GATA | THE GATA DISPATCH - November 25, 2015: Two Articles: Class-Action Suit Accuses Big Banks of Interest-Rate Swap Fixing | Pimco, Others Sue Citigroup Over Billions in Mortgage Debt Losses.

Class-action suit accuses big banks of interest-rate swap fixing

Submitted by cpowell on November 25, 2015.  By Mike Kentz
Reuters
Wednesday, November 25, 2015
NEW YORK -- A class-action lawsuit, filed today, accuses 10 of Wall Street's biggest banks and two trading platforms of conspiring to limit competition in the $320 trillion market for interest rate swaps.
The class action lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, accuses Goldman Sachs, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Barclays, BNP Paribas, UBS, Deutsche Bank, and the Royal Bank of Scotland of colluding to prevent the trading of interest rate swaps on electronic exchanges, like the ones on which stocks are traded.
As a result, the lawsuit alleges, banks have successfully prevented new competition from non-banks in the lucrative market for dealing interest rate swaps, the world's most commonly traded derivative.
The banks "have been able to extract billions of dollars in monopoly rents, year after year, from the class members in this case," the lawsuit alleged. ...

CMI Spot Prices as of Close of Trading in New York on November 25, 2015.

Spot Prices as of traditional New York closing times Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Gold Today Change Week Ago Month Ago Year Ago $1,072.40 -$2.90 $1,070.20 $1,167.60 $1,197.80

Silver Today Change Week Ago Month Ago Year Ago $14.20 +$0.02 $14.11 $15.94 $16.65

Platinum Today Change Week Ago Month Ago Year Ago $846.40 +$2.10 $850.40 $999.60 $1,230.70

Palladium Today Change Week Ago Month Ago Year Ago $555.00 +$11.30 $537.00 $686.20 $803.50

Gold/Silver Ratio 75.53

The Guardian | World | Americas | Brazil - November 26, 2015 - 01:07GMT: Senior Brazilian Senator and Billionaire CEO Both Arrested for Corruption.

theguardian.com

Senior Brazilian senator and billionaire CEO both arrested for corruption

Brazilian police have arrested the ruling party’s leader in the senate and the head of Latin America’s biggest independent investment bank as part of a corruption investigation.
Banker André Esteves, the billionaire CEO and controlling shareholder of BTG Pactual SA, was arrested at his home in Rio de Janeiro.
Meanwhile in Brasilia, police arrested a ruling Workers’ party senator, Delcídio do Amaral, 60, a veteran lawmaker who runs the senate’s economic affairs committee and has been key to Dilma Rousseff’s efforts to impose austerity measures.
Brazil’s currency fell more than 2% on Wednesday as the corruption scandal centred on state-run oil firm Petrobras threatened Rousseff’s fragile coalition in Congress.
Amaral is among 50 Brazilian politicians under investigation for allegedly taking bribes in the kickback scandal. His arrest caused national shock – it is the first ever for a sitting senator in the country.

WSJ | Forex Closing on November 25, 2015.

The Wall Street Journal

Forex Closing

Major Currencies Wednesday, November 25, 2015 Last US$ vs. Americas in US$ per US$ % chg Argentina peso 0.1038 9.6338 -0.28 Brazil real 0.2672 3.7430 1.16 Canada dollar 0.7526 1.3288 -0.14 Chile peso 0.001402 713.20 0.18 Colombia peso 0.0003255 3071.94 -0.41 Ecuador US dollar 1 1 unch Mexico peso 0.0606 16.5026 -0.18 Peru new sol 0.2960 3.3784 0.16 Uruguay peso 0.03388 29.5200 0.07 Venezuela bolivar 0.15853262 6.3079 unch Asia-Pacific

WSJ Major Indexes Closing on November 25, 2015.

