Bain

• As scandals mount, White House springs into damage control (Reuters)
• Glencore Xstrata chairman ousted in surprise coup (Reuters), former BP CEO Tony Hayward appointed as interim chairman (WSJ)
• JPMorgan Chase asks Bloomberg for data records (Telegraph)
• Platts Retains Energy Trader Confidence Amid Price-Fix Probe (BBG)
• Syrian Internet service comes back online (PCWorld)
• Japan Q1 growth hits 3.5% on Abe impact although fall in business investment clouds optimism for recovery (FT)
• Soros Joins Gold-Stake Cuts Before Bear Market Drop (BBG)
• Factory Ceiling Collapses in Cambodia (WSJ)
• Sony’s $100 Billion Lost Decade Supports Loeb Breakup (BBG)
• Snags await favourite for Federal Reserve job (FT)
• James Bond’s Pinewood Turned Down on $300 Million Plan (BBG)

For a country, whose founder Chairman Mao once upon a time envisioned great wealth equality for all and a communist utopia, things sure have had a very capitalist ending. Perhaps nowhere is this more visible than in Mao's lineage itself, where we find that the granddaughter of Mao, Kong Dongmei, managed to rise above the great unwashed mass of egalitarianism, and ended up just slightly more equal as a result of the Great Leap Forward, with a personal fortune amounting to $815 million according to New Fortune, a Chinese financial magazine. But it is not so much the realization that the occupation of politics is one grand lie (second perhaps only to economics) and where preaching equality for all is merely a means to achieve great wealth for yourself, but that the 40 year old descendant of the Chairman, with her wealth of nearly $1 billion, is merely the 242nd richest person in China, which means there are over 200 billionaires in the country, the bulk of whom we can only imagine are descendants of the original "communist" founders of the country.

• Pentagon Plans for the Worst in Syria (WSJ)
• Russia and US agree to Syria conference after Moscow talks (FT)
• Hedge Funds Rush Into Debt Trading With $108 Billion (BBG)
• Detroit is the new "deep value" - Hedge funds in search of distress take a look at Detroit (Reuters)
• Commodities hedge funds suffer weak first quarter (FT)
• But... but... Abenomics - Toshiba posts 62% decline in Q1 net profit (WSJ)
• Americans Are Borrowing Again but Still Less Than Before Freeze (WSJ)
• Man Utd announce Alex Ferguson to retire (FT)
• Asmussen Says ECB Discussed ABS Purchases to Spur SME Lending (BBG)
• Benghazi Attack Set for New Review (WSJ)
• Belgium Says 31 People Arrested Over $50 Million Diamond Theft (BBG)
• Brazilian diplomat Roberto Azevêdo wins WTO leadership battle (FT)
• Bangladesh Garment Factory Building Collapse Toll Reaches 782 (BBG)

• Lesson From Buffett: Doubt Yourself (WSJ)
• Gold Bulls Split With Buffett as Traders Say Sell (BBG)
• Apple Misses IPhone Customers as Global Carriers Balk (BBG)
• Russia extends Cypriot loan by 2 years, cuts interest: troika document (Reuters)
• Tax Rewrite in Play in Capitol (WSJ)
• No early warning for U.S. on Israeli strikes in Syria (Reuters)
• Germany riveted at start of neo-Nazi murder trial (Reuters)
• JPMorgan Investors Urged to Split Chairman Role, Oust Directors (BBG)
• Leniency for Offshore Cheats (WSJ)
• Brussels steps up efforts over tax avoidance (FT)
• Ambulance chasing: Mesothelioma Doctors, Lawyers Join Hunt for Valuable Asbestos Cases (WSJ)
• Web Sales-Tax Bill Set to Face Bumps (WSJ)
• Colleges Cut Prices by Providing More Financial Aid (WSJ)

