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Frontrunning: August 28

Tyler Durden's picture




 
  • Ringing endorsement: Lithuania to Adopt Euro When Europe Is Ready, Kubilius Says (Bloomberg)
  • Credit Agricole net plunges 67% on losses in Greece and a writedown of its stake in Intesa Sanpaolo SpA (Bloomberg)
  • Europe finally starting to smell the coffee: ECB Urging Weaker Basel Liquidity Rule on Crisis Concerns (Bloomberg)
  • Japan Cuts Economic Assessment (Reuters)
  • France’s Leclerc Stores to Sell Fuel at Cost, Chairman Says (Bloomberg)
  • China Eyes Ways to Broaden Yuan’s Use (WSJ)
  • Berlin and Paris forge union over crisis (FT)
  • Brezhnev Bonds Haunt Putin as Investors Hunt $785 Billion (Bloomberg)
  • Republicans showcase Romney as storm clouds convention (Reuters)
  • ECB official seeks to ease bond fears (FT)
  • German at European Central Bank at Odds With Country’s Policy Makers (NYT)

Overnight Media Digest:

WSJ

APPLE WIN SENDS WAVES THROUGH TECHS

Samsung shares slumped 7.5 percent on Monday, wiping more than $12 billion off its market value.

PUBLIC SECTOR BEATS OSBORNE'S PAY FREEZE

Hundreds of thousands of public sector workers have received pay increases despite George Osborne's pay freeze.

GHOST OF KATRINA HAUNTS REPUBLICANS

The spectre of a repeat of hurricane Katrina is haunting the Republican party's Florida convention in Tampa.

US HURRICANE THREAT RAISES PETROL PRICES

U.S. petrol prices jumped as tropical storm Isaac churned across the Gulf of Mexico putting a strain on refineries.

RYANAIR COURTS COMPETITION IN AER LINGUS BID

Ryanair is seeking regulatory approval for its proposed takeover of Aer Lingus by trying to broach a deal with six other airlines.

BEST BUY MOVE PUTS PRESSURE ON SCHULZE TO BID

Best Buy granted Richard Schulze, its estranged founder, access to its books on Monday after several weeks of acrimony.

FOREIGNERS GRAB LION'S SHARE OF UK TAKEOVER

The proportion of takeovers of UK companies by overseas investors has reached a new high of 70 percent.

BANKS READY TO CLAW BACK MORE BONUSES

Big banks to increasingly striping staff of awards they received for past performances that no longer look so favourable.

ELECTRIC CARS TO RACE FORMULA E

Electric cars will compete in a new global formula racing series called The Formula E championship in 2014

 

FT

* Tropical storm Isaac was forecast to grow into a Category 2 hurricane before making landfall Tuesday or Wednesday, testing the Gulf Coast's new flood-control systems. http://link.reuters.com/jap32t

* Taliban fighters beheaded 17 civilians and killed 10 Afghan soldiers in separate attacks in southern Helmand province, as Afghanistan's forces struggled to assert control over areas where the U.S. is withdrawing troops. http://link.reuters.com/kap32t

* While politicians have offered ideas for job creation, many manufacturers wish Washington would concentrate on lower and simpler taxes, improved roads and other infrastructure, and better education. http://link.reuters.com/map32t

* Southern California residents live in fear of the inevitable massive earthquake - the "Big One" - but hardly anyone gives much thought to surviving more than 400 small-to medium-sized ones. http://link.reuters.com/nap32t

* The FDA approved a new Gilead Sciences Inc HIV medicine that combines four ingredients into one pill. The product, previously called Quad, will be sold under the brand name Stribild. http://link.reuters.com/pap32t

* Paul Singer has given more to the GOP and its candidates -$2.3 million this election season - than anyone else on Wall Street, helping make his hedge fund one of the nation's biggest sources of political donations. http://link.reuters.com/qap32t

* Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, a Democrat, is counting on the Republican convention to pump $150 million into the local economy. http://link.reuters.com/rap32t

* Republicans officially opened a storm-shortened convention aimed at selling Mitt Romney to the American people, with GOP hopes for the event rising as the winds died. http://link.reuters.com/sap32t

 

NYT

* By making its own hardware, Google Inc could end up more squarely in Apple Inc's sights. The jury's findings in the case could potentially force Google to adjust its software, too.

* Amazon Inc is quietly upending the world of business computing through its cloud operations, a vast resource that gives companies heavy computing power without the baseline costs.

* The cost of biofuels in Defense department trials has made them a flash point in the debate over government financing for new energy technologies.

* The top German official at the European Central Bank defended its plans to intervene in bond markets as a way of lowering borrowing costs for business.

* David Einhorn, the billionaire hedge fund manager, is the largest investor in a fund run by his brother and father in Wisconsin. Their firm, Capital Midwest Fund, aims to tap the Midwestern work ethic.

* The Food and Drug Administration has approved once-a-day pill for HIV. The pill, made by Gilead Sciences, is criticized by AIDS activists who contend the $28,500 annual cost is too expensive.

Canada

THE GLOBE AND MAIL

* The calm of summer was shattered Monday with the reopening of Quebec universities, where some classes were disrupted as protesters disobeyed the back-to-school law. The chaotic scenes came in the final stretch of an election campaign where the student unrest has mostly faded into a non-issue.

