Yuan

Just read.

All you can read.

• Greek Banks Under Pressure (WSJ)
• France Seeks Eurozone Stability Package (FT)
• Germany Dashes Eurozone Expectations (FT)
• Geithner Says European Leaders Know They Must Do More (Bloomberg)
• In Athens, Party Aims to Delay Austerity (WSJ)
• Rajoy Battles ECB for Loans; Monti Appeals for EU Action (Bloomberg)
• Nokia Slashes 10,000 Jobs, Cuts Outlook (WSJ)
• H-1B Visas Hit the Cap, Sending Companies to Plan B (Businessweek)
• Swiss National Bank Vows to Defend Currency Floor (WSJ)
• Euro Crisis Deeper With Moody’s Downgrading Spain, Cyprus (Bloomberg)
• When all else fails... Truckers As Leading Indicator Show Stable U.S. Economic Growth (Bloomberg)

Gold rose $11.40 or 0.71% yesterday in New York and closed at $1,611.60/oz.  Gold started out trading sideways in Asia and then edged up in early European trading.  

All you can read.

All you need to know.

All you need to read and some more.

All you need to read.

• China Cuts Interest Rates for First Time Since 2008 (Bloomberg)
• New Risk to Europe's Growth: Banks Cut Lending to Cities (WSJ)
• Labor Faces New Challenge - Losses in Wisconsin, California Come as Ranks of Government Unions Decline (WSJ)
• Yellen argues for more Fed easing amid Europe risk (Reuters)
• Americans Cling to Jobs as U.S. Workforce Dynamism Fades (Bloomberg)
• Japan’s LDP Agrees to Talks With Noda’s DPJ on Sales Tax (Bloomberg)
• Korean Buying Spree Boosts Brent Price (FT)
• China Delays Bank Capital Rule Tightening as Economy Slows (Bloomberg)
• China CIC Chief Sees Rising Risk of Euro Breakup (WSJ)

Update: 9:00 am has come and gone... and no global bailout unlike November 30, 2011. Not a good sign for those expect a central-bank D-Day.

While minutes ago the Bank of England followed in the ECB's footsteps, it was the China central bank that stole England's thunder, announcing an unexpected rate cut moments before 7 am, and thus finally joining the global easing party: this was the first Chinese interest rate cut since 2008. As a reminder, hours before the global central bank intervention on November 30, China announced its first (50 bps) reserve requirement cut since 2008. Is today's PBOC move, which is the first cut of deposit and 1 year lending rates also since 2008, a harbinger of something much bigger to come any second now?

Thus we have the world’s three most important Central banks as well as the global economy’s “economic miracle” retreating from aggressive monetary intervention.

All you need to read and some more.

All you need to read.

The recent elections in Egypt now lead to a showdown between the two top vote getters on June 16/17. The protagonists, Ahmed Shaiq (former PM for Mubarak and candidate of the military) vs. Mohammed Mursi (Muslim Brotherhood), pits two candidates most of the population really doesn’t want in the first place. Kind of like Obama vs. Romney. Where’s Ron Paul on the ballot, right? The problem here is Egypt’s position on the timeline of revolution. Egypt has gone through the 1st Stage of a government loosing its justification to govern, and now the 2nd Stage of a caretaker, or provisional government, is now coming to an end. However, no accommodation has been created to correct the deficiencies that caused Egypt’s Spring Revolution, and that spells trouble.

The balance sheet recession that seems to have correctly diagnosed the problem facing Japan (and now Europe and the US)  - explicitly causing debt minimzation as opposed to profit maximization - seems to be taking hold. However, it appears this death-knell for credit-created growth is now being seen in China - as AlsoSprachAnalyst interprets "people are not borrowing, but selling assets to pay down debts, and/or holding cash". What is most worrisome is that while the focus of the world has been on European bank runs (for fear of bank failure and redenomination risk), 21st Century Business Herald now notes that these bank runs have spread to China's industrial and construction-heavy city of Wuyishan. Queues were seen on various branches of China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank of China, and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. One local resident told the reporter that the city “has gone crazy”.