The Wall Street Journal

Major Indexes Closing

Major Indexes		5:45 p.m. EST 11/25/15
Last Chg % Chg DJIA* 17813.39 1.20 0.01 DJ Transportation Average* 8172.05 -2.86 -0.03 DJ Utility Average* 560.63 -2.65 -0.47 Nasdaq* 5116.14 13.33 0.26 Nasdaq 100* 4672.88 3.47 0.07 S&P 500* 2088.87 -0.27 -0.01 S&P 400 Mid-Cap* 1464.25 5.22 0.36 S&P 600 Small-Cap* 707.25 4.20 0.60 DJ Total Stock Market* 21652.42 19.10 0.09 NYSE Composite* 10450.37 0.65 0.01 NYSE Financial* 6486.68 -0.84 -0.01 Russell 2000* 1198.01 9.20 0.77 NYSE MKT Composite* 2266.55 5.72 0.25 KBW Bank* 75.64 0.01 0.01 PHLX Gold/Silver* 45.96 -0.19 -0.41 PHLX Housing Sector* 244.29 0.71 0.29 PHLX Oil Service* 180.13 -0.60 -0.33 PHLX Semiconductor* 666.09 0.47 0.07 * at close See All Major U.S. Indexes

The Guardian | World | Australia | Austrian Politics - November 26, 2015 - 00:54GMT Government to Release New National Trrorism Threat Advisory System

theguardian.com

Government to release new national terrorism threat advisory system

Gabrielle Chan

Aprox.

4m ago01:50

Terror threat remains the same

Under the old system the terrorist threat is known as “high”.
Under the new system the terrorist threat is known as “probable”.
This is the same level, expressed with a different word.

6m ago01:47

New terrorist threat advisory system takes effect today.

AG George Brandis says the new system (outlined below) will take effect today.

This government, and the government of Mr Abbott before it, has done everything that we believe is necessary and appropriate to keep the Australian people as safe as we can make them from the threat of terrorism.

Updated at 1.48am GMT

18m ago01:36

Senators Madigan, Day, Lazarus, Wang, Bernardi and Leyonhjelm have just tried to change the rules for compulsory student union fees.
Their motion:

calls on the government to amend the Higher Education Support Act so that the Student Services and Amenities Fee can only be levied with the support of the majority of students at each university campus in a mandatory ballot conducted once an academic year

This is very familiar landscape for anyone who has dabbled in student politics. They were joined on the benches by none other than Eric Abetz, who has released a statement on the issue.

Compulsory student unionism is what first inspired me to be involved in politics and the Student Services and Amenities Fee (SSAF) is merely compulsory student unionism by another name.
The SSAF is unfair, unpopular, undemocratic and used as a political plaything by political activists. There are numerous examples of inappropriate use of these fees for rorts, rackets and ripoffs.
What is worse is that students are denied their results or enrolment if they refuse to pay the fee to the union. The right to a tertiary education should never be predicated on joining a union.
I firmly believe in the full abolition of SSAF. The proposal that was put before the Senate by the crossbench calling for a vote of students prior to the fee being levied is a small step in the right direction.

The motion failed 6 to 35.

29m ago01:25

Tip of the family payment iceberg passes the house

A sliver of the government’s family payments changes has passed the house.
The bill will remove the benefit for couple families (other than grandparents) with a youngest child 13 years of age or over.
The rest of the bill has been put back on the table.
We shall try to find out what the government will do with it.

Updated at 1.28am GMT

39m ago01:15

The new terror alert system was flagged in July this year after the Coag meeting.
The current system is:

• extreme
• high
• medium
• low

The new system is:

• certain
• expected
• probable
• possible
• not expected

Updated at 1.27am GMT

49m ago01:05

The new national terrorism threat advisory system released at 12.45pm.

Joint press conference.

• Attorney general George Brandis QC
• Minister for justice and minister assisting the prime minister on counter-terrorism Michael Keenan
• Director general of security and head of Asio Duncan Lewis
• Commissioner of the AFP Andrew Colvin
• Australia’s counter-terrorism coordinator Greg Moriarty

Updated at 1.15am GMT

1h ago00:50

I promised to come back to two very different analyses in The Oz around the conservative cell developing (or not?) on the backbench around Tony Abbott.
Dennis Shanahan:

The jibes about machismo were directed against Abbott and former defence minister Kevin Andrews, who publicly advocated, from the backbench, a greater military presence — SAS forces on missions — in Syria.
Turnbull’s public putdown added to a growing atmosphere of paranoia and resentment between thwarted conservative Coalition MPs and those who supported Turnbull’s seizure of the leadership ten weeks ago.
Yet the idea of considering limited “boots on the ground” is not limited to a coterie of Abbott supporters, with West Australian Liberal Luke Simpkins, one of the signatories of the leadership spill against Abbott in February, telling parliament it was something we “need to do”.
It’s also clear that leaks to the media and conspiracy theories about secret lunches, including Abbott bringing a chocolate cake; complaints on Abbott and his colleagues speaking out; and potential damage to Turnbull’s standing on security are growing into dangerous divisions which can become entrenched and corrosive.

