The Morning Read

Here's a breakdown of what I'm reading this morning:

• Farmland losing its bid - (WSJ)
• Italy braces for government showdown  - (WSJ)
• Cuba's reward for the dutiful: gated housing - (NYT)
• For Venezuela, bonds create a bind - (WSJ)
• From inventory denial to acceptance in aluminum - (FT Alphaville)
• Chart watchers: don't believe the bounce in stocks - (WSJ)

"It is an absurd and silly notion that international credit must be limited to the quantity of gold dug up out of the ground. Was there ever such mumbo-jumbo among sensible and reasonable men?"

Let us take a look at the markets, shall we?

At the time of this writing (6:34am EST) it looks like most major markets have sold off. Asia is being led lower by Japan, with the Nikkei 225 down 1.8%. European markets are a touch off: FTSE -0.7%, DAX -0.30%.

Currently, US futures are pointing to a lower open: S&P -9.00 (-0.50%) Dow -76.00 (-0.48%) and Nasdaq -17.75 (-0.49%), treasuries up a bit, 10-year at 125;175 (+0.24%). The economic calendar this week is light, so I would expect to see a continued pause or some profit taking around current levels for the major indices.

Last night I read an interesting article on Tesla Motors' (WSJ) fight with a car dealer's association in Columbus, Ohio. It seems as though Elon Musk wants desperately to avoid selling his vehicles via the dealer franchise model, and dealers want desperately the state of Ohio to refrain from giving Tesla a dealer's license. Tesla has accomplished a lot of "firsts" in the automobile industry (or, at the very least, a lot of "firsts in a long while"); might this seemingly small battle over distribution carry with it large implications? I'm not sure, but more than willing to take a look.

Put the odds in your favor today.