Japan’s giant pension fund to buy more stocks || Draghi lauds ‘most successful’ ECB action || Soros returns to Japanese stocks || Glaxo’s Avandia scores FDA victory || LME chief Abbot plans to leave after $2.2bn takeover || Tech firms deny knowledge of secret US government efforts to tap their central servers for users’ data || Prosecutors to bring charges over Libor Read more

Just a short note from economist Jan Hatzius of Goldman Sachs reminding us that Friday’s employment situation report isn’t the only labour market indicator in town — and the others have revealed “a fairly mixed picture this month”:

1. Slightly better jobless claims. During the employment survey period (the week including the 12th of each month), initial jobless claims declined by 11,000 on a spot basis and 22,000 on a 4-week moving average basis. Continuing jobless claims were also down slightly. Read more

Elsewhere on Friday,

- One chart that bodes very poorly for job growth.

- Here come the Robo-journalists.

- The China-EU solar panel trade dispute analysed. Read more

Bear market for the Nikkei. The index entered bear territory after the strong yen pushed it down more than 1.3 per cent on Friday, bringing the decline since its May 23 peak to around 20 per cent. (Wall Street Journal) The Topix is down 18 per cent from its May high, but remains up 22 per cent for 2013.

Japan’s finance minister ruled out immediate intervention in the yen despite its 2.2 per cent jump against the dollar on Thursday and continued strength on Friday. “We are carefully watching, but we don’t have any immediate intention of taking any action, such as intervention,” Taro Aso said. (Bloomberg) The US dollar had at one point on Thursday dipped 3 per cent against the yen, a sell-off attributed to investors reversing views on how long the Fed will maintain QE3. (Financial Times) Read more

FURTHER FURTHER READING

- How much blame does Mervyn King deserve?

- Testing Abenomics.

- Has the US deficit monster been defeated? Read more

A fresh rout in Japanese equities was signalled on Thursday, with the Nikkei 225 June future touching 12,600 at pixel on the CME. That’s 300 points or so below the official close in Tokyo earlier and about 3,300 points below the high on the June contract seen last month.

(UPDATE: This is proper carnage again. Nikkie June future at 12300, down 600 points post-pixel) Read more

ECB and Draghi day || France is threatening to upstage talks on the EU-US trade pact || The ESM will likely have a €50bn-€70bn limit on direct investments in banks || London should hand Libor supervision to EU, says Brussels || Pro-austerity Finland falls into triple-dip recession || Gabon seeks to reclaim Chinese oil assets || IMF admits to errors in international bailout of Greece || NSA collecting Verizon customer data, Guardian says || FBI and Microsoft take down botnet criminal network || SAC Capital told employees it expects to stay open following a wave of client redemptions || Finra in the US has increased its scrutiny of dark pools || Markets roundup || FTAV’s latest Read more

Elsewhere on Thursday,

- Has BIS found the solution to too big to fail?

- How I learned to stop worrying and love the bond.

- The semantics of monetary policy. Read more

Asian shares fell back towards their 2013 lows. The MSCI Asia Pacific index fell 0.7 per cent, towards its level in January. Japan’s Nikkei swung to a loss from a 1.7 per cent increase earlier, and the Topix fell more than 1 per cent, down 15 per cent from the five-year high it set in May. (Bloomberg)

The ESM will likely have a €50bn-€70bn limit on direct investments in banks. The condition on the bailout fund’s draft direct recapitalisation tool was outlined in a policy paper following six months of talks on breaking the “vicious circle” between sovereigns and banks. The limit to recapitalisation funds reflects the higher provisions on this kind of investment compared to the ESM’s more normal practice of lending to governments. (Reuters) Read more

FURTHER FURTHER READING

- John Jeremiah Sullivan on the publication of Cotton Tenants.

- Early bird specials and US growth.

- Some good ideas on infrastructure and profit repatriation from Larry Summers.

- The mystery of why Portugal is so doomed. Read more

In this guest post, UBS global economist Paul Donovan argues that ending gender discrimination benefits us all…

__________ Read more

Abe unveils ‘third arrow’ reforms and Nikkei slumps again || China takes tit-for-tat move against EU wine exports || Apple could face a US import ban on certain iPhone and iPad models || Brazil got rid of its tax on foreign investment in domestic bonds || Australian growth disappointed in the first quarter || Japanese hedge funds have ploughed into the country’s small-cap stocks || More signs of ECB wariness ahead of Thursday’s meeting || Tesco recovery stalls as sales fall || JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley are designing new synthetic CDOs || JPMorgan’s Alabama debacle set to cost bank $1.5bn || HSBC has been landed with a civil lawsuit from the state of New York || MF Global is effectively out of bankruptcy || IKEA founder steps aside || Markets wrap || FTAV’s latest Read more