Greece

• In Asia/Pacific, the sales decline was primarily due to lower sales in China and Japan.
• Decreases in Latin America were primarily due to continued weak construction activity
• Sales declined in EAME primarily due to the unfavorable impact of currency, as sales in euros translated into fewer U.S. dollars.
• Sales declined in North America as weakness in oil and gas-related construction was largely offset by stronger activity in residential and nonresidential building construction.

On Wednesday evening, Greece took another step toward transforming itself into a vassal state of Brussels when lawmakers passed a second set of prior actions ahead of formal discussions around a third program. As Deutsche Bank noted earlier this week, there’s something quite absurd about the adoption of the new bailout terms being left to a government whose leader openly opposes the deal. And Deutsche Bank isn’t alone in their skepticism. JP Morgan has more on why no one "should put the odds of Greece staying in the euro above 50%".

• Greek PM keeps lid on party rebellion to pass bailout vote (Reuters)
• Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras Remains Popular Despite Tough Bailout Deal (WSJ)
• Beijing's stock rescue has $800 billion bark, small market bite (Reuters)
• Capital exodus from China reaches $800bn as crisis deepens (Telegraph)
• Why Investors Shy Away From China’s $6.4 Trillion Bond Market (WSJ)
• Oil Rigs Left Idling Turn Caribbean Into Expensive Parking Lot (BBG)
• Bank of America replaces CFO in management shake-up (Reuters)
• The Financial Buzz? Pearson to sell Financial Times (Reuters)

A slow week devoid of virtually any macro news - last night the biggest weekly geopolitical event concluded as expected, when Greece voted to pass the bailout bill which "the government does not believe in" just so the ECB's ELA support for Greek depositors can continue - is slowly coming to a close, as is the busiest week of the second quarter earnings season which so far has been largely disappointing despite aggressive consensus estimate cuts, especially for some of the marquee names, and unlike Q1 when a quarterly drop in EPS was avoided in the last minute, this time we won't be so lucky, and the only question is on what side of -3.5% Y/Y change in EPS will the quarter end.

The Centralized Powers have declared a War on Cash... and it is spreading throughout the globe.

While we know now that Greece is irrelevant, and China is irrelevant (fdrom what we are told by talking heads), it appears the commodity carnage of the last few months is relevant for at least one nation. Having already warned about Australia, it appears New Zealand has got nervous:

*NEW ZEALAND CUTS KEY INTEREST RATE TO 3.00% FROM 3.25%, FURTHER EASING LIKELY AT SOME POINT

The Central bank blames softening economic outlook driven by commodity price pressures. Kiwi interestingly popped on the news to 0.66 before fading back a little, despite RBNZ noting a further NZD drop is necessary.

When we discuss an "economic collapse," most people think of a collapse of the financial markets; and without a doubt, one is coming very shortly. But let us not neglect the long-term economic collapse that is already happening all around us. If you stand back and take a broader view of things, what has been happening to the U.S. economy truly is quite shocking. The following are 12 ways that the U.S. economy is already in worse shape than it was during the depths of the last recession...

How hard do you work compared to the rest of the world?

All eyes may be on Greece right now, but in reality, the economic malaise is widespread across the continent.  It’s clear that Greece is not the problem. It’s a symptom of the problem. The real problem is that every one of these nations has violated the universal law of prosperity: produce more than you consume. This is the way it works in nature, and for individuals.

Here are just two anecdotes to confirm that not virtually nobody is left to trade bonds any more (as confirmed by the plunging FICC revenues reported by the big banks in Q2), but the reason for this is that there is no bond market liquidity left, a topic extensively covered here for the past 3 years.

Despite the imploring of Greek bankers for Greeks to "take your money out of your chests and houses – which are not safe in any case – and deposit at banks," it appears the Greek bank deposit run continues. As The ECB just announced another €900 million increase in Emergency Liquidity Assistance, strongly suggesting that in the 2 days since the last increase, banks are once again insolvent facing a liquidity crunch as the "banks are trustworthy" propaganda falls on very deaf Greek ears.

GREECE TSIPRAS WANTS ELECTIONS AS SOON THIRD LOAN AGREED-SRC

GREECE PM MULLS SEP 13TH OR 20TH FOR POSSIBLE SNAP POLLS-SRC

why things are as they are...

The Greek parliament will vote on a second batch of prior actions on Wednesday including EU rules on bank resolutions and civil justice reform amid protests from public sector union ADEDY which has pledged to "continue the battle so that the new barbaric bailout does not pass and is overturned," and so that Greece does fall under the "neocolonial control" of Brussels. Today's vote is a litmus test for Syriza. That is, the key issue is whether the party splinters further or if some of those who broke with Tsipras last week return to the fold on Wednesday.