* Tropical Storm Isaac bore down on the U.S. Gulf Coast on Tuesday, packing swirling winds and rain and posing a major test of the region's new flood control systems seven years after Hurricane Katrina sent walls of water crashing across its shoreline.

Reports in the business section:

* The Group of 20 appears poised to dissuade Canada's big banks from getting any bigger. International authorities are moving ahead with plans to draw up special rules for "domestic systematically important banks" - large banks whose failure would cause major harm to a country's economy.

* Cameco Corp is growing its uranium holdings even as other players back away from an industry stuck in a low-price trough for over a year. Saskatoon-based Cameco, already the world's largest publicly traded uranium producer, announced plans to buy the Yeelirrie uranium project in Western Australia for $430-million, adding one of the country's top undeveloped uranium deposits to its portfolio.

NATIONAL POST

* In an astonishing development, lawyer Guy Pratte has resigned from a Canadian Judicial Council hearing examining the conduct of a senior Manitoba judge. The abrupt move comes exactly a week after Pratte, who was the inquiry's so-called "independent counsel," sought to have inquiry decisions overturned by filing for judicial review at the Federal Court of Canada.

* A Liberal senator's wife accused of creating a disturbance on an airplane and uttering threats against her husband was forced to return to court Monday - the couple's wedding anniversary - just moments after being released on bail. Police were called to the John G. Diefenbaker International Airport around 8 p.m. on Thursday, where they took Maygan Sensenberger, 23, into custody.

FINANCIAL POST

* West Fraser Timber Co and Western Forest Products Inc are leading Canadian lumber producers to the biggest combined profit since 2006 as mills run at five-year highs to feed a U.S. housing rebound and near-record Chinese demand.

* Non-union workers across Canada can expect wage increases of 3.2 percent on average next year, according to an annual survey by Mercer. The global business consultancy said Monday that the projected wage increases would match actual increases in base pay reported for 2012. They would also be up slightly from the average of 3 percent in 2011 and 2.9 percent in 2010.

 

European Economic Update:

  • Germany GfK Consumer Confidence 5.9 – higher than expected. Consensus 5.8. Previous 5.9.
  • Spanish GDP -0.4% q/q -1.3% y/y - lower than expected. Consensus -0.4% q/q -1.0% y/y. Previous -0.4% q/q -1.0% y/y.
  • Sweden Trade Balance (Kronor) 3.7B – lower than expected. Consensus 7.5B. Previous 9.3B. Revised 8.2B.
  • Euro-Zone M3 3.4% q/q 3.8% y/y - higher than expected. Consensus 3.1% q/q 3.2% y/y. Previous 3.0% q/q 3.2% y/y.
 

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Tue, 08/28/2012 - 07:28 | 2743039 Bobbyrib
Bobbyrib's picture

The MSM is acting like Isaac is going to wipe out the gulf coast. Then when it comes to negative economic news, it's no big deal. What a joke.. 

Tue, 08/28/2012 - 08:59 | 2743211 slaughterer
slaughterer's picture

MSM is overexaggrating Isaac so that the gov looks good when no deaths are caused and to let the WTI longs unwind their positions before the SPR dump.  Strong winds and 10-20 inches of rain does not make a CAT 2 hurricane. 

Tue, 08/28/2012 - 07:48 | 2743057 malikai
malikai's picture

Brezhnev Bonds Haunt Putin as Investors Hunt $785 Billion 

I just read the bloomberg article. A couple things struck me. Why didn't Russia default on those bonds in the 90s? What the hell was Yeltsin thinking to sign a law obligating the government to pay full face value on that paper? That doesn't make any sense.

Tue, 08/28/2012 - 08:03 | 2743079 magpie
magpie's picture

Did the CSA issue any debt ?

Makes me want to try that one out too...

Tue, 08/28/2012 - 08:00 | 2743066 Catullus
Catullus's picture

French stores are not going to make a profit on selling fuel to appease the socialist president?  What an inviting place to store my capital!  And it's only going to be 2-3 cents, but it's extremely symbolic.  By symbolic, they mean now the government is never going to let you make a profit ever again on this.  And they'll determine what "profit" means.  Think it'll cover the capital costs of installing pumps and the maintenance on them?  HA.  It'll cover COGS only.  But be morons, you did this to yourselves.

Tue, 08/28/2012 - 08:00 | 2743070 magpie
magpie's picture

When it becomes obvious that it isn't working, Hollande will lobby for the SPR release

Tue, 08/28/2012 - 08:31 | 2743126 youngman
youngman's picture

They are trying to make the Republican Convention into a "they don´t care that other people are going to die" theme.  Oh how can those nasty mean Republicans have a convention when a hurricane.....its astually only a tropical storm..but the MSM can wish its a hurricane..be so close to those poor poor people in New Orleans....Democratic Voters......lol...I bet the have 100´s of reporters tied to light poles giving on the minute updates during the convention....just to cut into the speeches

Tue, 08/28/2012 - 12:01 | 2743771 mkhs
mkhs's picture

   US HURRICANE THREAT RAISES PETROL PRICES

Has the WSJ gone British?  Could somebody translate this for me?

Tue, 08/28/2012 - 12:44 | 2743931 monad
monad's picture

Republican politics overuled the common sense not to have a convention in hurricane alley during peak season. Not that the Dems are any better, they're probably having theirs in the Fukashima plume maxima...

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