Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

by SA Editor Rachael Granby

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• G-8 discuss stimulus exit strategies. The G-8 finance ministers began drawing up plans to roll back stimulus measures and budget deficits amid continued signs of economic recovery. Officials said it's prudent to consider a 'credible exit strategy,' though the ministers agreed that putting any plans into effect now would be premature, with Geithner and the U.K.'s Darling the most vocal in warning officials not to move too soon. The G-8 ministers also issued their most upbeat outlook since Lehman's collapse in September. (Read the G-8 finance ministers' statement)
• Citi teams up with IFC. Citigroup (C) launched a $1.25B funding tie-up with the International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank. Under the deal, Citi will provide $750M to banks in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America over three years. The partnership is part of a $50B global trade finance initiative announced by the World Bank in April, and shows the increased willingness by banks to finance trade in emerging markets.
• Unrest in Iran. Clashes broke out in Iran after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed re-election victory amid allegations of vote-rigging. Ahmadinejad's main challenger, former premier Mir Hossein Mousavi, urged crowds to stay 'calm' despite 'obvious violations' in the voting process which saw Ahmadinejad win 63% of the vote vs. Mousavi's 34% in what was expected to be a tight race.

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• Icahn eyes Delphi. Activist investor Carl Icahn is reportedly considering making another attempt to take over bankrupt auto parts supplier Delphi. A bankruptcy judge told Delphi last week to open the sale of its assets to other potential bidders to compete with an offer by Platinum Equity. Icahn's auto-parts company, Federal-Mogul Corp, had held recent discussions with Delphi before the Platinum deal was announced.
• Pfizer looks to emerging mkts. Pfizer (PFE) is looking to reach deals in 'the next few months' to help it raise its share of the $80B drug industry in emerging markets. Pfizer's redirected attentions are part of a larger trend as pharmaceuticals face tougher conditions in more mature markets.
• IBM has its head in the clouds. IBM will begin rolling out some initial products and services for tailored cloud computing this week. Though many large firms and government agencies have thus far been reluctant to go for cloud computing because of security and reliability concerns, IBM hopes to attract customers with the promise of a 70% reduction in PC power needs and a 40% reduction in technical support costs.
• BRIC wants beefed up role. Leaders from Brazil, Russia, India and China will meet this week for their first formal summit. BRIC countries will discuss ways to reshape the world's financial system and ideas for a new reserve currency, with an eye towards playing a larger role on the global stage.
• Cemex's concrete sale. Swiss cement maker Holcim agreed to buy the Australian operations of Mexican rival Cemex (CX) for 2.02B Australian dollars ($1.64B). The deal will close after regulatory approval and a due diligence process.
• Eurozone joblessness rises. Eurozone employment fell 0.8% in Q1, the third quarter in a row of falling employment and the largest decline since records began in 1991. Spain did the worst, with employment falling 3.1% on the quarter and 6.4% Y/Y.

Today's Markets

Overseas markets were mostly weaker Monday.

• Asia: Nikkei -0.95% to 10,040. Hang Seng -2.07% to 18,499. Shanghai +1.67% to 2,790. BSE -2.38% to 14,876.
• Europe at midday: London -1.6%. Paris -1.8%. Frankfurt -2%.
• Futures: Dow -1.2% to 8637. S&P -1.2% to 929. Nasdaq -1.1%.
  Crude -1.3% to $71.11. Gold -0.7% to $934.
  30-year Tsy +0.25%. 10-year +0.22%. 5-year +0.17%. 2-year +0.13%.
  Euro -1.1% vs. dollar. Yen +0.2%. Pound -0.7%.

Monday's Economic Calendar

• 8:30 Fed's Evans speaks on the financial crisis
  8:30 Empire State Mfg Survey
  9:00 Treasury International Capital
  1:00 PM NAHB Housing Market Index

Seeking Alpha editor Eli Hoffmann contributed to this post.

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