The Shanghai Composite Index slid 0.9 percent

China’s stocks fell, dragging the benchmark index to its lowest level this month, as consumer companies and property developers sank after a private services index declined and concern mounted that home sales are slowing. 

BYD Co. , the automaker partly owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., tumbled 5.6 percent. China State Construction Engineering Corp. paced losses by property companies after the central bank said it will toughen monitoring of the real-estate industry. Tencent (700) Holdings Ltd. sank to its lowest close since December in Hong Kong following a rout in Internet stocks in the U.S.

“The economy is still on a downward trend and the market is cautious,” said Wei Wei, an analyst at West China Securities Co. in Shanghai.

The Shanghai Composite Index (SHCOMP) slid 0.9 percent to 2,010.08 at the close. A services index from HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics dropped to 51.4 in April from 51.9 in the previous month. A gauge of property stocks fell for a sixth day as the China Securities Journal said some small and medium-sized property developers are facing liquidity problems.

The CSI 300 Index lost 0.9 percent to 2,137.32. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index fell 0.9 percent to its lowest level since March 21.

The Bloomberg China-US 55 Index retreated 0.5 percent in New York yesterday, when Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. filed for what could become the largest U.S. initial public offering ever. Alibaba, founded by former English teacher Jack Ma, filed for its U.S. IPO after the close of trading in New York. The online marketplace might raise as much as $20 billion, topping a $19.65 billion offering by Visa Inc. in 2008, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Source: Bloomberg

Putin urges Ukraine separatists to postpone referendum

Russian President Vladimir Putin called on separatists in east Ukraine on Wednesday to postpone a referendum on independence for the mostly Russian-speaking region and said Moscow had withdrawn troops from the border with Ukraine.

Putin's comments appeared to open a way to resolving the East-West standoff over Ukraine.

The pro-Russian separatists behind the referendum said they had the utmost respect for Putin and that they would consider on Thursday whether to postpone Sunday's referendum.

"We call on the representatives of southeastern Ukraine, the supporters of the federalisation of the country, to postpone the referendum planned for May 11," Putin said.

He said this would create conditions for dialogue between the Ukrainian authorities in Kiev and the separatists, some of whom want greater autonomy while others demand secession.

Putin added that Russians troops that had been placed near the border with Ukraine during the crisis, fuelling tension with the European Union, NATO and the United States, had been withdrawn.

"We're always being told that our forces on the Ukrainian border are a concern. We have withdrawn them. Today they are not on the Ukrainian border, they are in places where they conduct their regular tasks on training grounds," Putin said.

He made his comments after talks with the head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, who said the security and rights body would soon propose a "road map" to defuse the Ukraine crisis.

The Russian stock market surged 6 percent on the day after Putin's comments, but later fell back to a rise of 4 percent.

Source: Reuters

Ukraine has received US$ 3.19 billion from the IMF. May be used partially to pay Gazprom debt

WSJ: Macro Horizons: Glum Data, Surveys Hold Back Markets

"European and Asian equities were pushed in the red by a combination of a U.S. selloff overnight and a dribble of bad news. Japanese services were hit hard by the introduction of a consumption tax, while China’s service sector failed to offset weak manufacturing, according to the latest PMI reports. Australian retail sales were muted and in Europe there were some very disappointing industrial production data from Germany and France. Investors’ moods were hardly lifted by the continuing Ukrainian crisis or by the latest development in Thailand’s political turmoil. In among the rest of the news, it was easy to ignore the morning’s one bright light, Taiwan’s export data".

"GERMANY: March manufacturing orders fell 2.8% on the month against expectations of a 0.2% rise. February’s orders were revised to a rise of 0.9% from an initially reported 0.6% gain.

