Frontrunning: June 2

• Greece, creditors exchanging documents to reach deal - Commission (Reuters)
• Greece’s Creditors Reach Consensus on Proposal to Athensa (WSJ)
• Greece calls on lenders to accept 'realistic' plan sent on Monday (Reuters)
• Hundreds missing, many elderly tourists, after ship capsizes on China's Yangtze (Reuters)
• Oil up ahead of OPEC meeting as dollar slips (Reuters)
• U.S. Met Secretly With Yemen Rebels (WSJ)
• Euro zone back to inflation as May prices beat forecast (Reuters)
• Patients Get Extreme to Obtain Hepatitis Drug That's 1% the Cost Outside U.S. (BBG)
• Yahoo Spinoff Shock Lingering in Options Market on IRS Concern (BBG)
• Exodus From Pimco Fund Slows Down (WSJ)
• Blatter’s UEFA Nemesis Plots Plan B After Failed Ouster Attempt (BBG)
• Abu Dhabi Wealth Fund Changing Tack Amid Lower Oil Prices (WSJ)
• A Gold Mine for No Money: Mandela, Zuma Heirs Await Fraud Ruling (BBG)
• China's home sales pick up in May: survey (Reuters)

Overnight Media Digest

WSJ

* The Obama administration published more information Monday about hefty premium increases for 2016 sought by large insurers selling plans under the Affordable Care Act. (http://on.wsj.com/1I7AoGL)

* A passenger ship carrying 458 people, many of them elderly tourists, sank in China's Yangtze River on Monday night amid strong winds, with state media reporting at least one dead and only 10 rescued so far. (http://on.wsj.com/1K5zWLy)

* Plants in China keep producing as growth falls, fueling deflationary pressure world-wide and posing challenges for policy makers and corporate executives alike. (http://on.wsj.com/1BFfMRr)

* U.S. law-enforcement officials say they believe FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke authorized transfer of $10 million that allegedly was meant to secure South Africa's hosting rights to the 2008 World Cup. (http://on.wsj.com/1QligLA)

* Intel Corp Chief Executive Brian Krzanich's deal for Altera is a brash step after mostly incremental changes in his first two years atop the chip giant as he accelerates its shift from the personal computer market. (http://on.wsj.com/1ER7hCT)

* The Supreme Court said a Muslim woman who applied to work at Abercrombie & Fitch can raise discrimination claims without proving the firm avoided hiring her because she wore a head scarf for religious reasons. (http://on.wsj.com/1I1Obl8)

FT

International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde, European central bank head Mario Draghi secretly joined France's President François Hollande and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker in Berlin on Monday for a meeting with the German chancellor Angela Merkel.

Chancellor George Osborne is set to announce plans next week at Mansion House speech regarding the privatisation of Royal Bank of Scotland.

ITV Plc bought the remaining stake in, maker of hit drama series Poldark, Mammoth Screen, for an undisclosed amount. The deal value is estimated to be below 10 million stg, according to a person familiar with the deal.

Brazilian oil company Petrobras was set to raise $2.5bn on Monday after launching a rare Century bond - its first international debt foray in over a year. (http://on.ft.com/1JfM0L3)

NYT

* Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of Greece is under mounting pressures from many sides, and European leaders hope to help his cash-starved country swiftly meet its financial obligations. (http://nyti.ms/1FqHfb9)

* A favorite of young drinkers, especially in Scotland, the English Abbey's Caffeinated Wine has been blamed for contributing to crime, and lawmakers are considering bans unless its contents are changed. (http://nyti.ms/1K5YG6l)

* Gaza's Hamas government quietly initiated new import fees in an effort to cover the salaries of some 40,000 employees, raising prices in already depressed markets. (http://nyti.ms/1FRszUX)

* The British government said it would extend a trading plan to sell down its stake in the Lloyds Banking Group and said it would offer some of its holdings to retail investors in the next year. (http://nyti.ms/1GQGWuE)

* Takata Corp is preparing for a congressional hearing on Tuesday where it will be asked about repairs for defective vehicles, and why it took so long to recall them. (http://nyti.ms/1FqK9wL)

China

CHINA SECURITIES JOURNAL

- The average new home price in 100 Chinese cities has resumed growth in May, inching up 0.45 percent, according to the latest report published by China Index Academy on Monday.

- On June 1, China kicked off reforms in auto insurance business in six provinces including Heilongjiang, Shandong, Guangxi and Chongqing.

