European
Bond Traders Suffer High-Yield Anxiety on Losses - (www.bloomberg.com) Warning
signals are starting to flash for Europe’s biggest money managers as a selloff
in the U.S. high-yield bond market shows signs of crossing the Atlantic. Investors
in London and
Edinburgh say they’re either cutting holdings of junk notes, buying credit
derivatives to
insure against losses or moving into high-yielding debt backed by collateral,
such as oil rigs and cable networks. “We are treading very carefully in the
high yield space,” said Ariel Bezalel, who oversees the $3.8 billion Jupiter Strategic Bond (JUPSTII) fund in London. “We have had to say no to
the vast majority of transactions this year.” While the change in sentiment
isn’t as marked as in the U.S., where a record $7.1 billion was pulled out of
funds buying junk bonds in the week ended Aug. 6, bondholders that snapped up a
record $115 billion of high-yield securities in Europe this year are growing
wary. The region’s junk investors lost 0.3 percent in July after 12 straights
months of gains, while in the U.S. speculative-grade debt forfeited 1.3
percent.
Top
medical expert calls Ebola outbreak 'suspicious'; others cite use as bio-weapon - (www.allvoices.com) After
much speculation about the current Ebola outbreak, one medical expert has gone
on record to voice concerns about what is being called the worst Ebola outbreak
in recorded history. “I am concerned about the prevalence and pathogenicity of
the situation, which is too much even for Ebola. Too many people are dying. I
don't rule out that there's something artificial here .... What is happening
with Ebola there, could there also be something man-made about it?” Gennady
Onischenko, Russia's former chief medical officer, told RT News on Thursday. Onischenko's comments are
the first from a credible medical expert that openly cast doubt on the current
outbreak's natural origin. The World Health Organization's head of health
security, Keiji Fukuda, also voiced concern over whether current measures are
sufficient to contain the outbreak, but stopped short of questioning the
outbreak's origin.
Sanctions
bite-back: Bickering, EU infighting over Russia retaliation - (www.rt.com) There is growing dissent in the EU over
policies that led to a de fact trade war with Russia. Meanwhile the countries
not toeing the line are reaping the benefits, irritating those who jumped on
the sanctions bandwagon. Greek members of the European Parliament demanded
Sunday that the EU cancel sanctions against Russia. MEPs Kostantinos Papadakis
and Sotiris Zarianopoulos said in a letter to some senior EU officials that
Russia’s ban on food import from the EU, which was Moscow’s response to anti-Russian sanctions, was ruinous to
Greek agriculture. “Thousands of small- and middle-sized Greek farms producing
fruit and vegetables and selling them primarily to the Russian market have been
hit hard now as their unsold products are now rotting at warehouses,” the
letter said.
Nevermind:
Ukraine Quickly Backs Off Threat Of Halting Russian Gas Transit After Europe
Screams - (www.zerohedge.com) That
didn't take long. A few short days after Ukraine's always entertaining puppet
government, whose very existence is to benefit its western overlords and
certainly Victoria Nuland's
superiors, briefly forgot it has absolutely zero leverage should it alienate
not only Russia but also Europe (read Angela Merkel) and announced it may halt
Russian energy transits through the country (i.e., Russian gas deliveries for
Germany) without obtaining Angela Merkel's preapproval to such a ridiculous
threat, Europe - suffering a major flashback to early 2009 and realizing winter
is just around the corner - promptly reminded Kiev just who is in control and
advised its puppets that it opposes any Ukrainian cut-off of Russian gas, Bloomberg
reports citing an EU official. "Different parts" of the Ukrainian
government are “actively considering” a cut-off of Russian natural gas in
transit through Ukraine as part of possible sanctions against Russia, a
European Union official says. The EU would oppose such a step by the Ukrainian
government, which is drawing up legislation to allow sanctions against Russia
because of its encroachment in eastern Ukraine, the EU official tells reporters
in Brussels on the condition of anonymity.
US
Postal Service: Over $47 Billion In Losses In The Past Decade And Counting – (www.zerohedge.com) Curious
what pure, unadulterated government efficiency in practice, if not in
theory, looks like? Then the following chart of USPS operating profits, pardon,
losses over the past decade should be sufficient. The punchline: having
generated revenues of nearly $700 billion in the past 40 quarters, the USPS has
been bleeding red ink more or less consistently since 2006, and has now
generated just over $47 billion in operating losses over the past ten years. From the WSJ:
"The USPS said its total liabilities were $67.16 billion at the end of the
period, compared with $23.16 billion in assets." That means the net
capital deficiency, or "cost", to keep the USPS alive, amounts to some $44 billion as of this moment (which includes $3.1 billion in
contributions from the US government and a $47 billion deficit since the 1971
reorganization). Continuing: "The Postal Service reached its $15 billion
credit limit with the Treasury Department in 2012. Under law, the USPS must pay
its own way. It doesn't receive an annual taxpayer subsidy, but is reimbursed
by Congress for some services such as delivering mail to the blind and overseas
voters. The agency is saddled with a congressional mandate that requires it to
prefund more than $5.5 billion annually for health benefits for future
retirees. The service said Monday that it won't be able to make its required
$5.7 billion payment by Sept. 30."
Junk-Bond
Rout Spurs Record $7.1 Billion Outflow: Credit Markets - (www.bloomberg.com)
China Default Storm Seen as Record Private Bonds Mature - (www.bloomberg.com)
China Default Storm Seen as Record Private Bonds Mature - (www.bloomberg.com)
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