Germany’s March industry data came as a shock. The weakness was largely down to a collapse in foreign orders, down 4.6%, with euro-zone orders down nearly 10%. In part, that’ll be down to uncertainty over the Ukraine crisis. Japanese and Chinese weakness will have played their part too. Some will be down to the lumpiness of bulk orders, which, based on past performance, could well lead to a big bounce back over the coming months. But even with all these caveats, the data are worrying. (AM)

FRANCE: March industrial production fell 0.7% on the month against expectations of a 0.3% rise following a 0.1% gain in February.

The French economy remains a concern. Domestic demand remains in the doldrums, but there had been hopeful signs of a recovery in industrial output. The latest data question whether even industry is managing to expand. (AM)

ASIA: April HSBC services purchasing managers indexes

–CHINA was 51.4 from 51.9 in March

–JAPAN was 46.4 from 52.2 March

HSBC’s China figure – which comes after the government’s official nonmanufacturing PMI last Saturday rose to 54.8 from 54.5 – suggests that services activity continues to expand but is hardly enough to offset weakness in the far more important manufacturing sector. That adds to the evidence that China’s economy has lost a good bit of momentum since late last year and will be hard-pressed to meet authorities’ 7.5% growth target for the year. In Japan, meanwhile, the plunge in the services PMI is seen as a temporary response to the April 1 rise in the sales tax, mirroring weakness in the manufacturing PMI. Still, despite the downbeat headline number, the survey showed Japanese service providers at their most optimistic since last September, expecting economic conditions to improve over the next 12 months.

THAILAND: Thailand’s constitutional court ordered Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra removed from office, saying she abused her power when she demoted the country’s top security officer in 2011. Nine Cabinet members also were ordered removed, while 24 will remain in place, with Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Niwattumrong Boonsongpaisan appointed as caretaker prime minister for now.

The turmoil has sent one of Southeast Asia’s most promising economies into a tailspin. It’s not clear whether national elections currently set for July will go forward as planned"

Source: WSJ. 

Asia Stocks Drop After Tech Rout as Kiwi Slips; Oil Gains

"The MSCI Asia Pacific Index slipped 0.8 percent by 10:01 a.m. in Tokyo, as Japan’s Topix index sank 1.8 percent. Standard & Poor’s 500 Indexfutures fell 0.1 percent after a selloff in Internet stocks sent the gauge down 0.9 percent in the U.S. The yen held yesterday’s 0.5 percent jump as the Korean won and Malaysian ringgit climbed. New Zealand’s dollar fell after the central bank detailed conditions for intervention. Nickel rose and gold advanced as oil in New York added 0.4 percent".

Services data for China is due today, with Hong Kongalso resuming equities trading after a holiday yesterday.Twitter Inc. (TWTR) slid 18 percent in the U.S. as insider shares became eligible for sale, pushing an exchange-traded fund of social-media stocks to the lowest level since July. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. filed for what could be a record U.S. initial public offering after markets closed. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen addresses Congress on the U.S. economy today.

“Investors need to remain cautious,” Matthew Sherwood, Sydney-based head of investment markets research at Perpetual Ltd., which manages about $29 billion, said in an e-mail. “They have decided to take some profits in the wake of recent upbeat sentiment.”

Asian Stocks

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index (AS51) lost 0.6 percent, led by a 1.6 percent drop in information-technology companies, while New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index (NZSE50FG), which hit a record last week, fell 0.3 percent in a third declining day. The Kospi index in South Korea, where markets have also been closed for the past two days, retreated 0.2 percent.

All 10 industry sub-groups in the MSCI Asia Pacific gauge fell at least 0.1 percent today, with health care, industrial and consumer-discretionary stocks leading declines. Technology shares decreased 0.7 percent.

The Nasdaq Composite Index (CCMP) sank 1.4 percent in the U.S., while technology, consumer-discretionary and financial stocks drove the S&P 500’s biggest one-day drop since April 11. Twitter sank to $31.85, extending its 2014 loss to 50 percent, as about 480 million shares from insiders became eligible for sale, more than quadrupling the amount available for trading.

