Rate hike comment, Container traffic, Employment comment

So a Fed rate hike is nothing more than the federal government deciding to pay more interest on what’s called ‘the public debt’.

By immediately paying more interest on balances in reserve accounts at the Fed the cost of funds to the banking system is supported at that higher level, all of which influences the interest paid on securities accounts at the Fed as well, which influences the term structure of rates.

Imports up, exports down:
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Seems to me there’s a substantial number of people who can ‘get by’ without a job, but would work if they could get a meaningful paycheck to allow them to, for example, remodel a room, or take a nicer vacation, etc. but won’t take a minimum wage job that doesn’t ‘move the needle’ in that respect. And they are not considered to be part of the labor force as defined, and therefore not unemployed. And this includes older people as well. However, as macro economic forces cause a certain amount of ‘desperation’ some do ‘trickle down’ to the lower paying jobs out of necessity, which accounts for quite a bit of the reported employment growth.

Comes back to the same thing- a whopping shortage of aggregate demand vs pre 2008 and pre 2001 levels, where people who can ‘get by’ were able to get good enough paying jobs to justify working:
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As previously discussed, mainstream game theory says the ‘labor market’ isn’t a ‘fair game’ as workers need to work to eat, and business hires only if it ‘wants to.’ The charts show what happened as support for labor was phased out:
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Employment chart, China trade, SNB

The red line tends to drag down the blue line, often when deficit spending gets too low:
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Exports drop again, imports drop more, so the trade surplus grows, and the US should see more imports and fewer exports, while euro zone imports are down which adds to their trade surplus:

China’s Trade Drop Means More Stimulus Measures Are Coming

Exports drop for a fourth month, import declines match record

Trade surplus to help ease currency depreciation pressure

China’s exports fell for a fourth straight month and imports matched a record stretch of declines, signaling that the mounting drag from slower global growth will push policy makers toward expanding stimulus.

Overseas shipments dropped 6.9 percent in October in dollar terms, the customs administration said Sunday, a bigger decline than estimated by all 31 economists in a Bloomberg survey. Weaker demand for coal, iron and other commodities for China’s declining heavy industries helped drag imports down 18.8 percent in dollar terms, leaving a record trade surplus of $61.6 billion.
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Fiscal stimulus this year includes more infrastructure spending and expanding the lending capacity for the China Development Bank and other policy banks. The PBOC has also made repeated reductions to the amount of reserves required of lenders.

Exports to Japan slumped 9 percent in the first 10 months from a year earlier, while those to the European Union declined 3.7 percent. Shipments to Hong Kong dropped 11.7 percent during the same period.

Slowing Growth

Exports to the U.S., China’s largest trading partner, jumped 5.8 percent in the first 10 months from a year earlier, while those to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations increased 4.2 percent. Shipments to India rose 8.9 percent.

Imports from all 10 of the major trade partners listed by the customs administration declined in the first 10 months. Imports from Australia, a major source of China’s iron ore during the real estate boom, plunged 25.7 percent.

The record trade surplus helped spur a surprise increase in foreign-exchange reserves in October despite an erosion of holdings after the PBOC intervened to boost the yuan. The central bank’s stockpile rose to $3.53 trillion last month from $3.51 trillion at the end of September, the PBOC said Saturday.

“The large trade surplus could offset capital outflow” and curb expectations for the yuan’s depreciation, Liu Ligang, chief Greater China economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. in Hong Kong, wrote in a note.

Looks like the Swiss National Bank, with about 550 billion in reserves in its portfolio obtained selling it’s currency for euro to hold the peg, may have been selling some of those euro to buy $ to buy US stocks:

SNB’s Stake in Apple, Microsoft, Exxon Rose in Third Quarter

By Catherine Bosley

Nov 4 (Bloomberg) — The Swiss National Bank owned more shares of Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp. in the third

quarter, taking its U.S. equity portfolio to $38.95 billion.

Switzerland’s central bank held 10.3 million shares in the iPhone maker on Sept. 30, according to a regulatory filing made to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and published on Wednesday. That compares with 9.4 million shares at the end of June, an increase of nearly 10 percent.

The SNB’s stake in Exxon rose by a similar extent, while in Microsoft it registered an increase of just over 9 percent.

