Bloomberg:
- Greece Must Help Itself to Fix Crisis, Bundesbank’s Dombret Says. Bundesbank board member Andreas Dombret said Greece is far behind in implementing its reform program and shouldn’t rely on international creditors like the European Union to solve its problems. “Politicians and the EU are willing to assist Greece, but Greece must, first and foremost, help itself,” Dombret said in a speech in New York today. “Announcing and passing laws is not enough if the administration and the general public undermine them. It is now the task of the troika to decide impartially whether Greece meets the conditions for further assistance.” Euro-area governments are pressing Greece, which faces a sixth year of recession, to make deeper spending cuts to unlock a 31-billion euro ($40 billion) aid payout in November. Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker urged Greek lawmakers yesterday to solve remaining issues before finance ministers gather in Brussels on Nov. 12. While Greece is “way behind the program goals due to the standstill in consolidation and basic structural reforms,” other countries are making progress, Dombret said. “My favorite example is Ireland, which shows that trust can be regained if the agreed measures are adopted and implemented.”
- Japan May Have Entered Recessionary Phase, Some BOJ Members Say. Japan’s economy, the world’s third biggest, may have entered a “recessionary phase,” according to some Bank of Japan board members. The possibility “could not be ruled out,” a few policy makers said at an Oct. 4-5 policy meeting, according to minutes released in Tokyo today. A Cabinet Office official at the meeting said the government and the central bank need to “deepen their dialogues,” the record showed. Economists at Nomura Securities Co. and Citigroup Inc. (C) revised down their forecasts for Japan’s third-quarter gross domestic product after industrial production fell the steepest in September since last year’s earthquake.
- Most Chinese Stocks Fall as Drugmakers Drop. Five stocks declined for every three that rose in the Shanghai Composite Index, which lost 0.1 percent to 2,102.98 as of 10:47 a.m. local time.
- Hong Kong Taxing Homebuyers in Bubble Fight: Mortgages. The Hong Kong government’s toughest efforts yet to curb a growing asset bubble in the city’s property market probably won’t be the last as record-low mortgage rates drive demand for the world’s priciest homes.
- Clinton Warned of Military Danger in China-Japan Dispute. The festering dispute between China and Japan over five uninhabited islands could spin out of control unless the countries improve their communication with each other, according to a confidential report submitted to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton this week by a delegation of former U.S. officials. The bipartisan four-person delegation met last week with Japan’s prime minister and China’s vice premier, who is expected to take over as prime minister, and both countries’ foreign ministers. The U.S. group warns Clinton in a written report that, while neither side wants a confrontation, a mistake or miscalculation could escalate into a dangerous military face- off.
- Live Updates: Hurricane Sandy.
- Few Big FEMA Generators Humming. Before Sandy struck, Federal Emergency Management Agency officials said they had 400 industrial-size power generators ready to help the East Coast. Three days after Sandy landed, only a fraction of that equipment is actually providing power, despite the fact that millions are still without electricity.
- Fixing Greek Debt Remains Elusive Euro-Zone Target. In a string of meetings beginning next week, European leaders will again wrestle with how to keep Greece from running out of cash, but they almost certainly won't solve the far bigger question of how to cut down the growing pile of debt that is slowly suffocating the country. The consequences are stark. Greece must shoulder a frightful debt burden while suffering an epic recession. The euro zone, which had once hoped to patch Greece up and move along, now faces the prospect of dealing with its problems for years, or engineering a divorce.
- For Business, Vote Holds High Stakes. The outcome of Tuesday's presidential election carries enormous weight for executives of American businesses, big and small, influencing everything from the taxes they are required to pay to the attitudes of regulators who scrutinize them. Disappointed by President Barack Obama and in despair over dysfunction in Washington, business, for the most part, is investing in challenger Mitt Romney.
- CIA Takes Heat for Role in Libya.When the bodies of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans killed in Benghazi, Libya, arrived at Andrews Air Force Base after the Sept. 11 attack, they were greeted by the president, the vice president and the secretaries of state and defense. Conspicuously absent was CIA Director David Petraeus.