Services data for China is due today, with Hong Kongalso resuming equities trading after a holiday yesterday.Twitter Inc. (TWTR) slid 18 percent in the U.S. as insider shares became eligible for sale, pushing an exchange-traded fund of social-media stocks to the lowest level since July. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. filed for what could be a record U.S. initial public offering after markets closed. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen addresses Congress on the U.S. economy today.

Source: Bloommberg

WSJ: Brazil’s Sugar-Cane Sector Shrinks

         The WSJ reports,"Brazil’s sugar processors are downsizing.

The fewest mills in six seasons — 377 — will be processing cane into sugar and ethanol this season, said Plinio Nastari, president of consulting firm Datagro.

It would be the third consecutive season of declines in the number of mills, highlighting trouble in the sector in Brazil, the world’s largest producer of sugar cane and the top exporter of sugar.

A smaller cane crop due to Brazil’s worst drought in decades and the country’s energy policy are driving the declines, Mr. Nastari said".

Brazil’s state-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro Petrobras SA supports gasoline prices, providing a subsidy that makes it harder for ethanol to compete.

“They are competing with a subsidized product,” Mr. Nastari said, referring to ethanol producers.

Since the subsidies are part of the government’s effort to combat inflation, the measure is unlikely to go away any time this year, particularly ahead of October presidential elections, industry members have said.

“It is unlikely that there’ll be any major policy changes this side of the election in Brazil,” Bunge Ltd. Chief Executive Soren Schroder said in a call with investors last week.

It is the latest in a string of challenges for Brazil’s sugar-processing sector. Mills had already been grappling with low sugar prices. In late January, raw sugar traded on ICE Futures U.S. settled at 14.74 cents a pound, the lowest since June 2010, due to a global glut of sugar.

Bunge has said has put its sugar-milling business under “strategic review.” The company’s sugar and biofuels segment lost $64 million in the first quarter.

Smaller production is another problem for mills, Mr. Nastari said. The cane experienced extremely dry weather at a time when it needed moisture to produce sugar. Producers in Brazil’s center-south, where most of the country’s cane is grown, will likely reap 575 million metric tons of cane this season, down from 596 million tons last season, Mr. Nastari estimated.

While expectations of a smaller crop has helped drive world sugar prices up nearly 20% from January’s lows, Michael McDougall, a senior vice president and head of the Brazil desk at brokerage Newedge, said it hasn’t been a game-changer for mills.

“The current prices just aren’t enough,” he said.

Alibaba's tentacles into Chinese retail. A conglomerate of IT in China and Hong Kong

WSJ: HTC Outsources Some Smartphone Production

     The WSJ reports,"HTC Corp. began to outsource production of some of its smartphones for the first time this quarter, looking to slash costs and better pursue new customers in developing markets.

The unprofitable Taiwanese smartphone maker has selected Taiwan-based contract manufacturer Compal Electronics Inc. and China's Wingtech Group for at least three of the new models in its midprice Desire series, said people familiar with the matter. Both assemblers began to mass produce smartphones for HTC this spring, the people said. Traditionally, HTC has produced all of its phones at its own factories".

"The move accompanies other efforts by HTC to turn around its business. ChairwomanCher Wang has taken a more active role in management in the past year, and the company recently hired Samsung Electronics Co.'s former U.S. marketing chief, Paul Golden, as a consultant to beef up its marketing.

HTC has long focused on high-end phones and resisted outsourcing, even as competitors from Apple Inc. to Nokia Corp. have turned to contract manufacturers to focus on design and save costs over the years. But as HTC struggles to hold its ground against Samsung and rapidly growing Chinese brands, it has decided to launch more low-price phones this year with the help of contract manufacturers".

