Yuan

• Investigators hunt for clues in marathon bombing (Reuters)
• Investigators scour video, photos for Boston Marathon bomb clues (Reuters)
• 'Act of Terror' Kills at Least Three, Injures About 140 as Bombs Wreak Carnage on Marathon Crowd (WSJ)
• Brent Crude Below $100 (WSJ)
• Slower China Growth Signals Days of Miracles Are Waning (WSJ)
• Central Banks at Ease Limit Risk Political Backlash (BBG)
• Merkel plans to quit midterm, says author (FT)
• Monte Paschi Prosecutors Seize $2.3 Billion of Nomura Assets (Businessweek)
• Treasuries back on investors’ buy lists (FT)
• J.C. Penney Said to Seek Ways to Separate Real Estate for Cash (BBG)
• Climate scientists struggle to explain warming slowdown (Reuters)
• Putin Calls for Stimulus Plan After Recession Alarm (BBG)
• TIPS in Longest Selloff Since ’08 as U.S. Bancorp Cuts (BBG)

• Venezuela Says Chávez Successor Wins Vote (WSJ)
• China growth risks in focus as first quarter data falls short (Reuters)
• Japan Gets Calls From U.S. to Europe Not to Drive Down Yen (BBG)
• EU Set to Clash on Bank Deal as Germany Sees Treaty Limit (BBG)
• Dish Launches $25.5 Billion Bid for Sprint (WSJ)
• Commodities Tumble, Stocks Slide as China Growth Slows (BBG)
• Top fund managers take home $8bn less (FT)
• Obama Programs Derided by Republicans as Pejorative Entitlements (BBG)
• Gene swapping makes new China bird flu a moving target (Reuters)
• McDonald's Cranks Up The Volume on 'Value' (WSJ)
• UK pension deficits set to rise by £100bn (FT)

A discussion of gold and US Treasury report on foreign exchange.  

One more domino in the dollar reserve supremacy regime falls. Following the announcement two weeks ago that "Australia And China will Enable Direct Currency Convertibility", which in turn was the culmination of two years of Yuan internationalization efforts as summarized by the following: "World's Second (China) And Third Largest (Japan) Economies To Bypass Dollar, Engage In Direct Currency Trade", "China, Russia Drop Dollar In Bilateral Trade", "China And Iran To Bypass Dollar, Plan Oil Barter System", "India and Japan sign new $15bn currency swap agreement", "Iran, Russia Replace Dollar With Rial, Ruble in Trade, Fars Says", "India Joins Asian Dollar Exclusion Zone, Will Transact With Iran In Rupees", and "The USD Trap Is Closing: Dollar Exclusion Zone Crosses The Pacific As Brazil Signs China Currency Swap", China has now launched yet another feeler to see what the apetite toward its currency is, this time in the heart of the Eurozone: Paris. According to China Daily, as reported by Reuters, "France intends to set up a currency swap line with China to make Paris a major offshore yuan trading hub in Europe, competing against London." As a reminder the BOE and the PBOC announced a currency swap line back in February, in effect linking up the CNY to the GBP. Now it is the EUR's turn.

• Korean Nuclear Worries Raised (WSJ)
• Och-Ziff, With Strategy from a 30-Year-Old Debt Specialist, Racks Up Big Score (WSJ)
• Japan's big "Abenomics" gamble: how to tell if it's paying off (Reuters)
• Kuroda walks a two-year tightrope (FT)
• China Rebound at Risk as Xi Curbs Officials’ Spending (BBG)
• BOJ Said to Consider Boosting Outlook for Inflation (BBG) - for energy prices? Absolutely: by double digits
• Cyprus May Loosen Bank Restrictions in Days (WSJ)
• Cyprus mulls early EU structural funds (Reuters)
• Russia slashes 2013 growth forecast (FT)
• Japan, U.S. Agree on Trade-Talks Entry (WSJ)
• IMF Trims U.S. Growth Outlook in Draft Report Citing Fiscal Cuts (BBG)
• Mexico Is Picking Up the Peso (WSJ)

• 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)

• Germany: Europe's... poorest? ECB Survey Puts Southerners on Top in Household Wealth, Germans Near Bottom (WSJ)
• Obama Proposes $3.77 Trillion Budget to Revive Debt Talks (BBG)
• China trade data raise accuracy worries (FT) ... but generates so much laughter
• such as this... China Exports Miss Forecasts as ‘Absurd’ Data Probed (BBG)
• S. Korea Braces for ‘Very High’ Chance of North Missile Test (BBG)
• Slovenia, Spain Warned of ‘Excessive’ Economic Imbalances by EU (BBG)
• G8 foreign ministers meet in London to address Syria, North Korea (Reuters)
• N. Korea Threats Boost First South Korea Rate Cut Odds Since October (BBG)
• China Bird Flu Outbreak May Stem From Numerous Sources (BBG)
• Spain Bailout Less Likely on Lower Funding Costs: Moody’s (BBG)
• BOE’s Haldane: Simplify Bank Rules to Strengthen Them (WSJ)

• JPMorgan Leads Job Cuts as Banks Seek to Bolster Profit (BBG)
• North Koreans don't show for work at Kaesong factory park (Reuters), as NK urges foreigners to leave South Korea (FT)
• Lisbon Struggles to Close New Budget Gap (WSJ)
• Portugal may face delay to bailout funds (FT)
• Putin Squeezing Out UBS to Deutsche Bank Using Oligarchs (BBG)
• China's Xi Says Fast Growth Over (WSJ)
• Spain’s PM wants more powers for ECB (FT)
• Bernanke Says Interest on Reserves Would Be Main Tightening Tool (BBG)
• Bird Flu Claims 7th Victim in China (WSJ)
• Texting While Flying Linked to Commercial Helicopter Crash (BBG)... No, Bernanke wasn't the pilot

A big picture look at the drivers of the global capital markets.