- LinkedIn(LNKD) Swings to Profit.
- Obama and the Back-to-the-Future Campaign. If the president had practiced the bipartisanship he now promises, he might have been a shoo-in.
- The Romney Turnaround. The Republican has adapted as a candidate to offer genuine change that meets the political moment.
- Exclusive: Classified cable warned consulate couldn't withstand 'coordinated attack'. The U.S. Mission in Benghazi convened an “emergency meeting” less than a month before the assault that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, because Al Qaeda had training camps in Benghazi and the consulate could not defend against a “coordinated attack,” according to a classified cable reviewed by Fox News. Summarizing an Aug. 15 emergency meeting convened by the U.S. Mission in Benghazi, the Aug. 16 cable marked “SECRET” said that the State Department’s senior security officer, also known as the RSO, did not believe the consulate could be protected. “RSO (Regional Security Officer) expressed concerns with the ability to defend Post in the event of a coordinated attack due to limited manpower, security measures, weapons capabilities, host nation support, and the overall size of the compound,” the cable said. According to a review of the cable addressed to the Office of the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Emergency Action Committee was also briefed "on the location of approximately ten Islamist militias and AQ training camps within Benghazi … these groups ran the spectrum from Islamist militias, such as the QRF Brigade and Ansar al-Sharia, to ‘Takfirist thugs.’” Each U.S. mission has a so-called Emergency Action Committee that is responsible for security measures and emergency planning.
- Eco-Taxes? Study Financed by U.S. Treasury Will Link Tax Code to Carbon Emissions. Coming soon: a green tax code for American businesses and individual taxpayers alike? A major tax study currently being sponsored by the U.S. Treasury will give environmental activists a powerful new weapon in their campaign to alter the entire American economic and social landscape in the name of halting “climate change”—including the possible levying of new carbon taxes. That campaign is bound to intensify in the aftermath of Nov. 6’s presidential election, regardless of who wins the race, as the nation faces the challenge of deficit reduction and tax reform that will be required to overhaul the country’s over-strained finances. Environmental advocates and others are likely to raise such innovative mechanisms as carbon taxes and major shifts in tax rates and incentives as part of the process—and the impending study may well provide them with important ammunition. Under the bland title of Effects of Provisions in the Internal Revenue Code on Greenhouse Gas Emissions, the $1.5 million study is being carried out under the auspices of the National Academy of Science (NAS).
- Japan is in worse than a deflationary trap. Commentary: One-time powerhouse, it’s withdrawing from the stage.
- 14 tax issues to watch after the election. Bischoff: These personal tax matters could see changes in 2013, depending on who wins the White House.
- Priceline(PCLN) earnings jump on international bookings.
- Election Officials Scramble in Storm's Aftermath. The election of 2012 will be held on Tuesday, come hell or high water.
- One Economist's Realistic Hurricane Post-Mortem.
- USA, Inc. - Part 2: If America Were A Corporation, It Would Be Broke-er.
- What These Companies Did In The Wake Of Hurricane Sandy Will Restore Your Faith In Big Business.
- NYC Subway Riders May Be Dealing With The Effects Of Hurricane Sandy For Years.
- The People Endorsing Obama Just Ignored The Past Four Years.
- How A Republican Sweep Could Be The Most Bullish Catalyst For Stocks In 30 Years.
- Obama escapes scrutiny on Libya. In case you thought there was a thorough investigation to get to the bottom of the Benghazi disaster, think again. It seems the key player in the episode — President Obama — is taking no part in the investigation.
- The Benghazi Drip-Drip-Drip. As he left his Marine One helicopter Wednesday evening and walked to the residence of the White House, President Obama did not respond to a question shouted out by ABC News’s Mary Bruce about when he would begin to provide answers to the numerous questions building up about what exactly what went wrong in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11, 2012. The president smiled and continued walking. Perhaps he couldn’t hear the question over the din of the chopper’s blades, but either way the smile and wave – almost Reagan-esque in style – underline the apparent strategy the president specifically and his administration in general have seemed to adopt when it comes to the myriad inquiries about the decisions that led to the deaths of four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens: they are deferring detailed answers to the investigation and – critics say –running out the clock until Election Day.
