Thursday June 15 2017 Housing and Economic stories

TOP STORIES:            

Is Another Spanish Bank about to Bite the Dust? - (www.wolfstreet.com) Stockholders and junior bondholders fear a “bail-in.” After its most tumultuous week since the bailout days of 2012, Spain’s banking system is gripped by a climate of fear, uncertainty and distrust. Rather than allaying investor nerves, the shotgun bail-in and sale of Banco Popular to Santander on Tuesday has merely intensified them. For the first time since the Global Financial Crisis, shareholders and subordinate bondholders of a failing Spanish bank were not bailed out by taxpayers; they took risks in order to make a buck, and they bore the consequences. That’s how it should be. But bank investors don’t like not getting bailed out. Now they’re worrying it could happen again. As Popular’s final days showed, once confidence and trust in a bank vanishes, it’s almost impossible to restore them. The fear has now spread to Spain’s eighth largest lender, Liberbank, a mini-Bankia that was spawned in 2011 from the forced marriage of three failed cajas (savings banks), Cajastur, Caja de Extremadura and Caja Cantabria.

GOP senators might let their health care bill fail on purpose - (www.cnn.com) So why vote on a bill that may not pass? The issue could jeopardize other top-ticket items on the GOP's agenda, Utah's former Republican Gov. Mike Leavitt told CNN... While conservatives may not be pleased with the changes on the table, moving the bill to the left could help McConnell protect his most vulnerable members. There aren't many endangered Republican members up in 2018, but those who are hail from more purple states, like Dean Heller in Nevada and Jeff Flake in Arizona. Last week, it became clear that GOP leaders were seriously considering several moderate concessions on their health care bill, including keeping some of the Obamacare taxes and not allowing states to repeal what is known as community rating -- a key protection for people with pre-existing conditions.

Tech sell-off spreads to Europe and Asia, Nasdaq seen falling further  - (www.reuters.com) Technology stocks fell heavily across Europe and Asia on Monday and were set to fall again on Wall Street after the worst day for Apple (AAPL.O) shares in more than a year, while easing political tensions lifted the euro and European bonds. A near 4 percent slump in Apple (AAPL.O) on Friday, along with falls in Alphabet (GOOGL.O), Facebook (FB.O) and others took a heavy toll on rivals including Samsung (005930.KS) and Europe's big chipmakers STMicro (STM.PA) and Dialog (DLGS.DE) on Monday. [.EU] ... Europe's tech index .SX8P fell 3.5 percent to put it on track for its biggest one-day loss since Britain's Brexit vote a year ago. The index had reached a 15-year high earlier this month having soared around 40 percent over the last year.

Americans Suddenly Sour on the Housing Market - (www.wolfstreet.com) It’s a Great Time to Sell and a Bad Time to Buy, they think. Americans have been gung-ho in recent years about the housing market, bidding up prices with gusto as they went. The election helped. By February, the Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI) had shot up to 88.3, up 5.6 points year-over-year, and the highest ever in the data series going back to 2011. But since then, some dark clouds have appeared, and other dark clouds have been out there for a while – by some measures the darkest in the data series. The index itself still looks benign: In May, it fell 0.5 points to 86.2, down 2.1 points from its February peak, but still up 0.9 points year-over-year: But here are the clouds, according to Doug Duncan, senior VP and chief economist at Fannie Mae: “High home prices have led many consumers to give us the first clear indication we’ve seen in the National Housing Survey’s seven-year history that they think it’s now a seller’s market.”

Viking Returns $8 Billion To Investors As CIO Departs – (www.zerohedge.com) Viking Global Investors, one of the world's largest hedge funds founded in 1999 by Andreas Halvorsen, is returning about $8 billion to investors as CIO Daniel Sundheim departs to pursue his own business interests, Bloomberg reports. Along with Eric Mindich's Eton Park Capital Management, Viking Global Advisors was once a stalwart name in the hedge fund industry, consistently generating double digit returns no matter the economy or macro climate. However, just like Eton Park, which shuttered in March, Andrew Halvorsen's Viking Global (thus named so for obvious reasons) had fallen upon hard times last year, and moments ago Bloomberg reported that the legendary hedge fund will return $8 billion to investors (out of a total $30 billion in AUM), as a result of the departure of its CIO, Daniel Sundheim, who is leaving to pursue his own business interests. According to Bloomberg and II, Sundheim joined Greenwich, Connecticut-based Viking in 2002 as an analyst. He started managing his own portfolio in 2005, became co-CIO in 2010 and gained sole responsibility for the job in 2014.  Bloomberg adds that Sundheim is leaving "because the firm couldn’t find a role for him that would give him the flexible investment mandate he was looking for."

OTHER STORIES:

British PM fights for survival ahead of Brexit talks - (www.reuters.com)
May Fights to Keep Job as Top Aides Resign - (www.bloomberg.com)
Theresa May's Top Two Aids Quit - (www.bbc.com)

The five biggest tech stocks lost nearly $100 billion in value on Friday - (www.cnbc.com)
Italy's Renzi sees elections at natural end of legislature in 2018 - (www.reuters.com)
Washington's Never Seen Anything Like the Comey Crisis. Or Has It? - (www.bloomberg.com)