Some Greeks Fear Government Is Selling Nation (NYT)
They are the crown jewels of Greece’s socialist state, and they are now likely to go to the highest bidder: the ports of Piraeus and Thessaloniki; prime Mediterranean real estate; the national lottery; Greek Telecom; the postal bank and the national railway system.

Athens accused of bid to amend austerity deal (FT)
Greece’s new finance minister has attempted to renegotiate parts of the austerity deal struck with international lenders last month, drawing anger from his European counterparts as they battle to find a solution to Athens’ debt crisis. According to officials briefed on the gambit, Evangelos Venizelos proposed changing the €50bn privatisation programme agreed to by Greek authorities and tried to delay next week’s vote in parliament, insisting it could not be done quickly on procedural grounds.

Economists See Slim Odds for More Fed Help (AP)
The Federal Reserve and its chairman Ben Bernanke have all but ruled out another round of bond buying. And in a recent Associated Press survey, 36 of 38 economists opposed any further effort by the Fed to spur growth.

Lagarde on Track to Win IMF Nod (WSJ)
The race to lead the International Monetary Fund is all but over as its executive board interviews the candidates this week and French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde appears on track to win final approval within days.

Citi: US to Lose Second Place in World Trade to India (CNBC)
“In terms of the largest countries by trade, we expect China to overtake the US to become the world’s largest trader by 2015 and to remain in the top spot for the rest of our forecast horizon,” the report said. “India, which does not even feature in the top 10 of the world’s largest traders in 2010, is expected to be the world’s second-largest trader by 2050, with the US in third place,” the report predicted.

U.S. House Panel Approves Measure to Boost Covered Bond Market (Bloomberg)
The committee voted 44-7 today to approve the bill, which would provide a regulatory framework for covered bonds by giving the Treasury Department oversight of the market and creating a separate resolution process in order to bolster investor interest. The bill, if signed into law, could provide a boost to issuers including Bank of America Corp. (BAC) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM)…The panel also approved, 33-21, the repeal of an 18-line provision from Dodd-Frank that requires all publicly traded companies to report the ratio between chief executive officer compensation and that of their median employee salary.

£1,000 bank shares for everyone: Clegg urges Treasury to hand taxpayers sell-off windfall (Daily Mail)
Every adult in Britain could be handed free bank shares worth £1,000 when nationalised institutions are sold off. Under the unprecedented give-away, the Government would hand over its stakes in Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group to 46million voters.

Barclays Seeks Dismissal of Lehman $500 Million Claim to Unpaid Bonuses (Bloomberg)
Lehman asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge James Peck in May to order the U.K. bank to pay the rest of the $2 billion in bonuses it agreed to when it bought Lehman’s North American business in 2008…The bonuses were due to Lehman employees whom Barclays took on with the purchase, the former investment bank said. The annual bonuses for the 2008 fiscal year should have paid in full by March 15, 2009, Lehman said in a May filing. Instead, the employees received $1.5 billion, it said.

Winklevosses throw in Facebook towel (NYP)
The Winklevoss twins, who won a dubious fame as the sore losers in the Oscar-winning bio flick about the meteoric rise of Facebook phenom Mark Zuckerberg, have abandoned plans to appeal a $65 million settlement with the company and its founder. Continue reading »