US FINANCIAL MARKET
- The euro slid the most in 14 months against the dollar after a proposed levy on bank deposits in Cyprus threatened to worsen the European debt crisis.
- The U.S. 10-year yields fell the most in three weeks after euro- area finance ministers agreed to tax bank deposits in Cyprus to finance part of a 10 billion-euro ($13 billion) bailout for the nation.
- Apple is poised to boost its dividend by more than half, according to analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Apple will probably lift its quarterly dividend 56% to $4.14 a share, for an annual payout of $15.7 billion. The resulting yield of 3.7% would be higher than 86% of the companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500.
- Airbus won an order from Indonesia’s Lion Airlines for 234 planes worth $24 billion at list price. Airbus has won major orders for its bestselling A320 family of planes in the past week, including 100 purchases from Lufthansa and an order from Turkish Airlines for 82 A320-series planes worth $9.3 billion at list price.
- Malls must become more like full-service community centers to survive. As growing numbers of shoppers move online, European mall owners are looking to pull in customers by including services that can’t be replicated on the Web like hospital care and government offices.
US ECONOMY & POLITICS
- Confidence among U.S. homebuilders fell this month because of concerns that limited land, building materials and labor will slow sales in the short term according to NAHB’s index. But builders’ outlook for sales over the next six months reached its strongest point in more than six years.
EUROPE & WORLD
- The German government said on Monday it was open to changing a bailout deal for Cyprus that foresees small savers taking a hit. Germany’s Finance Minister said that this solution had not been a German idea and that he was open to it being changed.
- The UK government is set to pledge a significant investment into the country’s aerospace industry. The plan will involve funding from money committed by companies such as Airbus, Bombardier, and Rolls-Royce being matched by the government.
- Latin America and the Caribbean face weaker economic growth over the next five years as commodity prices fall and governments struggle with fiscal deficits, the Inter-American Development Bank said. Annual growth is forecast to be 3.9% through 2017, down from 4.8%.
- Australia faces a “massive hit” to government revenue, pushing the nation further into deficit ahead of an election in September.
- New Zealand faces the most widespread drought in at least 30 years. The world’s biggest dairy exporter Fonterra that accounts for about 40% of the global trade in dairy products said that dry weather conditions had resulted in a slowdown in milk supply growth.
- China replaces Britain and has become the world’s fifth-largest arms exporter. Pakistan - which accounted for 55% of Chinese arms exports – is likely to remain the largest recipient of Chinese arms in the coming years. Germany and France ranked third and fourth on the arms exporter list.
TODAY in HISTORY
- After months of American protests, Britain repealed the Stamp Act (1766)
- Schick, Inc., the razor company, displayed the first electric shaver — in Stamford, CT (1931)
- The U.S. Treasury Department announced that a clear, polyester thread was to be woven into bills in an effort to thwart counterfeiters (1986)
- Soviet cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov made the first spacewalk (1965)
Sources: Reuters, Yahoo Finance, Google Finance, Bloomberg, CNN Money.
This information has been prepared from sources believed to be reliable, but no representation is being made as to its accuracy or completeness. The information provided should be used only as general information and is not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. The economic forecasts set forth in the material may not develop as predicted. All indices, such as the S & P 500, are unmanaged and may not be invested into directly.