CPI, Empire State Survey, Philly Fed, Brent Crude Price, Previous Banking Post

CPI, Empire State Survey, Philly Fed, Brent Crude Price, Previous Banking Post

Consumer Price Index
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Empire State Mfg Survey

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Highlights
Minus signs sweep the Empire State report with the headline at minus 11.36 which is more than 1 point below Econoday’s low end estimate. Looking at individual readings, new orders are in very deep trouble at minus 18.92 for a fifth straight month of contraction. And manufacturers in the region are not going to be able to turn to unfilled orders to keep busy with this reading extending a long string of contraction at minus 15.09 in September.

Lack of orders is showing up in shipments, which are at minus 13.61 for a third straight contraction, and in employment which is in a second month of contraction at minus 8.49. The workweek is down and delivery times are shortening, both consistent with weakening conditions. Price data show a second month of contraction for finished goods, which is another negative signal, and a narrowing and only marginal rise for prices of raw materials.

This report opens up the October look at manufacturing, and the results will raise talk that weak export markets may be taking an increasing toll on the sector. Watch later this morning for the Philly Fed report at 10:00 a.m. ET where contraction is also expected.

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Philadelphia Fed Business Outlook Survey

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Highlights
Contraction is seeping into the Mid-Atlantic manufacturing sector. The Philly Fed’s index for October, at minus 4.5, came in just below Econoday’s low-end estimate. This is the second drop in a row but, more importantly, contraction is now appearing in many of the report’s specific indexes including new orders which, at minus 10.6, fell 20.0 points from September. Unfilled orders, at minus 11.7, are extending their long contraction while shipments, at minus 6.1, are down 19.9 points from September. Employment, at minus 1.7, is now in contraction and down 11.9 points in the month. This report confirms the Empire State report released earlier this morning and points to accelerating declines for manufacturing, a sector that appears to be getting hit harder and harder by weak foreign markets.

And look when it peaked:
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Brent still going lower. Probably keeps going down until Saudis alter their discounts:
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I posted this Dec 14, 2014, and seems it’s coming into play:

Banking

Deflation is highly problematic for banks. Here’s what happened at my bank to illustrate the principle:

We had a $6.5 million loan on the books with $11 million of collateral backing it. Then, in 2009 the properties were appraised at only $8 million. This caused the regulators to ‘classify’ the loan and give it only $4 million in value for purposes of calculating our assets and capital. So our stated capital was reduced by $2.5 million, even though the borrower was still paying and there was more than enough market value left to cover us.

So the point is, even with conservative loan to value ratios of the collateral, a drop in collateral values nonetheless reduces a banks reported capital. In theory, that means if the banking system needs an 8% capital ratio, and is comfortably ahead at 10%, with conservative loan to value ratios, a 10% across the board drop in assets prices introduces the next ‘financial crisis’. It’s only a crisis because the regulators make it one, of course, but that’s today’s reality.

Additionally, making new loans in a deflationary environment is highly problematic in general for similar reasons. And the reduction in ‘borrowing to spend’ on energy and related capital goods and services is also a strong contractionary bias.

Exports, Bank Revenues, Chips, Japan, Mtg Purchase Apps, Oil Comment

At U.S. Ports, Exports Are Coming Up Empty

Oct 13 (WSJ) — In September, the Port of Long Beach Calif. handled 197,076 outbound empty boxes. September was the eighth straight month in which empty containers leaving Long Beach outnumbered those loaded with exports. Last month, however, Long Beach and the Port of Oakland both reported double-digit gains in exports of empty containers. So far this year, empties at the two ports are up more than 20% from a year earlier. Long Beach’s containerized exports were down 8.2% this year through September, while Oakland’s volume of outbound loaded containers fell 12.7% from a year earlier in the January-September period.

J.P. Morgan’s Revenue Slides

Oct 13 (WSJ) — J.P. Morgan Chase reported a profit of $6.8 billion, or $1.68 a share. That compares with a profit of $5.57 billion, or $1.35 a share, in the same period of 2014. Excluding $2.2 billion of tax benefits and other one-time items, earnings were $1.32 a share. Revenue fell 6.4% to $23.54 billion. Return on equity was 12% in the third quarter compared with 10% a year earlier. The bank continued to cut its workforce last quarter, shedding 1,781 people to 235,678. That includes reductions across its consumer & community banking and corporate divisions.
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Intel Profits Slide Amid PC Slump

Oct 13 (WSJ) — Intel said its third-quarter profit fell 6.3% from the year-earlier period on a small revenue decline. Intel issued an outlook for the current quarter that was in line with Wall Street estimates. In all, the chip maker reported third-quarter net income of $3.11 billion, or 64 cents a share, down from profit in the year-earlier period of $3.32 billion, or 66 cents a share. Revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 declined to $14.47 billion from $14.55 billion. Intel’s gross profit margin declined to 63% from 65%. It said 2015 capital spending will be about $7.3 billion, down from a projected $7.7 billion.

