Monday July 13 Housing and Economic stories

TOP STORIES:

Ukraine suspends Russian gas purchases - (www.bbc.com) Russian gas purchases have been suspended by Ukraine after a breakdown in talks aimed at keeping supplies running for three to six months. The Ukrainian state energy company, Naftogaz, said it would continue transporting Russian gas supplies to other European customers. It will be the second time in less than a year that Russian fuel supplies have stopped running to Ukraine. Russian energy minister Alexander Novak called the decision "unfortunate". Moscow hiked prices after Kremlin-backed leader Viktor Yanukovych was ousted in February 2014. It cut off gas supplies in June 2014 as the conflict between the government in Kiev and pro-Russian rebels in the east escalated.

Hedge Funds Fight to Save Puerto Rico Investments - (www.nytimes.com) Hedge funds like Appaloosa Management, Paulson & Company and Blue Mountain Capital gathered in a conference room at the Barclays offices in Midtown Manhattan last September to talk about what was then the hottest trade: Puerto Rico. An hour into the conversation, however, it became clear that if things started going bad, not everyone in the room was going to get along. Some had wagered on real estate, while others had bought up the debts of the central government and its troubled electric utility. Those divisions intensify an increasingly contentious battle the hedge funds are beginning to wage to salvage an investment that, less than a year ago, looked like a sure thing. This week’s announcement by Gov. Alejandro García Padilla of Puerto Rico that the commonwealth may seek to delay debt payments has thrown the hedge funds’ investment strategies into turmoil. Even debts that appeared to be secure now seem in jeopardy, sending hedge funds and other investors scrambling to re-examine their legal rights and potential remedies should the government push for a restructuring.

Plunge In Export Prices Is Now Worse Than The Great Financial Crisis – (www.zerohedge.com) According to the World Trade Monitor, world export prices declined by -15.8% year-over-year in April and are back at level last seen in 2009. World import prices have declined by -15.1% year-over-year as well. In the developed world, export prices are down-16.6% year-over-year. This a larger drop than what occurred in 2009 and is the largest year-over-year decline since 1990(when this series began). Import prices have declined by -17.5% year-over-year. The drop it 2009 was slightly larger. Lastly, in the emerging markets, trade prices have fallen but not quite to the extent that they have in developed world. Emerging market export prices are down -15.1% and import prices are off -12.6% year-over-year.

Americans Not In The Labor Force Soar By 640,000 To Record 93.6 Million; Participation Rate Drops To 1977 Levels - (www.zerohege.com) The devastation of the US labor force continues. In what was an "unambiguously" unpleasant June jobs payrolls report, with both April and May jobs revised lower, the fact that the number of Americans not in the labor force soared once again, this time by a whopping 640,000 or the most since April 2014 to a record 93.6 million, with the result being a participation rate of 62.6 or where it was in September 1977, will merely catalyze even more upside to the so called "market" which continues to reflect nothing but central bank liquidity, and thus - the accelerating deterioration of the broader economy. End result: with the civilian employment to population ratio dropping from last month to 59.3%, one can easily on the chart below why there will be no broad wage growth any time soon, which will merely allow the Fed to engage in its failed policies for a long, long time.

Greek debt crisis: In Athens, scavenging from bins has become a way to survive - (www.telegraph.co.uk)  As the country prepares to vote on continuing austerity on Sunday, in the streets of Athens some people have already resorted to searching the rubbish bins for food to eat and scrap metal to sell. Piled high with rubbish congealing in the summer heat, municipal dustbin R21 on Athens' Sofokleous Street does not look or smell like a treasure trove. But for Greece's growing army of dustbin scavengers, its deposits of rubbish from nearby stores and grocery shops make it a regular point of call. "Sometimes I'll find scrap metal that I can sell, although if I see something that looks reasonably safe to eat, I'll take it," said Nikos Polonos, 55, as he sifted through R21's contents on Tuesday morning. "Other times you might find paper, cans, and bottles that you can get money for if you take them back to the shops for recycling."

OTHER STORIES:

Merkel Says Germany Is Open to Greek Aid Though Not at Any Price - (www.bloomberg.com)
The Greek Referendum Outcomes Explained in One Chart - (www.bloomberg.com)
BOE Sees Acute Greek Risks, Finance Stability Threatened - (www.bloomberg.com)
Greek Drachma Plunge Previewed in History of Currency Crises - (www.bloomberg.com)
Special Report-How Greece went bust - (www.reuters.com)

Puerto Rico Bondholders Form New Front as They Gird for Default - (www.bloomberg.com)
Hedge Funds Fight to Save Puerto Rico Investments - (www.nytimes.com)
Ukraine Eurobonds Fall 4th Day as BofAML Warns on Default Risks - (www.bloomberg.com)
Euro zone factory June growth tepid as Greece weighed: PMI - (www.reuters.com)
Average Home Price in Manhattan Reaches $1.87 Million, a New High - (www.nytimes.com)
See China’s rapid island-building strategy in action  - (www.washingtonpost.com)