Most Asian stock markets fell and risk assets were generally lower, with poor sentiment attributed to unexpected falls in US housing starts and China's GDP growth, as well as the Boston marathon bombings. The Nikkei rose slightly and the yen weakened 0.3% but the MSCI Asia Pacific was 0.9% lower. Earlier, the S&P500 closed with its biggest lossin five months. (Bloomberg)(Financial Times)
"Two powerful bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday afternoon, killing three people, including an 8-year-old child, and injuring more than 100..." (New York Times)
Spot gold fell as much as 1.9% to $1,325/oz and gold futures for February 2014 deliver fell as much as 10% in Tokyo. (Bloomberg)(Financial Times)
Dish bids $25.5bn for Sprint in challenge to Softbank: Charlie Ergen, chairman of Dish Network, launched a $25.5bn offer for Sprint Nextel that trumped an agreed deal for the US wireless carrier by Japan's SoftBank. The unsolicited cash and stock bid, which would marry the second-ranked US satellite television operator with the third-largest US mobile phone provider. Softbank shares fell the most in six months in Tokyo amid fears the Japanese company would raise its own bid. (Financial Times)(Bloomberg)
Charterhouse may pull sales amid low interest: UK buyout house Charterhouse may pull two of Europe's largest private equity disposals because of a lack of competitive bidding interest, highlighting the difficult dealmaking environment for buyouts in the region. Only one planned bid emerged for Ista, the German metering company, and it was expected the offer may fall short of its asking price of at least €3bn. This mirrors a similar shortage of bidders in Elior, a French caterer that Charterhouse took private in 2006, for which there only appears to be one interested party, according to people with knowledge of the situation. (Financial Times)
ENRC hit by whistleblower claim: "ENRC has suspended one of its managers in Africa due to whistleblower allegations of impropriety in the latest blow to the FTSE 100 miner left reeling by investor concerns over corporate governance." The manager in Mozambique has been suspended pending the outcome of an internal investigation, the company said. (Financial Times)
Greece on track to receive aid tranche: "Greece has identified some 15,000 public-sector workers to be let go over two years as part of a tentative agreement sealed Monday with its international lenders to unlock the next payments from its €173 billion ($226 billion) bailout." Finance minister Yannis Stournaras said Greece may ask for more debt relief. (Wall Street Journal)(Reuters)
Business confidence among finance chiefs of the UK's biggest companies has risen sharply as worries about economic and financial uncertainty have dropped to their lowest level for two-and-a-half-years, a quarterly survey by Deloitte shows. (Financial Times)
JPMorgan to be faulted over Madoff: The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is expected to issue a cease-and-desist order against JPMorgan for failing to conduct adequate due diligence and report suspicious activity relating to Bernie Madoff's activities, according to a person familiar with the matter. (Reuters)
Creditors reject Energy Future proposal: Energy Future Holdings, the Texas power producer that in 2007 was the subject of the largest-ever leveraged buyout, has reached out to creditors to propose a pre-packaged bankruptcy for one of its principal units and a consensual restructuring of its $32bn of debt. But lenders who control the senior debt turned down the complicated proposal and broke off talks. (Financial Times)
Trafigura staff net $1.6bn in share deals: The commodities trading house handed about $1.6bn to its senior employees in the past three years by buying back their shares, according to a bond prospectus. (Financial Times)
COMMENT AND CURIOS:
- Gideon Rachman: Europeans are losing faith in national and EU institutions. (Financial Times)
- Charted: Paulson's $1bn losing gold bet. (Bloomberg)
- Get used to slower China growth. (Bloomberg)
- Apartments, jewellery and some distinctly modest cars described as French ministers reveal their wealth. (Financial Times)
OVERNIGHT MARKETS: DOWN
Asian markets
Nikkei 225 up +20.79 (+0.16%) at 13,296
Topix down -14.58 (-1.27%) at 1,134
Hang Seng down -124.52 (-0.57%) at 21,648
US markets
S&P 500 down -36.49 (-2.30%) at 1,552
DJIA down -265.86 (-1.79%) at 14,599
Nasdaq down -78.46 (-2.38%) at 3,216
European markets
Eurofirst 300 down -7.50 (-0.63%) at 1,175
FTSE100 down -40.79 (-0.64%) at 6,344
CAC 40 down -18.82 (-0.50%) at 3,710
Dax down -32.14 (-0.41%) at 7,713
Currencies
€/$ 1.31 (1.30)
$/¥ 96.78 (98.40)
£/$ 1.53 (1.53)
Commodities ($)
Brent Crude (ICE) down -1.10 at 99.53
Light Crude (Nymex) down -3.27 at 87.39
100 Oz Gold (Comex) down -13.90 at 1,347
Copper (Comex) down -4.70 at 329.00
10-year government bond yields (%)
US 1.70%
UK 1.73%
Germany 1.24%
CDS (closing levels)
Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe +0.92bps at 101.74bp
Markit iTraxx Europe +0.61bps at 111.57bp
Markit iTraxx Xover +5.28bps at 447.96bp
Markit CDX IG +3.31bps at 85.34bp
Sources: FT, Bloomberg, Markit