"Once the world's largest smartphone maker by shipments at its peak in 2011, HTC has contended with a stock slump of more than 86% amid unsuccessful marketing campaigns, supply-chain mishaps and growing competition. The mistakes brought HTC its second net loss on record in the first quarter, and it has fallen out of the world's top-10 smartphone makers since last year. The company's stock rose by the maximum daily limit of 6.9% on Monday to 169 New Taiwan dollars (US$5.59) on expectations that HTC would forecast a return to profit for the second quarter when it releases guidance on Tuesday".

WSJ: Alibaba Files IPO in the U.S.

       The WSJ reports,"Chinese Internet giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. officially filed plans Tuesday to offer its shares in the U.S., in what is expected to be one of the largest stock listings in history.

Alibaba's initial public offering filing to U.S. securities regulators revealed the breadth and scale of China's online-shopping behemoth. It also kicks off a whirlwind sale season in which Wall Street will pitch the mega stock listing".

Alibaba has arranged half dozen of the world's biggest banks to help place its shares, and money managers and small investors are expected to size up the company, which is familiar to many in the Western world more by reputation than firsthand experience.

The launch of the deal is still a few months away.

So far, the estimates of Alibaba's valuehave been mostly guesswork based on comparable companies. The IPO prospectus provides the first extensive look at Alibaba's finances. Until now, Alibaba has only disclosed some bare-bones financial information via filings ofYahoo Inc.,  the holder of a 24% stake.

WSJ: OECD Cuts Forecast for 2014 Global Growth; Urges ECB Action

             

 The WSJ reports,"In its twice-yearly Economic Outlook report, the Paris-based research body once again lowered its forecast for global economic growth, since it now expects a number of large developing economies to be more sluggish than it anticipated when it last published projections in November.

The OECD said the global economy is in a less perilous state than it has been in recent years, and that policy makers "can now switch from avoiding disaster to fostering a stronger and more resilient recovery."

But it added that growth is still more likely to be weaker than forecast, and faces a number of potential impediments, ranging from the impact on developing economies of a normalization of U.S. monetary policy, to instability in China's financial system and the relatively new danger posed by rising tensions between Russia, the U.S. and theEuropean Union over the future of Ukraine.

The research body raised its growth forecast for the euro zone, but warned there is a risk that it will slip into deflation—or a period of self-reinforcing price declines—unless the ECB acts swiftly".

In unusually direct language, the OECD said the ECB's main refinancing rate "should be reduced to zero" from 0.25% now, while policy makers should "possibly" cut the deposit rate "to a slightly negative level." The research body said interest rates should not be raised from those levels until the end of 2015 at the earliest.

"In particular, we call on the European Central Bank to take new policy actions to move inflation more decisively toward target and to be ready for additional nonconventional stimulus if inflation were to show no clear sign of returning there," said Rintaro Tamaki, the OECD's acting chief economist. He noted that new, longer-term funding for banks and purchases of government and company bonds known as quantitative easing may be necessary.

The OECD's advice to the ECB comes two days before its governing council meets in Frankfurt, with most economists expecting policy to be left unchanged following a rise in the inflation rate to 0.7% in April from 0.5% in March.

ECB President Mario Draghi made it clear he didn't welcome similar advice from the International Monetary Fund days before the governing council met in April, but the OECD's acting chief economist said the research body had no other option.

"Our duty is to provide member countries with advice on better policy," said Mr. Tamaki. "This is inevitable."
Source: WSJ

Chinese state firms to hand over more profits to the Government

 Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) will have to pay 5 percent more of their profits to the government, the Ministry of Finance said Tuesday.

The money will be used to improve social services, the ministry said. SOEs administered by the central government will pass on up to 25 percent of their profits depending on their line of business.

The change is based on profits made from the beginning of this year, the ministry said.

Tobacco companies will turn in 25 percent of their profits, with petrochemical, electricity, telcom and coal companies paying 20 percent, steel, transportation, electronics, trade and construction companies transferring 15 percent, while military-industrial companies hand in 10 percent.

