Jobless Claims In U.S. Decrease (Bloomberg) Applications for jobless benefits decreased by 35,000 in the week ended July 21 to 353,000, Labor Department figures showed today. Economists forecast 380,000 claims, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. Big Bank Pioneer Now Seeks Breakup (WSJ) "I am suggesting that they be broken up so that the taxpayer will never be at risk, the depositors won't be at risk," Sandy Weill said in a TV interview on CNBC yesterday. "Mistakes were made," he added a few seconds later. Chris Dodd: Sandy Weill Wrong, ‘Simplistic’ to Break Up Banks (CNBC) The author of the historic and controversial Dodd-Frank financial legislation staked out different territory from Weill, arguing that “it’s not just the size of an institution,” but the amount of risk carried on its books. Dodd said that forcing all large banks to downsize was “too simplistic,” saying that Weill was wrong to call for an end to financial supermarkets. “Just breaking up the banks is not the solution,” he said. Nomura CEO To Resign Over Insider Trading Scandal (WSJ) Kenichi Watanabe, Nomura's chief executive, and Takumi Shibata, its chief operating officer, are planning to relinquish their posts following admissions that Nomura salespeople allegedly gave information on share offerings to customers before it was public, a person familiar with their thinking said Thursday. Billionaires’ Superyachts Anchor In Thames For Olympics (Bloomberg) Octopus, the yacht owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, is moored at West India Dock, where the towers housing Barclays Plc and HSBC Holdings Plc reflect in its gleaming blue hull. Next to it is Westfield Group Chairman Frank Lowy’s white ship Ilona, with a red carpet leading to the gangplank and an Australian flag billowing from the stern. “We’ve seen some big boats here, but nothing of this magnitude,” said Derek Newell, an analyst at Lehman Brothers International, the remnants of the U.S. investment bank that’s in administration, as he pointed up to Allen’s vessel. “It’s like a small ferry.” Central Banks Search Toolbox For Ideas As Growth Slows (Bloomberg) Among the options up for consideration by the monetary authorities in addition to potentially doubling-down on previous policies: taking some of the credit risk of new lending onto their own balance sheets and forcing commercial banks to pay for parking cash in central banks’ coffers. Fidelity Joins BlackRock In Weighing Libor Action Against Banks (Bloomberg) Libor-related litigation “has the potential to be the biggest single set of cases coming out of the financial crisis because Libor is built into so many transactions and Libor is so central to so many contracts,” said John Coates, a professor of law and economics at Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Draghi Says ECB Will Do What’s Needed To Preserve Euro (Bloomberg) FYI. Perella To Settle Citigroup-Morgan Stanley Valuation Spat (NYP) Citigroup and Morgan Stanley hired Perella Weinberg Partners to settle a dispute over how much their Morgan Stanley Smith Barney joint venture is worth. The two New York-based banks are asking Perella Weinberg to value a 14 percent stake that Citigroup plans to sell to Morgan Stanley. Morgan Stanley already controls 51 percent of the unit, with Citigroup holding the rest. 11 year-old boy jets from England to Italy without passport, boarding pass (NYDN) Liam Corcoran snuck through five security checks at Manchester Airport Tuesday afternoon by pretending to travel with other families, the Manchester Evening News reported. Corcoran's adventure began earlier Tuesday when he ran away from his mother during a shopping trip. He went straight to an airport about three miles away where he passed through security checks unnoticed and boarded a Jet2.com flight headed toward the Eternal City. Corcoran reportedly wasn't asked to show a ticket stub to get on the Jet2 plane and the crew failed to take a headcount of the passengers, letting the boy slip through the cracks once again. The plane captain only became aware of the boy when other travelers became suspicious during the flight. Corcoran remained on the plane until it landed at Rome Fiumicino Airport, but the plane turned right back around to Manchester where the boy was reunited with his family Tuesday evening. "He was very talkative and seemed quite un-fazed by it all. He was just sat there chatting away about how he'd been trying to run away from home," said passenger Sarah Swayne, who was on the returning flight, according to the Manchester Evening News.

