Crisis Ramps Up As Markets Punish Italy (WSJ)
Italy has now joined Ireland, Greece, Portugal in having two-year yields that are higher than 10-year yields, an abnormality called an inverted yield curve. It indicates worries about the country’s immediate future and indicates a risk that investors might have to write down the value of the bonds they hold. The curves in Greece, Ireland, and Portugal all inverted before they sought external assistance. A potential shutdown of the Italian bond market, the world’s third largest, would have disastrous consequences. If the country found itself unable to raise funds from the market at affordable rates, the firefighting capabilities of the euro area’s rescue fund, the European Financial Stability Facility, would be severely tested.

Violence Erupts as Shoppers Rush for Black Friday Deals (AP)
The early morning crowds were mostly peaceful, but Los Angeles authorities say 20 people at a local Walmart store suffered minor injuries when a woman used pepper spray to gain a “competitive” shopping advantage shortly after the store opened on Thursday evening. In Fayetteville, N.C., police are looking for two suspects after gunfire erupted early Friday at Cross Creek Mall. And police say two women have been injured and a man charged after a fight broke out at an upstate New York Walmart. Later in the morning, a Phoenix television station KSAZ reported that a grandfather in a Walmart in Buckeye, Ariz., was roughed up by police after the man allegedly put a game in his waistband so that he could lift his grandson out of the crowd. Witnesses told the station that police slammed the man to the ground — possibly thinking he was stealing the game.

Gunfire erupts at NC mall as early shoppers arrive (AP)
uthorities say gunfire erupted at a North Carolina mall as holiday shoppers gathered, though there are no reports of any injuries. No evacuation was ordered, but several shoppers left the mall and some smaller stores closed. The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office says detectives are looking for two suspects after gunfire rang out at Cross Creek Mall in Fayetteville early Friday.

Hedge Fund Titan Cohen Plans Bid For Dodgers (WSJ)
In a move that shows how serious Mr. Cohen is about bidding for the team, the billionaire founder of SAC Capital Advisors has been discussing the bid with Steve Greenberg of Allen & Co., the people familiar with the matter said. The veteran investment banker has close ties to the leaders of Major League Baseball. Mr. Greenberg served as deputy commissioner of baseball, and has represented many baseball owners and bidders, including New York Mets owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz. He is considered by many in the business to be the banker-of-choice for MLB when it comes to team sales and acquisitions. Mr. Cohen and Mr. Greenberg dealt with each other earlier this year when Mr. Greenberg was looking to sell a $200 million stake in the Mets on behalf of Messrs. Wilpon and Katz. Mr. Cohen ultimately decided not to pursue the Mets, who reached a deal with another hedge fund manager, David Einhorn, only to see it fall through over the summer.

Investors Find Little To Feast On (WSJ)
Historically, stocks have tended to do well in the fourth week of November, as Americans baste their turkeys and head to the shopping mall. But for the fifth Thanksgiving in six years, the stock market is bringing little joy. Heading into Friday’s half-day session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had dropped 4.6% this week, putting this Thanksgiving week on track to be the worst one since 1942, when the holiday was formally fixed as the fourth Thursday of November. It is also on pace to be the blue-chip index’s worst week in the past ten.

Bank Commodity Staff Turnover Seen Gaining (Bloomberg)
The world’s biggest investment banks have greater staff turnover in commodities than in fixed-income and currencies because of tightening regulations on trading, according to Coalition, a London-based research company…JPMorgan and Bank of America are among banks that shut units trading the banks’ money in commodities before the implementation of the Volcker rule in 2012 that will limit such practices. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is curbing the size of positions any one party can take in U.S. raw-material derivatives. Revenue from banks’ commodity units is still growing faster than overall sales, Coalition said.

Image Expert Shapes Romney (His Hair, Anyway) (NYTimes)
Nobody has a more complicated and intimate relationship with Mr. Romney’s hair than the man who has styled it for more than two decades, a barrel-chested, bald Italian immigrant named Leon de Magistris. For years, Mr. de Magistris said in an interview, he has tried to persuade Mr. Romney, 64, to loosen up his look by tousling his meticulous mane. “I will tell him to mess it up a little bit,” said Mr. de Magistris, 69. “I said to him, ‘Let it be more natural.’ ” The suggestion has not gone over well. “He wants a look that is very controlled,” Mr. de Magistris said. “He is a very controlled man. The hair goes with the man.”…The cut is so recognizable that men in this well-heeled suburb of Boston ask for it by name. “The Mitt,” they whisper to Mr. de Magistris from the red vinyl chairs in his upscale salon, Leon & Co., a few blocks from the sprawling home where Mr. Romney raised his family. Mr. de Magistris, who gave Mr. Romney a $70 trim three weeks ago, agreed to share some of the secrets behind his most famous client’s coiffure in between haircuts the other day. No, he said, Mr. Romney does not color his hair. Any such artificial enhancement, Mr. de Magistris said, “is not — what do you call it? — in his DNA.” Despite holding its shape under all but the most extreme conditions, it is gel and mousse-free. “I don’t put any product in there,” he avowed. Continue reading »

U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Rose Last Week (Bloomberg)
Applications for jobless insurance increased 2,000 in the week ended Nov. 19 to 393,000, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. Economists forecast 390,000 claims, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. The number of people on unemployment insurance rolls rose and those receiving emergency benefits declined.

