China cuts rates, Atlanta Fed, car sale comment, Greek PM comments

As the carpenter said about his piece of wood, ‘no matter how much I cut off it’s still too short’:

China’s central bank cut its benchmark lending rates by 25 basis points to 4.85 percent on Saturday, the fourth reduction since November, as it gears up to lower borrowing costs and support a slowing economy.

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) also reduced one-year benchmark deposit rates by 25 basis points to 2 percent, it said in a statement on its website, adding that the reductions would take effect on Sunday.

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Yes, car sales are up a bit, but seems import content is growing so it’s working against US GDP and employment?

Number of ‘American-made’ autos drops to new low

By Phil LeBeau

So why would the Prime Minister do this?

The Greek banks are ECB members, regulated and supervised by the ECB, with liquidity provided by the ECB. Should liquidity end, the ECB via the Bank of Greece simply stops making payments on that bank’s behalf. And why close the banks and prevent them from performing ongoing bank services that don’t require ECB liquidity, should it not be available as needed? Just more evidence that the Greek leaders aren’t playing with a full deck, so to speak…

Greek PM calls for bank closures, capital controls

By Phillip Tutt

June 29 (CNBC) —Despite a tweet from Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis that his government “opposed the very concept” of any controls, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said later Sunday that he had forced the country’s central bank to recommend a bank holiday and capital controls.