Good time to hit the brakes:

Abe orders preparation of multiple rates for 2017 sales tax hike

Oct 1(Kyodo) — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday ordered preparations for the introduction of multiple tax rates under the planned consumption tax hike in April 2017. Abe gave the instruction to former industry minister Yoichi Miyazawa, who is to replace Takeshi Noda as chairman of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s tax panel. The prime minister believes it is necessary to consider measures to avoid unnecessarily burdening smaller businesses, Miyazawa said. To ease the impact the government is considering introducing reduced tax rates for some items such as daily necessities.

Slowdown in emerging economies weakens Japanese real GDP outlook

Oct 14 (Nikkei) — Japan’s real gross domestic product inched up an annualized 0.55% from the previous quarter during the July-September period, a new survey of professional forecasters showed Tuesday, a considerable retreat from the 1.67% growth predicted in September. The experts saw exports growing 0.62%, less than half the 1.39% outlook in September. The survey pegged real economic growth for fiscal 2015 at 0.97%, down from September’s outlook of 1.11%. Official government estimates from July see a 1.5% advance. The economists also cut real GDP growth for fiscal 2016 from 1.7% in September to 1.59%.

Giving back last week’s gains, and then some as housing remains depressed:

MBA Mortgage Applications

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Mortgage applications decreased 27.6 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending October 9, 2015.

The Refinance Index decreased 23 percent from the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 34 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 34 percent compared with the previous week and was 1 percent lower than the same week one year ago.

Don’t forget, Saudis did cut price/increased discounts on October 5 for November deliveries:
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Bank capital and lending comment

So the idea is that with higher capital ratios banks are less prone to ‘get in trouble’.

So let’s say minimum capital requirements go from 8% to 10%. Most banks try to stay about 1% over the limit to be safely compliant.

That means that when requirements were 8%, most banks had 9% to be ‘safe’ and with 10% required, banks are at 11% to be ‘safe’

Now let’s say today’s banks have losses of 2% of capital, which brings them down to 9%, 1% under the new limit. When that happens is the regulators call it a ‘troubled bank’ and suspend new lending until ‘good standing’ is restored. And cessation of bank lending triggers a general, downward, pro cyclical credit contraction.

In other words, the increase in capital requirements didn’t prevent the same 2% drop in capital from having the same negative effect.

Yes, the increased capital may help to protect ‘tax payer money’ to some degree should banks be liquidated, but it does nothing to protect the macro economy from a contractionary pro cyclical downward spiral.

And all it takes is a drop in asset prices to shut down lending, a risk I pointed out late last year when oil prices collapsed. Stocks were the cheapest source of borrowing for many, and with that equity evaporating that lending contracts. Lending vs commodities related collateral also contracts. etc.

China, Saudi Output, Credit Check

This monetarist stuff doesn’t work:

China removes regulation on loan-to-deposit ratio

Aug 28 (Xinhua) — China’s top legislature on Saturday adopted an amendment to the Law on Commercial Banks, removing a 75-percent loan-to-deposit ratio stipulation. China has kept the 75-percent ratio since the law was enacted and put into effect in 1995. “The ratio was set to prevent overly quick expansion of commercial banks’ credit scale and control liquidity risk, but it has become improper for current needs,” said Shang Fulin, chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission. Such an outdated ratio is now hindering the already market-oriented banks to better support the real economy, Shang said.

And this kind of stuff will further slow things down:

Obama

By Carlos Tejada

Aug 30 (WSJ) — China Places Cap on Local Government Debt () Chinese lawmakers have placed a 16-trillion-yuan cap on local government debt. The Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress imposed a 600 billion yuan limit on the direct debt local governments are allowed to run up this year. That would be on top of 15.4 trillion yuan on debt owed by local governments as of the end of 2014. The caps don’t include indirect liabilities, which officials said totaled 8.6 trillion yuan. The latest government estimate put China’s local debt load at 17.9 trillion yuan as of the middle of 2013, up from negligible levels just six years before, including debt held indirectly.

