In Play and On the Wires

In Play 

On the Wires 

YAWN….

Very interesting

This week will be busy

It has been 9 months and the missing money remains a mystery for regulators….

Investors are still worried about the Fed action and possible inflation…

Unless you live in Germany and possibly France I do not see how you would have confidence in developments within the EU.

GE’s largest competitor is bidding for Thomas & Betts $TNB

Go figure; a downgrade would have sent rates to the moon three months ago, but now yields went down into an Italian auction. Most expect European auctions to sail smoothly this week.

Full article

Analysts expected China to reduce bank reserves and now have a more hawkish attitude over China’s monetary policy.

“It is not clear the definition of ‘market-making’ versus ‘proprietary trade,’” Carney said. “There appears to be a presumption that something is proprietary,” adding “we think that it should go in reverse.”

Full article

The EU indicated over the weekend that Greece should give up their control of finances to the ECB. This point has been irking the Greeks and hampering resolve.

Full article

Also the Greek debt talks have markets worried…

Asia

Europe

Futures

Currencies

Commodities

LIBOR, EURIBOR, 10 year yields for Italy, Spain, France, and Germany

Italy auctions as much as 6 billion euros of five- and 10- year debt today, along with securities due in April 2016 and March 2021. Belgium sells as much as 3 billion euros of bills tomorrow, with Spain, Portugal, Germany and France issuing 13 different maturities in the five days.

Full article

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has announced plans to introduce a tax on financial transactions.

The 0.1% levy will be introduced in August regardless of whether other European countries follow suit.

The tax is part of a package of measures set out by the president to promote growth and create jobs.

Mr Sarkozy faces a presidential election in April, but is currently trailing in the opinion polls behind his Socialist rival, Francois Hollande.

In an interview with French television, Mr Sarkozy said he hoped the tax would push other countries to take action.

“What we want to do is create a shockwave and set an example that there is absolutely no reason why those who helped bring about the crisis shouldn’t pay to restore the finances,” he said.

“We hope the tax will generate one billion euros ($1.3bn, £0.8bn) of new income and and thus cut our budget deficit.”

Mr Sarkozy gave no further details on the tax, but a government source later told Reuters news agency it would target shares and not bonds.

Read the rest here.

Submitted by Tyler Durden

On the three month bankruptcy anniversary of the company whose rehypothecation gimmicks will one day be seen as a harbinger of everything that is  broken with the multi-trillion ponzi system, but not just yet despite loud warnings otherwise, we are getting close to a final verdict of where the $1.2 billion (and possibly more as originally predicted by Zero Hedge – see below) in commingled client money may have gone. Note the use of the passive voice because using the active, as in money that MF Global executives stole from clients, is prohibited in a legal system in which nobody goes to jail for something as modest as $1.2 billion in theft. That verdict? “Vaporized.”

Read the rest here.

Joe Weisenthal

Well actually the weekend has been over for awhile now, but yes, the tone is negative to start the week.

Many markets are down over 0.5%, including US futures, and Japan’s Nikkei, which is shown here.

By DINNY MCMAHON

BEIJING—For generations, Chinese men looking for a dose of vigor have sworn by a traditional remedy: fungus harvested from dead caterpillars, known in some quarters these days as Himalayan Viagra.

Now Chinese investors are using the rare fungus to try to boost something else—their investment returns. The fungus has doubled in price over the past two years and the top grade now fetches more than $11,500 a pound, according to Fuzhou-based brokerage firm Industrial Securities.

With Chinese stocks falling, real-estate markets flat and bank deposits offering measly returns, Chinese investors have been looking for help in strange places. Besides traditional medicinal products, they are plowing money into art-based stock markets, homegrown liquors, mahogany furniture and jade, among other decidedly non-Western asset classes.

Read the rest here.