The chase by Noah Zivitz:
G20 officials will dust off the typewriter and deliver a communique later today intended to soothe nerves and demonstrate a willingness, and ability, to do what it takes to contain the damage in Europe and avert a global economic crisis. To do so, they'll need to rise above the tension we sensed in comments yesterday. What will it take for this gathering to be deemed a success? That's what we need to establish today.
The sidebar to our coverage has to be Canada's role at the meeting. Does Stephen Harper's majority mandate give him a louder voice? And will admonishments like yesterday's rally support or lead to more sneers from the likes of Jose Manuel Barroso? A former Prime Minister's perspective never hurts, so keep in mind what Paul Martin said yesterday on Market Sense: Canada doesn't have the right to be smug.
Over in Athens, Antonis Samaras is into day two of coalition talks. PASOK's Evangelos Venizelos says his views are close to those of the New Democracy Party. And Democratic Left chief Fotis Kouvelis says a deal could be hatched within hours. We've been down this road before.
Spain's borrowing costs popped in its latest debt auction, and the final audit of the country's banks has reportedly been delayed until September from the original July 31 deadline. Andrew McCreath ruminated on Market Sense about the risk Spain could be forced into a full-fledged bailout before EU leaders meet later this month. We'll continue tracking developments. The euro zone misery knows no borders this morning, as we've seen investor confidence in Germany suffer its sharpest drop since 1998.
The FOMC hunkers down today for the start of a two-day meeting. Would extending Operation Twist be enough to satiate the appetite for more stimulus? Let's set expectations.
There is some corporate news on the docket.
Microsoft is lobbing the Surface into the tablet battleground. We need to know how it sizes up against the competition, and whether it could affect the company's relationships with other Windows-powered hardware makers.
Oracle surprised the market with an earnings beat yesterday, three days before it was scheduled to report. Why the early numbers? And how concerned should investors be about dissent within the ranks that led to a top sales exec's exit?
Walgreen is paying $6.7 billion in cash and stock for a 45 percent stake in Alliance Boots with an option to snap up the entire company in three years. The move allows WAG to tap a wider geographic footprint at a time when its core business is seeing same-store sales slide.
We're waiting for earnings from FedEx, Adobe, Barnes & Noble and Jabil Circuit.
JPMorgan's $2-billion trading blunder gets the Capitol Hill treatment again today. Dimon will be there, but last week's appearance before the Senate Banking Committee leaves little room for surprise from JPM's CEO today, unless someone on the Senate Banking Committee smells an opportunity to score some points in an election year. More interesting could be testimony from top regulators, including the SEC and CFTC chairs. It all starts at 9:30am ET. And we'll hear directly from CFTC commissioner Bart Chilton on The Close.
Finally, get a front-row seat for perspective into the future of Canada's newspaper landscape when Globe and Mail publisher Phillip Crawley and PostMedia CEO Paul Godfrey join Headline at 1 p.m. ET.
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