• Physical demand up: U.S. Mint Sales of Gold Coins Jump to Highest in Three Years (BBG)
• Paper demand down: Gold ETP Holdings Cap Record Drop as $17.9 Billion Wiped Out (BBG)
• It's May 1 not April 1: Fed Seen Slowing Stimulus With QE Cut by End of This Year (BBG)
• Another great step for Abenomics: Sony leadership to forgo bonuses after broken promise on profits (FT)
• High-Speed Traders Exploit Loophole (WSJ)
• It's peanut Breaburn jelly time: How Google UK clouds its tax liabilities (Reuters)
• Frowny face day at the Mark Zandi household: Obama Said to Choose Watt to Lead Fannie Mae Regulator (BBG)
• Russia’s 20 Biggest Billionaires Keep Riches From Putin (BBG)
• China Affair With Cheap Diamonds Heats Mass Market (BBG)
• China's emotional ties to North Korea run deep in border city (Reuters)
• US companies must use cash piles for capex (FT) ... and yet they aren't. Tax anyone who doesn't spend for CapEx!
• Chinese Way of Doing Business: In Cash We Trust (NYT)

• Obama to report to his bosses today: Obama Meets With Blankfein, Dimon and Moynihan Today (BBG)
• 2007 is here all over again: Seeking Relief, Banks Shift Risk to Murkier Corners (NYT)
• Kuroda Calls BOJ Inflation Target 'Flexible' (WSJ)
• Lagarde warns over three-speed world (FT)
• N. Korea’s Retro Propaganda Calls U.S. Boiled Pumpkin (BBG)
• Luxembourg To Ease Bank Secrecy Rule, Share Data In 2015 (BBG)
• Bank of Korea Keeps Policy Steady (WSJ)
• BOE Stimulus Dilemma Persists as Inflation Seen Higher (BBG)
• EU Sounds Alarm on Spain (WSJ)
• Qatar gives Egypt $3bn aid package (FT)
• RBNZ Says Deposit Insurance May Increase Risk of Bank Failure (BBG)
• Plosser Calls for Reducing QE Pace Citing Gains in Labor Market (BBG)
• Obama budget aims to kick start deficit-reduction talks (Reuters)

The witch-hunt against the "rich" (as defined by a random group of people) through the establishment of creeping global capital controls continues. First, it was Europe deciding that €100,000 in savings is the "fair" threshold on savings above which any haircut goes, with Cyprus demonstrating first and next Italy making it clear local depositors above the threshold will also be impaired in the future; then a group of journalists mysteriously lands millions in top secret files exposing essentially every offshore bank account: a perfectly legal option, however when mixed in with the implication that this money is all tax-evasion gotten it provides for a combustible mix, and now it is America's turn to fire the first shot across the capital control bow, because as part of his proposed budget, Obama plans to set a limit of how much one can spend per year on retirement through tax-preferred retirement plans. As it turns out, according to the Obama administration it is only fair to spend a total of $205,000 in nominal dollars per year on retirement, but not more. This means that as a result of the artificial limit, the Budget will set a total cap on retirement plans of about $3 million. Anything above that, feel free to please spend on your peas instead of saving, or just invest in Bernanke's stock market ponzi. After all, that is the only artificial indicator Obama has to point to, when "proving" his policies are working.

It seems equity markets at all-time highs, high-yield funding markets near all-time low yields, and supposed money on the sidelines flooding back into stocks are just not enough to provide cover for the latest IPO:

*TOYS R US FILES TO WITHDRAW IPO :TOYS US

Not citing any specific reasons for the withdrawal, we suspect the weather and market conditions will be blamed as they just reported abysmal earnings of $239mm vs $343mm last year and sales down $155mm from last year (with Q4 comp sales -4.5% domestically and 5.4% international). Back to the drawing board for KKR and Bain to push this off to the next greater fool.

• Firms Send Record Cash Back to Investors (WSJ)
• And in totally opposite news, from the same source: Firms Race to Raise Cash (WSJ)
• China warns over fresh currency tensions (FT)
• Hollande faces pressure over jobs pledge (FT)
• Obama efforts renew ‘grand bargain’ hopes (FT)
• Shirakawa BOJ Expansion Gets No Respect as Stocks Cheer Exit (BBG)
• Japan’s Nakao Defends Easing as China’s Chen Expresses Concern (BBG)
• Boeing Had Considered Battery Fire Nearly Impossible, Report Says (WSJ)
• ECB Chief Plays Down Italy Fears (WSJ)
• China moves to make its markets credible (FT)
• Euro Group head says UK at risk of 'sterling crisis' (Telegraph)

Every now and then you get a glimpse. A vision of reality that confirms the surreality occurring all around us. This time it comes courtesy of Coleman Andrews, co-founder of Bain Capital, who asks bluntly how confident can investors be that this monetary program will have the effects that the Fed claims it will have? A look at what Fed Chairman Bernanke was saying in the run-up to the 2008 financial turmoil gives some insight into the Fed's record at predicting market outcomes. A must-watch 150 seconds today as it appears belief in Bernanke's omnipotence is back for a moment as he asks "would you trust your life-savings to an institution with that recent record of completely missing what happened in the housing sector and more broadly in the economy." Indeed...

