Unrest
spreads across Istanbul - (www.ft.com) The
crackdown on the protests that have rocked Turkey intensified on Sunday, as
police battled with demonstrators in central Istanbul and
beyond, and prime minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan vowed
at a vast rally of his own supporters to settle accounts with those
responsible. During the day, Turkish police chased protesters into a shopping
mall, stormed one five-star hotel and tear-gassed another as Mr Erdogan’s
government sought to stop a protest in Istanbul’s main square while staging its
own show of force in the city. For 24 hours after police used
tear gas and water cannon to flush protesters from Gezi Park, the symbolic heart of the demonstrations
against the Turkish prime minister, police were still confronting protesters in
multiple locations around the city late on Sunday afternoon.
Spain's
Rajoy calls on ECB to create bank lending scheme for smaller - (www.reuters.com) Spanish
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Saturday called on the European Central Bank to
create a cheap funding scheme for small businesses, mirroring those used by
authorities outside the euro zone to try and get credit flowing via banks. Rajoy,
who has previously urged the ECB to change its collateral rules to help smaller
companies access financing at better conditions, said the ECB could emulate
plans such as a Bank of England scheme. The British central bank launched a
'Funding for Lending' scheme in mid-2012 aimed at encouraging banks to give
credit by providing them with cheap financing. "I would like the ECB to
act like other central banks, to do as the Bank of England has done - giving
cheap loans to financial entities so that these financial entities can lend at
cheaper rates to small and medium-sized companies," Rajoy said at an event
in Tarragona, northern Spain.
Chrysler
to freeze salaried employees’ pensions in effort to limit liability - (www.washingtonpost.com) Chrysler plans
to freeze pensions for 8,000 salaried employees at the end of the year, the
automaker announced Friday, joining a growing group of companies seeking to limit the amount of money they
have to set aside now for future retirees. The move means that salaried workers
in the company’s pension plan, which pays retirees a fixed benefit for life,
will stop accruing new benefits at the end of 2013. They remain entitled to the
pension benefits they have earned so far, but instead of adding to the
guaranteed payments they will receive at retirement, the workers will be
offered 401(k) accounts, which shift the risk of saving for retirement from
employers to employees. Chrysler's decision comes after a similar one by
General Motors, which last year froze pensions for 26,000 salaried workers in
the United States, moving them to 401(k) plans.
All-cash
buyers cut swath through Napa housing market - (www.napavalleyregister.com) The
number of Napa homes purchased with all cash reached almost 40 percent in 2012,
the result of high investor interest, a difficult mortgage environment and
perceived higher returns on investment, a real estate information service
reported. In 2011, 354 Napa County properties were bought with all cash. In
2012 that number reached 490, San Diego-based DataQuick reported earlier this
year. That’s a 38.4 percent increase. Halfway through 2013, those involved with
the local real estate industry report that all-cash offers are still common but
aren’t always required to make a successful offer. Many buyers think “cash is
king,” but according to Randy Gularte of Heritage Sotheby’s International
Realty, that’s not always the case. He’s seen a slight decrease in all-cash
buyers over the past six months, from an estimated 35 percent to about 25
percent. When dealing with homes priced at around $800,000 and below, “I’m
seeing less cash buyers,” Gularte said.
Hedge
Funds Cut Gold Bets as Paulson’s Loss Widens: Commodities - (www.bloomberg.com) Hedge funds cut wagers on a gold rally for the first
time in three weeks on mounting speculation central banks will curb record
stimulus and as this year’s slump in bullion spurred losses for billionaire John Paulson. The funds and other large speculators lowered
their net-long position by 4.1 percent to 54,779futures and options by June 11, U.S. Commodity Futures
Trading Commission data show. Net-bullish wagers across
18 U.S.-traded commodities rose 0.1 percent. Bearish copper bets more than
doubled as the metal had its longest slump since November. Cocoa holdings
advanced to the highest since 2008 before the biggest weekly slide since
January. The Bank of
Japan left
a lending program unchanged on June 11 and refrained from expanding its toolkit
for tackling volatility in bonds. Federal Reserve policy makers meeting this
week may discuss slowing $85 billion of monthly debt purchases amid signs of a
sustained economic recovery. Gold surged 70 percent as the Fed bought $2.3
trillion of debt from December 2008 through June 2011. Paulson’s Gold Fund
tumbled 13 percent in May, extending this year’s loss to 54 percent.
German
economic growth likely to slow over the summer: Bundesbank - (www.bloomberg.com)
Faltering Economy in China Dims Job Prospects for Graduates - (www.nytimes.com)
Faltering Economy in China Dims Job Prospects for Graduates - (www.nytimes.com)
Orchard
Supply files for Chapter 11, Lowe's steps in - (www.reuters.com)
Coal Industry PinsHopes on Exports as U.S. Market Shrinks - (www.nytimes.com)
Coal Industry PinsHopes on Exports as U.S. Market Shrinks - (www.nytimes.com)
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