Saudi output fell only a small amount, indicating that demand held reasonably steady at that level at their posted prices, and that they remain comfortably control of price:
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Growth still slowing:
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This one’s showing steady growth, though low still very low:
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LA Port Traffic, Greek Banks, Recession Without Financial Crisis

Another weak export report. No mention of the drop in oil prices reduced foreign incomes.

LA area Port Traffic: Weakness in June

by Bill McBride on 7/20/2015 09:57:00 AM

Note: There were some large swings in LA area port traffic earlier this year due to labor issues that were settled on February 21st. Port traffic surged in March as the waiting ships were unloaded (the trade deficit increased in March too), and port traffic declined in April. Perhaps traffic in June is closer to normal.

Container traffic gives us an idea about the volume of goods being exported and imported – and usually some hints about the trade report since LA area ports handle about 40% of the nation’s container port traffic.

The following graphs are for inbound and outbound traffic at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in TEUs (TEUs: 20-foot equivalent units or 20-foot-long cargo container).

To remove the strong seasonal component for inbound traffic, the first graph shows the rolling 12 month average.

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On a rolling 12 month basis, inbound traffic was down 0.4% compared to the rolling 12 months ending in May. Outbound traffic was down 0.9% compared to 12 months ending in May.

The recent downturn in exports might be due to the strong dollar and weakness in China.

Read more at Calculated Risk Blog

Reads like they still don’t have a clue about how banking works:

The Greek government ordered banks to open on Monday, three weeks after they were shut down to prevent the system collapsing under a flood of withdrawals,

That doesn’t cause collapse. Depositors might have to wait for their Euro. That’s all. No reason for the govt. to close the banks. Reads to me like the govt. thinks that Euro needed to run the economy, pay taxes, etc. would leave the country, or something like that. Makes no sense.

As Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras looked to the start of new bailout talks next week.

The first action of the new cabinet was to sign off on a decree to reopen banks on Monday with slightly more flexible withdrawal limits that allow a maximum of 420 euros a week in place of the strict limit of 60 euros a day currently in place.

But restrictions on transfers abroad and other capital controls remain in place.

It’s up to the banks to set their limits based on how much liquidity they have available.

Also:

Three week shutdown of Greece banks cost the economy an estimated €3B, not counting lost tourism revenue – press – Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry (EBEA) says some 4,500 containers with raw materials and finished products are blocked at customs.

Additionally, €6B in business transactions were frozen by the bank shutdown.- Retailers lost about €600M in business, with apparel taking the main blow. Exporters lost €240M.

Source: TradeTheNews.com

Yes, negative growth and recession sometimes happens without a domestic financial
crisis, and without any financial crisis globally as well.

Lots of things can cause deficit spending- both non government (private sector) and government together- from being insufficient to offset agents desiring to spend less than their incomes.

Sometimes it’s a sudden obstruction to lending and sometimes it’s not.

Sometimes the agents spending more than their incomes just fade away. For a government allowing the deficit to get too small is a political choice, sometimes well informed but most often misguided.

For the private sector it could be insufficient income, or any reason it simply doesn’t want to borrow to spend or spend from savings.

And the private sector tends to be pro cyclical. That is, should GDP growth decline, private sector borrowing to spend tends to taper as well, as credit worthiness deteriorates, causing the slowdown to get worse. This downward process continues until some agent starts spending more than its income, which historically is government, as tax revenues fall and transfer payments increase with rising unemployment from the downward spiral.

So looks to me like it was the oil capex that was keeping up with the demand leakages, and when that collapsed as prices fell the demand leakages got the upper hand. And so far no sign of anything else stepping up its spending enough to move the GDP needle.

Fed Testimony

Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress

By Janet Yellen

Looking forward, prospects are favorable for further improvement in the U.S. labor market and the economy more broadly. Low oil prices

Still seems to leave out the fact that a dollar saved by the buyer of oil is a dollar lost by the seller.

And ongoing employment gains should continue to bolster consumer spending, financial conditions generally remain supportive of growth,

Yes, but the growth rate of lending has only been relatively modest and stable

And the highly accommodative monetary policies abroad should work to strengthen global growth.

