Crude

The first on-the-record comments, regarding the bombing in Bulgaria, from Israel's Netanyahu are not the most politically correct. His ire with the world's ignorance of Iran's terrorist-fostering position is very clear as are his threats and promises for retribution. Not good. And sure enough, WTI crude is spiking on this news to $91.75 (18% higher than its EU-Summit lows) back to 2-mointh highs. Via Bloomberg,

• *NETANYAHU THANKS BULGARIA FOR AID TO VICTIMS OF TERROR ATTACK
• *ISRAEL'S NETANYAHU SAYS IRAN, HEZBOLLAH CARRY OUT GLOBAL TERROR
• *NETANYAHU SAYS ATTACKS WERE PLANNED IN INDIA, THAILAND
• *NETANYAHU SAYS HEZBOLLAH ACTED AT BEHEST OF IRAN
• *NETANYAHU SAYS TOO DANGEROUS TO LET IRAN HAVE NUCLEAR ARMS
• *NETANYAHU SAYS ISRAEL WILL PURSUE, PUNISH TERRORISTS WITH FORCE
• *NETANYAHU SAYS WORLD MUST RECOGNIZE IRAN AS TERROR THREAT

Meanwhile, as a reminder, a 4th carrier group is on its way to the Gulf...

The number of casualties in the Bulgarian bus explosion (reported earlier) is not even known yet, but Israel already knows just who is behind it:

• ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER SAYS SIGNS THAT IRAN BEHIND BURGAS BOMBING -RTRS
• Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: "Iran is responsible for the terror attack in Bulgaria, we will have a strong response against Iranian terror." - Haaretz

Elsewhere:

• CARNEY SAYS OBAMA BRIEFED ON BULGARIA BLAST THAT HIT ISRAELIS
• CARNEY SAYS US NOT IN POSITION TO SAY WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE BUS ATTACK

And here we were wondering why crude spiked above $90 for the first time in months earlier today.

European equities are trading in minor positive territory on light volume and a light economic calendar with the exception of the IBEX and the FTSE MIB which are down 0.3% and 0.4% respectively as US participants begin to come to their desks. Headline employment data from the UK was for the most part in-line with expectations, though the jobless claims change for June showed a 6.1K increase compared with the 5.0K expected, with downward revisions to May’s figures. The BoE minutes showed the July increase in APF was not unanimous at 7-2, and a GBP 75bln increase was also discussed, and that should the additional easing measures not work, a further rate cut would be examined. The final comment caused a spike to the upside in the short Sterling strip of 6 ticks, Gilt futures rose to make highs of 121.78, and GBP/USD to slide back below 1.5600, though the pair has since come off its lows and trades back above this level.

Possibly a matter of weeks...

Ben Bernanke will deliver the semiannual report on monetary policy to the Senate Banking Committee Tuesday. The market is hoping and praying that the Chairsatan will make it rain. He won't. In fact, as explained earlier, it is likely that Ben will say absolutely nothing of significance today and in a world in which only the H.4.1 matters, this is not going to be taken well by the market. Of course, if Benny does crack and promises to push the S&P to 1450 just in time for the re-election, all bets are off.

Even with Citi reporting a miss on the top line of $18.6 billion (Exp. $19 billion), but a bottom line beat courtesy of more loan loss reserve releases amounting to $984 million, or 35% of the entire pretax net income number, sentiment has been very quiet this morning, with hardly any sharp moves, aside from the now usual leak in Spanish sovereign bonds, following Bloomberg's confirmation of the WSJ story that the ECB is willing to impair Senior bondholders, while Swiss nominal bonds continue to trade below 0.4% and the EURUSD drifts lower. Today's lethargy may be interrupted at 8:30 am when the Empire Manufacturing and Advance Retail Sales data are released, but unless we get another massive, and very convenient, EUR repatriation out of Europe at just the moment when the US market opens, we doubt much will happen today ahead of Bernanke's semi-annual congressional testimony tomorrow.

• Looks like the troops won't be steamrolled: JPMorgan Blaming Marks On Traders Baffles Ex-Employees (Bloomberg)
• The Goldman "Huddle" goes to Blackrock - Surveys Give Big Investors an Early View From Analysts (NYT)
• At least housing has bottomed: London House Prices Plunge As Supply Rise Adds To Lull (Bloomberg)
• Christine Lagarde and Nicolas Sarkozy embroiled in new corruption inquiry (Telegraph)- at least that fraud they created: Others helped them create it.
• Heat Leaves Ranchers a Stark Option: Sell (NYT)
• Merkel Gives No Ground on Demands for Oversight in Debt Crisis (Bloomberg)
• The euro skeptics have the best lines again (FT)
• Wen Says China’s Economic Recovery yet to Show Momentum (Bloomberg)
• Europe’s Banks Face Tougher Demands (FT)
• Madrid Region To Sell 100 Office Buildings Amid Austerity (Bloomberg)
• China eases taxes for foreign companies (FT)

Malaysia's state-owned oil and gas company just made a multibillion-dollar bet that Canada will choose to export its shale gas riches. Even though the odds of securing permission to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Canadian west coast are still pretty poor, the costs of such an endeavor immense, and the timeline in question very long, Petronas is putting $5.5 billion on the table – far more than it has ever spent on an acquisition before – to secure a large foothold in the British Columbia shale gas scene.

