Opening Bell: 7.30.15

Zuckerberg to Wall Street: Be Patient, Big Things Will Take Time (Bloomberg)
Facebook Inc. had just reported second-quarter revenue Wednesday that beat analysts’ estimates, and on a conference call some of the same analysts asked the chief executive about applications that could be making billions on their own -- WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger. Zuckerberg didn’t seem eager to placate his questioners with promises, projections or even updated user numbers. “We would ask for some patience on this to do this correctly,” he said of Facebook’s Messenger.

UBS Deal Shows Clinton’s Complicated Ties (WSJ)
Within months, Mrs. Clinton announced a tentative legal settlement—an unusual intervention by the top U.S. diplomat. UBS ultimately turned over information on 4,450 accounts, a fraction of the 52,000 sought by the IRS, an outcome that drew criticism from some lawmakers who wanted a more extensive crackdown. From that point on, UBS’s engagement with the Clinton family’s charitable organization increased. Total donations by UBS to the Clinton Foundation grew from less than $60,000 through 2008 to a cumulative total of about $600,000 by the end of 2014, according the foundation and the bank.

Petco Said to Be Interviewing Banks for IPO Later This Year (Bloomberg)
Petco Animal Supplies Inc., the pet supplies retailer taken private in a $1.8 billion leveraged buyout in 2006, is interviewing bankers for an initial public offering, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Fed Preps Careful Path for Rate Hike (WSJ)
The central bank on Wednesday left its benchmark short-term interest rate near zero—for the 2,417th straight day—but dropped several hints after a two-day policy meeting that it is near seeing enough improvement in the job market to prompt officials to raise the rate as early as September.

Rick Perry Challenges Hillary Clinton on Wall Street, and Donald Trump to Pull-Ups (NYT)
Mr. Perry delivered his Wall Street reform speech at the Yale Club in New York, at a luncheon hosted by, among others, Steve Forbes and the economist Larry Kudlow. In it, he condemned Mrs. Clinton’s economic proposals and faulted former President Bill Clinton for policies that Mr. Perry said had contributed to the housing bubble and crash...After his speech, Mr. Perry was asked a handful of questions from the audience, including one from a reporter who recited a litany of criticisms from Mr. Trump. The real estate developer and rival GOP presidential candidate has said that Mr. Perry lacks the “brainpower” and “toughness” to be president, the questioner said, asking the former governor how he would respond if Mr. Trump was in the audience.

Vancouver man arrested after bizarre standoff (KPTV)
A Vancouver man was taken into police custody after a standoff that featured the suspect serenading officers with a banjo. Officers were called to the 8500 block of NE 36th Circle after reports of a naked man walking around with a knife. When they arrived at the man’s home, he refused to surrender. Neighbors saw the man, identified by police as Andrew Helmsworth, yelling at officers, and said at one point, Helmsworth walked outside with a banjo, which he played for the officers. Witnesses said the officers eventually subdued Helmsworth with what appeared to be a non-lethal round and took him into custody.

IMF Says Japan’s Growth to 2020 Will Be Worse Than in Deflation Years (Bloomberg)
Policies in place now point to expansion stuck around 0.65 percent from 2018 to 2020, versus an average 0.9 percent from 2000 to 2012, when Japan was locked in a deflationary funk.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Repeats as World's Strongest Bank (Bloomberg)
Hang Seng Bank can offer some advice to its ailing parent, HSBC Holdings: Stay local, stick to retail and commercial banking, and serve your customers snake soup. From its base in Hong Kong, Hang Seng tops Bloomberg Markets’ ranking of the world’s strongest banks for the second year in a row—by being everything HSBC isn’t. While the two share roots in Hong Kong, HSBC embarked on a global expansion to become Europe’s largest lender. It moved its headquarters to London in 1993 and set up shop in almost every major country.

Barclays says it lacks scale of US rivals (FT)
“When you look at the dominant investment banks, they are North American,” chairman John McFarlane said at his debut press conference. “They have the scale that we no longer have to be global, so we are going to have to focus on our core US and UK markets and our feeder network elsewhere.”

Man Who Used Rattlesnake As Weapon Has Used Hornets Before, Witness Says (HP)
An Arizona man suspected of entering a home uninvited and threatening to kill residents had an unwitting and unwilling accomplice: A rattlesnake he picked up somewhere in the wild. Nathaniel Buck Harrison, 38, of Oracle, was collared on July 23 after police said he entered a home and accused a man of "being a rat" who sent his friend to prison, according to ABC15.com. At some point during the altercation, Harrison broke a board over the 53-year-old victim's head, and tried to get his rattlesnake to bite the victim, police said...Harrison is no stranger attacking people with help of the animal kingdom, according to Suzi Riddell, the manager of the Justice Mobile Home Park, where the assault took place. "He has gone to other people that live in here with big hornet’s nests and tried to throw them in their door," Riddell told KVOA TV. "He gets a crazy idea, and wants to go with it."