The Chinese Central Bank has so far stoically endured the monthly injection of $85 billion in boiling hot money for the past seven months, lovingly delivered by the inhabitants of the Marriner Eccles building, even if it meant a proportionate hawkish response which has pushed the Shanghai Composite red for the year, and having to deal with a property market that is on the verge of another inflationary blow off top. But while the PBOC will grudgingly take this kind of monetary abuse from Bernanke, now that it has to deal with another de novo created $70+ billion in monthly central bank liquidity (poetically called Carry-O-QE by Deutsche's Jim Reid), this time coming from that loathed neighbor and one time invader across the East China Sea, China won't take it any more. As the SCMP reports, "Many of China's top economists are livid at what they view as an effective currency devaluation by Japan and are calling on the People's Bank of China to retaliate by weakening the yuan to defend itself in what they see as a new currency war." 

Since the Financial Crisis erupted in 2007, the US Federal Reserve has engaged in dozens of interventions/ bailouts to try and prop up the financial system. Now, I realize that everyone knows the Fed is “printing money.” However, when you look at the list of bailouts/ money pumps it’s absolutely staggering how much money the Fed has thrown around.

• George Soros: 'What Japan is doing is actually quite dangerous because" (BBG)
• North Korea lacks means for nuclear strike on U.S., experts say (Reuters)
• Yellen latest to hint about slowing of QE3 (FT)
• Hollande approval rating hits new low (FT)
• Hollande Dismisses Reshuffle as Crisis Hits Popularity (BBG)
• Japan Upper house approves full 5 year term for BOJ gov. Kuroda (BBG)
• US: Plan to Cap Tax Breaks Is Gaining Steam (WSJ)
• BOE Says Investors May Be Taking ‘Too Rosy’ a View of Stress (BBG)
• Kiwis Say ‘Ni Hao’ as China Ties Trump Australia Sales (BBG)
• Obama Avoids Trading Threats With North Korea’s Kim (BBG)

Whenever discussion over North Korea arises in Western circles, it always seems to be accompanied by a strange mixture of sensationalism and indifference. The mainstream media consistently presents the communist nation as an immediate threat to U.S. national security, conjuring an endless number of hypothetical scenarios as to how they could join forces with Al-Qaeda and attack with a terroristic strategy. In the midst of the latest tensions with the North Koreans, I have found that most people are barely tracking developments and that, when confronted by the idea of war, they shrug it off as if it is a laughable concept. “Surely” they claim, “The North is just posturing as they always have," creating a social and political atmosphere surrounding our relations with the Asian nation that places both sides of the Pacific in great danger. The skeptics argue that we will never get to this point, though, because North Korea has brandished and blustered many times before, all resulting in nothing. We see recent events being far different and more urgent than in the past. All that is needed to instigate an event on the Korean Peninsula are tightened sanctions.

• Cyprus leader invites family firm probe (FT)
• How the Fed fueled an explosion in subprime auto loans (Reuters)
• Wal-Mart Customers Complain Bare Shelves Are Widespread (BBG)
• JC Penney CEO gets no bonus, stock award after dismal year (Reuters)
• New Bird Flu Virus Kills 2 in China, Sparking WHO Probe (BBG)
• Algorithms Play Matchmaker to Fight 7.7% U.S. Unemployment (BBG)
• Fed hawk Lacker and dove Evans face off over inflation (Reuters)
• Infamous silver market "cornerer" WH Hunt Becomes Billionaire on Bakken Oil After Bankruptcy (BBG)
• Japan Auto Sales Fall on Subsidy End as Korea Extends Drop (BBG)
• Black Hawks Near North Korea Show Risk in U.S. Command Shift (BBG)
• SEC Embraces Social Media (WSJ)
• Tesla Touts ‘True Out of Pocket’ Financing for Model S (BBG)
• U.K. Banks Try to Dodge Bonus Caps by Defining Risk-Taker (BBG)

• Goldman's Mario Draghi convinced Italy president Napolitano not to resign (Reuters)
• David Stockman Warns of Crash Of Fed-Fueled Bubble Economy (BBG)
• Cyprian archbishop calls on Central Bank's head, Finance Minister to resign (Voice of Russia)
• Cyprus Parliament President Says Country Should Exit Eurozone (Zero Hedge)
• Cyprus seeks to find people behind bank crisis (FT)
• Argentina sticks to its guns over holdout creditor payments (FT)
• 40% of all trading is now done in dark pools and off exchanges (NYT)
• Sequester Impact Remains Elusive (WSJ)
• China’s Home Prices Increase Most in 26 Months, SouFun Says (BBG)
• Beijing, Shanghai Add to Home Curbs as China Acts to Cool Market (BBG)
• Two men die in Shanghai in first human cases of bird flu strain (SCMP)
• Economics will catch up with the euro  (FT)
• How much gold is there in the world? (BBC)
• Fannie Mae Regulator Sets No-Doc Modifications for Borrowers (BBG)