Monday September 14 Housing and Economic stories

TOP STORIES:

China Brokers Tumble as Citic Staff Detained, Rescue Costs Grow - (www.bloomberg.com) China’s brokerages tumbled after four Citic Securities Co. executives were detained and people familiar with the matter said the industry was told to contribute another 100 billion yuan ($15.7 billion) to a stock market rescue fund. Citic executives including managing directors Xu Gang and Liu Wei admitted alleged insider trading, the state-run Xinhua News Agency said. The nation’s largest brokerage fell as much as the maximum 10 percent percent in Shanghai and slid to the lowest since May 2014 in Hong Kong. A Citic press officer declined to comment. The China Securities Regulatory Commission ordered the rescue-fund contributions at a meeting with 50 brokerages on Saturday that was attended by CSRC Chairman Xiao Gang, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the meeting hasn’t been made public. The regulator encouraged listed brokerages to buy back shares worth as much as 10 percent of their total market value, the people said.

Is China Dumping German Paper Now? Bund Prices Are Collapsing - (www.zerohedge.com) German bonds are under significant pressure again this morning - despite equity weakness and US Treasury strength. This raises the rather interesting question of whether - after decimating Treasuries last week, is China turning to its Bund holdings and liquidating them to raise cash? Bunds crushed to one-month lows...

China punishes 197 over stock market and Tianjin 'rumours'  - (www.bbc.com)  Chinese authorities have punished 197 people for spreading rumours online about the recent stock market crash and fatal explosions in Tianjin, according to state news agency Xinhua. A journalist and stock market officials are among those arrested, Xinhua said. It gave no other details. Chinese shares fell by nearly 8% after a week of volatile trading that spread fear to global markets. The Tianjin explosions killed 150 people - with 23 still missing. A total of 367 people remain in hospital after the 12 August blast at a warehouse where large amounts of toxic chemicals were stored. Twenty are in critical condition, according to Xinhua. Separately, the UK's Financial Times says Chinese leaders feel they mishandled their stock market rescue efforts.

Europe Stocks Head for Worst Month Since 2011 Amid Fed, China - (www.bloomberg.com) European stocks headed for their worst month in four years, as investors weighed Federal Reserve comments for clues on the trajectory of interest rates, amid waning confidence in China’s ability to prop up the market. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index slid 0.3 percent to 362.37 at 4:30 p.m. in London. The equity gauge earlier pared losses of as much as 0.7 percent after data showed the euro area’s inflation rate rose faster in August than estimated. The volume of shares changing hands was about 55 percent lower than the 30-day average as the U.K. market was closed for a holiday.

 Families of China's 'disappeared' say country is a place of 'fear and panic' - (www.theguardian.com) Beijing’s security forces are transforming China into a place of “fear and panic”, the families of 12 attorneys and activists who disappeared during a crackdown on human rights lawyers have claimed. In an open letter to Guo Shengkun, the minister of public security, the families said they had heard nothing from their relatives since they were detained during a roundup of government critics nearly two months ago. “Words fail to express our anxiety and helplessness,” they wrote, according to a translation by China Change, a human rights website. “When a terrorist attack is perpetrated, a terrorist group will come out and claim responsibility for it. When the police system of the People’s Republic of China disappears its citizens, shouldn’t it make a statement and say something?”

Junk-Rating Dread Sends Ibovespa, Real to World's Biggest Losses - (www.bloomberg.com) Brazilian stocks and the real led global losses on speculation that Latin America’s largest economy is struggling to put its finances in order and avoid a credit-rating downgrade to junk. The Ibovespa extended the worst monthly slide since September, led by banks, after President Dilma Rousseff was said to have abandoned the idea of reviving a tax on financial transactions to boost revenue. The Brazilian government will send to Congress a budget proposal for 2016 that projects a primary deficit instead of the previously expected surplus, according to two people familiar with the matter. Stocks also slumped on renewed concern that China, Brazil’s top trading-partner, will fail to revive its economy.

OTHER STORIES:

U.S. Stocks Slide With S&P 500 Headed for Worst Month Since 2012 - (www.bloomberg.com)
Europe Stocks Head for Worst Month Since 2011 Amid Fed, China - (www.bloomberg.com)
Asian Currencies Record Biggest Monthly Decline in Three Years - (www.bloomberg.com)
China's Stocks Cap Biggest Selloff Since 2008 on Rescue Doubts - (www.bloomberg.com)

Emerging-Market Stocks Head for Biggest Monthly Slide Since 2012 - (www.bloomberg.com)
Your ETF Is Not All It Seems for Emerging-Market Currency Hedges - (www.bloomberg.com)
30-Minute VIX Frenzy Exposes Obsession With Volatility Hedging - (www.bloomberg.com)