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STORIES:
Peregrine CEO
indicted for lying to regulators – (www.thestar.com) Peregrine Financial Group founder
andchief executive Russell
Wasendorf Sr was indicted on charges of lying to regulators, a
little over a month after he botched a suicide attempt and confessed to bilking
customers of his brokerage for years. Wasendorf, 64, "overstated the value
of PFG's customer segregated funds by at least tens of millions of
dollars" to the Commodity Futures Exchange Commission, according to the
indictment, filed in federal court in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The indictment
carries a possible maximum sentence of 155 years in prison, a $7.75 million
fine, and 93 years of supervised release following any imprisonment, the U.S.
Attorney's office said.
Japanese firms shut China plants, U.S. urges calm in islands
row - (www.reuters.com) Some major Japanese brandname
firms announced factory shutdowns in China on Monday and urged expatriates
to stay indoors ahead of what could be more angry protests over a territorial
dispute between Asia's two biggest economies. China's worst outbreak of anti-Japan sentiment in decades led to
weekend demonstrations and violent attacks on well-known Japanese businesses
such as car makers Toyota and Honda, forcing frightened Japanese into hiding
and prompting Chinese state media to warn that trade relations could now be in
jeopardy. Another outbreak of anti-Japan sentiment is expected across China on
Tuesday, the anniversary of Japan's 1931 occupation of parts of mainland China.
"I'm not going out today and I've asked my Chinese boyfriend to be with me
all day tomorrow," said Sayo Morimoto, a 29-year-old Japanese graduate
student at a university in Shenzhen.
Spanish Banks Bleeding Cash Cloud Bailout Debate: Euro Credit
- (www.bloomberg.com) Spanish banks, already hooked on cheap European
Central Bank loans, are hemorrhaging deposits as the government debates
whether to seek a bailout. Households and companies drained
26 billion euros ($34 billion) from Spanish bank accounts in July, driving the
ratio of loans to deposits among lenders to 187 percent from 183 percent in
December and 182 percent a year earlier, according to data compiled by the Bank
of Spain.
Shrinking deposits undermine the ability of banks to support economic growth by lending to companies and consumers. “There
are significant outflows of deposits now in Spain and they won’t start coming
back until people are sure they’re safe and that Spain is secure,” said Simon
Maughan, a financial strategist at Olivetree Securities Ltd. in London.
Exclusive: Ghost warehouse stocks haunt China's steel sector
- (www.reuters.com) Chinese banks and companies
looking to seize steel pledged as collateral by firms that have defaulted on
loans are making an uncomfortable discovery: the metal was never in the
warehouses in the first place. China's demand has faltered with the slowing economy,
pushing steel prices to a three-year low and making it tough for mills and
traders to keep up with payments on the $400 billion of debt they racked up
during years of double-digit growth. As defaults have risen in the world's
largest steel consumer, lenders have found that warehouse receipts for metal
pledged as collateral do not always lead them to stacks of stored metal.
Chinese authorities are investigating a number of cases in which steel
documented in receipts was either not there, belonged to another company or had
been pledged as collateral to multiple lenders, industry sources said.
Japan's next disaster caused by climbing debt - (www.telegraph.co.uk) Far beyond the harbour at
Kamaishi town in north east Japan, the ravaged remains of its sea defences
still rise jagged above the water. Descending 63m, the breakwater had earned a
place in the Guinness book of records as the world’s deepest and its presence
offered the ancient steel town’s 40,000 residents visible reassurance. When the
tsunami struck on March 11, 2011, though, the five-year-old defences could not
hold. The wave washed in, climbing 10 metres above sea level, levelling
hundreds of homes and killing over a thousand people. The sea wall held the
water back for six minutes and reduced the height of the wave by six metres,
but the protection had been an illusion.
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