From 'the resurgence of religion' to 'food price volatility', cyber-viruses, urbanization, quantum computing, and peak water, Richard Watson's table highlights societal, technological, economic, and political trends that the world faces in the next decade. And if that wasn't enough, Bain & Co.'s 'Great Eight' trillion dollar growth trends should provide some food for thought as the US enjoys its vacation (although we wonder how soon until Q1 GDP misses are blamed on not only snow in the winter but also on nationally recognized holidays resulting in completely unforeseeable economic growth deductions: after all something has to be the culprit for the secular contraction, but never, ever the Fed's ubiquitous economic micromanagement and central planning).

It appears that not only we are tracking the phaseout in equity inflows, all of which are simply the reversal of the massive $220 billion surge in bank deposits in the month of December due to fears of Fiscal Cliff dividend and capital gains tax increases (explained previously), and which as today's ICI update indicates have trickled down to just $683 million - the lowest weekly inflow year to date. Among the others who are keeping track of the weekly reduction in inbound capital euphoria, in addition to the six companies which priced equity offerings on Monday as was shown previously, are these fine corporations and existing stakeholders, including Apollo, KKR, Carlyle, Blackstone, Thomas H. Lee, and Bain,  who just can't wait to get out while the getting is good, split once again evenly between secondaries and follow ons.

Just in case the Friday night insider dump bomb by Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt, in which he announced the sale of 42% of his GOOG holdings the day the stock hit its all time high, did not send a clear enough message to the market as to what side of the under-over valued spectrum corporate insiders believe we currently find ourselves in, here come six other companies with announcement of equity follow ons and secondary offerings - mostly by "selling shareholders" who happen to be some of the smartest LBO shops around - after the close on Monday alone. The scramble to sell equity while the selling is good is on.

• Republicans put squeeze on Obama in "fiscal cliff" talks (Reuters)
• Inquiry harshly criticizes State Department over Benghazi attack (Reuters)
• Banks See Biggest Returns Since ’03 as Employees Suffer (BBG)
• Italy president urges election be held on time (Reuters)
• Bank of England Says Sterling Hurting Economy (WSJ) - there's an app for that, it's called a Goldman BOE chairman
• China slowdown hits Indonesian farmers (FT)
• China dispute hits Japanese exports (FT)
• Market to get even more monopolized by the HFT king: Getco wins Knight with $2 bln sweetened offer (Reuters)
• MF Global Cases Focus on 'Letters' (WSJ)
• UBS fined $1.5 billion in growing Libor scandal (Reuters)
• Spotlight swings to interdealer brokers (FT)
• China Widens Access to Capital Markets (WSJ)
• With Instagram, Facebook Spars With Twitter (WSJ)

• Obama Concessions Signal Potential Bipartisan Budget Deal (BBG)
• Cerberus to sell gunmaker after massacre (CNN)
• With New Offers, Fiscal-Cliff Talks Narrow (WSJ)
• Judge rejects Apple injunction bid vs. Samsung (Reuters)
• U.S. policy gridlock holding back economy? Maybe not (Reuters)
• President fears for Italy’s credibility (FT)
• Struggles Mount for Greeks as Economy Faces Winter (WSJ)
• Abe leans on BoJ in post-election meeting (FT)
• Bank of Japan to mull 2 percent inflation target as Abe turns up heat (Reuters)
• EU exit is ‘imaginable’, says Cameron (FT)
• Mortgage Risk Under Fire in Nordics as Bubbles Fought (BBG)
• Sweden cuts interest rates to 1% (FT)
• External risks impede China recovery, more easing seen (Reuters)