FURTHER FURTHER READING
- The (happily?) dull state of econoblogging.
- What the Fed might say on Wednesday, but then why it'll be gobbledygook.
- Even for Bart Chilton, this is a weird, weird CFTC speech.
- Don't sell off Detroit's art to satisfy its creditors.
- Why Citi is hunting for more US taxable income.
- You can dream of that Mexican beach home.
- Macro forecasts, Nate Silver, and Bayesians vs frequentists.
- The end-of-the-world trade: "It's coming soon! I hope! It's in the Bible!"
- Malcom Gladwell on Albert Hirschman.
ROUND-UP
The S&P 500 hit its highest level this month, 1,651, having risen 1.5 per cent in two days (Bloomberg).
Votorantim Cimentos put its $4.9bn IPO on hold. The offering would have been the world's second largest in 2013, but took fire from investors who said the deal richly priced Votorantim compared to competitors (Financial Times).
Deloitte will pay $10m and and be banned for one year from consulting banks regulated in New York, as part of a settlement with state regulators. New York's Department of Financial Services cited Deloitte's "lack of autonomy" in a review of anti-money laundering practices at Standard Chartered. "At times, the consulting industry has been infected by an 'I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine' culture and a stunning lack of independence," DFS Superintendent Benjamin Lawksy said (Financial Times, Wall Street Journal).
Carl Icahn has doubled his stake in Dell, and offered to pay $14 a share for 62 per cent of the company as part of a fresh proposal to unseat its attempt to go private. Southeastern Asset Management said on Tuesday that it would sell half its shares to Mr Icahn, making him Dell's largest outside shareholder with 4.1 per cent (Financial Times). Mr Icahn said that his proposed tender offer "allows those who believe, like us, that the $13.65 price being offered in the Michael Dell-Silver Lake going-private transaction significantly undervalues Dell, to continue to hold Dell shares" (Wall Street Journal).
Huawei suggested it could buy Nokia. "We are considering these sorts of acquisitions; maybe the combination has some synergies but depends on the willingness of Nokia. We are open-minded," said Richard Yu, chairman of Huawei's consumer business group, underlining ambitions to one day challenge Samsung and Apple in smartphones (Financial Times).
Tougher times for non-agency MBS: "The share of non-agency bonds reported by dealers as not trading after being included in widely marketed auctions rose to 44 percent in the first half of June, up from 18 percent last month" (Bloomberg).
Angelina Jolie's former stunt-double launched the first US lawsuit against News Corp over phone-hacking. The civil complaint filed in a Californian court alleged that UK journalists at News Corp newspapers hacked voicemail messages left by Jolie and others for Eunice Huthart while she was living in Los Angeles in 2004 and 2005 (Financial Times).
