Good morning,
China posted its biggest drop in five months –even as the central bank signals more easing ahead… ObamaCare supporters are celebrating a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that confirmed subsidies are constitutional. Next up on the agenda: same sex marriage and a ruling on regulation of power plant emissions. Look for those decisions on Friday or Monday. … Hillary Clinton handed over more emails on Libya to the State Department, which says 15 are still missing (paywall)… On the economic calendar: Consumer Sentiment at 10 a.m. ET. It’s expected to remain unchanged at 94.6… Markets are looking shaky this morning. You guessed it. Greece. Again.
Greek debt talks to resume on Saturday. Talks between Greece and its creditors are scheduled to resume on Saturday after Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras ignored the Troika’s “cash for reform” ultimatum and instead showed up demanding debt relief for his ailing nation. With Greece set to default next week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed that the upcoming talks are “of decisive importance.” Reuters
Shanghai plunges 8% in a single day. The Shanghai Composite Index had a really, really bad day earlier as shares in the nation’s equity index fell over 8%, dragging down 70% of the 1,105 listed stocks to their exchange-regulated downward trading limit and wiping out almost $800 billion from the index’s market cap. Financial Times (paywall)
Expect a deluge of volume at the end of trading on Friday. The Russell indexes are adding and removing stocks. Managers control $800 billion in funds pegged to one of the popular small cap benchmarks. Some estimate $40 billion to $50 billion in stock could trade hands in the closing but they say it will be orderly. Just like those frenzied closing moments on eBay. MarketWatch
France is reeling from another terrorist attack, this time at a factory in Lyons where police found a severed head. Reports state that two men attacked a U.S.-owned factory, Air Products & Chemicals Inc. One was carrying an Islamist flag. Bloomberg
Sorry Jamie, but apparently you’re not the best CEO on Wall Street. Jamie Dimon may look cool as hell navigating “the only port in the storm,” but in Bloomberg’s recent banking CEO tournament, the newly-minted billionaire apparently fell short of getting the No. 1 spot. Guess who got it? Bloomberg
More M&A in healthcare: Valeant makes unsolicited $25 billion bid for Zoetis. Zoetis is the largest maker of vaccines and medicines for livestock and household pets. It was spun off from Pfizer in 2013. Wall Street Journal (paywall)
Francois Hollande calls Uber “unfair competition.” French President Francois Hollande has finally chimed in on Paris’ Uber protests, condemning the disruptions as “inexcusable,” and calling UberPop – the French version of Uber – as “unfair competition” to his nation’s taxi drivers, adding: “UberPop should be dissolved and branded illegal and cars should be seized.” Financial Times (paywall)
iStock photo © raw206