Press Review: Tsipras Returns to Reality After Meetings with Putin

BLOOMBERG

Tsipras Returns to Reality After Meetings with Putin

When his plane touches back down in Athens, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will be quickly reacquainted with reality.

Talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Wednesday focused on a proposed energy pipeline, future investments and sanctions over the conflict in Ukraine, a meeting that had been dismissed before it began by Germany and France as a sideshow. With a payment made to the International Monetary Fund on Thursday depleting Greek cash reserves still further, it's back to haggling with creditors in the euro region over a financial lifeline.

"There's been a big fuss over this trip without immediate economic benefits," said Dimitris Sotiropoulos, an associate professor of political science at the University of Athens. "Now he needs to do something quickly. There's an unbalanced negotiation now, where the Greek side is prepared on some issues and completely unprepared on others."

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-08/tsipras-returns-to-reality-after-putin-with-greek-cash-depleting

REUTERS
Fed officials say June rate hike still in play, hinges on data

(Reuters) - The Federal Reserve could still hike interest rates in June despite weak recent U.S. data and investor skepticism, two influential officials with the central bank said on Wednesday, putting the spotlight squarely on the economy's performance in the next two months.

Disappointing U.S. jobs growth, manufacturing activity, and retail sales over the winter had pushed market expectations for a rate hike to later in the year. June has long been seen as the earliest the Fed could tighten policy, after more than six years of near-zero rates.

But New York Fed President William Dudley and Fed Governor Jerome Powell on Wednesday sketched out scenarios in which the central bank could make an initial move earlier than many now expect and then proceed in a slow and gradual manner on further rate increases.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/09/us-usa-fed-idUSKBN0MZ1UK20150409

BLOOMBERG

For Yuan Short-Sellers, There's One Big Reason to Drop the Trade

There are plenty of things luring short-sellers to the Chinese yuan right now.

Growth is slowing. Capital is flowing out. And by some measures, the yuan is the most overvalued currency in the world.

Yet there's one big reason not to bet against it: the People's Bank of China is on the other side of the trade.

Chinese policy makers will do whatever it takes to ensure a stable exchange rate before the International Monetary Fund starts discussing the possibility of adding the yuan to the ranks of the world's reserve currencies in May, according to Barclays Plc and DBS Group Holdings. They've already been tapping their almost $4 trillion in foreign reserves to do this, spending an estimated $33 billion in the first quarter to halt a slump that had sent the yuan to a two-year low in March.

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-09/china-s-imf-ambitions-send-warning-signal-to-yuan-short-sellers