Newspaper

• Cyprus works on Plan B to stave off bankruptcy (AP)
• Cyprus seeks Russian bailout aid, EU threatens cutoff (Reuters)
• Freddie Mac Sues Multiple Banks Over Libor Manipulation (BBG)
• Bernanke Seen Keeping Up Pace of QE Until Fourth Quarter (Bloomberg)
• Italian president seeks way out of political stalemate (Reuters)
• Chinese factories struggle to keep staff (FT)
• South Korean banks, media report network crash (CBC)
• BlackBerry Inventor Starts Fund to Make Star Trek Device Reality (Bloomberg)
• Osborne Should Be Fired, Voters Say in Pre-Budget Poll (Bloomberg)
• Obama Begins First Visit to Israel as President (WSJ)
• Anadarko finds ‘potentially giant’ oilfield (FT)
• Britain's Osborne boxed in by austerity on budget day (Reuters)
• MF Global reaches agreement with JPMorgan (FT)

In 2013, we are receiving the same banker and mass media propaganda that we heard in 2008. The stock markets are okay, economies are recovering, blah, blah, blah. However, do any of the facts support the propaganda? For example, this “bullish” US stock market has not even recovered to the levels of October, 2007. And even, if more QE, more HFT low-trading volume rigging can rig US and other western markets higher, do rising stock markets even matter if the growth of stock markets are less than

• Cypriot Bank Levy Is ‘Ominous’ for Bondholders, Barclays Says (BBG)
• Euro, Stocks Drops; Gold, German Bonds Rally on Cyprus (BBG)
• Total chaos:Cyprus tries to rework divisive bank tax (Reuters)
• More total chaos: Cyprus Prepares New Deposit-Tax Proposal (WSJ)
• Euro Slides Most in 14 Months on Cyprus Turmoil; Yen Strengthens (BBG)
• Osborne to admit fresh blow to debt target (FT)
• Even the Finns are giving up: Finnish Government May Relinquish Deficit Target to Boost Growth (BBG)
• Moody’s Sees Defaults as PBOC Warns on Local Risks (BBG)
• Australia Faces ‘Massive Hit’ to Government Revenue, Swan Says (BBG)
• Inside a Warier Fed, Watch the New Guy (Hilsenrath)
• Obama to Tap Perez for Labor Secretary (WSJ) - and with that the "minorities" quota is full
• Finally, this should be good: BuzzFeed to Launch Business Section (WSJ)

Three sticks and three chances for a poke in the eye. On the other hand they could be kindling for the fire or perhaps the first ingredients of alphabet soup. You see, this is what makes things so tough; we all stare at the same things, the same events and reach wildly different conclusions. The media hands out each stick as presented by the government, a corporation or someone else in a supposed leadership position. The somewhat wise can grasp that there are three sticks and not just one and the good minds recognize not only the three sticks but see that it can be made into the first letter of the alphabet. In this light then let us consider the recent proposal from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Under the banner of limiting the government’s support for the large U.S. banks in case one were to fail the Dallas Fed has proposed capping assets at $250 billion and of walling off investment banking from the bank...

When we first reported on China's "hogwash" yesterday, the number of floating pigs in Shanghai's water supplying Huangpu River was a "modest" 1200. It has since tripled to 3300. From SCMP: "The agriculture and environmental protection departments in Shanghai's Songjiang district have pulled more than 3,300 dead pigs out of the Huangpu River, which flows through the municipality, in the past week." What is worse is that at least one pig-related virus has been found in a water sample: "Porcine circovirus, a common hog disease that is not known to be infectious to humans, was found in a sample taken from the water, Shanghai's animal disease control department was quoted as saying by eastday.com a major Shanghai news portal." The good news is that tests by the Shanghai Animal Disease Prevention and Control Centre on five sets of internal organs taken from the dead pigs has ruled out five other diseases including foot-and-mouth, hog cholera and blue-ear. Of course, this is China, whose disclosure record is second only to Japan, where as a reminder the government said the radiation level was under control days after the Fukushima explosion, even as the reality was far grimmer.

Imagine the following: you read in a newspaper that a group of investors has sold US dollars to the tune of $820 million over the past two months for other currencies. This incidentally represents approximately 0.082% of the broad dollar money supply TMS-2 (which amounts to roughly $9.3 trillion at present). It means they would have been selling roughly $20 million per trading day. You then learn that $4 trillion of US dollars are traded in global currency markets every single trading day. Would you believe that their selling has influenced the exchange value of the dollar beyond a rounding error? And yet, we are supposed to believe that the selling of an equivalent amount of gold from the gold holdings of exchange traded funds over the past two months (they have sold 140 tons, or 0.082% of the total global gold supply) has greatly influenced the gold price.