Some companies including China Grain Reserves Corp and China National Cotton Reserves Corp can still keep their profits for their own development.

The central SOEs are expected to deliver 141.5 billion yuan (22.7 billion U.S. dollars) to the government this year, up 36.1 percent from last year, according to the ministry.

Source: Xinhua

China Focus: WeChat loses shine amid information overload

WeChat, or Weixin, a popular instant messaging service in China, risks losing its luster as users complain about bombardment by deceptive ads and excessive information.

The situation came to the public's attention when a business account put fake ads on "Moments," one of the major functions embedded in WeChat, which allows users to upload photos and share their daily life via texts.

On Monday, authorities in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality busted a case in which a "travel agency" account told its followers on WeChat to "Like" its ads to win a free trip to Hong Kong and Macao, which was later proved to be deceptive.

Similar cases were reported in provinces of Guangdong, Sichuan, Shaanxi and Jiangsu, with unscrupulous businesspeople trying to lure customers with coveted promotions, but later breaking their promises.

WeChat, developed by Internet giant Tencent, allows people to send texts, photos, videos and voice messages over mobile phones. The application has earned a legion of fans in China thanks to its convenience, reaching 600 million users since its debut in 2011.

Along with fake ads, information overload on the app is forcing some users to escape the flood of daily annoyances.

Wei Kang, a white-collar worker in Beijing, said that he receives "tons of messages" from his colleagues in WeChat's chat groups, even on weekends.

Wei said that he spends about an hour daily replying to messages from his colleagues, and has to check WeChat every few minutes because messages from his boss might be among the sea of notifications.

"I feel like I have been kidnapped by WeChat," Wei said, jokingly.

Wei is not the only one bombarded by the app. Early in February, Huang Zhen, a professor from Central University of Finance and Economics, caused a buzz on the Internet when he announced that he would abandon all WeChat chat groups and "try to find some inner peace."

A survey in March by a newspaper in Shanghai showed that 66.67 percent of respondents had feelings of being "kidnapped" by WeChat, but most chose to put up with the barrage of messages and information.

The "Moments" section on WeChat, for instance, has waned in popularity as it has become a place for people to either share ads or "Chicken Soup for the Soul" type articles.

"My WeChat 'Moments' are basically spammed by these every single day, which is quite annoying," a WeChat user screen-named "HXfengai" told Xinhua.

As urgency for change mounts, WeChat teams need to adjust their product design and services to break the bottleneck and retain users, said Zhang Yi, CEO of iiMedia Research.

Zhang said that WeChat development teams should step up efforts to consider feedback from users and try to understand what they truly need at the moment.

"It's hard to say how loyal users will remain to WeChat, but if the company can make adjustments according to users' specific needs, it may help retain many users," he added.

World Bank: In terms of PPP, China to surpass U.S. in economy size forecast arouses international uproar

The forecast based on the latest study indicating that China’s economy is expected to surpass that of the U.S. in size this year has aroused international uproar.

The study conducted by World Bank's International Comparison Program (ICP), released on April 30 suggests that China's economy was nearly 87 percent of the size of the U.S. in 2011 by purchasing power parity (PPP) based measure, leaping from 43 percent in 2005, much bigger than previously thought.

Given the current growth rate of two countries, China's economy, in the measure of PPP at least, is likely to overtake that of the U.S. in size this year.

For the past few years, China surpassed Germany to be world’s largest exporter in 2009, outpaced Japan as world's second largest economy in 2010, and catched up with the United States to become the biggest trader last year.

In fact, as an unconventional statistical methods, PPP measurement remains a controversial way in economy ranking.

China's National Bureau of Statistics has expressed reservations about this methodology, according to the World Bank's statement.

As costs are much higher in the industrialized world, especially for non-traded goods, comparisons of GDP by PPP exchange rates tend to boost the relative size of poorer nations' economies.

