Good morning, New York...
FT ALPHAVILLE
A step-by-step guide for writing a AP tweet hacking story: 1.) Steal headline from Lorcan. On Twitter. 2.) Multiple choice test to decide your condescending lede! 3.) Look at what the mainstream media are saying. 4.) Decide it's interesting to note what happened to liquidity. 5.) Ignore all that for the story though, and intone darkly about the 0.85 per cent drop in the S&P 500. Pass over the interesting fact that USDJPY also moved sharply... 9.) Ponder again: would anyone notice if Zero Hedge were hacked? (Head over to FT Alphaville for the full guide.)
On the virtuous circle of exporting deflation: TD Securities' Richard Gilhooly has a rather insightful way of looking at the whole BoJ effect. "While it remains a contentious point and as yet unproven, Japan's devaluation and soaring Nikkei vs slumping DAX or Bovespa has all the hallmarks of a competitive devaluation," he writes in a note on Tuesday. While this has been said before, Gilhooly's note gets to the point particularly well. Click through to Izzy's post for more of his argument and further discussion.
The gold-Barca bubble: David Keohane and Jamie Chisholm note -- with their most serious game faces on -- the rather prescient timing of the unveiling of a pure gold replica of Lionel Messi's left foot in Tokyo.
NEWS
Barclays suffered a 25 per cent fall in its adjusted first-quarter pre-tax profit as a costly restructuring masked a stronger performance by its investment banking arm and lower bad loan charges. Shares in the group rose in the wake of the trading statement, which kicks off the reporting season for the UK banking sector and precedes Barclays' annual shareholder meeting on Thursday. (Financial Times)
Apple tried to silence grumbling investors by promising to return an extra $55bn over three years, even as it warned of an extended gap between new product launches. The scale of the cash return, on top of $45bn already promised over three years, is matched only by ExxonMobil in corporate America, and is designed to appease investors frustrated by its tumbling share price. (Financial Times)
Credit Suisse beat analysts' expectations by posting net profits of SFr1.3bn in the first quarter, as its investment banking arm enjoyed a profitable three months. The result is a sharp improvement on the first quarter of 2012, when the Swiss group posted profits of just SFr44m, after taking a SFr1.55bn charge relating to swings in the value of its own debt. Analysts had expected net profits of SFr1.25bn. (Financial Times)
The chairman brought in to clean up the controversial FTSE 100 miner Eurasian Natural Resources Corp, resigned on Tuesday, in the latest stark illustration of the difficulty of grafting City governance standards on to mining groups with powerful Asian shareholders. Mehmet Dalman, who was appointed chairman with a brief to improve corporate governance and investigate whistleblower allegations of fraud, handed in his notice, effective immediately, in a board meeting. (Financial Times)
The Australian central bank plans to invest about 5 per cent of its foreign reserves in Chinese government bonds, in the latest move to build closer economic ties between the two countries. Earlier this month, Australia became only the third country to establish a direct currency trading link with China, after the US and Japan. The RBA and the People's Bank of China also set up a currency swap facility in March 2012. The RBA had around A$38.2bn ($39bn) in foreign reserves at the end of March. (Financial Times)
IT outsourcing companies that rely heavily on foreign workers will face tough new rules under proposed immigration legislation being considered in the Senate, which wants to crack down on "abusers" of the H-1B highly skilled visa system. Much of the immigration reform debate has centred on the need for more skilled engineers and scientists to help US companies innovate, with Silicon Valley leading the charge. (Financial Times)
The development of shale oil and gas reserves around the world will generally be much slower than in North America, a senior executive at Royal Dutch Shell has warned. Andrew Brown, Shell's head of international oil and gas production, said the lack of equipment and skilled staff, and the need for extensive exploration in the regions outside the US and Canada, would hold back the growth of output from shale reserves. (Financial Times)
Markets: European stocks are adding to recent strong gains, while Asian bourses have rallied hard as investors shrug off poor economic data to focus on some well-received corporate earnings and prospects for more central bank support. Commodities, which have had a tough time of late, are attracting buyers, particularly gold, with the yellow metal up $14 to $1,427 an ounce after Goldman Sachs said it had closed its short position. (FT's Global Market Overview)
