U.S. Payrolls Rose Less-Than-Estimated 54,000 in May; Jobless Rate Is 9.1% (Bloomberg)
Payrolls increased by a less-than-projected 54,000 last month, after a revised 232,000 gain in April that was smaller than initially estimated, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey called for payrolls to rise 165,000. The jobless rate climbed to the highest level this year from 9 percent a month earlier. These are pretty bleak numbers,” said Julia Coronado, chief economist for North America at BNP Paribas. “Some of the engines of hiring just went away. Combined with the slowdown in consumer spending, it raises concern that the slowing in hiring could be with us for a while.”

Greenspan ‘Scared’ Over Deficit; Calls For Debt Ceiling Rise (CNBC)
In an interview with this morning, the former central bank chief described himself as a “small government, free-market economist” who nonetheless believes that in order to raise revenue and close the debt gap, 1990s-era taxes must be reinstituted. It’s a measure, he said, of how serious the problem has become. “The fact that I am in favor of going back to the Clinton tax structure is merely an indicator of how scared I am of this debt problem that has emerged and its order of magnitude,” he said.

A Trader, an F.B.I. Witness, and Then a Suicide (DealBook)
In a Manhattan courtroom last week, federal prosecutors played for a jury a secretly recorded telephone conversation between two Wall Street traders exchanging stock tips. Two days later, one of those traders, Ephraim G. Karpel, hanged himself in his Fifth Avenue office, according to a law enforcement official. Mr. Karpel was never charged with any wrongdoing, and until last week his name had not emerged in connection with the government’s vast investigation of insider trading. Yet while working for a New York commodities firm, he had agreed in 2008 to cooperate with federal authorities, and for about a year he taped conversations with fellow traders, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter who insisted on anonymity to discuss it. “The government’s investigation changed his life forever and was his unraveling,” Fran Karpel, his wife, said in a telephone interview.

Groupon’s $540 Million Loss May Daunt Investors (Bloomberg)
Yet, with marketing costs rising faster than sales, Groupon may not make money fast enough to warrant the $25 billion valuation it was said to be contemplating in March, said Pat Becker Jr., a portfolio manager at Becker Capital Management Inc. “Companies have to have profitability or a compelling case for a path to profitability,” said Becker, whose Portland, Oregon-based firm manages $2.5 billion. “We also look for barriers to entry and we just don’t see that in this particular business.”

Analyst: Don’t Believe The Doom On Housing (CNBC)
“The decline is mainly because the mix of homes sold has changed in favor of distressed sales, which typically sell with a ‘foreclosure discount.’ Non-distressed properties (sold by voluntary sellers) have already started to stabilize,” said Ajay Rajadhyaksha, the co-head of US fixed income strategy at Barclays Capital said in a research note on Friday. “As voluntary sales pick up in the summer, the mix of homes should change again in the next few months, in favor of non-distressed sales. As a result, the aggregate index of home prices should stop declining and could even go up,” he added.

Greece to Impose Deeper Austerity for New Rescue (Reuters)
Prime Minister George Papandreou on Friday will present his side of the deal, a medium-term budget plan, when he meets the chairman of euro zone finance ministers – the people who must stump up much of the planned new funding along with the IMF. In Athens leftists staged a protest at the finance ministry, hanging a huge banner across the building to denounce policies which they said would “turn workers into modern slaves.”

Gartman Sells 50% of Gold Holding After Decline, Says Further Drop Likely (Bloomberg)
“For the first time in a very, very long while, we are a good deal more nervous than we have been about the trend,” Gartman said in his Suffolk, Virginia-based Gartman Letter. “We fear that yesterday’s sharp break that took gold down to $1,520 in the veritable twinkling of an eye was the harbinger of even more severe weakness that might soon develop.”

Libya bet $1bn on SocGen shares (FT)
Documents seen by the FT show the transaction – the Libyan Investment Authority’s biggest investment in five years – had lost 72 per cent of its value by the middle of last year. The LIA entered into the transaction in early March 2008, barely a month after Jerome Kerviel’s €50bn of rogue trades left the bank with losses of €5bn.

Treasury to sell remaining Chrysler stake to Fiat (Reuters)
The Treasury said on Thursday it reached an agreement to sell its remaining 6 percent equity stake in Chrysler to Italy’s Fiat (FIA.MI) in a deal that will net Washington $560 million.

Asian hedge funds hit hard in May (Reuters)
Asian hedge funds may have lost up to two-thirds of their year-to-date gains in May alone, with strategies such as macro and CTA, which bet on long-running market trends, hit hardest, said Matt Pecot, head of Credit Suisse’s prime broking unit in Asia-Pacific. Continue reading »

$$$ Sino-Forest Plunges as Short Seller Targets Stock That Paulson’s Fund Owns (Bloomberg)

$$$ BlackRock does not expect double-dip recession (CNBC via EasyStreet/Heidi Moore)

$$$ Schwarzman: some of my best friends are old people (FT Alphaville)

$$$ U.S. Fed balance sheet hits fresh record size (Reuters)

$$$ Moody’s, Citing End of U.S. Aid, Warns Bofa, Citi and Wells (WSJ)

$$$ Want to Work at Goldman? Try China or India (Deal Journal) Continue reading »