Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Wednesday July 2 Housing and Economic stories


Banks Fear Missing Collateral In China - (www.nytimes.com) Large banks and trading firms are frantically trying to determine whether they have fallen victim to a suspected commodities fraud emanating from the giant Qingdao Port in northeast China. Citigroup and several other big Western banks are concerned that their loans may lack the appropriate collateral of big stockpiles of copper and aluminum at the port. The banks have inspectors on the ground who are trying to assess whether enough of the metals are there. The worry stems from suspicions that a Chinese company pledged the same collateral for multiple loans. Chinese authorities are investigating the matter. The case could have broad repercussions for the commodities market and the Chinese economy. Banks have funneled billions of dollars into the Chinese economy through these murky transactions, and commodities prices have been falling over concerns that the lending will dry up. Western banks, including Citigroup, are bracing for any potential fallout.

Iraq Kurds take Kirkuk; Sunni militants surge toward Baghdad - (www.reuters.com) President Barack Obama refused to rule out U.S. action in Iraq against Sunni Islamist militants who have surged out of the north to threaten Baghdad, threatening to divide the country and establish their own jihadist state. Hours after ethnic Kurdish forces took advantage of the chaos to take control of the oil hub of Kirkuk as the forces of the Shi'ite-led government abandoned their posts, Obama was asked if he might order drone strikes or other action to halt the insurgency that has seized much of northern Iraq this week. "I don't rule anything out," he told reporters, saying he was looking at all options to help the elected leaders who took full control of Iraq when the U.S. occupation ended in 2011.

Taxis sow traffic chaos in Europe protesting against Uber car app - (www.reuters.com) Taxi drivers sowed traffic chaos in Europe's top cities on Wednesday by mounting one of the biggest protests ever against Uber, a U.S. car service whose smartphone app summons rides at the touch of a button. Hundreds of licensed black taxis snarled traffic in the streets around Trafalgar Square in central London, hooting their horns as they passed Downing Street, home of Prime Minister David Cameron, and the Houses of Parliament. In Paris, taxis slowed traffic on major arteries into the city during the morning commute. Hundreds choked the main road to Berlin's historic centre while commuters packed buses and trains, or just walked, to get to work in Madrid and Barcelona.

Al Qaeda Insurgents Surround Iraq's Largest Refinery - (www.zerohedge.com) While there had been sporadic reports over the past few days that Al Qaeda's ISIS spinoff had surrounded or even taken control of Iraq's largest refinery in Baiji, the government was quick to deny such rumors. As was reported earlier, the Baiji refinery remained under government control on Thursday after Sunni rebels' offensive through northern Iraq, Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul Kareem Luaibi said. Luaibi said Iraq was not importing any additional fuel and that stored supplies of gasoline and diesel were good. Militants from an al Qaeda splinter group, who seized Iraq's second biggest city of Mosul this week, advanced into the oil refinery town of Baiji on Wednesday, setting the court house and police station on fire. "Baiji refinery is totally secured by the special forces and operating normally now," an official at the refinery said on Thursday. It may be time to hit F5, because a few short hours later, and moments ago, Reuters reported that the Baiji refinery appears set to fall in Al Qaeda's hands.

China metal financing fears spread to Singapore – (www.cnbc.com) An investigation into metals financing in a northeastern Chinese port city has cast a chill in Singapore, where a surge of business financing imports into China has bankers increasingly worried. A Chinese company's alleged use of metal as collateral to get loans from several international banks shows that commodity-backed loans are not as safe as bankers assumed. More and more of these loans originate from Singapore as international banks move their China business out of Hong Kong, leading Chinese firms to set up shop in the tropical entrepot to tap offshore dollar liquidity. Last week, Qingdao Port said police had opened an investigation into alumina and copper held at Dagang Port, one of several ports under its management. Traders rushed to move metal out of Qingdao.





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