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Ship Charter Rates Go Negative - (www.bloomberg.com) Glencore International Plc paid nothing to hire a dry-bulk ship with the vessel’s operator paying $2,000 a day of the trader’s fuel costs after freight rates plunged to all-time lows. Glencore chartered the vessel, operated by Global Maritime Investments Ltd., a Cyprus-based company with offices in London, Steve Rodley, GMI’s U.K. managing director, said by phone today. The daily payments last the first 60 days of the charter, Rodley said. The vessel will haul a cargo of grains to Europe, putting the carrier in a better position for its next shipment, he said. “Our other option was to stay in the Pacific and earn poor revenues or ballast to the Atlantic and pay the fuel ourselves,” Rodley said. Ballasting refers to sailing without a cargo. Charles Watenphul, a spokesman for Glencore, declined to comment in an e-mailed response to questions.
Europe’s Banks Reluctant to Lend to Companies in Need of Cash - (www.nytimes.com) European governments are not the only ones struggling with debt. So are some of the region’s companies. As profits and sales slip, some European businesses are scrambling to pay their bills. Because banks are reluctant to lend, the fear is that companies will not be able to borrow the cash they need and will be forced to take drastic action, further weighing on the economy. “There’s a lack of business confidence across Europe” said Jonathan Loynes, chief European economist in London at the research organization Capital Economics. “Lending to the private sector is deteriorating, and there’s enormous stress on the European economy.”
A Wipeout That Didn't Have to Happen - (www.nytimes.com) BOBBY L. HAYES, an engineering entrepreneur in Incline Village, Nev., used to trust financial institutions. This is the story of why he no longer does. Mr. Hayes won a securities arbitration last week and was awarded $1.38 million from the panel that heard the case. Banc of America Securities, now Merrill Lynch, must pay the award, which represents all the money Mr. Hayes lost on a complex security, plus accrued interest, lawyers’ costs and hearing fees. The Hayes case highlights this question: Exactly how did Wall Street price the loans that it bundled into securities and sold to investors?
Greece falters in debt talks with creditors - (www.telegraph.co.uk) Lucas Papademos held emergency telephone talks with Christine Lagarde and Mario Draghi today in a bid to find a way to meet the demands of both Greece’s private creditor banks and its “troika” paymasters. Evangelos Venizelos, the Greek finance minister, told reporters he hoped to announce a deal this evening to avoid rattling global stockmarkets. However, he added: “It’s not an impasse but there are problems for the Greek side.” There are just six weeks left before Greece faces a €14.5bn (£12bn) bond repayment which it cannot meet without international aid. European leaders have said Greece will not receive funds from the €130bn rescue package unless it can persuade its private creditors to take losses to reduce the country’s debt pile.
Wow. But Is the Number Real? - (www.nytimes.com) How many jobs did the American economy add in January? The Labor Department estimated on Friday that the economy gained 243,000 jobs. The department also estimated that the economy lost 2,689,000 jobs in the month. The difference in the two numbers is in seasonal adjustment. Employment always falls in January, as temporary Christmas jobs end. So the government applies seasonal adjustment factors in an effort to discern the real trend of the economy apart from seasonal fluctuations. The actual survey showed the big loss in jobs. The seasonal adjustments produced the reported gain of 243,000 jobs. A reason to doubt the number is that there has been a tendency in this cycle for the seasonal factors to overstate moves, in both directions. Labor mobility is down, as fewer workers quit to seek better jobs and employers both hire and fire fewer people than they used to do. If the seasonal adjustment was too large, then the gain should be smaller
Bernanke: U.S. Labor Market ‘Long Way’ From Normal - (www.bloomberg.com)
Greece Lets Another Deadline Slip - (www.reuters.com)
Fed Will 'Protect the US' From Europe's Crisis: Bernanke - (www.cnbc.com)
Forty States Sign On to Foreclosure ‘Robo’ Settlement - (www.cnbc.com)
China growth could halve if Europe crisis worsens: IMF - (www.reuters.com)
Euro zone loses patience with Greece - (www.reuters.com)
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