FURTHER FURTHER READING
- "In Silicon Valley, its all Twttr!" Seven years ago today.
- Krugman compares international trade to US interregional trade. Recommended.
- EBA banker bonus data: "one of the Slovakians appears to have made €1.6mm in bonus on a €0 base, which I submit to you is not a sustainable way to live your life..."
- Everything (everything) you need to know about the latest in the Apple v Samsung patent litigation.
- The future of FX-trading banks -- including the flow monsters.
- Becker and Posner debate the sequester.
- The UK's productivity puzzle lies in... self-employment?
- "There are mining languages, and mining dictionaries, all over the world."
ROUND-UP
Lowest full-day volume of the year for US stocks. The S&P 500 rose 0.1 per cent to 1,682.50, eking out an eighth day of gains (Bloomberg).
Citi posted its best half-year of profit since 2007, having earned $4.2bn in net income in the second quarter following $3.8bn in the first. It also reported a 10 per cent capital ratio under new Basel III standards (Financial Times). Earnings per share of $1.25 beat analyst expectations of $1.17 (Wall Street Journal). However, higher legal expenses caused costs at the bank's toxic-asset unit rose to $1.25bn in the first six months of the year, 10 times what they were a year earlier (Bloomberg).
Bernanke appears before Congress at 10am New York time tomorrow. 'There is every chance he will get a direct question on the timing of a slowdown in buying, but Mr Bernanke will mostly likely stick to his previous language and say "later this year" as long as there is moderate economic growth...' (Financial Times).
A jury was chosen for the Fabrice Tourre civil trial. The judge warned lawyers to avoid complex financial vocabulary in the case, which concerns the synthetic CDO Abacus 2007-AC1. "Let's try to make this comprehensible," US District Judge Katharine Forrest said (Wall Street Journal). 'Six people were rejected from the trial's jury pool, including a professor and a mortgage underwriter' (NYT Dealbook).
One of Dell's largest shareholders stated its opposition to the proposed $24.4bn buyout by Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners. T Rowe Price owns 4.4 per cent of Dell stock. Voting on the proposal starts on Thursday (Wall Street Journal).
Spain's prime minister dismissed calls for him to resign. "I will defend political stability and I will complete the mandate given to me by the Spanish people," Mariano Rajoy said, defying concern that a slush fund scandal will consume his party (Financial Times).
Gap widens between US and European issuance of ABS... US issuance year to date: $332.3bn. In Europe: $35.8bn (Financial Times).
The price of US ethanol credits has now gained 2,300 per cent for the year. RINs, renewable identification numbers rose to a record $1.25 per gallon on Monday. US federal law requires refiners and wholesalers to blend increasing amounts of biofuels into petrol, or to buy RIN credits in lieu of blending (Financial Times).