Nikki Savva:

Like Turnbull said, this is not a time for gestures or machismo. The old regime had plenty of time to muscle up the allies on the issue of ground troops but couldn’t. For good reason. Turnbull’s wisdom in urging calm and caution has been vindicated by the polls and the shooting down by Turkey of the Russian warplane.
The feather dusters ruled the roost for five unhindered, unchallenged years before everything went seriously belly-up. While it’s legitimate to protect their legacy, their rewriting of the history of the full six years borders on delusional.
On September 9, Andrews, then defence minister, emphatically ruled out boots on the ground in Syria.
He told the ABC’s Rafael Epstein: “Yes, I’m ruling it out because we’ve got no intention of doing that. We’re basically in Iraq in an advise-and-assist capacity and that’s not going beyond the wire, to use the cliche military expression.

Savva’s book – The Road to Ruin: How Tony Abbott and Peta Credlin Destroyed Their Own Government – is out next year.

Updated at 12.54am GMT

2h ago23:56

The shipping bill is due for debate again in the Senate just after midday. This is the bill that makes it easier for foreign crews to work ships in Australian waters. The numbers are looking increasingly shaky.

Updated at 11.57pm GMT

2h ago23:47

Larissa Waters is speaking to a private member’s bill by former Greens leader Christine Milne:

to abolish fossil fuel subsidies for the mining industry from 1 January 2015, including: the diesel fuel rebate; accelerated asset depreciation for aircraft, the oil and gas industry and vehicles; and immediate deductibility for exploration and prospecting expenses.

Updated at 11.49pm GMT

2h ago23:44

Exit stage right.

Malcolm Turnbull leaves via the back of a press conference, leaving health minister Sussan Ley, Allan Fels and Ian Hickie. Photograph: Mike Bowers for the Guardian

2h ago23:40

There is a curious story in the Fin today by Phil Coorey. He reports there were secret plans to do a major renovation of Parliament House under the former leadership.

Secret plans by Tony Abbott and his former chief of staff Peta Credlin to extend Parliament House have been quietly killed off.
Senior sources said the “previous administration” had flagged the construction of two large extensions protruding from the ministerial entrance at the south-west of the building, reaching across the ring road towards two uncovered car parks.
When Mr Abbott lost the leadership on September 14, no design had been drawn up and the approval process was not very advanced, but funds had been set aside in the contingency reserve of the federal budget.

Updated at 11.42pm GMT

2h ago23:33

Jenny Macklin spoke on the changes to family payments this morning but she was asked about the Labor policy of moving single parents off the pension and on to the Newstart unemployment payment.
Q: Isn’t it a bit hypocritical for you to be crying crocodile tears for single-parent families now when as minister you cut the single-parenting payment?

Well, I think one thing that’s very clear, first of all, we’ve made it clear that we thought that that was too harsh, so that’s the first thing. The second is we have never supported these cuts to family tax benefits that would so affect single-parent families. I’ll just give you an example of a single-parent family with teenage children, they would be nearly $5,000 a year worse off if these cuts got through the parliament and Labor has done everything in our power to prevent these cuts and today the government will remove them from the legislation and I’m calling on them to remove the legislation and remove the cuts from the budget altogether.

Updated at 11.41pm GMT

2h ago23:26

Love your work Mr Bowers.

Malcolm Turnbull, health minister Sussan Ley, Allan Fels from the Mental Health Commission and Ian Hickie at a mental health announcement. Photograph: Mike Bowers for the Guardian

Updated at 11.44pm GMT

3h ago23:19

Peter Dutton statement on the dual nationals citizenship amendment

Debate on the Australian Citizenship Amendment (Allegiance to Australia) bill 2015 will resume next week.
The solicitor general has provided the government with further advice and the government will add a further amendment to those already recommended by the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security to deal with the solicitor general’s advice.
The government has informed the chair and deputy chair of the PJCIS and the opposition of this further technical amendment to the bill.
The opposition has asked that it have time to consider this amendment through its party processes and the government has agreed to defer debate until next week.
The government expects the bill to be passed into law by both houses of the parliament before the end of the next sitting week.

