Monday April 27 Housing and Economic stories

TOP STORIES:

Contagion Arrives: European Peripheral Bond Risk Soars - (www.zerohedge.com) Just yesterday, German FinMin Schaeuble bent the truth, proclaiming that there was no sign of contagion from Grexit concerns. Today, it appears, he will be eating his words, as Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese bond spreads have exploded higher (up 15-30bps this week) amid the collapse of Greek sovereign and bank bonds. It's not just Greek Sovereigns that are plunging, Greek Bank Bonds have collapsed... It's not just Schaeuble that doesn't see any problems. Stan Druckenmiller, the Chairman and CEO of Duquesne Family Office, said that with regard Greece leaving the euro: "Draghi has QE at his disposal.  My guess is there won’t be contagion, but even if there is, he can contain it, and soon as market participants see that, you won’t get contagion." However, it's no longer about bonds or Draghi, it's about redenomination risk once again and who gets what idea next (because if there is one thing that is not allowed in the EU, it's thinking for yourself).

CBS4 Investigation: TSA Screeners At DIA Manipulated System To Grope Men's Genitals – (denver.cbslocal.com)  A CBS4 investigation has learned that two Transportation Security Administration screeners at Denver International Airport have been fired after they were discovered manipulating passenger screening systems to allow a male TSA employee to fondle the genital areas of attractive male passengers. It happened roughly a dozen times, according to information gathered by CBS4. According to law enforcement reports obtained during the CBS4 investigation, a male TSA screener told a female colleague in 2014 that he “gropes” male passengers who come through the screening area at DIA. “He related that when a male he finds attractive comes to be screened by the scanning machine he will alert another TSA screener to indicate to the scanning computer that the party being screened is a female. When the screener does this, the scanning machine will indicate an anomaly in the genital area and this allows (the male TSA screener) to conduct a pat-down search of that area.” Although the TSA learned of the accusation on Nov. 18, 2014 via an anonymous tip from one of the agency’s own employees, reports show that it would be nearly three months before anything was done.

Schaeuble Warns Greece to Ditch False Hopes, Do Reforms - (www.bloomberg.com) German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble ruled out further concessions to Greece, saying it’s up to the Greek government to commit to the reforms needed to release aid rather than give false hopes to its people. Schaeuble, speaking in a Bloomberg Television interview in New York on Wednesday, said that another debt restructuring wasn’t up for discussion now, and that Greek demands for war reparations from Germany were “completely unrealistic.” “It’s entirely down to Greece,” said Schaeuble, 72. While some kind of restructuring might be on the agenda in 10 years, “today the issue for Greece is reforming its economy in such a way that it becomes competitive at some point.” Greece’s plight is deepening with no end in sight to the standoff with creditors over releasing the final installment of bailout aid, which has been stalled since the January election of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s anti-austerity government. Greek bonds plunged Thursday after Standard & Poor’s cut the country’s rating to CCC+ from B-, citing the country’s deteriorating outlook.

Greece in 'slow-death scenario' amid defaults fears - (www.cnbc.com) A U.K. bookmaker has stopped taking bets on Greece leaving the euro zone, saying it is increasingly likely that the country could "begin the process of departing" very shortly. William Hill closed their book on whether Greece will leave the euro zone during 2015, and on which country would be first to leave the euro zone, the bookmaker said Wednesday evening. "Greece had been heavily backed down to 1/5 to be the first to quit the euro zone, and we'd also been shortening the odds for Greece to leave during 2015. They'd come down from 5/1 to 3/1.' William Hill spokesman Graham Sharpe said in a press release. He added that "it is now looking increasingly likely that they could begin the process of departing very shortly." It comes as one analyst told CNBC Thursday that the country faced a "slow-death scenario"—including a default and messy exit from the euro zone—as the country's economic crisis took another turn for the worse following a credit rating downgrade.

Ratings Shopping Run Amok in U.S. Property Debt Fuels Buyer Ire - (www.bloomberg.com) Some of the biggest buyers of bonds financing U.S. commercial properties are asking regulators to help stop a Wall Street practice of shopping for the highest credit ratings that they say has gotten excessive. MetLife Inc., Genworth Financial Inc. and Deutsche Bank AG’s investment arm are among at least nine firms that have discussed their concerns with regulators, according to four people with direct knowledge of the situation. Their main gripe is that underwriters are increasingly dropping credit raters such as Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings that demand the securities be structured to offer more protection from defaults. Barclays Plc analysts say banks are instead favoring upstarts that are more willing to give higher grades. That’s upsetting big bond buyers, many of whom can’t purchase the debt unless it’s graded by one of the three major bond raters -- Moody’s, Fitch and Standard & Poor’s. That means they’re getting squeezed out of deals, losing out to investors who face no such restrictions as a global hunt for high-yielding assets creates a seller’s market.

OTHER STORIES:

Greek Yields Reach Highest Since Euro Crisis as Pressure Builds - (www.bloomberg.com)
Greek yields surge on report Greece asked IMF for loan repayment delay - (www.reuters.com)
European Stocks Fall as Germany, Spain, Portugal Lead Declines - (www.bloomberg.com)
Greece's debt crunch: Sorry, no extensions - (www.economist.com)

China stocks hit fresh 7-year high despite unease over margin trading
World’s Biggest Wealth Fund Says Monetary Risks at Historic High - (www.bloomberg.com)
German Average Bond Yield Gets Negative; ECB Spurs Buyers - (www.bloomberg.com)
Turkey Worse Than Brazil in Currency Markets Wrecked by Politics - (www.bloomberg.com)