In addition, PPP calculations are a statistical construction, based on complex surveys of baskets of goods in many countries. Some statistical errors may exist, said IMF.

There's a margin of error of 15 percent when using its data to compare economies of different sizes, ICP mentioned in a report.

Although China has overtaken some advanced countries in major economic indicators, there are still great challenges and complex problems in pushing forward economic and social development. It is not cause for complacency and it is far too early for declaring victory, according to an analyst with a leading economic research consultancy.

What China valued much more are the overall sustainability, wellbeing of people, harmony, soft power and influences among the globe, the analyst added.

Source: Xinhua

Tencent to buy stake in digital map provider Navinfo

Chinese IT giant Tencent will buy a 11.28-percent stake in Navinfo, one of the country's major digital map providers, the seller said in its filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Monday evening.

Tencent will buy 78 million of Navinfo's shares for 1.17 billion yuan (189 million U.S. dollars), according to the deal.

Source: Xinhua

China: Report forecasts 7 percent rise in power consumption

 China's power consumption is expected to mildly rebound starting from the second quarter, but it may still be below the level recorded in 2013, according to a report released on Monday.

China Electricity Council forecast in the report that power consumption may pick up in the remainder of the year following 5.4-percent year-on-year growth in the first quarter.

The growth rate in the fourth quarter of 2013 was 8.4 percent.

The report said the country's power consumption may finally increase by 7 percent for all of 2014, and it will still be 0.5 percentage point lower than in 2013.

Power consumption is widely deemed an indicator of a country's economic vitality.

The report attributed the relatively low growth in the first quarter to economic slowdown, China's efforts to phase out overcapacity and factory shutdowns to curb emissions.

Source: Xinhua

WSJ: EU, Russia, Ukraine Plan More Talks on Gas Debt

          The WSJ reports,"the three sides held a first, joint meeting last Friday in Warsaw, Poland, to discuss Ukraine's gas debts to Russia—now estimated at more than $3.5 billion—and concerns about disruptions of gas supplies to Europe".

"We're holding these further meetings to find a solution to Ukraine's debts," said Sabine Berger, a European Commission spokeswoman. No further details about the dates or location of the talks were given.

She said the three sides had "until the end of the month to resolve the issue", adding that the commission wasn't worried that Russian gas supplies to Ukraine could be disruptedin the meantime.

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak, his Ukrainian counterpart Yury Prodan and the EU's energy chief, Günther Oettinger, said on Friday they would come up with measures by the end of May to address Ukraine's energy debts.

WSJ: WTI Oil Glut? U.S. Crude is being drilled by same characters that oversupplied gas market.

NBG launching bookbuilding for US$ 3.5 billion equity offering

National Bank of Greece (ADR) (NYSE:NBG) was trading higher after Reuters reported Greece’s largest lender, National Bank (NBG), will launch the bookbuilding process for its 2.5 billion euro ($3.5 billion) equity offering on May 6 and announce the pricing of the new shares on May 9. The bank has picked Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley as global coordinators for the share issue, which will be offered to foreign institutional investors.

The report says there will be no public offering in Greece, the pricing of the shares will be announced on May 9 before the scheduled shareholders meeting on May 10.

Source: Emerging Markets 5 May, 2014

BofA Merrill Lynch upgraded shares of National Bank of Greece

BofA Merrill Lynch upgraded shares of National Bank of Greece (ADR) (NYSE:NBG) from an underperform rating to a neutral rating in a report issued on Thursday,American Banking & Market News reports. National Bank of Greece (ADR) (NYSE:NBG) shares fell -1.01% in last trading session and ended the day on $3.92. NBG return on equity ratio is recorded as 42.40% and its return on assets is 0.60 %. National Bank of Greece (ADR) (NYSE:NBG) yearly performance is -57.39 %.

