Blackrock

• EU in last-ditch bid to Greece, urges "yes" vote to bailout (Reuters)
• In? Out? In between? A Greek legal riddle for EU (Reuters)
• Tsipras Says EU Won’t Eject Greece as Cost ‘Immense’ (BBG)
• Empty Greek ATMs Force Tourists to Stiff Santorini Cabbies (BBG)
• Anti-austerity protests in Greece as bank shutdown bites (Reuters)
• Puerto Rico governor calls for bankruptcy; adviser says island 'insolvent' (Reuters)
• Puerto Rico Urges Concessions From Creditors (WSJ)
• Hilsenrath - For Fed to Delay Rate Hikes, Global Tumult Would Need to Infect U.S. (WSJ)

"Black Friday. China shares dive 7.4%... How much further will it fall after this massacre?"

"It's a do-or-die moment for all investors... If retail investors become skittish now, panic selling will continue next week."

Last week the government reported personal income and spending for April. After months of blaming non-existent consumer spending on cold weather, shockingly occurring during the Winter, the captured mainstream media pundits, Ivy League educated Wall Street economist lackeys, and Keynesian loving money printers at the Fed have run out of propaganda to explain why Americans are not spending money they don’t have. The corporate mainstream media is now visibly angry with the American people for not doing what the Ivy League propagated Keynesian academic models say they should be doing. An economy built upon the consumption of iGadgets, Cheetos, meat lovers stuffed crust pizza, and slave labor produced Chinese baubles, along with the production of enough arms to blow up the world ten times over, and the doling out of trillions to the non-productive class, is doomed to fail.

"It’s about time we start getting worried about possibly the next [financial crisis]," warns BlueMountain's James Staley explaining that, "the lack of liquidity that currently exists today, is something that people on the buy side, sell side and regulatory side need to be focused on." In an effort to quantify just how big that 'issue' is, Bloomberg reports that the U.S. corporate-bond market has ballooned by $3.7 trillion during the past decade, yet, as Citi's Stephen Antczak warns, almost all of that growth is concentrated in the hands of three types of buyers, "we used to have 23 types of investors in the market. Now we have three. In my mind, that’s the key driver."

From Greek lobbyists to Silicon Valley VCs and from Goldman BSDs to FT reporters, The Bilderberg Group will meet later this week in Tirol to discuss what happens next to the rest of the world... here are the participants...

Corporate executives offer three main reasons for share repurchases: 1. Buybacks are investments in our undervalued shares signaling our confidence in the company’s future; 2. Buybacks allow the company to offset the dilution of EPS when employee stock options are exercised or stock is granted to employees; or 3. The company is mature and has limited investment opportunities, therefore we are obligated to return unneeded cash to shareholders. The logic behind each of these explanations is in the vast majority of cases is flawed, to be kind, and deceptive to be blunt.

Ex-SNB Head / Blackrock CIO - HILDEBRAND SAYS SEES NO SHORT-TERM CONTAGION ON POSSIBLE GREXIT
Dutch Central Bank - GREXIT WOULD SHOCK FINANCIAL MARKETS

You decide...

“Volatility and repricing,” euphemism for losses, are the New Normal.

"Central bank distortions have forced investors into positions they would not have held otherwise, and forced them to be the ‘same way round’ to a much greater extent than previously... unless fundamentals move so as to justify current valuations, when central banks move towards the exit, investors will too.... The way out may not prove so easy; indeed, we are not sure there is any way out at all."

"The elderly dependency ratio is in the early stages of a relentless rise that doesn't hit an interim peak until around 2036, over two decades from now." The "structural shift" in the dynamics that drove the economy and financial markets in the 80's and 90's will not likely exist again for quite some time. Of course, if this was not the case, would we still be needing massive Central Bank interventions to support global economies and markets? Meh? What could possibly go wrong? [sarcasm alert]

Sense of desperation among CEOs?

Greece is "nowhere close" to a deal with its creditors and will miss a May deadline to strike a compromise ahead of an IMF payment due on June 5. Meanwhile, the ECB tightens the screws on the country's banking sector by refusing to lift the ceiling on the emergency liquidity that until now has helped to offset deposit flight.

In a stunningly honest turn of events - though likely self-preserving - a number of senior financial services executives are reportedly urged authorities around the world to bolster their crisis-busting arsenals amid fears that ultra-low interest rates have increased the risks of financial instability. As The FT reports, the heads of companies including HSBC, UBS and BlackRock will on Monday release a joint statement demanding policy-makers "address emerging market inefficiencies in the financial system, such as over-exuberance within asset classes." Policy-makers must “lean against something that is making people feel good but is actually going to give them a hangover they will find difficult to cope with."

• Tsipras Endgame Nears as Greek Bank Collateral Evaporates (BBG)
• Shi'ite forces ordered to deploy after fall of Iraqi city (Reuters)
• Ratings agency Fitch to downgrade many European banks (Reuters)
• Bubble Blowing to Continue So Long as Yellen Isn’t Raising Rates (BBG)
• Greece's Debt Battle Exposes Deeper Eurozone Flaws (WSJ)
• Obama to set new limits on police use of military equipment (Reuters)
• China April home prices fuel hopes of bottoming out, but long road to recovery (Reuters)
• Hedge Funds Close Doors, Facing Low Returns and Investor Scrutiny (NYT)
• ASIC's Greg Medcraft 'quite worried' about Sydney, Melbourne house prices (Fin Review)