Good morning New York,
FT ALPHAVILLE
Goldman on the other jobs reports: Cardiff posts a short note from economist Jan Hatzius of Goldman Sachs reminding us that Friday's employment situation report isn't the only labour market indicator in town — and the others have revealed "a fairly mixed picture this month.
The refi boom is over: It was only a matter of time before the mortgage refinancing wave receded, says Cardiff. In October, the limited pool of eligible borrowers meant that refinancing activity was already limited in how much it could increase. But now that mortgage rates have climbed, it is falling, and is likely to continue falling.
NEWS
Japan's giant pension fund to buy more stocks: Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund, the world's largest public pension fund with assets the size of the Mexican economy, has overhauled its investment strategy, in a move that may settle nerves in the frazzled Japanese stock market. The GPIF said it would cut its allocation to domestic bonds to 60 per cent of total assets of Y112tn, from 67 per cent, while boosting holdings of domestic stocks from 11 per cent to 12 per cent. (Financial Times)
Draghi lauds 'most successful' ECB action: A combative Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, strongly defended one of his bank's most unorthodox and controversial moves of the eurozone crisis as "probably the most successful monetary policy measure undertaken in recent times". (Financial Times)
Soros returns to Japanese stocks: Even as other investors begin to sell, Mr. Soros's firm, which manages $24bn of the investor's cash, and had sold much of its Japanese stock position in May, before the recent, steep selloff, is now betting on the Japanese market again according to WSJ sources. (Wall Street Journal)
Glaxo's Avandia scores FDA victory: A government panel called for easing restrictions on the onetime big-selling diabetes drug Avandia, in a remarkable about-face nearly three years after concerns over heart risk led regulators to curtail use of the drug. The vote was a victory for Avandia maker GlaxoSmithKline, which has maintained that the drug was safe. Glaxo asked Duke University to review a study that the company said showed no increase in heart attacks for Avandia patients, and Duke largely confirmed the company's view. (Wall Street Journal)
LME chief Abbot plans to leave after $2.2bn takeover: Abbott will depart at the end of the year after the sale of the world's biggest industrial-metals bourse to Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing. for $2.2bn. A successor will be announced "in due course," the LME said in a statement yesterday. (Bloomberg)
Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Yahoo denied all knowledge of secret US government efforts to tap their central servers for users' data.The National Security Agency programme, codenamed PRISM, boasted of collection "directly from the servers of these U.S. Service Providers: Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, Apple," according to documents leaked to the media. (Washington Post, Guardian.)
Prosecutors in the US and UK are close to bringing criminal charges over the Libor scandal: Former Barclays employees are likely to be charged later this summer. Barclays itself settled with regulators a year ago over allegations it attempted to manipulate Libor, but it has taken time since then for the authorities on both sides of the Atlantic to coordinate their cases against individuals. (Wall Street Journal)
Markets: A very twitchy week was ending with more pockets of volatility across currencies and stocks ahead of key US non-farm payrolls data due out later in the global day, the FT's global markets commentator Jamie Chisholm reported. The dollar remained under pressure, at one point pushing the yen to a two-month high and forcing Japanese stocks briefly into bear market territory. Gold was down $1 to $1,412 an ounce and Treasury prices were rising, nudging 10-year yields down 2 basis points to 2.06 per cent, as supposed havens were sought. The Asia-Pacific region excluding Japan lost 0.9 per cent, but the mood is a bit calmer in Europe, with the FTSE Eurofirst 300 adding 0.2 per cent – reflecting Wall Street's bounce off Thursday's session lows. The euro was a bit softer but holding the $1.32 level.
