Friday March 3 2017 Housing and Economic stories

TOP STORIES:            

Zombie cull fuels China bankruptcy rise - (www.ft.com) Bankruptcy cases surged in China last year, indicating growing economic stress as well as progress in the ruling Communist party’s efforts to use the country’s courts to deal with indebted “zombie” companies and reduce industrial overcapacity. Chinese courts accepted 5,665 bankruptcy cases in 2016, an increase of 54 per cent from the year before, the country’s top court said on Friday. About 3,600 of those cases were resolved, with 85 per cent of the resolved cases resulting in liquidation.  “It is linked to getting rid of zombie companies and making the economy more efficient,” said Susan Finder, law scholar in residence at Peking University’s Shenzhen Graduate School. “Provincial courts state this when they report the number of bankruptcy cases. The idea is to save the companies that can be saved and liquidate the ones that can’t.”

Company insiders are dumping stock at levels 'rarely seen,' report indicates - (www.cnbc.com) Chief executives may profess loving a pro-business president in the White House, but they are saying something else with their money, and that could be a worrisome sign. Chief executives and other corporate insiders are selling stock hand over fist now that the quarterly earnings season is over, a report from Vickers Weekly Insider shows. Transactions by insiders are restricted around a company's report. "Insider selling has jumped again, and this time to levels rarely seen," analyst David Coleman wrote in Monday's note.

Welcome Aboard... But First US Marshals Will Scan Your Retina | Zero ... - (www.zerohedge.com) We had already been through boarding pass checks, passport checks, scanners, and pat downs. At the gate, each passenger had already had their tickets scanned and we were all walking on the jet bridge to board. It’s at this point that most people assume that it is all done: finally we can enjoy some sense of normalcy. This time was different. Halfway down the jetbridge, there was a new layer of security. Two US Marshals, heavily armed and dressed in dystopian-style black regalia, stood next to an upright machine with a glowing green eye. Every passenger, one by one, was told to step on a mat and look into the green scanner. It was scanning our eyes and matching that scan with the passport, which was also scanned (yet again). Like everyone else, I complied. What was my choice? I guess I could have turned back at the point, decline to take the flight I had paid for, but it would be unclear what would then happen. After standing there for perhaps 8 seconds, the machine gave the go signal and I boarded.

A Quarter Of Snap IPO Buyers Agree Not To Sell For One Year - (www.zerohedge.com) For the latest glimpse of the euphoria in the equity market, look no further than the Snap(chat) IPO, whose order book closes at noon today and is expected to price tomorrow, March 1, after the close. While the initial price range was presented as $14-16, according to Bloomberg orders for the public offering are concentrating in the $17-18 range, well above the high end of the range. Yet while broad interest in the biggest IPO of the past few years is hardly surprising at a time when the S&P is trading at all time highs, what is more notable is that according to Reuters, Snap disclosed yesterday that it expected buyers of up to a quarter of the offered shares in the $3.2 billion initial public offering to agree not to sell them for a year. While Snap cautioned it had no binding commitments yet from investors accepting such a lock-up period, the disclosure is a sign of confidence from the company in what is expected to be the biggest U.S. IPO since Facebook.

Number Of Distressed US Retailers Highest Since The Great Recession - (www.zerohedge.com)  Over the past six years the number of US retailers on the lowest and distressed tier of its rating spectrum has tripled, Moody's Investors Service says in a new report. Not since the 2008-09 recession has the percentage been so high, and the rising tide coincides with an increasing number of such companies across all industries. "Moody's-rated US retailers rated Caa or Ca today make up just over 13% of our total rated retail portfolio, which is the highest level since the Great Recession.  As they struggle to survive, distressed retailers can take more desperate measures, including highly promotional pricing that can border on irrational.  This leaves stronger firms with the choice of either competing in a race to the bottom, or giving up sales in order to preserve margin."

OTHER STORIES:

Trump Says Improving Economy Would Cover Defense Budget Boost - (www.wsj.com)
Bank of Japan publishes bond buying plans to keep yields at 0% - (www.ft.com)
China capital crackdown threatens wave of overseas buyouts - (www.ft.com)
Corporate China hits global debt market milestone - (www.ft.com)

Asian Stocks Drop, Yen Advances Before Trump Speech: Market Wrap - (www.bloomberg.com)
No cuts to U.S. entitlement programs in Trump budget: Mnuchin - (www.reuters.com)

What Does the French Election Mean for the Euro? - (www.wsj.com)