Asian stocks inched up amid optimism for further global economic stimulus measures from the Fed and the ECB this week. The MSCI Asia Pacific index excluding Japan gained 0.2% per cent after rising 2 per cent last week, the most since January 4. Japanese markets are closed for a holiday. The Fed's FOMC meets on Wednesday and the ECB's interest rate decision is due on Thursday. (Financial Times)
The Fed is widely expected to maintain its easing policies on Wednesday, in part because of inflation measures falling below the 2% target. (Wall Street Journal)(Bloomberg)
IGC and Lloyds discuss biggest post-crisis European CLO: "Intermediate Capital Group and Lloyds Bank are in talks on the largest collateralised loan obligation in Europe since the financial crisis, adding to hopes that a once important source of funding for business in the region is making a comeback. ICG, the London-based provider of sub-investment-grade financing, has started fundraising for a €400m structured loan vehicle, according to sources with knowledge of the deal. The deal is expected to close over the summer." (Financial Times)
UK ministers consider fracking 'sweeteners': "The government is proposing to bribe communities with cheaper energy bills in exchange for dropping opposition to local fracking projects as part of plans to push ahead with shale-gas extraction." (Financial Times)
Portugal plans court action against banks over 'toxic' derivatives: The country's government is tackling Banco Santander and JP Morgan after the Treasury said two months of negotiations failed to produce an agreement. The government is attempting to stem losses of up to effort to stem potential losses of up to €3bn on complex hedging products. (Financial Times)
ANA, the biggest Boeing 787 operator, plans to resume scheduled flights of the aircraft on June 1, its CEO Shinichiro Ito said. (Bloomberg)
Dimon promotes Zames in latest shake-up: The JPMorgan Chase CEO reshuffled his executive team on Sunday in the latest in a series of turbulent management changes, promoting Matt Zames to chief operating officer. This came after Frank Bisignano, co-chief operating officer at JPMorgan, opted to take over as chief executive of First Data Corp, the payments processor. Zames, Mike Cavanagh, co-head of the corporate and investment bank, and Mary Erdoes, head of asset management, are seen as plausible successors to Dimon. (Financial Times)
Netherlands, Luxembourg take big corporate tax hauls: The FT has a big investigation of competition among national corporate tax policies, finding that the two small countries attracted more foreign direct investment than the US, Germany and the UK combined -- although little entered the real economies of each country. (Financial Times)
Forex platform proposes 'speed limit': EBS, one of the two dominant trading platforms in the foreign exchange market, is suggesting scrapping the principle of "first in, first out" trading, and instead batching incoming orders together and dealing with them in random order. (Financial Times)
COMMENT AND CURIOS:
- Bullion wait times suggest physical silver demand, like gold, is rising in Asia on lower prices. (Bloomberg)
- Fears that 3% capital requirement will 'kill off' European money funds. (FTfm)
- Stevenson and Wolfers on the non-Excel aspects of the Reinhart-Rogoff furore. (Bloomberg)
OVERNIGHT MARKETS: UP
Asian markets
Nikkei 225 down -41.95 (-0.30%) at 13,884 (Friday)
Topix down -11.59 (-0.99%) at 1,161 (Friday)
Hang Seng up +20.44 (+0.09%) at 22,568
US markets
S&P 500 up +3.09 (+0.20%) at 1,582
DJIA up +11.75 (+0.08%) at 14,713
Nasdaq down -10.73 (-0.33%) at 3,279
European markets
Eurofirst 300 down -4.23 (-0.35%) at 1,196
FTSE100 down -16.17 (-0.25%) at 6,426
CAC 40 down -30.42 (-0.79%) at 3,810
Dax down -18.10 (-0.23%) at 7,815
Currencies
€/$ 1.30 (1.30)
$/¥ 97.51 (98.06)
£/$ 1.55 (1.55)
Commodities ($)
Brent Crude (ICE) down -0.48 at 102.68
Light Crude (Nymex) down -0.39 at 92.61
100 Oz Gold (Comex) up +15.70 at 1,469
Copper (Comex) down -0.85 at 317.60
10-year government bond yields (%)
US 1.67%
UK 1.69%
Germany 1.21%
CDS (closing levels)
Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe +0.26bps at 96.69bp
Markit iTraxx Europe -0.19bps at 105.32bp
Markit iTraxx Xover -1.07bps at 427.04bp
Markit CDX IG -0.75bps at 78.25bp
Sources: FT, Bloomberg, Markit
