Merrill

• Fashionable 'Risk Parity' Funds Hit Hard (WSJ)
• No 1997 Asian Crisis Return as China Trembles (BBG)
• Greece Faces Collapse of Second Key Privatization (FT)
• China Bad-Loan Alarm Sounded by Record Bank Spread Jump (BBG)
• Iranian official signals no scaling back in nuclear activity (Reuters)
• Asmussen Says Any QE Discussions at ECB Not Policy Relevant (BBG)
• Flat Japanese consumer prices aid Kuroda (FT)
• Vietnam Devalues Dong for First Time Since ’11 to Boost Reserves (BBG)
• World Bank Sees ‘Vulnerable’ Food System on Climate Change (BBG)
• Fed big-hitters seek to quash QE fears (FT)
• EU Leaders Set to Slow Support for Ailing Banks (BBG)

• Hilsenrising interest rates Business Feels Pinch of Swift Rate Rise (WSJ)
• Yellen Betting Defies 100-Year Jinx of Fed No. 2 Never Elevated (BBG)
• No sign of cyber leaker Snowden on flight to Cuba (Reuters)
• Back to the Future 2 is finally coming: Honda Sees ‘Flying Sports Car’ Making Profit by Decade’s End (BBG)
• Europe’s Richest Person Kamprad to Move Back to Sweden (BBG)
• Li’s Shock Treatment to China Lenders Evokes Ex-Reformer (BBG)
• In India, Gold-Related Shares Melt Down (WSJ)
• Citigroup Opens in Iraq to Tap $1 Trillion of Oil Spending (BBG)
• France warned on budget deficit  (FT)

• Scalpel in Hand, Chinese Premier Li Stirs Reform Hopes (Reuters)
• Obama Sets Conditions for Keystone Pipeline Go-Ahead (FT)
• World’s Most Indebted Households Face Rate Pain (BBG)
• SAC Probers Weighing 'Willful Blindness' Tack (WSJ)
• Draghi Says ECB Ready to Act, Calls for Investment Over Tax (BBG)
• U.S. Tops China for Foreign Investment (WSJ)
• Basel Presses Ahead With Plans to Limit Bank Borrowing (FT)
• Gillard Ousted as Australia PM by Rival Rudd (FT)
• Japan Economic Strength Will Show in Stocks, Nishimura Says (BBG)

• Here come the rolling blackouts: Obama takes on power plant emissions as part of climate plan (Reuters)
• Walking Back Bernanke Wished on Too Much Information (BBG)
• As previewed last week: Bridgewater "All Weather" is Mostly Cloudy, down 8% YTD (Reuters)
• U.S. Said to Explore Possible China Role in Snowden Leaks (BBG)
• Coeure Says No Doubt ECB Loose Monetary Policy Exit Distant (Bloomberg)... so a "recovery", but not at all
• U.S. steps up pressure on Russia as Snowden stays free (Reuters)
• Texas' Next Big Oil Rush: New Pipelines Ferrying Landlocked Crude Expected to Boost Gulf Coast Refiners (WSJ)
• Singapore Offsets Bankers as Vacancies Fall (BBG)
• Asian Stocks Fall as China Sinks Deeper Into Bear Market (BBG), European Stocks Rally With Bonds as Metals Advance (BBG)
• Qatar emir hands power to son, no word on prime minister (Reuters)

Following the 'coup' that led to JPMorgan's Matt Zames running the TBAC (and implicitly the US Treasury and Fed if one were inclined to believe that is where the real smarts are), it seems Goldman Sachs has once again been out-'vampire-squid'-ed as Jacob Frenkel - Chairman of JPMorgan Chase International - is set to take back the reins of the Bank of Israel. 

• Turmoil Exposes Global Risks (WSJ)
• China Money Rates Retreat After PBOC Said to Inject Cash (BBG)
• Fed Seen by Economists Trimming QE in September, 2014 End (BBG)
• Booz Allen, the World's Most Profitable Spy Organization (BBG)
• Abe’s Arrows of Growth Dulled by Japan’s Three Principles (BBG)
• China steps back from severe cash crunch (FT)
• Smog at Hazardous as Singapore, Jakarta Spar Over Fires (BBG)
• U.S. Weighs Doubling Leverage Standard for Biggest Banks (BBG)

• Bonds Tumble With Stocks as Gold Drops in Rout on Fed (BBG)
• Bernanke Sees Beginning of End for Fed’s Record Easing (BBG)
• Gold Tumbles to 2 1/2 Year-Low After Fed as Silver Plummets (BBG)
• PBoC dashes hopes of China liquidity boost (FT)
• U.S. Icons Now Made of Chinese Steel (WSJ)
• Emerging Markets Crack as $3.9 Trillion Funds Unwind (BBG)
• Everyone joins the fun: India sets up elaborate system to tap phone calls, e-mail (Reuters)
• China Manufacturing Shrinks Faster in Threat to Europe (BBG)
• More on how Syria's Al-qaeda, and now US, supported "rebels", aka Qatar mercenaries, operate (Reuters)
• Echoes of Mao in China cash crunch (FT) - how dare a central bank not pander to every bank demand?
• French watchdog tells Google to change privacy policy (Reuters)

Murder, Death and Mobsters on Wall St....Who Knew?

