A Quick Glance at News

•  The euro dropped and oil slid as Italy prepares to sell bonds before elections that may determine Greece’s future in the currency bloc. Treasuries rose ahead of data forecast to show a drop in U.S. retail
•  Asian shares trimmed earlier gains in choppy trade on Wednesday, with worries over contagion from Spain's banking sector heightening after the country's bond yields hit record peaks.
•  Japan's core machinery orders, widely followed as a leading indicator of capital spending in the country, swung back to a gain in April, rising 5.7% during the month, the Cabinet Office reported Wednesday.
•  Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti met the leaders of the parties backing him in parliament on Tuesday and called on them to give their unified support to help Italy through current market turmoil 
•  Spain’s benchmark borrowing costs climbed to a record yesterday, raising the specter of sovereign bailouts for the government in Madrid and then Italy that would stretch European Union finances to their limit.
•  Venezuela has been joined by Iraq and Angola in warning that global crude supplies are already excessive.
•  Oil fell for the fourth time in five days in New York amid speculation that OPEC will keep production quotas unchanged even after a slide in prices.
•  Gold perched above $1,600 an ounce on Wednesday, retaining most of its gains from the previous session as prices were supported by persistent worries over Spain's surging borrowing costs.
•  China's annual economic growth could fall below 7 percent in the second quarter if weak activity persists in June; an influential government adviser was quoted on Wednesday as saying.
•  Benchmark U.S. Treasury bonds inched higher in Asia on Wednesday, underpinned by continued concern about the euro zone debt crisis even as investors braced for a 10-year note sale in the wake of a disappointing 3-year auction.
•  Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will more than double the country’s oil-production capacity to 6 million barrels a day by 2019 if re-elected on Oct. 7, according to a government plan released today on his website.
•  SYDNEY-A survey undertaken by Bank of America Merrill Lynch from May 31 to June 7 showed that the number of fund managers prepared to underweight the Australian equity market over the next 12 months jumped to 32%, from just over 15% in May.
•  Apple Inc has spent nearly three years fighting its rivals in a global Smartphone patent war. Now, setbacks in two key U.S. court cases are laying bare why a drawn-out battle could be bad news for the iPhone maker.