OVERNIGHT FINANCE: France warns US to back off BNP

TOMORROW STARTS TONIGHT: President Obama will meet tomorrow with French President Francois Hollande during his overseas European visit.

{mosads}The meeting comes as a settlement between U.S. regulators and BNP Paribas is expected any day over allegations the French bank did business with blacklisted companies.

–FRENCH PREZ PUSHES BACK ON BNP. French officials announced today – one day before the meeting – that Hollande wrote Obama in April urging him to make sure any BNP punishment not be “unfair and disproportionate,” Noemie Bisserbe reports for WSJ: http://on.wsj.com/1oc8L6k.

–Meanwhile, Hill chatter picks up. House Foreign Affairs Committee member Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) said Wednesday that it’d be “appropriate” for the feds to file criminal charges against BNP. http://bit.ly/TeME41

A settlement is expected any day…

THIS IS OVERNIGHT FINANCE, where we never settle. Let’s go Phils. Tweet: @kevcirilli. Email: kcirilli@digital-staging.thehill.com.

Tomorrow is Thursday…

LAUNCH DAY: THE HILL’S OVERNIGHT REGULATION, your one-stop shop for the latest regulatory news and analysis from Ben Goad and Tim Devaney. Subscribe here: http://j.mp/1maZ041

BEIGE BOOK – FED: ECONOMY THAWING OUT FROM WINTER WEATHER. The Federal Reserve released its Beige Book earlier today, as it does eight times annually, and here’s what you need to know:

1.) Fed optimistic about economic growth. “All twelve Federal Reserve Districts report that economic activity expanded during the current reporting period,” according to the Fed’s book.

2.) Fed less worried about the weather. This Beige Book only referenced weather 35 times, compared with 103 times in the Beige Book earlier this year.

Full text: http://1.usa.gov/1i1KxWQ.

–RT CNN’s finance reporter Paul R. La Monica, @LaMonicaBuzz: “Shoot. I was in meetings & unable to monitor Beige Book! Did I miss anything? Should I be modestly upset or moderately upset? #dorkyfedhumor.”

UNFINISHED BUSINESS — TAX BREAKS. One day following Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) saying that the renewal of a two-year $85 billion tax break bill for individuals and businesses is stalled in the upper chamber until after the mid-terms, there’s worry in wonk world about how the effort will play out in December.

Three quick points:

1.) WHAT REID SAID: Reid told reporters yesterday when asked whether the “extenders” bill is stalled until after the midterms. “I guess the answer is, ‘Yes,’” he said.

2.) WHAT REID MEANT: Senate Republicans have blocked the legislation (which they support) to protest Reid not allowing them to offer amendments on bills.

3.) THE STORM AHEAD: Things could get messy this December. And while the Beltway assumption is that extenders will pass during the lame duck, the lead-up political wrangling could prove a headache as IRS 2015 tax filing deadlines approach in January.

–“[Taxpayers] want certainty or they’ll delay return filing,” Floyd L. Williams, senior tax counsel at Public Strategies Washington, told OVERNIGHT FINANCE. “So I suspect the administration will have to press for action, otherwise it could mean confusion and uncertainty for some taxpayers.”

ABOUT LAST NIGHT, via CNN.com: “The tea party movement is an important step closer to doing something it’s done only three times before: Oust an incumbent Republican senator in a GOP primary. Tea party backed state Sen. Chris McDaniel forced incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran into a runoff in Mississippi’s Republican primary.” http://cnn.it/S9i5eQ.

ON-TAP FOR TOMORROW: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has a 10 a.m. hearing on Ukraine; Obama and Russia President Vladimir Putin each meet separately with French President Francois Hollande to commemorate WWII D-Day landings.

RT @LukeRussert: Judge dismisses lawsuit brought by #DC cab drivers who fought credit card machines http://bit.ly/TeQZ75. #JusticeServed

BOOK BATTLE: HILLARY BEATS WARREN. Hillary Clinton “hasalready outsold all potential 2016 presidential candidates from both parties, according to Nielsen BookScan data. And that doesn’t count future figures from her much anticipated ‘Hard Choices’ due in bookstores on June 10.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Mass.) ‘A Fighting Chance’ “sold 50,000 copies in eight weeks and boosted Warren’s lifetime sales to 160,300. Clinton’s four books have sold 1,517,900 copies.” http://bloom.bg/1i2pwLO

–Warren raked-in a $525K advance to write her book, according to financial disclosure reports. No word yet on Hillary’s… http://j.mp/S9Afgm

BIDEN MAKES JOBS PUSH, via The Hill’s Vicki Needham: “Vice President Biden on Wednesday argued that because millions of jobs are in the offing, the United States must better train its workforce and match those skills with the needs of businesses.

“Biden said the Obama administration is ramping up its efforts to ensure U.S. workers are better equipped to take advantage of an expected boon in the next few years of 16 million jobs, which will require a broad range of skills.” http://bit.ly/1i2oIq9

QUOTABLE: “He’s oblivious.” —Vern McKinley, Research Fellow at the Independent Institute, on former Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. McKinley, speaking at a forum earlier today hosted by the Cato Institute, criticized Geithner for ignoring the financial turbulence of the 1970s, in which financial institutions were not bailed out.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR: Shaun Donovan’s nomination hearing to be director of the Office of Management and Budget will be at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, June 11, before the Senate Homeland Security Committee, staffers announced today. The Senate is expected to confirm Donovan, who is currently the secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

ON THE GUEST LIST: Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen will speak at the annual Jackson Hole Conference in Jackson Hole, Wy., according to The Wall Street Journal. Former Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke skipped last year, the first time since 1987, fueling speculation he was prepping to leave the central bank. http://on.wsj.com/1l6yE6u.

MORE FROM THE HILL’s TEAM:

–Senate Dems prep for student loan push: http://bit.ly/1pS7BMG.

–Perez:Obama’s pen ‘running out of ink: http://bit.ly/1hbKVqL.

–Paul blocks Menendez’s Chile tax treaty vote: http://bit.ly/SuUB4a.

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