Updated at 11.22pm GMT

3h ago23:15

A bit of housekeeping.
After question time, Malcolm Turnbull is off to Malta to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) on 27-29 November.
From there, he goes to Paris for the climate talks on 30 November. Foreign minister Julie Bishop and environment minister Greg Hunt will also attend.
Here is what Turnbull says about the emissions targets:

Australia has pledged to reduce emissions by 26-28% below 2005 levels by 2030, a target which is both fair and achievable. It is a tremendous achievement that over 170 countries have now submitted their emissions reduction targets.

Updated at 11.18pm GMT

3h ago23:11

The family payments amendment is being debated in the lower house. The Senate is debating a freedom of information amendment which is the private member’s bill of Joe Ludwig, the former ag minister.
It tries to force the government to publish the exact wording of freedom of information requests, in the interests of transparency. It would include the exact words of requests to match with the reasons governments say no. It would allow the public and journalists to see if there is any trickiness afoot.

Updated at 11.18pm GMT

3h ago23:07

The prime minister, health minister Sussan Ley and Ian Hickie, Professor Ian Hickie and Professor Allan Fels are talking about the government’s response to the mental health report.

3h ago22:59

As if, says Peter Dutton. Would the conservatives plot next to the bleeding moderate Christopher Pyne?

Peter Dutton has also addressed the Monkey Pod Club. This is the story, broken by James Massola, about a regular lunch of like-minded conservatives, who meet in a room with a monkey pod table.
Dutton clips Massola and points out it’s a regular lunch and the room is next to Christopher Pyne’s office. He suggests Massola was embarrassed by the way the meeting was portrayed by some.

I’ve been going to Tuesday lunch for 14 years, for as long as I’ve been in parliament, I’ve gone to a Tuesday lunch with colleagues and with friends. I think it’s fair to say … Look, I had a drink with James Massola, the journalist who broke this so-called story on Tuesday night, I think it was. Look, the story wasn’t even put to us before it was printed so that’s speaking out of school. Mr Massola is a bit embarrassed at the way in which some had tried to portray the catch-up.
Just bearing in mind the monkey pod is a meeting room located between my office and Mr Pyne’s office – Christopher, who is a very good friend of mine, a bleeding moderate. If there was some underground movement by the right, we wouldn’t be holding a meeting in a lunch room beside Christopher Pyne’s office. I don’t think this adds up to anything more than colleagues catching up for lunch.

Updated at 11.05pm GMT

3h ago22:46

Peter Dutton to amend citizenship bill after advice from solicitor general

The immigration minister says the change is more “technical” than “controversial”.
He can’t tell us what the change is, even though it will go to the parliament next week. It sounds like it is around constitutionality and warding off a challenge.
Q: In terms of shoring up any possibility of a court challenge, a high court challenge?

Obviously the government’s intent has been to minimise the risk as best you can. What you don’t want to do is open yourself up to a high court challenge risk, and with any piece of legislation that is always a possibility. So the government has taken advice and I think steps to minimise the risk of a challenge and we will make an amendment which we think further enhances the bill and that will be debated next week. I don’t believe it to be controversial but I think it clarifies some wording within a particular part of the bill and on that basis I think we have a stronger bill to defend, which is always the case with any piece of national security legislation, lawyers will challenge it.

Updated at 10.48pm GMT

3h ago22:38

If you think people want a GST rise, you must be living on another planet, says Shorten

Q: Mr Shorten the polling would suggest that people aren’t as adverse to potentially increasing the GST if compensation is attached to it.

Let’s talk straight. You must live on another planet if you think people want to pay another 15% in GST. People who work every day are not going to get compensated. Pensioners, they are deeply sceptical that any change in their pension is going to keep change with the inflationary impact of a GST. I think fresh food, going to the doctor, the school books and the uniforms the kids will need next year - Australians don’t want a GST and if the government thinks they do, or if some commentators think they do, they are so out of touch with the way Australians make ends meet, it’s breathtaking.

3h ago22:31

Bill Shorten is doing a press conference in front of a chicken shop.
He has been asked about special minister of state, Mal Brough and his position in charge of integrity in government, given the AFP investigations at the mo.

That is not just any position in the government. The special minister of state is in charge of government integrity. I think it’s not a matter of whether Mal Brough should stand aside, which he probably should. It is becoming a matter of Malcolm Turnbull’s judgment why he won’t act.

