Germany has no sense of urgency as the German court will rule over the bailout / fiscal pact in September.

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“China’s Premier Wen Jiabao warned that the nation’s recovery is yet to build up momentum, fueling speculation that extra economic support measures may be announced after a cabinet meeting this week.

“It should be clearly understood that the momentum for a stable rebound in the economy has not yet been established,” Wen said during an inspection tour in southwest Sichuan province, according to a Chinese-language report from the official Xinhua News Agency yesterday. At the same time, expansion is within the targeted range and measures to stabilize growth are “bearing fruit,” he said.”

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A final report has come out on our tax dollars being squandered in Iraq. The sad part is the money in some sense can be said to be stolen by private contractors who intentionally ran up bills.

The question now is will you allow this to happen again.

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Lending is in short supply. Pawn shops are seeing a boom in business…as much as 10 percent per annum over the past 5 years.

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(Reuters) – Russell Wasendorf Sr, arrested on Friday, confessed to a 20-year fraud at his now-bankrupt Iowa brokerage, saying business troubles and his “big” ego left him no choice: “So I cheated.”

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“The Federal Reserve will probably move to stimulate the economy via easing measures this year, though such policy tools can’t guarantee that the country won’t slide into recession, says Robert Wiedemer, financial commentator and best-selling author of “Aftershock.”

U.S. recovery remains tepid, with consumer confidence waning, personal spending flat and job creation minimal, prompting talk the Federal Reserve will roll out a fresh round of bond buybacks from banks, a stimulus took known as quantitative easing (QE).”

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BI compiled a list of favorite chart sought after by the pros….

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“Spanish lenders’ net borrowings from the European Central Bank jumped to a record 337 billion euros ($411 billion) in June as the European bailout agreement failed to ease their access to funding.

Net average ECB borrowings climbed from 288 billion euros in May, the Bank of Spain in Madrid said today. Gross borrowing was 365 billion euros, up from 325 billion euros in May, accounting for 30 percent of borrowing in the euro region.”

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“China’s growth slowed for a sixth quarter to the weakest pace since the global financial crisis, putting pressure on Premier Wen Jiabao to boost stimulus to secure a second-half economic rebound.

Gross domestic product expanded 7.6 percent last quarter from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said today in Beijing. The pace, a three-year low, compares with an 8.1 percent gain in the previous period and the 7.7 percent median forecast of economists. Industrial production increased at a slower pace in June while retail sales growth decelerated.”

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Given the wipe-out of years of savings, are there ways to make retirement nest eggs safer? What might replace the 401(k) as the dominant savings vehicle?

7 experts way in on what might replace the 401(k).

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“Facing the same financial stressors that pushed San Bernardino toward bankruptcy, cities across California are slashing day-to-day services and taking other drastic actions to skirt a similar fiscal collapse.

For some, it may not be enough.”

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A good read on what may happen if and when interest rates rise….

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“On a day when the reflexive NEW QE knife-catchers seem to have stepped away from the desk, we thought it useful to get some cognitive clarity on where exactly Treasuries think the post-FOMC-disappointment equity market is likely to end up in the short-term (especially as they retrace all the way down to yesterday’s low yields). It seems, as we noted yesterday, that bonds believe ES needs to be well under 1300 before deflationary concerns rear their ugly head and NEW QE can be back on the table.”

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“Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) and Philip Morris International Inc. (PM) found a common culprit for weaker financial results in recent weeks: changes in currency values.

P&G, the world’s largest consumer products company, had initially been counting on foreign exchange to bolster results this year. Instead, Chief Executive Officer Robert McDonald told investors last month it’s turned into “a strong headwind” that may have cut about $3 billion in revenue and at least $400 million in profit from previous projections.”

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“The European Central Bank said overnight deposits from financial institutions dropped by more than half to the lowest level in almost seven months after policy makers stopped paying interest for the funds.

Banks in the 17-nation euro region parked 324.9 billion euros ($397.2 billion) at the ECB yesterday, down from 808.5 billion euros the previous day, the Frankfurt-based institution said. That’s the least since Dec. 21.”

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Investors were expecting more stimulus out of the bank of Japan, but did not get it. As a result Japan heled to lead Asian markets down.

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(Reuters) – A divided Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday adopted a rule designed to bolster the agency’s surveillance of the equities markets by establishing a central database that stores information on every trade order, execution and cancellation.

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“Income investors need to be careful with some of the best companies in America. A dividend bubble appears to be forming in many great stocks. Dividends have been one of the great drivers of investment decisions for the past two years, as it was the high-yielding utility sector that performed the best of the S&P 500 sectors in 2011. ”

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“Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced a swathe of new taxes and spending cuts on Wednesday designed to slash 65 billion euros ($79 billion) from the budget deficit by 2014 as recession-plagued Spain struggles to meet tough targets agreed with Europe.

Rajoy, of the center-right People’s Party, proposed a 3-point hike in the main rate of Value Added Tax on goods and services to 21 percent, and outlined cuts in unemployment benefit and civil service pay and perks in a parliamentary speech interrupted by jeers and boos from the opposition.

“These measures are not pleasant, but they are necessary. Our public spending exceeds our income by tens of billions of euros,” Rajoy told parliament.”

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“Anticipating another leg-down in commodities (and mining stocks) before sufficient stress emerges in markets to force a decisive policy response – which will create an attractive buying opportunity – UBS joins our ranks of the anti-reflexive NEW QE front-running ‘small-crowd’. Laying out five clear signals that keep them cautious: Equity valuations remain well above the October 2011 lows; Positioning is short in base metals and less long in oil and gold – improving this contrarian signal; China’s policy stance is not sufficiently stimulative to trigger restocking, and we see structural declines in commodity intensity there; and, Europe and emerging markets are in the early stages of destocking, with no stocking due in the US; UBS believes that investors will buy gold and gold equities early this cycle – correctly suggesting that it is right to move just ahead of the broader investor community, and buy gold and gold equities now.”

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