SECURITIES TIMES

- China General Nuclear Power Holding Corp, the country's biggest nuclear energy firm by installed capacity, has recently signed a cooperation agreement with the ASEAN Center for Energy, in a bid to promote the establishment of a clean energy centre.

- The newspaper estimates that at the current pace of growth, China's margin financing could hit its ceiling in just 2-1/2 months, based on a proposal to cap the business at four times a brokerage's net asset.

SHANGHAI SECURITIES NEWS

- Shanghai Stock Exchange and China Securities Index Co Ltd will jointly launch an index tracking stocks benefiting from China's "One Belt, One Road" initiative on June 24, the paper reported, citing an official statement by China Securities Index Co Ltd on Tuesday.

- China is expected to issue bonds backed by proceeds from major disaster insurance policies.

CHINA DAILY

- The expanded free trade zone in Shanghai will loosen employment policies for overseas candidates and give international students the opportunity to work in the zone, said the head of the Pudong New Area, Sun Jiwei. The zone will also cancel the age ceiling.

PEOPLE'S DAILY

- People's Daily, the Communist Party's mouthpiece, said in an editorial that as China is deepening reform in the country's economic structure as growth slows, and the key is to keep calm and resist the temptation to step on the accelerator.

Britain

The Times

The Land Registry said its data showed that house prices across England and Wales had now risen by 5.1 percent on an annual basis to take the average price to 179,817 stg. ($273,213.95) (http://thetim.es/1AGDj9T)

Plus500, the troubled contracts for difference broker that has come under fire over its anti-money laundering procedures, is to be put out of its misery in a 460 million stg ($699.11 million) takeover by Playtech. (http://thetim.es/1BEDTjb)

The Guardian

Worries about the unbalanced nature of Britain's economic recovery intensified on Monday after news that UK factories struggled to crank up output in May amid flagging overseas demand. (http://bit.ly/1FpYHfX)

George Osborne is expected to use his Mansion House address to senior City figures next week to sketch out how he intends to start the sale of the government's 79 percent stake in Royal Bank of Scotland since the 2008 crisis. (http://bit.ly/1SQMQRb)

The Telegraph

Greece's creditor powers convened a late-night emergency summit in Berlin on Monday, amid talks the debtor will finally be handed a "take it or leave it" from lenders over its eurozone future. (http://bit.ly/1dHLRmK)

Europe's biggest oil companies, including Royal Dutch Shell and BP, have written an open letter calling for a binding global system of carbon trading in a bid to head off climate change critics. (http://bit.ly/1I6vLwC)

Sky News

HSBC holdings PLC will next week set out plans to cut thousands more jobs across its global workforce as it tries to reassure shareholders that its focus on costs remains undiminished after a series of reputational crises. (http://bit.ly/1cu2n87)

Planned strikes by Network Rail workers have been called off after a new pay offer was made following days of talks. Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union were due to walk out for 24 hours from 5pm on Thursday and for 48 hours next week after rejecting two proposed deals. (http://bit.ly/1FQwf9n)

The Independent

Tom Hayes believed he was working in a 'grey area' in which there were 'no rules', Southwark Crown Court has heard. Hayes is the first trader in the world to face trial over the London Interbank Offered Rate scandal in which interest rates banks use to lend money to one another were fixed. (http://ind.pn/1JkXo6F)

Comments

[Bill of Rights]

Obama: I’ve Restored the US as the ‘Most Respected Country in the World’
http://www.breitbart.com/video/2015/06/01/obama-ive-restored-the-us-as-t... ( Facepalm )

[NoDebt]

You really have to wonder if that guy believes his own ass doesn't stink or he's consciously aware he's lying.

[NoDebt]

"A passenger ship carrying 458 people, many of them elderly tourists, sank in China's Yangtze River on Monday night amid strong winds, with state media reporting at least one dead and only 10 rescued so far."

Well, that's grim.  If it was an airplane that crashed you'd hear more about it.  But it just a boat, so.... everybody move on.  Nothing to see here.

[Bobbo]

"U.S. Met Secretly With Yemen Rebels (WSJ)"

Last Week, you say?  Right around the 28th?  Right when the ERD went off?  Whoa, the US drives a hard bargain.

[nixy]

http://www.nasdaq.com/article/bank-of-england-official-received-emails-relating-to-libor-manipulation-prosecutor-says--update-20150527-00721   Mr. Hayes pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges, but hasn't had the chance to present his defense to the jury. He previously told The Wall Street Journal that "this goes much, much higher than me."

[Handful of Dust]

Mortgage giant to close some Houston operations, affecting 141 jobs

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/morning_call/2015/06/mortgage-giant-t...