• China cash crunch deepens as PBOC withholds funding (FT), just a week behind ZH
• Platts in hot manipulated crude again: Traders Try to Game Platts Oil-Price Benchmarks (WSJ)
• Kabul Suspends Security Talks With U.S., jeopardizing plans to maintain a U.S. military presence (WSJ)
• Afghan government irked over U.S. talks with Taliban (Reuters)
• BOJ Kuroda: BOJ to Adjust Policy If Japan Econ Changes (MNI)
• Google Considering Private-Equity Alliances (BBG)
• Korean Air Buying 747-8s to End Boeing’s Sales Drought (BBG)
• Syria's Islamists seize control as moderates dither (Reuters)
• SEC considers policy shift on admissions of wrongdoing (FT)
• U.K. Banker Bonuses Face Decade Delays in Industry Overhaul (BBG)

 The “biggest risk to global financial stability”

• Obama Says Bernanke Fed Term Lasting ‘Longer Than He Wanted’ (Bloomberg)
• Merkel Critical Of Japan's Credit Policy In Meeting With Abe (Nikkei)
• China Wrestles With Banks' Pleas for Cash (WSJ)
• Biggest protests in 20 years sweep Brazil (Brazil)
• Pena Nieto Confident 75-Year Pemex Oil Monopoly to End This Year (Bloomberg)
• G8 leaders seek common ground on tax (FT)
• Putin faces isolation over Syria as G8 ratchets up pressure (Reuters)
• Former Trader Is Charged in U.K. Libor Probe (WSJ) - yup: it was all one 33 year old trader's fault
• Draghi Says ECB Has ‘Open Mind’ on Non-Standard Measures (BBG)
• Loeb Raises His Sony Stake, Drive for Entertainment IPO (WSJ)

• Obama prepares for chilly talks with Putin over Syria (Reuters)
• G8 opens amid dispute on Syria arms (FT)
• Economists Blame Fed for Higher Bond Yields (WSJ) - wait... what? Isn't the "stronger economy" to blame?
• What a novel concept - In the Czech Republic, a spying scandal has forced the PM to resign (BBG)
• Rigged-Benchmark Probes Proliferate From Singapore to UK (BBG)
• Economists Wary as Fed's Next Forecast Looms  (Hilsenleak)
• Banks Balk at New Rules for Small Loans (WSJ)
• Sporadic clashes in Turkey as Erdogan asserts authority (Reuters)

• As Goldman's money-printing tentacle Carney arrives, everyone else leaves: Tucker to Leave BOE (WSJ)
• So much for pent up demand: Refinancings Plunge as Bond Yields Rise (WSJ)
• Singapore Censures 20 Banks for Attempts to Rig Benchmark Rates (BBG)
• Behind the Big Profits: A Research Tax Break (WSJ)
• While working for spies, Snowden was secretly prolific online (Reuters)
• Turkey to Await Ruling on Park as Erdogan Meets Protesters (BBG)
• Iran votes for new president, Khamenei slams U.S. doubts (Reuters)
• NSA revelations, modified wheat cast a pall on U.S. trade talks with Europe (WaPo)
• Euro zone inflation subdued as employment keeps falling (Reuters)

Employees have been front-running client orders and rigging WM/Reuters rates by pushing through trades before and during the 60-second windows when the benchmarks are set, said five current and former traders, who requested anonymity because the practice is controversial.  Dealers colluded with counterparts to boost chances of moving the rates, said two of the people, who worked in the industry for a total of more than 20 years. The behavior occurred daily in the spot foreign-exchange market and has been going on for at least a decade, affecting the value of funds and derivatives and all investments.  The Financial Conduct Authority, Britain’s markets supervisor, is considering opening a probe into potential manipulation of the rates, according to a person briefed on the matter. Informed observers have long warned that the global $4.7-trillion-a-day foreign exchange market, the biggest in the financial system has all the hallmarks of a casino. The inherent conflict banks face between executing client orders and profiting from their own trades is exacerbated because most currency trading takes place away from exchanges.

• Pimco Sees 60% Chance of Global Recession in Five Years (BBG)
• Global Tumult Grips Markets (WSJ)
• NSA Secrecy Prompts a Pushback (WSJ)
• ANA Scraps 787 Dreamliner Flight as Engine Fails to Start (BBG) - one of these days, though, it shall fly
• Kuroda’s April-Was-Enough Message Faces Markets Wanting More (BBG)
• S&P warns top US banks are still ‘too big to fail’ (FT)
• Democracy for $500 per plate (Reuters)
• Iran, the United States and 'the cup of poison' (Reuters)
• Japan grapples with lack of entrepreneurs (FT)
• Greece First Developed Market Cut to Emerging at MSCI (BBG)
• Asia's ticking time bonds; time to cut and run? (Reuters)
• Sony Outduels Microsoft in First PS4-Xbox One Skirmish (BBG)