Opening Bell: 7.6.16

Yield Curve Shows 60% Chance of Recession, Deutsche Bank Says (WSJ)
The so-called yield curve suggests there’s a 60% chance of a U.S. recession occurring in the next 12 months, according to analysts at Deutsche Bank, led by Dominic Konstam. The calculations attach the highest probability to an economic contraction since the financial crisis.

Financial Strain Grows From ‘Brexit’ Vote (Dealbook)
The financial strains from Britain’s vote to leave the European Union are starting to show, as worries ripple through the country’s real estate market. In the most prominent sign of the pressure, three major real estate funds have frozen withdrawals in the last two days, to slow the exodus of nervous investors. By doing so, the funds are trying to prevent a vicious cycle of selling that could force them to dump assets at ultralow prices, deepen losses and prompt more investors to rush for the exit.

London's financial district urges fast action on EU trade terms (Reuters)
Banks, asset managers and clearing houses in Britain currently serve customers across the EU under a passport system that give access to the single market if they comply with all the bloc's regulations. Britain will have to negotiate new trading terms with the EU but it is unclear if any passporting rights will be maintained. Without them, banks in Britain could be cut off from a large chunk of the European market.

Apple’s Results May Be Hit by Brexit Economic Fallout, Citi Says (Bloomberg)
An economic slowdown and currency fluctuations following the U.K.’s June 23 referendum are contributing to weaker demand for Apple devices, according to Citigroup Global Markets analyst Jim Suva. The vote result is intensifying a broader challenge facing Apple of customers not upgrading their iPhones as frequently. With the outlook unlikely to improve any time soon, Suva predicts Apple’s financial results will come in below Wall Street’s projections.

North Carolina Couple Arrested For Assaulting Each Other With Tasty, Tasty Pizza Rolls (TSG)
Meet Brad Beard and Samantha Canipe. The young couple was arrested early yesterday for attacking each other with pizza rolls inside their North Carolina residence, according to police. Summoned to the Gastonia apartment around 1 AM, cops reported that Beard, 24, and Canipe, 21, had “assaulted each other by throwing pizza rolls at each other.” A Gastonia Police Department report does not reveal whether the bite-size delicacies were hot or cold (or whether anyone was injured during the fracas).

Ashley Madison faces FTC fembots probe (FT)
Ashley Madison, the adultery website that was hacked last year, is under investigation by the US Federal Trade Commission for its use of bots to chat with paying male customers, the company said. The dating website was attacked by cybercriminals last summer, exposing the identities of its would-be adulterer subscribers and internal documents that appeared to show that it used so-called fembots so that men would believe they were engaging with real women willing to have an affair...Ashley Madison, which used to advertise itself with the tagline “Life is short. Have an affair” is trying to reposition itself as the dating website for the “open-minded” and people with an “adventurous spirit”, rather than strictly those looking for extramarital affairs. It is looking at acquisitions, partnerships and a total rebranding, Mr Millership said.

Marissa Mayer didn’t make the cut at tech tycoon conference (NYP)
Who’s in and who’s out at Yahoo? The latest clues may lie on the invite list for this week’s dealmaking scrum in Sun Valley. Yahoo boss Marissa Mayer — who last year scored an invite to Allen & Company’s annual shindig for tech tycoons and media moguls but who was apparently a no-show at the swanky Idaho resort — didn’t make this year’s cut, according to a list obtained by The Post. Nor did Silicon Valley dealmaker Nikesh Arora, who just got booted from his job last month as president at SoftBank, the Japanese conglomerate that’s seen as a gatekeeper for any Yahoo sale by virtue of its big stake in Yahoo Japan.

Gold is poised to go 'much higher,' says BlackRock's Koesterich (CNBC)
Gold is one of the few good hedges right now, and that means it is poised to go "much higher," BlackRock's Russ Koesterich said Tuesday. With bond yields falling around the globe, investors have been flocking to the precious metal. Gold is up about 28 percent year to date. "The reality is we are in an environment where the economy is slow, volatility is likely to be heightened. In that volatility, you need some hedge in your portfolio and there are few of them that work as reliably as gold," he told CNBC's "Closing Bell."

Cops Find $10 Million Worth Of Cocaine Inside Blinged-Out Horse’s Head (HP)
New Zealand made its biggest ever cocaine bust after finding $10 million worth of the drug stashed inside a diamante-encrusted sculpture of a horse’s head. Police officers and customs officials seized the artwork, which weighed 880 pounds, shortly after it was freighted into the country from Mexico in early May. They opened it up and were stunned to discover 35 bricks of high-grade cocaine inside.a