Fed Seeks To Boost Banks With Stress Tests (Bloomberg)
The Fed yesterday told the 31 largest U.S. banks to test their loan portfolios against a deep recession to ensure they have enough capital to withstand losses. Banks with large trading operations will also test against a European market shock. The most severe scenarios outlined by the Fed include an unemployment rate of as much as 13 percent, an 8 percent drop in gross domestic product and a 52 percent plunge in stocks from the third quarter of 2011 to the fourth quarter of 2012. “This is a daunting test,” said Karen Shaw Petrou, managing partner at Federal Financial Analytics, a Washington regulatory research firm whose clients include the largest banks. “The Fed’s credibility as a tough guy can’t be challenged based on this.”

German Bond Auction Flops (WSJ)
A German Finance Agency spokesman said the auction reflected a nervous market but the “result doesn’t mean any refinancing bottleneck for the budget.” The German government was able to sell only €3.644 billion ($4.92 billion) of the €6 billion in 10-year bunds on auction for an average yield of 1.98%. Observers said the result was the worst in recent memory for a German government-bond sale.

Turkey Farmers Lose Out On Thanksgiving Rally (Bloomberg)
“Any time corn prices jump, our costs go up a lot,” said John Burkel, a fourth-generation turkey farmer in Badger, Minnesota, who raises about 2 million birds he sells to grocers including SuperValu Inc. (SVU) and Safeway Inc. “We’ll see the best revenue numbers ever, but costs are so high that we’re just running more dollars through our fingers.” Burkel estimates he will spend $1.688 million this year to generate $1.755 million in revenue, a 3.8 percent profit margin that’s down from 4.7 percent last year and below his annual goal of 8 percent to 10 percent. Burkel said he has cut his flock by about 500,000, or 20 percent, to save on feed costs that jumped about $250,000 from 2010.

Investors Bullish On Fed Tips (WSJ)
Hours after an Aug. 15 meeting with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke in his office, Nancy Lazar made a hasty call to investor clients: The Fed was dusting off an obscure 1960s-era strategy known as Operation Twist. The news pointed to a boom in long-term bonds. It was a good call. Over the next five weeks, prices on 10-year Treasury bonds soared, offering double-digit returns in an otherwise dismal year. By the time the Fed announced its $400 billion Operation Twist on Sept. 21, the window for quick profits had all but slammed shut. Ms. Lazar is among a group of well-connected investors and analysts with access to top Federal Reserve officials who give them a chance at early clues to the central bank’s next policy moves, according to interviews and hundreds of pages of documents obtained by The Wall Street Journal through open records searches. The access is part of a push by hedge funds and other traders to get more information about the inner workings of government. Developments in Washington have become more important after the financial crisis in 2008 spawned new regulations and a stronger hand by lawmakers in businesses.

CME Pledges More Funds To Free MF Global Customer Cash (WSJ)
CME said it will grant MF Global’s bankruptcy trustee latitude to “make larger interim distributions of cash to customers now, given the monumental task he faces to sort through the considerable data and claims in order to complete the MF Global liquidation.”

Billboard Called Anti-Semitic Is Quickly Pulled (NYT)
A billboard promoting a budget brand of vodka was taken down Tuesday amid a firestorm of criticism that its advertising slogan was anti-Semitic. “Christmas quality,” the billboard read, “Hanukkah pricing.” The advertisement, which was posted on a two-sided billboard overlooking the West Side Highway near 130th Street late Monday to promote Wodka vodka, also featured a long-haired dog wearing a yarmulke and a smaller dog wearing a Santa hat. Wodka is known for advertising that is intended to draw attention by generating controversy. A previous ad carried the text “Hamptons quality. Newark pricing.” Brian Gordon, who runs MMG, the company that designed the campaign, denied that it was intended to be shock advertising. “We thought people would perceive it as ‘ha ha quirky,’ ” said Mr. Gordon, who was quick to point out that he is Jewish. “But people perceived it as offensive, and because of that, we pulled it.” Continue reading »