Source: Gaining Green

Curtain Call with Hedy Weiss Lin Hwai-Min

Choreographer Lin Hwai-Min "Nine Songs"

Choreographer Lin Hwai-Min "Songs of the Wanderers"

                           
                                                    Songs of the Wanderers Lin Hwai-Min

Ukraine army in fatal clashes with separatists to regain control of east

"Four Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and at least 30 injured, according to officials, in clashes with separatists as the army attempted to regain control of eastern Ukraine. There was fighting at a number of points on the outskirts of Slavyansk on Monday, the base of the armed movement that has taken over a number of cities.

The separatists also reported deaths in the fighting – although exact figures were impossible to verify – and a military helicopter was shot down although both pilots survived, according to the defence ministry.

The self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic plans to hold a referendum on independence on Sunday, with much of the region outside Kiev's control".

As well as the clashes in the east, the fallout from the violence and fatalfire late last week in the southern city of Odessa continued to be felt on Monday.

The Ukrainian government has said that the violence was initiated by Russian provocateurs, while Russia has referred to the deaths – many of which were caused by a fire that broke out inside the building – as a massacre inspired by "neo-Nazis". The horrific events have only served to worsen an already tense situation.

Supporters of closer ties with Russia, who made up the majority of the mourners, blame the government in Kiev – which they describe as a "junta" and illegitimate, mirroring Russian state propaganda about the Ukrainian authorities – for the deaths last week. They accuse the police of failing to act swiftly enough to stop the violence.

Ukraine has accused Russia of directing the separatists, providing weapons and using proxy figures on the ground. Most analysts think Russia does not want a Crimea-style annexation of eastern Ukraine, but merely to stir up discontent and disrupt elections at the end of May.

In recent days President Vladimir Putin has made no public statements about the situation, but the Russian foreign ministry again pinned the blame on Kiev in a statement on Monday evening.

"The so-called authorities in Kiev continue to wage war against the people of their own country," said the ministry, adding there was a "humanitarian catastrophe" brewing in the east of the country and calling on Kiev to "stop the bloodshed".

Ukrainian authorities have likewise repeatedly called on Russia to stop stirring unrest in the region, as accusations continue to fly between the two countries.

Germany said on Monday it was pushing for a fresh set of diplomatic talks in Geneva between Russia, Ukraine, the EU and US, to push for a return to the accord reached last month that encouraged all sides to put down their weapons.

Foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said new talks were needed to reach a "clear conclusion as to how this conflict can be brought to a halt".

Source: theguardian

How Russia Inc. Moves Billions Offshore -- and a Handful of Tax Havens May Hold Key to Sanctions

Two years ago, a Dutch law firm prepared a pitch in Moscow to Russian businesses: come to the Netherlands and we can help you avoid taxes and keep your assets safe.

“You can rely on our legal system!” the firm, Buren van Velzen Guelen, said in a slide presentation.

Such appeals have worked on a grand scale. Russia’s biggest oil, gas, mining and retail companies -- including some run by billionaires close to President Vladimir Putin-- have moved tens of billions of corporate assets to the Netherlands and other European countries often used for tax avoidance and capital flight, such as Luxembourg, Cyprus, Switzerland and Ireland. The firms include OAO Rosneft (ROSN), OAO Gazprom, OAO Lukoil and Geneva-headquartered Gunvor Group Ltd., which was co-founded by a Putin associate now under U.S. sanctions.

Source:Bloomberg

US 10-year Treasury yields drop to lowest of year

- Treasury prices rose Monday ahead of data on the service sector, pushing 10-year yields down to their lowest since last October on a closing basis. The 10-year note  yield, which falls as prices rise, was down 2 basis points at 2.573%, according to Tradeweb. The 5-year note yield was down 3 basis points at 1.646%, and the 30-year bond yield was down half a basis point at 3.363%. Treasury prices rose on the back of weak Chinese manufacturing data. The Treasury Department will auction $69 billion worth of U.S. government debt between Tuesday and Thursday. 

Source: Marketwatch