BP Reveals Crucial ‘Mistake’ (WSJ)
A document released to two lawmakers yesterday describes a wide array of mistakes in the fateful final hours aboard the Deepwater Horizon—but the main revelation is that BP now says there was a clear warning sign of a “very large abnormality” in the well, but work proceeded anyway, with the rig exploding two hours later.

Greek ‘Death Spiral’ May Make Default Unavoidable, Hanke Says (Bloomberg)
“Greece’s death spiral will end with debt restructuring or the outright default of its sovereign debt,” Hanke, also a senior fellow at the Cato Institute in Washington, wrote in an article yesterday. “While politicians and bureaucrats from the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and Greece tell us that the bailout package will defuse Greece’s time bomb, don’t believe their ‘cheerful Charlie’ chant.”

Can Geithner Unite Divided Europe? (CNBC)
And more importantly, can he beat all their 8 year-olds in a pick-up game?

Banks Trim Debt, Obscuring Risk (WSJ)
Blowing your mind: “Over the past 10 quarters, Deutsche Bank, Citi and Bank of America have lowered their net borrowings in the “repurchase,” or repo, market by an average of 41% at the ends of the quarters, compared with their average net repo borrowings for the entire quarter, according to an analysis of Federal Reserve data. Once a new quarter begins, they boost those levels.”

Barney Frank Names Democratic Candidates for FinReg Conferees (CNBC)
Frank, who will chair the conference, has recommended Joint Economic Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (NY), Paul E. Kanjorski (Pa.), Luis V. Gutierrez (Ill.), Melvin L. Watt (N.C.), Gregory W. Meeks (N.Y.), Dennis Moore (Kan.), and Maxine Waters (Calif.).

Qatar Eyes Treasury’s Citi Stock (FT)
A person familiar with the matter said the sale of the first tranche should be completed in the coming days. People involved in the process said the QIA had been approached about buying Citi shares, but would not say by whom, highlighting the political sensitivities in such a deal.

Kerviel Says SocGen Superiors ‘Helped’ Him Make Disputed Trades (Bloomberg)
“I’m innocent,” Kerviel, 33, said in a Bloomberg Television interview yesterday outside his lawyer’s Paris office. “I want to prove to everybody that my superiors knew what I was doing and helped me to do it, to make more money for the bank.”

WaMu Shareholders Want To Investigate JPMorgan (Reuters)
Shareholders focused their investigation request on what it said was an untapped source of information — the pre-seizure business records of Washington Mutual Inc, or WMI, and its bank. JPMorgan took control of those documents when it bought the seized bank. Shareholders said those records could contain information about JPMorgan’s supposed interest in Washington Mutual Bank prior to its seizure and “intelligence about market rumors concerning WMI’s financial condition that JPMC (JPMorgan) may have had a hand in generating.”

IG report: Meth, porn use by drilling agency staff (AP)
SEC staffers are not alone! “Staff members at an agency that oversees offshore drilling accepted tickets to sports events, lunches and other gifts from oil and gas companies and used government computers to view pornography, according to an Interior Department report alleging a culture of cronyism between regulators and the industry. In at least one case, an inspector for the Minerals Management Service admitted using crystal methamphetamine and said he might have been under the influence of the drug the next day at work, according to the report by the acting inspector general of the Interior Department.” Continue reading »