Friday February 5 2016 Housing and Economic stories

TOP STORIES:

Hedge Funds Had Worst Year Since 2008 Betting on Commodities - (www.bloomberg.com) Hedge funds betting on raw materials had the worst performance since the global financial crisis of 2008 as everything went wrong for commodities. The funds lost 5.2 percent in 2015 and recorded losses in 10 out of 12 months, based on an index compiled by Societe Generale SA that tracks the performance of commodity trading strategies including equities and physical products. Managers lost money and commodity funds from Trafigura Pte Ltd. to Cargill Inc. closed last year as China’s slowing economy added to the global glut in most raw materials. Losses from poor performance and investor withdrawals left assets at the top 10 commodities hedge funds at less than $10 billion, compared with more than $50 billion in 2008, Trafigura said last month.

Azerbaijan Shuts 4 Banks in Week After Imposing Capital Controls - (www.bloomberg.com) Azerbaijan shuttered almost a tenth of the nation’s lenders in the past week as authorities struggle to restore trust in the national currency after imposing capital controls and devaluing the manat twice last year. The regulator in the capital, Baku, said there’ll be more closures to come after revoking the licenses of privately owned United Credit Bank and NBC Bank for failing to comply with a minimum capital requirement of 50 million manat ($30.7 million). The lenders couldn’t meet their obligations to creditors and their management wasn’t “reliable or prudential,” the central bank said Tuesday in an e-mailed statement. The cleanup has left Azerbaijan with 39 banks. “Banks that don’t meet requirements and have major shortcomings can’t operate in Azerbaijan,” President Ilham Aliyev was cited as saying by the news service APA. He urged banks to invest in the real economy to help create new jobs and develop the non-oil industry.

Sprint Said to Cut 2,500 Jobs, 7% of Staff, to Lower Costs - (www.bloomberg.com) Sprint Corp., the nation’s fourth-largest wireless carrier, is eliminating 2,500 jobs, or about 7 percent of its total workforce, and closing several call centers as part of a plan to cut $2.5 billion in costs, according to a person familiar with the situation. Most of the job cuts are coming from the closing call centers, said the person, who requested anonymity because the cuts haven’t been disclosed publicly. Employees were informed of the cuts in an e-mail Friday, the person said. Jan. 30 is the deadline to qualify for better severance benefits.

Junk Bonds in Europe Find Greater Losses From Brazil Than China - (www.bloomberg.com) European investors focused on risks from China to the east should also be looking west. More than half of the region’s worst-performing junk bonds in euros over the past year were sold by companies with operations in Brazil, exceeding those with even indirect exposure to China, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Bonds sold by French retailer Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA and Spanish engineering firm Grupo Isolux Corsan SA, both with links to Latin America’s largest economy, are among 10 billion euros ($11 billion) of securities with the biggest losses. European firms piled into emerging markets as they sought to mitigate the sovereign debt crisis at home. Brazil is now heading toward its deepest two-year recession in more than a century and a widening corruption scandal involving state-run oil producer Petroleo Brasileiro SA is undermining any political effort to revive growth.

Emerging Stocks Fall as China Rout Deepens; Ruble Swings on Oil  - (www.bloomberg.com) Emerging-market stocks snapped a two-day advance as Chinese shares tumbled to a 13-month low on concern outflows will accelerate as the economy slows. Russia’s ruble swung between gains and losses. The Shanghai Composite Index slid more than 6 percent after data showed outflows from China reached a record $1 trillion last year, more than seven times higher than in 2014. Russia’s ruble erased losses as oil rebounded while South Korea’s won and Brazil’s real weakened. The premium investors demand to own developing-nation debt rather than U.S. Treasuries rose for a second day. “The inability to control capital outflows is the typical sign of crisis in emerging markets,” said Nathan Griffiths, a senior emerging-market equities manager who helps oversee $1.2 billion at NN Investment Partners in The Hague, who prefers Indian and Mexican shares. “Given the importance of China to both emerging markets and the global economy, a China crisis would be pretty horrible.”  

OTHER STORIES:

Asian Stocks Follow Oil Lower as Japanese Shares Lead Declines - (www.bloomberg.com)
This Stock Market is Really Sick, and Big Institutional Investors are Bailing out  - (www.wolfstreet.com)

PBOC Adds Most Cash Since 2013 in Reverse Repos as Holidays Loom - (www.bloomberg.com)
So Yes, the Oil Crash Looks a Lot Like Subprime - (www.bloomberg.com)

BlackRock Says Clients Are Shifting Away From Stocks - (www.bloomberg.com)
'Running out of time', EU puts Greece, Schengen on notice - (www.bloomberg.com)

Banks Much Deeper in the Hole on Oil & Gas Collateral than they Pretend - (www.wolfstreet.com)