Low and negative rates and quantitative easing now have a very long history of not resulting in increased aggregate demand.

In addition, some of the headwinds restraining economic growth, including the effects of dollar appreciation on net exports and the effect of lower oil prices on capital spending, should diminish over time.

Yes, but the question is what will replace the lost capital spending? Without that incremental capital expenditure, growth, at best, stagnates and likely goes negative as the ‘demand leakages’ continue to grow.

Also, the weakness in U.S. exports is partially the consequence of lower oil prices as reduced U.S. expense for imported oil = reduced income available to non residents to import U.S. goods and services. And the decline in global oil capital expenditures works against global growth and U.S. exports as well.

As a result, the FOMC expects U.S. GDP growth to strengthen over the remainder of this year and the unemployment rate to decline gradually. As always, however, there are some uncertainties in the economic outlook. Foreign developments, in particular, pose some risks to U.S. growth. Most notably, although the recovery in the Euro area appears to have gained a firmer footing,

That’s due to the weak Euro helping their exports. You can’t have it both ways- if the dollar becomes less of a headwind for the U.S., the Euro will become less of a tailwind for the EU.

The situation in Greece remains difficult. And China continues to grapple with the challenges posed by high debt, weak property markets, and volatile financial conditions. But economic growth abroad could also pick up more quickly than observers generally anticipate, providing additional support for U.S. economic activity.

This again assumes lower rates and quantitative easing are accommodative, particularly in the EU and China

The U.S. economy also might snap back more quickly as the transitory influences holding down first-half growth fade and the boost to consumer spending from low oil prices shows through more definitively.

Again, still assumes lower oil prices are a net positive.

Fed labor market index, ISM non manufacturing index, Bank lending, Greece

Prior month revised lower and this month lower
so Fed that much less likely to raise rates:

Labor Market Conditions Index
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Highlights
Growth in the nation’s labor market remains subdued with the labor market conditions index at plus 0.8 in June vs a revised plus 0.9 in May. The reading is barely over zero and underscores last week’s soft employment report. The Fed won’t be any hurry to begin raising its overnight policy rate based on June’s employment data.

Ok, number but less than Q1, with export orders and employment growth slowing:

ISM Non-Mfg Index
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Highlights
Rates of growth in ISM’s non-manufacturing report held steady and solid in June, at a composite index of 56.0 for a 3 tenths gain from May. New orders are strong, at 58.3 for a 4 tenths gain with backlogs back over 50 at 50.5 for a 2 point gain. Growth in export orders slowed but still held over 50 at 52.0 in a reminder that services exports, unlike goods exports, are in surplus.

Other readings include a strong reading for business activity, up 2.0 points to 61.5, a gain offset by slowing in employment to 52.7 from a strong four-month streak over the 55 level. The report’s price reading slowed slightly to 53.0, a soft level contrasting with inflationary signals in this morning’s PMI service report.

A strong signal in this report is wide breadth among 18 industries with 15 showing growth with two of the exceptions, however, including mining and construction. Contraction in the latter is a surprise given wide indications of growth in housing.

This report is solid but, together with the PMI services index, point to a lack of acceleration for the end of the second quarter.
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To my point right after oil prices fell- banks will see large declines in the value of collateral backing their loans which could lead to capital write downs and institution specific lending restrictions, further dampening sales, output, and employment:

Banks Face Curbs on Oil, Gas Lending

By Gillian Tan, Ryan Tracy and Ryan Dezember

July 3 (WSJ) — U.S. regulators are sounding the alarm about banks’ exposure to oil-and-gas producers, a move that could limit their ability to lend to companies battered by a yearlong slump in prices.


The Federal Reserve, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. are telling banks that a large number of loans they have issued to these companies are substandard, said people familiar with the matter, as they issue preliminary results of a joint national examination of major loan portfolios.

The substandard designation indicates regulators doubt a borrower’s ability to repay or question the value of the assets that back a loan. The designation typically limits banks’ ability to extend additional credit to the borrowers.


The move could add an extra obstacle to companies struggling with high debt loads amid lower prices for the oil and natural gas they produce. Banks have been flexible with troubled energy companies to avoid triggering a flood of defaults and bankruptcy filings, but regulatory pressure could force them to tighten the purse strings.


