http://www.rt.com/news/bahrain-saudi-arabia-union-551/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Bahrain Warns Iran Against Interference
http://www.rferl.org/content/bahrain-wa ... 84429.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Iranian protesters denounce Saudi-Bahrain union plan
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/ ... 2G20120518" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
(Reuters) - Moody's Investor Service carried out a sweeping downgrade of 16 Spanish banks on Thursday, including Banco Santander, the euro zone's largest bank, citing a weak economy and the government's reduced ability to support troubled lenders.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/ ... GC20120518" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Spanish Bad-Loans Ratio at 8.37 Percent, a 17-Year High; CDS at Record High; Bankia Suffers Huge Losses Purchasing 15.5 Million Its Own Shares to Stabilize Price; Spain Hires Goldman Sachs to Value Bankia
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot. ... nalysis%29" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
"The danger now is that panic will set in as the population races to get their money out resulting in the self-fulfilling prophecy of a 'run on the banks'. We witnessed this situation here in the UK back in 2008 when people queued for hours to withdraw cash from the doomed Northern Rock. The difference now is that a large number of banks and nations are affected and the risk of 'contagion' is acute."
http://www.portfolio-adviser.com/news/m ... ains-banks" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18100049" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;Bankia was forced to deny a report customers had taken 1bn euros ($1.3bn; £800m) out of the bank, which is set to be part-nationalised, in the past week. Spain's economy minister denied reports of a surge in withdrawals from Bankia in recent days.
"It's not true that there is an exit of deposits at this moment from Bankia," said Fernando Jimenez Latorre. Later, the bank's chief executive said volumes had been "basically normal".
A few days ago we suggested that this action by LCH.Clearnet was only a matter of time. Sure enough, as of minutes ago the bond clearer hiked margins on all Spanish bonds with a duration of more than 1.25 years. Net result: the Spanish Banks which by now are by far the largest single group holder of Spanish bonds, has to post even more collateral beginning May 25. Only problem with that: it very well may not have the collateral.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/lch-hikes ... nish-bonds" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Ireland may be forced into a second bailout by mounting loan losses in its banking system, according to Deutsche Bank AG.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-1 ... -says.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
ROME — Italy increased security Thursday at 14,000 sites, and assigned bodyguards to protect 550 individuals after a nuclear energy company official was shot and letter bombs directed to the tax collection agency.
http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/it ... news_82109" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
LONDON—Banco Santander SA's U.K. unit lost about £200 million of deposits on Friday as jittery customers worried about the lender's financial health, according to a senior executive.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 15970.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
China's yuan is on track to become the world's third international reserve currency
http://www.business-standard.com/india/ ... es/474401/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The fact that GM's "stunning" car sales have been in no small part driven exclusively by its eagerness to stuff dealers with unsold inventory, aka channel stuffing, is well known to Zero Hedge readers - we have been covering the subject for over a year now. What we did not know, yet what in retrospect is so glaringly obvious, is that the GM ploy of fooling the dumbest sellside analysts and investors all the time has now gone global. And while channel stuffing may have worked for a while, it is now starting to bite back. Bloomberg reports: "Chinese dealers are struggling with the rising number of unsold cars that’s threatening to deepen price cuts, according to the nation’s biggest automobile dealers’ association. Dealerships for Honda Motor Co., Chery Automobile Co., BYD Co. and Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. carried more than 45 days of inventory as of the end of April, exceeding the threshold that foreshadows debilitating price cuts, Su Hui, vice president of the auto market division at the state-backed China Automobile Dealers Association, said in an interview yesterday. Unsold cars are crowding dealer lots in cities from Guangzhou in the south to Xi’an to the west,” Su said in a phone interview yesterday from Beijing. “It’s like a contagious disease that will spread." Wait, so Channel Stuffing is... bad? And if 45 days of inventory "foreshadows debilitating price cuts", then what should GM with its 86 days of full vehicle days supply in the US say?
And just in case one thought GM is not repeating its US mistakes elsewhere, guess again: "The warning signals that vehicle deliveries reported by companies, which have risen more than analysts’ estimates for the past two months, aren’t fully translating to consumer sales. Demand was the slowest in the first four months since 1998, weighing on automakers from General Motors Co. (GM) to Volkswagen AG (VOW), which are counting on the world’s largest auto market to offset slumping sales in Europe."
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/chinese-c ... uts-arrive" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
...deflation.
House Passes Stealth Legislation
http://original.antiwar.com/giraldi/201 ... gislation/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Volcano Sakurajima
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... wLnWzj-r20" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Blasts Continue to Menace People Near Mexican Volcano
http://www.earthweek.com/2012/ew120518/ew120518d.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;