Opening Bell: 10.14.11
Occupy Wall Street Stays In Park (WSJ)
“Late last night, we received notice from the owners of Zuccotti Park — Brookfield Properties — that they are postponing their scheduled cleaning of the park, and for the time being withdrawing their request from earlier in the week for police assistance during their cleaning operation,” Deputy Mayor Cas Holloway said in a statement Friday morning. “Brookfield believes they can work out an arrangement with the protesters that will ensure the park remains clean, safe, available for public use and that the situation is respectful of residents and businesses downtown, and we will continue to monitor the situation.” A cheer went up from the crowd of protesters shortly after 6:30 a.m. at word that there would be no cleanup by Brookfield personnel on Friday morning. Protester Nick Gulotta, 23, originally held up a sign referring to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg that read: “Bloomberg Don’t Evict Occupy Wall Street.” People cheered and clapped him on the back when he scratched out “don’t” and replaced it with “didn’t.” “It shows when people work together, you really can make a difference and make justice happen,” Gulotta said.
European Rescue Takes Shape (Bloomberg)
European leaders may complete the plan at an Oct. 23 summit to present to a gathering of G-20 chiefs Nov. 3-4. The aim is to craft what the French and German governments call a “durable” fix to the turmoil that has propelled Greece to the edge of default and is rattling global markets. Europe’s Stoxx 600 headed for a third week of gains amid optimism policy makers will contain woes.
Wilbur Ross: Markets Are Over Their Fears For Europe (CNBC)
FYI.
Greece’s Bondholders Brace for Bigger Losses to Solve Crisis: Euro Credit (Bloomberg)
“Everyone is coming to the conclusion that a much deeper restructuring is needed to make Greece in any way sustainable,” said Emiel van den Heiligenberg, chief investment officer of global balanced solutions at BNP Investment Partners in London, which oversees about $742 billion. “If the stock of debt doesn’t diminish, then the problems are going to be bigger and bigger and Greece will require rescue package after rescue package.”
Rajaratnam May Join Madoff, Blind Sheikh (Bloomberg)
“It’s the crown jewel of the federal prison system,” said Alan Ellis, a former president of the National Association of Criminal Defense lawyers and an expert on sentencing and prisons said of Butner. “It’s a very well-run facility.”
RBS the 'most vulnerable' bank in Europe, say Credit Suisse analysts (Telegraph)
The state-backed bank is already 83pc owned by the taxpayer and would likely face full nationalisation under the scenario set out by Credit Suisse, which estimates RBS might face a capital shortfall of £16.9bn in a new round of Europe-wide industry stress tests. "RBS appears to be the most vulnerable although the company has said that the methodology, especially the calculation of trading income, is especially harsh for them," said Credit Suisse...A source close to RBS described the Credit Suisse report as an "outlier."
Berlusconi Wins Confidence Vote (WSJ)
Berlusconi won the vote with 316 votes in favor of his government, which is the absolute majority in the Lower House, versus 301 against; a close vote that was uncertain until the last minute. It was the eighth such vote in 2011 and the ninth in the past 12 months for the prime minister, who has used confidence votes to cajole his volatile center-right majority coalition into cohesion.
Wall Street Protests Planned for Canadian Cities This Weekend (BW)
Protesters are scheduled to set up camp at 10 a.m. in Toronto’s financial district near a Bank of Canada office, according to the OccupyToronto website. Similar demonstrations are planned near financial and government buildings in Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary, Vancouver and Halifax throughout the weekend, according to local websites.
Squirrel's three-day CVS rampage (NYP)
The NYPD unleashed the full force of its Emergency Service Unit yesterday to go after a menace that took over a Harlem CVS for three days -- a slippery squirrel. The elite squad -- normally reserved for riots and hostage situations -- pulled out all the stops to take down the hungry perp after it got stuck in a glass display case in the front window.
The cops used a dog bed to shove it into a small box and emerged victorious with the critter in hand. The rascally rodent had sneaked into the drugstore at West 116th Street and Lenox Avenue at 7:15 a.m. Monday. “He walked in like a customer,” one worker said. “I tried to shoo it away, but it ran into the store.” The 1-pound gray squirrel trolled the aisles for peanuts and potato chips but was unable to actually open any of the packages it had strewn about the floor. “I hadn’t seen him since Monday, so I had assumed he escaped, but this morning when I came in, there were signs of him. Bags of potato chips and cans of peanuts were all over the floor,” a worker said. “He couldn’t open the bags or the peanuts. The peanuts were in a metal tin. The ones by the register are in plastic -- he should have gone for those."