Good morning everyone. Welcome to what could be the beginning of the end of the EMU. Despite pressure from the U.S. as well as protests from Austria, Luxembourg, and Italy, the apparent divide between Chancellor Merkel and Finance Minister Schauble has thrown a massive monkey wrench into the Greek bailout talks, leading to a hotly-contested “capitulate or leave” ultimatum for Greece.
Here’s what else you need to know:
Asian futures trade mixed. While futures on the FTSE China A50 Index and the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index point to a higher trading day in China, contracts on Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped 0.2% in its most recent trading. Futures on Japan’s Nikkei 225 however are bidding up in the Osaka pre-market after slipping 0.5% Friday. Bloomberg
Chinese trade balance plus import and export data coming up. China is set to release their trade balance figures as well as their import and export numbers today at 8 am. Things are actually looking up for the nation as imports and exports are forecast to rise by at least 2.3%, while its trade surplus is expected to gain by at least $9 billion. NexChange
World exchanges roll out the red carpet for high frequency traders. While the U.S. continues to debate the pros and cons of HFTs, bourses in Japan, Mexico, South Africa, and a few other countries are beginning to welcome them, hoping to boost their trading volumes. “They’re not necessarily bad,” says Eduardo Flores, vice president of market supervision at Comision Nacional Bancaria y de Valores, “They’re market makers and in a certain form they help it so there’s more liquidity.” Bloomberg
“Minions” raked in $115 million over the weekend. The “Despicable Me” spinoff posted the second-largest debut for animated film this weekend, just behind “Shrek the Third’s” $121 million box office debut back in 2007. WSJ (paywall)
Also, this happened:
Photo credit: Jaafar Alnasser via Flickr