That's the news

Bernanke offers wisdom but no hint of Fed moves

"I wrote recently to inquire about the status of my leave from the university," Bernanke said. "The letter I got back began, 'Regrettably, Princeton receives many more qualified applicants for faculty positions than we can accommodate.' "

Bernanke felt the need to add in a footnote to the printed copy of his speech that this remark was a joke, since his leave from Princeton expired in 2005.

I think Mr. Bernanke should just always put footnotes telling us when whatever it is he's saying is just a joke.  I mean, how are we supposed to know if he was being serious when he said anything?  Even worse, how do we know that the footnote wasn't a joke?  I don't know, but I think this whole footnote thing was a bad idea.  It casts doubt on everything Ben ever said that wasn't subsequently footnoted to let us know what he meant by that.

Sprint says Dish offer for Clearwire "not actionable"

Some provisions violate Clearwire's certificate of incorporation or the rights of the parties to the existing Clearwire shareholders' agreement that includes Sprint, Sprint said in a letter to Clearwire on Monday.

Sprint owns just over 50 percent of Clearwire and has offered to buy the rest of the company for $3.40 per share, valuing the wireless services provider at $10.7 billion.

Dish recently raised its offer for Clearwire to $4.40 per share.

So, let me see if I can guess here.  The fact that Sprint owns just over 50 percent of Clearwire means that they have a majority stake in the company, so, if they want to buy the Clearwire for $3.40 a share, then nobody else should be allowed to buy the company for a higher price.  Sounds good!  Of course, if Sprint thinks Clearwire is only worth $3.40 a share, then why not sell to Dish at $4.40 a share?  Unless Sprint thinks Clearwire is worth even more than $4.40...  Hmm.

Manufacturing sector contracts in May: ISM
This should really be bad news, but of course, the stock market is rallying today because the news makes it less likely that the Fed will begin tapering on QE.