It's yet another sign that things are getting serious in the global race for resources.

European equities are seen softer at the North American crossover as continued concerns regarding global demand remain stubborn ahead of tonight’s Chinese GDP release. Adding to the risk-aversion is continued caution surrounding the periphery, evident in the Spanish and Italian bourses underperforming today. A key catalyst for trade today has been the ECB’s daily liquidity update, wherein deposits, unsurprisingly, fell dramatically to EUR 324.9bln following the central bank’s cut to zero-deposit rates. The move by the ECB to boost credit flows and lending has slipped at the first hurdle, as the fall in deposits is matched almost exactly by an uptick in the ECB’s current account. As such, it is evident that the banks are still sitting on their cash reserves, reluctant to lend, as the real economy is yet to see a boost from the zero-deposit rate. As expected, the European banks’ share prices are showing the disappointment, with financials one of the worst performing sectors, and CDS’ on bank bonds seen markedly higher. A brief stint of risk appetite was observed following the release of positive money supply figures from China, particularly the new CNY loans number, however the effect was shortlived, as participants continue to eye the upcoming growth release as the next sign of health, or lack thereof, from the world’s second largest economy.

Something is different this morning. Whether it is the aftermath of yesterday's inexplicable 10 Year auction demand spike, or more explicable plunge in the ECB's deposit facility usage, or, the fresh record low yield in the supreme risk indicator, Swiss 2 Year bonds, now at under 0.5%, market participants are realizing that the status quo is changing, leading to fresh 2 year lows in the EURUSD which was at 1.2175 at last check, sliding equity futures (those are largely irrelevant, and purely a function of what Simon "Harry" Potter does today when the clockworkesque ramp at 3:30pm has the FRBNY start selling Vol like a drunken sailor), and negative yields also for German, French, and Finland, with Austria and Belgium expected to follow suit as the herd scrambles into the "safety" of the core (which incidentally is carrying the periphery on its shoulders but who cares about details). Either way, Europe's ZIRP is finally being felt, only not in a way that many had expected and hoped and instead of the money being used to ramp risk, it is further accelerating the divide between risky and safe assets. Look for the Direct take down in today's 30 Year auction: it could be a doozy.

On occasion of the publication of his new gold report (read here), Ronald Stoeferle talked with financial journalist Lars Schall about fundamental gold topics such as: "financial repression"; market interventions; the oil-gold ratio;  the renaissance of gold in finance;  "Exeter’s Pyramid"; and what the true "value" of gold could actually look like. Via Matterhorn Asset Management.

If anyone still actually cares, or trades, we just saw the third California muni bankruptcy in two weeks, German bonds priced at record low yields, and Spanish 2 year nominal yields just hit all time lows of -0.37%. Abroad Spain promised to crush its middle class even more by impairing retail held sub debt and hybrids, while forcing them to pay more taxes, a move which will lead to some spectacular Syntagma Square riotcam moments, yet which has sent Spanish bonds slightly higher. As for US equity futures, they continue the headless chicken dance higher even as company after company now rushes to preannounce horrifying Q2 earnings. And that's it in a nutshell.

There are those who say gold may go to $10,000 or to $0, or somewhere in between; in a different universe, they would be the people furiously staring at the trees. For a quick look at the forest, we suggest readers have a glance at the chart below. It shows that just in the first five months of 2012 alone, China has imported more gold, a total of 315 tons, than all the official gold holdings of the UK, at 310.3 according to the WGC/IMF (a country which infamously sold 400 tons of gold by Gordon Brown at ~$275/ounce).

The last time the US navy sent three aircraft carriers into the Arabian Sea/Persian Gulf was just a few short weeks before WTI broke above $110, and aggressive military tensions, coupled with concerns of an imminent invasion of Iran by Israel and/or 'others', were running  high. Then summer arrived, as did the need to lower the price of gas and crude ahead of a veritable cornucopia of central banks easing into June and July, not to mention the need to keep gas as low as possible into the July 4th holiday. Now that the peak summer months are behind us this is all changing, and 4 months ahead of the presidential election, the need to have the "Wag the Dog" put option to round up the troops, not to mention votes, has arrived, as has the need to return to an outright aggressive military stance where Iran is concerned. Which is why we were not very surprised to learn that that Middle East veteran aircraft carrier, the CVN-74 Stennis, is going right back into Mordor, a few short months after it came back from its long stint in the Fifth Fleet, and will shortly complete the trio of aircraft carriers stationed within miles of Iran.

Following months of ever higher Chinese imports, no doubt predicated by stockpiling and hoarding reserves, in June Chinese crude oil imports plunged from over 25 million metric tons to 21.72 MMTs, the lowest since December, or about 5.3 million barrels a day, down over 10% from the previous month's record import. While the number was still quite higher than the 19.7 million tons, the sudden drop is concerning, especially since the price of Brent slid materially in June, and if anything should have resulted in even more imports if indeed China was merely stockpiling crude for its new strategic reserve facilities. Which begs the question: was the demand actually driven by the economy, and just how bad is the economic slowdown over the past month if not even stockpiling at preferential prices can offset the drop in end demand?