3h ago22:25

Coalition amends family payments

The social services family payments bill, which sought to cut some payments from single parent families, is in da house today.
There is frantic last-minute negotiations going on. We hear from Labor that the government is amending its own bill – on pain of death from the Senate.
This is what the government proposed originally:

• increase family tax benefit (FTB) Part A fortnightly rates by $10.08 for each FTB child in the family up to 19 years of age;
• restructure family tax benefit Part B by: increasing the standard rate by $1000.10 per year for families with a youngest child aged under one; introducing a reduced rate of $1000.10 per year for single parent families with a youngest child aged 13 to 16 years of age and extending the rate to couple grandparents with an FTB child in this age range; and removing the benefit for couple families (other than grandparents) with a youngest child 13 years of age or over;
• phase out the family tax benefit Part A and Part B supplements.

Labor says the only thing out of that list that will survive is this:

• removing the benefit for couple families (other than grandparents) with a youngest child 13 years of age or over

Because that is the only bit that Labor will support.
Labor’s Jenny Mackin has a particular bounce to her step today. She continues to be the quiet achiever on the Labor frontbench.

Updated at 10.37pm GMT

4h ago21:56

Professor Ian Hickie is a national mental health commissioner. He has just enthused about the government’s mental health response – which has taken a year. The clear message from his comments is that finally a federal government is moving in the right direction.

This is a response worth waiting for ... This requires prime ministerial support and, for a change, we have got it.

Updated at 10.00pm GMT

4h ago21:41

Also coming today is a big mental health announcement. Health minister Sussan Ley will do a press conference with Malcolm Turnbull at 9.45am. It forms the government response to the 25 recommendations of a report by the National Mental Health Commission. It streamlines the mental health services and aims to respond locally, and so far mental health experts have responded well.
If you want more detail, Shalailah Medhora has written up the response here. Here is a snap:

People living with mental illness will soon be able to access personalised care through the government’s primary health networks under sweeping changes to be announced on Thursday.
People who are identified by healthcare professionals as having complex needs will be able to access a range of services to manage their illness, including psychiatric care, drug and alcohol rehabilitation services and community and peer support systems.
The health minister, Sussan Ley, said the changes would move Australia away from a “one-size-fits-all” mentality towards a “more modern, flexible model of care”.
“Just like any other chronic disease, mental illness is often complex and requires access to multiple health professionals and support services to address it properly,” Ley said. “Experts recognise many patients with severe or complex mental health needs would benefit from an integrated healthcare package tailored to their individual needs and that’s what we’re delivering.”
Ley will also announce the consolidation of more than 30 government-funded phone and online services into a single helpline for people living with mental illness.

Updated at 9.59pm GMT

4h ago21:32

There is a story over at the Daily Telegraph of a super-duper special Australian Federal Police taskforce to crack down on WELFARE CHEATS.
Simon Benson reports that cheats have defrauded the commonwealth of $5bn, with more than 1.1m in Centrelink debts now owed to the government. All payments have been defrauded, according to the story, including Newstart, the Disability Support Pension, Medicare, youth allowances and family payments.
Human services minister Stuart Robert’s office has confirmed the story’s numbers are correct but will release them later today. There is $3bn in outstanding Centrelink debts and another $1.7bn being chased up through forensic data matching. All that guff will be handed over to the AFP taskforce.

Updated at 9.57pm GMT

5h ago21:15

Good morning all,
There is still a bit of of low-level rumbling by conservatives, described today by Nikki Savva as the feather-duster faction. I will come to that in a minute.
The crankiness revolves around Turnbull’s national security statement, in which he said “this is not a time for gestures or machismo”. It was obviously a bit of a slap to Tony Abbott. If the word machismo did not exist before the man was born, surely it would have been coined for young Tony.
But Julie Bishop says she did not see it that way. She told Kieran Gilbert on Sky:

I didn’t see it that way. The prime minister has a very broad audience that he must address, both here in Australia, in our region and internationally and his comments were directed far more broadly than one member of parliament. I think it was entirely appropriate that he call for calm and measured judgement in relation to this. We are in this for the long haul.
The terrorist organisations may be defeated militarily but the ideology also has to be defeated. Otherwise, when you have one military success and withdraw from the field, the terrorists can come back.

Bishop also spoke about the increasing tension between Turkey and Russia. She was encouraged that both countries have referred the shooting down of the jet to the UN security council.

They are clearly of a mind to de-escalate and there is less likelihood of a military retaliation.

We are winding up the Twits @gabriellechan and @mpbowers or join the thread below. Last sitting day people.

Updated at 9.54pm GMT