JPMorgan Profit Slips (WSJ) J.P. Morgan reported a profit of $5.38 billion, down from $5.56 billion a year earlier. On a per-share basis, earnings were $1.31, up from $1.28 as the share count outstanding declined. The latest quarter included a net 8-cent per-share loss tied to litigation expenses and changes in the value of the bank's debt. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a per-share profit of $1.18, excluding debt-related charges. Revenue rose 6.3% to $27.42 billion. Analysts were looking for $24.68 billion. Wells Fargo reports higher first-quarter profit (Reuters) Wells Fargo, the nation's fourth-biggest U.S. bank, said net income was $4.25 billion, or 75 cents a share, in the quarter, compared with $3.76 billion, or 67 cents, a share in the same period a year earlier. The average estimate from analysts was 73 cents per share. JPMorgan Said to Transform Treasury to Prop Trading (Bloomberg) Achilles Macris, hired in 2006 as the CIO’s top executive in London, led an expansion into corporate and mortgage-debt investments with a mandate to generate profits for the New York- based bank, three of the former employees said. Dimon, 56, closely supervised the shift from the CIO’s previous focus on protecting JPMorgan from risks inherent in its banking business, such as interest-rate and currency movements, they said. Some of Macris’s bets are now so large that JPMorgan probably can’t unwind them without losing money or roiling financial markets, the former executives said, based on knowledge gleaned from people inside the bank and dealers at other firms. Bank Bonus That Tops Salary May Be Banned by EU Lawmakers (Bloomberg) Governments and lawmakers in the 27-nation EU are considering rules for lenders that would go far beyond international agreements approved by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. Denmark, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU, has proposed empowering nations to set surcharges of up to 3 percent across their banking systems. Karas yesterday suggested adding language to the legislation that would ban banker bonuses that exceed fixed pay, following calls from other lawmakers to rein in excessive compensation. IMF Lifts Growth Forecast, Cautiously (WSJ) Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, said the world economy is marked by "a high degree of instability" even though prospects for global growth are better than they were a few months ago. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Ms. Lagarde said the IMF, which marked down its 2012 forecast for global growth in January to 3.3%, has now marked it up to reflect improving conditions in the world economy. But she said the new forecast, to be released next week, remains more pessimistic than the one it made last September, which predicted 4% growth. Europe remains the biggest single risk to the global economy, the former French finance minister said. Hedge Fund Driver Guns DownArmed Robber (NYP) A retired NYPD lieutenant blew away a drugstore bandit yesterday as the suspect tried to gun down three police officers during a foot pursuit, sources said. Thomas Barnes, Barnes — a driver for hedge fund manager Philippe Laffont, was filling his tank at the BP station on East 119th Street and First Avenue at around 11 a.m. when he saw gunman Rudolph Wyatt running from the store, and sprang into action. He crouched behind his hedge-fund boss’ Mercedes SUV and squeezed off three shots, killing Wyatt, 23. The trigger-happy thug — wanted on warrants for two other shootings — lay dead in a pool of blood on the sidewalk wearing a black stocking mask with a wad of stolen cash spilling out of his pocket, witnesses said. “Part of the back of his head was missing. He had a large head wound and there was tons of blood,” said witness John Brecevich, 59, owner of the Original Patsy’s restaurant nearby. “It was a scene straight out of NYPD Blue.” Trustees Aim For MF Execs (NYP) The trustee tasked with clawing back money for burned customers of MF Global is training his sights on the brokerage firm’s executives — a list that likely includes former CEO Jon Corzine. In a statement yesterday, trustee James Giddens said he is considering pursuing claims against “certain responsible individuals” who worked for MF at the time customers’ trading accounts were improperly tapped. Kent Jarrell, a spokesman for Giddens, declined to name names but said the trustee is considering civil suits against “officers, directors or other employees” of both the brokerage firm and the holding company. Fed Officials Differ on Need to Keep Rates Low to 2014 (Bloomberg) William C. Dudley, president of the New York Fed, and Vice Chairman Janet Yellen said the 2014 time-frame is needed to lower unemployment from 8.2 percent. Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota said rising inflation may prompt an interest-rate increase as early as this year, while Philadelphia’s Charles Plosser said policy should hinge on economic performance, not a calendar commitment. Newark Mayor Cory Booker: Race into home fire was a "come to Jesus moment" (CBS) Booker arrived home last night to discover his next-door neighbor's house on fire, and rescued a young woman trapped upstairs by carrying here through the flames, suffering second-degree burns in the process. The mayor's security team discovered the fire and pounded on the door to alert residents, when an elderly woman said that her daughter was trapped upstairs. At first, Newark Police Detective Alex Rodriguez would not let Booker into the burning house. "He basically told me, 'This woman is going to die if we don't help her,' and what can I say to that?," Rodriguez said. "I let him go and without thinking twice, he just ran into the flames and rescued this young lady." Booker said that as he jumped through the kitchen on the second floor, "I actually wasn't thinking. When I got there and couldn't find her in all the smoke, looked behind me and saw the kitchen really erupting with flames all over the ceiling, that's when I had very clear thoughts that I'm not going to get out of this place alive and got ... very religious. He admitted he was "not gentle" with her - "I just sort of threw her over my shoulder and dragged her through the kitchen."