Examiner.com:
- East Coast gasoline shortage result of government policies. President Obama has come and gone, the Governors, Mayors, Senators, Congressmen and a bevy of local politicians have all held their press conferences and now New Yorkers, New Jerseyans and Connecticutians are left to deal with the aftermath of the storm.
- Game On: Pennsylvania in Play. Old Conventional Wisdom: Pennsylvania is a state Democrats have won
five presidential elections in a row: in 2012, it’s safe for Obama and
out of reach for Romney.
New Conventional Wisdom: maybe not.
USA Today:
- Pro-oil Canada fights U.S. environmental groups. Beneath the peat bogs and boreal forests in the northern part of this Canadian province are among the largest oil reserves in the world. Canadians have been getting it out of the prairies for over 100 years and piping much of it to the United States, which imports more oil from Canada than anywhere else. But President Obama's denial of a permit for a new oil pipeline from Canada to Texas that has been worked on for years has angered many here who claim that the U.S. environmental lobby is harming their livelihoods without scientific basis.
- Starbucks(SBUX) raises 2013 forecast, defies industry trend.
- Las Vegas Sands(LVS) post lower-than-expected earnings.
- Fluor(FLR) falls short as mining work slows, awaits NuScale.
- OpenTable(OPEN) trims full-year revenue forecast, shares down.
- On balance, Sandy to have negative economic effect -Fed official. A top Federal Reserve official on Thursday said, on balance, the massive storm Sandy will have a negative effect on the U.S. economy. Eric Rosengren, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, cited both the immediate economic harm the storm would cause and the eventual economic boost from the clean-up. But he said the longer-term economic harm would not be "huge."
- Storm over ‘Lagarde list’ intensifies. Greece’s parliament has been asked to investigate why two former finance ministers did not pursue possible tax evaders on the so-called “Lagarde list” of 2,000 Greeks with Swiss bank accounts. George Papaconstantinou and his successor Evangelos Venizelos, who held the finance portfolio from September 2009 until June this year, could face charges of criminal negligence if parliament referred them for trial, according to legal experts.
- Shocking images show desperate New Yorkers digging through dumpsters for food as downtown Manhattan embarks on fourth night without power. (pics) New Yorkers have resorted to digging through filthy dumpsters for food as they embark on their fourth night without power and for many, without water. Shocking images captured groups of residents sifting through garbage outside a Key Food supermarket at Avenue A and East 4th Street in the East Village today. Families, elderly people and young residents were seen climbing into the dumpster hunting for whatever they could find to eat.
- A second debt cut for Greece is almost unavoidable, Kurt Lauk, head of the business wing of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, says in a commentary.
- China Big 4 Banks New Loans Drop 40% M/M to Oct. 28. China's four biggest banks lent 125b yuan in new loans last month to Oct. 28, down from 160b yuan a month earlier, citing an official.
- None of note
- Asian equity indices are -.50% to +1.0% on average.
- Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 118.0 -1.0 basis point.
- Asia Pacific Sovereign CDS Index 93.75 unch.
- FTSE-100 futures -.10%.
- S&P 500 futures -.06%.
- NASDAQ 100 futures -.05%.
Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate
- (ALU)/-.04
- (ANR)/-.44
- (CVX)/2.91
- (FSS)/.07
- (IT)/.35
- (HES)/1.19
- (ITT)/.39
- (MHP)/1.30
- (RL)/2.16
- (SEE)/.31
- (TRI)/.48
- (VRX)/1.13
8:30 am EST
- The Change in Non-farm Payrolls for October is estimated at 125K versus 114K in September.
- The Unemployment Rate for October is estimated to rise to 7.9% versus 7.8% in September.
- Average Hourly Earnings for October are estimated to rise +.2% versus a +.3% gain in September.
- Factory Orders for September are estimated to rise +4.6% versus a -5.2% decline in August.
- None of note
- The Fed's Williams speaking, ISM New York for October and the Eurozone PMI data could also impact trading today.
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