Opening Bell: 7.18.16

Lira Drops Most in 8 Years as Stock Futures Sink on Turkey Clash (Bloomberg)
Turkey’s lira plunged the most in eight years, an exchange-traded fund tied to the country’s shares declined and U.S. Treasuries ticked higher after Turkey’s army said it seized power and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asserted that he remains in control. U.S. stock futures slipped.

Turkish Bank Postpones $300 Million Bond Sale Meeting on Unrest (Bloomberg)
Sekerbank TAS, an Istanbul-based lender owned by its employee pension fund and Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund, postponed investor meetings for a proposed bond sale after a coup attempt against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

HSBC plans more job cuts amid $5B budget cut (NYP)
The embattled bank, which has been struggling to cut costs, is preparing to cut about 15 bond traders across New York, Europe, and Asia as soon as Monday, sources told The Post.

Bridgewater, World’s Biggest Hedge Fund, Is Said to Be Slowing Hiring (Dealbook)
The $154 billion hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, run by the billionaire Ray Dalio, is known for hiring hundreds of people every year. Yet it is now telling recruitment firms to cancel interviews with prospective employees, according to three people briefed on the matter. In recent weeks, dozens of interviews were canceled and advanced negotiations with prospective employees were cut short by the firm, those people said. And some of the firm’s external recruiters have been told Bridgewater will not use them for the time being, said the people, who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Man Quits Job To Become Full-Time ‘Pokemon Go’ Player (HP)
A New Zealand man has quit his job to fully devote himself to hunting Pokemon. Tom Currie, 24, was working as a barista and bartender at a restaurant on the Hibiscus Coast when he was overcome by “Pokemon Go” mania. “I wanted to have an adventure,” Currie told The Guardian. “I have been working for six years and I was desperate for a break. And Pokemon gave me the chance to live that dream.” Currie plans to take a two-month trip around New Zealand in his quest to catch all the creatures in the game. As of this week, he already had at least 90 of the 151 Pokemon.

Draghi to ask governments to chip in to counter Brexit fallout (Reuters)
European Central Bank President Mario Draghi is likely to plead for governments to do more to boost the euro zone's economy in the coming week as the fallout of Britain's vote to leave the EU and weaker global growth threaten the bloc's fragile recovery. Governments in China, Japan and Britain have already started easing their fiscal stance or hinted at plans to do so as sub-par global growth and inflation show that central banks' ultra-easy monetary policy has run up against its limit.

Japanese firms' succession problem is a boon for private equity dealmakers (Reuters)
The number of older owners has been rising, and a low birth rate means that there are often precious few heirs to take over from them. Even when the owners have children, they often reject the idea of taking over from their parents, while some just don't have the mojo for business, according to private equity investors and a government official who have studied the question. And with private equity firms increasingly scouring for value among small and medium-sized companies that may have great products but haven't had access to the capital needed to fulfill their potential, there are an increasing number of matches being made. Sometimes the firms are sold outright, on other occasions the private equity firm will initially take a partial stake with a view to controlling the entire company at a later date.

Saudi Push for Tech Deals Stirs Silicon Valley Debate (WSJ)
As Saudi Arabia and its oil-rich sovereign-wealth fund prepare to become bigger players in tech deal making, Silicon Valley insiders are weighing the consequences. Technology investors like to tout the social benefits of the companies they support. But the industry often overlooks investors’ own principles and beliefs, focusing more on their investment record and size of their checks. To some venture capitalists and founders, Uber’s agreement with Saudi Arabia represented its tacit endorsement of that government. Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world where women aren’t allowed to drive, and one of several countries where homosexuality is illegal.

Florida man fights to keep pizza-loving pet alligator (UPI)
A Florida man is asking state wildlife officials to allow him to keep the pizza-loving alligator that has been his pet for 47 years. David Van Buren, a retired firefighter, said the male gator, named Gwendolyn due to a mistaken identification of the reptile's sex when it was young, has been his pet since he was 9 years old and currently resides in his Coconut Grove back yard. Van Buren said Gwendolyn is equally happy indoors. "Once he was in the house, he didn't want to leave. I think it took us like three weeks to get him to go back outside. He was on the couch all the time, or in the bathtub," he told WTVT-TV. Florida Fish and Wildlife officials said they opened an investigation after receiving a complaint about the 13-foot alligator, which is particularly fond of pizza and Chips Ahoy cookies.