It is no secret that one of the main reasons why Italy's former PM, and resurgent soon to be member of government, Silvio Berlusconi, is so adamant to be in parliament, is simply to obtain the immunity he would need to stay out of prison as a result of countless lawsuits which he has valiantly fought, and lost. As of this morning, a rather convenient time for sure just as Italy is preparing to create a coalition government, Silvio has one more lawsuit he will need to appeal, and evade in Parliament, following news that he was convicted in a 2006 wiretapping scandal, and will have to serve a one year prison sentence. Will he serve even one day? Of course not - the appeals process alone will take at least several years, and when that runs out, well, the 76 year old Silvio is a billionaire, and will have ample opportunity to spend his money to buy himself enough freedom to last him until the end of his life.

The most unsurprising news of the day has just hit, and while we have already had some 20+ rumors on this issue previously, this time it is official:

Venezuela's Hugo Chavez has died, says VP Maduro
Chavez who ruled Venezuela since 1999, died from cancer at the age of 58
Venezuela's army chiefs pledge to support President Nicolas Maduro after Hugo Chavez's death
Special deployment of armed forces announced in Venezuela after death of Hugo Chavez

Time to celebrate Hugo's memory with some more currency devaluation? It is unclear if Goldman's record profits on Venezuela exposure (see How The Glorious Socialist Revolution Generated A 681% Return For Goldman Sachs) are about to snap back with a vengeance.

As Greece's painfully desperate fight to collect tax revenue, any tax revenue, using traditional methods meets failure after grotesque failure, driven by such unconventional stumbling blocks as running out of ink with which to print tax forms, striking tax collectors, and repossessed (or stolen) tax department computer equipment, the necessity to prove to Europe that Greece is doing something to fill the income side of its reformist ledger has forced it to turn to the glaringly illegal. "Greece’s General Secretariat for Information Systems has completed an application that will allow the state’s monitoring and collection mechanism to access the country’s banking system via an online connection and let the government have access to depositor bank accounts. The application, which will let the Finance Ministry troll through the accounts of all depositors suspected of tax evasion means online inspectors can scour through records of deposits, loans, credit card use and other data without permission from the account holder." What is troubling is that while this happens in the US on a daily basis, at least the NSA has to dig through data illegally, and can't use what it finds against citizens in court. In Greece, however, any trace of personal privacy in the insolvent state is now gone, and in a way that is made very public and clear to all citizens. The result will be an even greater hit to all forms of electronic spending (remember that all bulk cash transactions are prohibited), and a collapse in all economic transactions, leading to an even more acute depression, and an even greater need to yet another "bailout" from Europe (this one will be the last surely, as it will be after this it will be different).

• As ZH has been saying for months... Draghi Will Need to Push the Euro Down Some More (WSJ) ... but careful with "redenomination risk"
• Senate Report Said to Fault JPMorgan (NYT)
• EU Opens Way for Easier Budgets After Backlash (BBG)
• China Moves to Temper Growth - Property Bubble Is a Key Concern (WSJ)
• China bets on consumer-led growth to cure social ills (Reuters)
• Italian president mulls new technocrat government (Reuters)
• Grillo says MPS won't back technocrats (ANSA)
• The Russians will be angry: Euro Chiefs Won’t Rule Out Cyprus Depositor Losses (BBG)
• China Bankers Earn Less Than New York Peers as Pay Dives (BBG)
• Investors click out of Apple into Google (FT)
• Community colleges' cash crunch threatens Obama's retraining plan (Reuters)
• Alwaleed challenges Forbes over his billions - Calculation of $20bn net worth is flawed, says Saudi prince (FT)
• Guy Hands Dips Into Own Pockets to Fund Bonuses at Terra Firma (BBG)
• North Korea to scrap armistice if South and U.S. continue drills (Reuters)

• Must defend against Chinese colonial expansion and get the Nigerian oil: U. S. Boosts War Role in Africa (WSJ)
• BOJ nominee Kuroda sets out aggressive policy ideas (Reuters)
• China becomes world’s top oil importer (FT)
• Baby Cured of HIV for the First Time, Researchers Say (WSJ)
• Obama to nominate Walmart's Burwell as White House budget chief (Reuters)
• Wal-Mart Anxious to Combat Amazon’s Lead in Web Vendors (BBG)
• Nasdaq executing trades at a loss (FT)
• Spending cut debate casts pall over Obama's second-term agenda (Reuters)
• Russell Indexes to Reclassify Greece as Emerging Market (BBG)
• Bond Bears Collide With Swaps Showing Low Rates (BBG)
• Buffett Deputies Leaving Billionaire in the Dust Get More Funds (BBG)
• Brazil's leftist president fights to win back business (Reuters)
• U.S. Special Forces train Syrian Rebels in Jordan (Le Figaro)
• Carlos Slim Risks Losing World’s Richest Person Title as Troubles Mount (BBG)

