back too, and he wound up with a rape charge against him too.  Probably a coincidence (wink).   "No socialist is going to screw with us ripping off the middle class from Shanghai to LA, and all the places in between, the sheep are ours".  - Ben Bernanke Strauss-Kahn has access to unlimited money, has traveled the world in very elite company, is ambitious enough and capable enough to become the head of the IMF, and now has presidential ambitions.  You would think he understands his political peril and is on his best behavior.  You would think, given the proclivities we are led to believe he has, learned in his 62 years how to pick up a phone and find a high priced hooker.  This guy has been everywhere.  He's been to Jackson Hole for Christ's sake, where all the best professional female talent goes.  These guys have money, and the ladies they like know how to find them.  Central banker types only seem stuffy, they know how to party, only discretely, and that means you have to pay for privacy.  Instead, he ATTACKS the maid?  He waits 62 years to attack a maid?  He waits until just before his presidential run to attack a maid?  She just happens to look better than a $5000 hooker?  Would you choose the maid over a $5000 hooker that can get your mind off the endless droning presentations of tomorrow's meeting?  Hey, maybe he couldn't find a professional, IN NEW YORK CITY!  Does this sound right to you? I also love the "fellow victim" coming forward on the same day.  It took months and months, it took years, for the victims of the catholic church pedophiles to come forward, but this victim pops up in time for the 6 o'clock news.  Yeah, right.  Just because it is possible doesn't mean I believe it.  It is just too convenient. How does a 62 year old out of shape little umpa lumpa like he, force a 32 year old woman to commit sodomy?  There are plenty of 62 year old men out there that are still strong enough to do so, but take a look at him, he ain't one of them.  There's no physical trauma to prove up a rape because it was oral sex, that's kind of convenient too.  And how does she get away after the act if she couldn't before.  Hey, I don't know, but it sounds as convincing as the Duke lacross allegations to me.     New York City being ground zero to the conspiracy of central banking is just icing on the cake.  He's dead.  He will never, ever, get a fair trial, but that doesn't matter, he has been politically neutralized. In the mind of the central bankers, nothing is too underhanded.  They really believe they are saving the world.  It's "God's Work"

[XPolemic]

They will pop him in jail, just like Kenny. Heart attack would be my guess (from the stress of it all).

[Johnny Lawrence]

This is unbelievable.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1338789&posi...

The White House Press Office has refused to give the Boston Herald full access to President Obama’s Boston fund-raiser today, in e-mails objecting to the newspaper’s front page placement of a Mitt Romney op-ed, saying pool reporters are chosen based on whether they cover the news “fairly.”

“I tend to consider the degree to which papers have demonstrated to covering the White House regularly and fairly in determining local pool reporters,” White House spokesman Matt Lehrich wrote in response to a Herald request for full access to the presidential visit.

“My point about the op-ed was not that you ran it but that it was the full front page, which excluded any coverage of the visit of a sitting US President to Boston. I think that raises a fair question about whether the paper is unbiased in its coverage of the President’s visits,” Lehrich wrote.

[earnyermoney]

Hypocrisy.

[Careless Whisper]

front-run this

As Mister Bernanke has claimed the gold is really there, oh yeah,

Congressman Ron Paul says; Sell The Gold In Fort Knox

http://www.nysun.com/national/selling-gold-at-fort-knox-emerges-as-next-...

[lsbumblebee]

Just to be perfectly clear, the Zionist media wants everyone to know it is displeased with Egyptian-Palestinian solidarity. So make sure you remember that the new leader of the terrorist organization Al Qaeda, which means "toilet seat" in Arabic, is an Egyptian. 

[Use of Weapons]

http://www.boingboing.net/2011/05/17/300559476.jpg

http://vastminority.blogspot.com/2011/05/spanish-revolution-gains-moment...

(quite a sizable crowd)

Who was that JM Op who called me a 'mouth breather' for pointing out Spain wasn't going to return to Fascism anytime soon (or at least without a fight)? Make no mistake, the left within Spain firmly equates IMF style capitalism as fascism. Money-where-your-mouth-is-time, eh.

Whether or not the Spanish have a bit more cojones than Wisconsin, we'll see. Most left protests don't do much barring mill around, but the Spaniards have form on the old revolutionary idealism. And lefties who still remember Franco & smart at being on the losing side.

At the very least, if they manage to hiccup the elections sufficiently, we'll see some form of government instability - and very nervous German / French banks.

Edit - http://malestar.org/  Seems to be the central hub of reporting it from the protestor's side.

[Use of Weapons]

Nose twitching time. Looks like someone went & hacked / deleted / removed the malestar link.

Spooktastic.

[earnyermoney]

Anyone catch the headline on Bloomberg this morning about Senat bill on 401(k) as rainy day fund? Also DSK on suicide watch?

[sabra1]

the fed has dibs on your 401ks."

[silberblick]

This is also in the news: article speculating that DSK was set-up because he opposed the dollar and the Fed:

http://thesilvergoldhedge.blogspot.com/2011/05/sdk-had-dollar-banksers-a...