Good morning,
Another day, another round of talks with Greece. Meanwhile, Russian rebels in Ukraine are heading to the Internet to crowdfund supplies. President Putin is tacitly approving the efforts. Don’t expect to see a Kickstarter anytime soon. The big number in the U.S. today: Retail sales, expected to rise 1.1% in May, will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. And all you social media lubbers, the Facebook annual meeting kicks off Thursday at 8 a.m. ET.
Europe extends gains as dollar strengthens. Traders are betting the Federal Reserve will move ahead with a rate hike, which should give European businesses an edge. Many are still concerned about global demand, especially from China, where fixed investment grew at the slowest pace in 14 years. Reuters
Tsipras vows to turn his efforts all the way up to 11. The dramatic 3-D chess game between Greece and its creditors is set to go up a notch as Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras promises German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande that he will boost his efforts to find a deal before the upcoming deadline. Bloomberg
Hackers prefer to target energy companies. According to Symantec, cyberinvaders had attcked 43$ of “global mining, oil and gas companies at least once last year.” Rival company Trend Micro Inc., says its survey shows 47% of energy firms have reported attacks — “the highest among all corporate sectors and surpassed only by governments.” Blomberg
DSK isn’t a pimp, he just has bad taste. Dominique Strauss-Khan’s epic courtroom battle has out-everythinged everyone’s favorite legal drama so far, and with the aggravated pimping charges looking set to be dismissed this Friday, it might even have a better ending. However, the case may have left a tiny bit of collateral damage for the former IMF chieftain, as Parisian lawyer Christopher Mesnooh says: “He hasn’t been found guilty of anything so far, other than perhaps bad taste.” Bloomberg
Putin makes the Pope wait – again. Perhaps a little unsatisfied with the 50 minutes he had the Pope waiting for him back in 2013, Putin stretched it out a little bit longer this year to make the leader of 1.2 billion Catholics wait a full 70 minutes before appearing. After a long, awkward pause, Pope Francis broke the ice by talking about peace in Ukraine. Bloomberg
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