Earlier we reviewed the overnight plunge in China stocks, especially those related to the real-estate market in the aftermath of the latest move by the State Council to be far more hawkish than expected, in its effort to curb property inflation. The economic and market weakness that resulted has followed through to overnight US and European futures, even as peripheral bonds are trading roughly unchanged, surprising many who thought this weekend's Beppe Grillo statement on the future of Italian debt and presence in the Eurozone would be market moving: it wasn't as Grillo said nothing that he had not already made quite clear. In other, more recent economic news, UK construction PMI imploded to recession levels, plunging to 46.8 from 49.0, far below expectations and the lowest print since October 2009, setting the stage for much more Goldman-led reflation by the BOE. Also negative was the drop in the Eurozone Sentix Investor Confidence index which tumbled to -10.6 from -3.9 on expectations of -4.3, sending the EURUSD deep into 1.29 territory. It appears the Sentix excludes the soaring German confidence, which two weeks ago was the sole driver of all upside, not once but twice in one week. Today we get the first day of the sequester being digested by the market - this togetger with an empty macro calendar in the US means rumors and headlines will determine how far GETCO's algo push the stop hunts during the first and last 30 minutes of trading.

• US braced as cuts deadline passes (FT)
• U.S. stares down start of steep "automatic" budget cuts (Reuters)
• Yeltsin-Era Tycoons Sell Resources for Distance From Kremlin (BBG)
• Italy's center-left leader rules out coalition with Berlusconi (Reuters)
• Apple Required Executives to Hold Triple Their Salary in Stock (WSJ)
• BOJ Seen Spiking Punchbowl in April Under New Chief Kuroda (BBG)
• Diplomatic fallout from EU bonus cap (FT)
• Italy’s Stalemate Jeopardizes Resolution of Crisis, Finland Says (BBG)
• Chinese trader accused of busting Iran missile embargo (Reuters)
• JPMorgan No. 1 Investment Bank Amid a Flurry of New Deals (BBG)
• Eurotunnel’s Ferry Strategy at Risk as Rivals Cry Foul (BBG)
• Telepathic rats team up across continents (FT)

• Grillo kills move to break Italy deadlock (FT)
• Abe nominates Kuroda to run BoJ (FT)
• More WMT bad news: Wal-Mart Chief Administrative Officer Mars to Leave: WSJ (BBG)
• Japan's Abe: Islands Are Indisputably Ours (WSJ) - Except for China of course
• Low-key departure as pope steps down, to enter the final phase of his life "hidden from the world" (Reuters)
• Cuts unlikely to deliver promised budget savings (Reuters)
• European Union caps bankers’ bonuses (FT)
• White House, Republicans dig in ahead of budget talks (Reuters)
• Jockeying Stalls Deal on Cuts (WSJ)
• Argentina Says It Won’t Voluntarily Comply With Bond Ruling (BBG)
• Italian president says forming new government cannot be rushed (Reuters) - or happen at all
• Central Banks Spewing Cash Must Plan Exit Timing, Rohde Says (BBG)
• China Regional Targets Cut in Sign Debt Concerns Heeded (BBG)
• RBA Says Up to 34 Central Banks Holding Australian Dollars (BBG)

While today's attention was focused on the austerity-crushing defeat of Monti in Italy and the pre-supposition that the ECB being able to use its OMT promise against an ill-disciplined nation fades; there is another super-cell of destruction wending its way towards Berlin (and Brussels). At the perfect time for such things, Reuters reports that the man at the center of Spanish PM Rajoy's political scandal, Luis Barcenas, has been banned from leaving Spain, had his passport revoked, and ordered to report to court twice a month. The millions of dollars in Swiss bank accounts that investigators found that he had deposited and the linkages to Spain's royalty in the so-called 'graft' case are not playing well with the population as unemployment surges above 26%. Judged as a serious flight risk, the high court judge ordered the steps after finding out he was skiing in Canada two weeks ago (where they suspect funds were also transferred). One protester complained, "They are lying to us, and worse than that, scorning us... Enough is enough, we need some accountability."