This year’s Shared National Credit review process contrasts with those in prior years, when regulators didn’t broadly disagree with the banks’ own ratings of credit facilities known as reserve-based loans, the people said. But regulators are paying closer attention to these loans amid worries that a sustained slump in energy prices could lead to big losses for banks, they added.

Twice a year, banks themselves review the value of oil and gas deposits that companies have the right to extract and use as collateral for bank loans. Declines in commodity prices can prompt lenders to reduce their commitments to companies. The effects of such reductions can cascade through energy companies’ capital structures and require them to look elsewhere for funds.

Earlier this year, a number of energy producers sold bonds, took out term loans or sold new shares to replace shrinking reserve-based loans. While some of those moves were forced, others were pre-emptive.

Large energy lenders include Wells Fargo & Co., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp.

Regulators declined to discuss their conversations with specific banks but have been raising concerns about energy loans. On Tuesday, the OCC, in a semiannual report on emerging risks, said it is monitoring oil-and-gas production loans and said the “significant decline in oil prices in 2014 could put pressure on loan portfolios.” The report didn’t detail the examination of reserve-based loans.

The latest effort comes amid a broader crackdown on lending that regulators consider risky. In 2013, the Fed, OCC and FDIC issued guidance to deter banks from issuing leveraged loans that would increase the companies’ debt loads to levels they consider too high.

Bankers said they are concerned that this latest effort could push some struggling borrowers over the edge, which could, in turn, create more pain for the banks.

“They’re taking a broad brush to the entire sector and not really differentiating between secured and unsecured loans,” one senior leveraged-finance banker said of regulators’ treatment of reserve-based loans.

A number of energy companies already have filed for bankruptcy protection, and others are exploring options to raise capital or restructure their debt loads.

So far, the suffering hasn’t been as widespread as was initially feared when prices plummeted last year.

Bankers are selectively appealing some substandard ratings, especially for companies that can reduce spending and pay down some debt, said people familiar with the matter.


But for the companies that retain the negative rating, any issuance of new debt will likely need to reflect an improvement in creditworthiness, the people said. Options include the addition of loan terms known as covenants, which protect lenders but can increase a company’s risk of default.


Banks may turn to equity or bonds to supply additional financing to borrowers with the substandard designation, some of the people said, though both are costlier for companies than loans.

Analysts expect the oil slump to begin taking a greater toll on companies this fall, when banks review their reserve-based loans. In a note to clients this week, Wells Fargo Securities analysts said that only 30% of the expected oil output in 2016 from the companies they track has been presold at above-market prices, versus 56% of crude production that was hedged this year.


The analysts also said the prolonged period of lower revenue could push more companies closer to violating agreements with creditors to maintain certain profitability levels, and that they expect stock investors to be “more discerning” when offered new shares from heavily indebted companies.

The ECB has begun the move to remove the eligibility of Greek debt as collateral for ECB loans:

ECB maintains emergency assistance for Greek banks, but adjusts haircut on collateral

By Everett Rosenfeld and Matt Clinch

Now that the EU realizes it doesn’t need Greece, the terms are unlikely to be altered. With Greek leadership still committed to staying with the euro and the EU, they take on the role of beggars.

“Even if it came to a collapse of some individual banks, the risk of contagion is relatively small,” Schaeuble told Bild. “The markets have reacted with restraint in the last few days. That shows that the problem is manageable.”

Greek Leaders Says Goal Is to Secure Country’s Financing

By By Eleni Chrepa and Constantine Courcoulas

July 5 (Bloomberg) — Greek party leaders seek solution that secures country’s financing needs, reforms, growth plan and talks on Greek debt sustainability, according to joint statement sent by the Greek president’s office.
Immediate priority is to restore liquidity for Greek economy in cooperation with the ECB
Joint statement signed by Greek PM Alexis Tsipras, acting New Democracy leader Evangelos Meimarakis, Potami party leader Stavros Theodorakis and Pasok party leader Fofi Gennimata
NOTE: Earlier, Greek Showdown Looms With Europe Demanding Tsipras Make Move Link


*GREEK LEADERS: REFERENDUM GIVES NO MANDATE FOR RUPTURE

The call for humanitarian aide puts Greece in a category with other depressed nations seeing that kind of assistance, as Greece turns into a footnote:

European Parliament president: Need to urgently discuss humanitarian aid for Greece

July 5 (CNBC) — European institutions need to urgently discuss a humanitarian aid program for Greece, the …