Ukraine's
largest bank suspends cash operations in east - (www.reuters.com) Ukraine's
largest bank has temporarily closed branches in separatist-held Donetsk and
Luhansk, saying it could no longer carry out cash transactions in regions
riddled with crime that could "threaten the lives" of its workers. Pro-Russian
separatists have targeted Privatbank, after its co-owner, billionaire Igor
Kolomoisky, was appointed by the new government head of the nearby
Dnipropetrovsk region and swiftly announced a $10,000 bounty on the heads of
Russian "saboteurs". Rebels, who say they want independence from
Kiev, set fire to a branch in the town of Mariupol in the Donetsk region late
on Saturday and raided a security truck last week in Horlivka, south of the
region's main rebel stronghold. "In the current circumstances we cannot
and do not have the right to make people go to work in the Donetsk and Luhansk
regions, where armed people break into bank branches and seize security vans in
the towns," Privatbank said in a statement.
JPMorgan
Sees 20% Drop in Second-Quarter Markets Revenue - (www.bloomberg.com) JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), the world’s biggest investment bank by
revenue, said Wall Street’s trading slump has deepened and could last through
the second quarter. Fixed-income and equities trading revenue will drop about
20 percent from a year earlier at the New York-based company amid “a continued
challenging environment and lower client activity levels,” JPMorgan said
yesterday in its quarterly regulatory filing. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon, 58, was the first head of a major U.S. bank to warn investors this year that trading
was down, saying in February that revenue had fallen 15 percent. Continued
weakness has spurred analysts including Chris Mutascio of Stifel Financial
Corp.’s KBW unit to ponder whether the drop in fixed-income trading might
persist through 2014 and beyond. “It’s an industry phenomenon, and other banks
allow JPMorgan to grease the skids for them so there can be a gentle letdown
process,” said Charles Peabody, an analyst at Portales Partners LLC.
Holder
Signals Criminal Charges Coming Against Some Banks - (www.bloomberg.com) Of
course, no US banks in the mix ;-)
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said his
department is readying criminal cases against banks that show financial
institutions aren’t too big to prosecute. Holder, in a video message posted
today on the department’s website, said improved coordination with regulators
is creating a relationship that “will prove key in the coming weeks and months”
as prosecutors pursue charges. The government is nearing decisions on whether
to charge Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN) and BNP Paribas SA, (BNP) people familiar with those probes said.
Holder didn’t specify any banks.
Chinese
anatomy of a property boom on its last legs (www.telegraph.co.uk) So
now we know what China’s biggest property developer really thinks about the
Chinese housing boom. A leaked recording of dinner speech by Vanke Group’s
vice-chairman Mao Daqing more or less confirms what the bears have been saying
for months. It is a dangerous bubble, and already deflating. Prices in Beijing
and Shanghai have reached the same extremes seen in Tokyo just before the
Nikkei boom turned to bust, when the (quite small) Imperial Palace grounds were
in theory worth more than California, and the British Embassy grounds (legacy
of a good bet in the 19th Century) were worth as much as Wales. Li Junheng from
JL Warren Capital has translated his comments, which I pass on for readers. “In
1990, Tokyo’s total land value accounts for 63.3pc of US GDP, while Hong Kong
reached 66.3pc in 1997. Now, the total land value in Beijing is 61.6pc of US
GDP, a dangerous level,” said Mr Mao. “Overall, I believe that China has
reached its capacity limit for new construction of residential projects. Only
those coastal Tier 3/Tier 4 cities have the potential for capacity expansion.”
20
Million Americans CAN Buy a House But WON'T - (www.marketwatch.com) For
Rebecca Diamond, a marketing manager in Randallstown, Md. who’s getting married
this month, buying a home with her new husband would seem like the logical next
step. But she’s not even considering it. “No interest whatsoever. I don’t want
the cost and responsibility of one right now,” she says. “Let [the landlord]
have all the headaches,” adds Diamond, who rents a three-bedroom condo outside
of Baltimore. She’s hardly alone. Just 74.4 million American households — less
than 65% of the country — owned the homes they lived in during the first
quarter of this year, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report
this week. That was the lowest level since 1995 and a big drop from 2006, when
a peak of 76.5 million households, or 68.9%, were owner-occupied. In fact, the
National Endowment for Financial Education released a poll this week that
showed only 13% of Americans considered home ownership as their “top long term
financial goal,” down from 17% in 2011. “The American dream has long been
associated with the gratification and security of a comfortable home within the
picturesque borders of a white-picket fence,” said Ted Beck, president and CEO
of the NEFE, which is based in Denver. “However, today the perceived importance
of home ownership appears to be waning.”
Target
CEO Steinhafel to Step Down Following Data Breach - (www.bloomberg.com)
LinkedIn Sales Forecast Trails Estimates as Growth Slows - (www.bloomberg.com)
LinkedIn Sales Forecast Trails Estimates as Growth Slows - (www.bloomberg.com)
Ukraine
accuses Russia of engineering Odessa riots that killed over 40 - (www.reuters.com)
Carbon Dioxide Beat Historic Level Every Day Last Month - (www.bloomberg.com)
Carbon Dioxide Beat Historic Level Every Day Last Month - (www.bloomberg.com)
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