Asian stocks rose as the yen weakened against the dollar, and after positive US earnings news. The Nikkei was up 1.7%, the Hang Seng 1.3% and the Kospi rose 1%. The yen fell to as low as 99.77 against the dollar, before rebounding to 99.30. (Bloomberg)(Reuters)
Lloyds branch sale to Co-op collapses: The planned sale of more than 600 branches to the Co-operative Group has collapsed after the Co-op concluded yesterday it could not proceed with the deal. It means Lloyds will have to revive a "plan B" to float the branch network as a freestanding business, and bankers are sceptical that process could be initiated, let alone completed, by the end of the year -- which is its deadline imposed by Brussels. The Co-op board's decision yesterday to pull the plug on the deal are not yet clear. (Financial Times)
Gold rose today after yesterday recording its biggest fall in a week, with the gains attributed to rising physical purchases. Gold for immediate delivery rose as much as 0.9% to $1,426.08 an ounce after falling 0.9% yesterday. (Bloomberg)
Italian prime minister set to be announced: After a long day of talks yesterday, President Giorgio Napolitano was expected to nominate a prime minister today. Giuliano Amato, a former socialist prime minister, was widely tipped although the mayor of Florence, Matteo Renzi and centre-left deputy leader Enrico Letta have also emerged as possible candidates. (Financial Times)(Reuters)
Portugal announces ambitious stimulus measures: "Economy Minister Álvaro Santos Pereira said the government will aim to cut the corporate tax rate, provide incentives for foreign companies to move to Portugal, tackle a highly bureaucratic system that hurts investments and offer financing for small- and medium-size enterprises at attractive terms." There were no figures attached to the plan, some of which may require approval from international creditors. (Wall Street Journal)
ENRC chairman resigns: "The chairman brought in to clean up the controversial FTSE 100 miner Eurasian Natural Resources Corp, resigned on Tuesday, in the latest stark illustration of the difficulty of grafting City governance standards on to mining groups with powerful Asian shareholders." (Financial Times)
British food stamp recipient numbers double: New data released today by the Trussell Trust, the biggest food bank operator, says annual referrals jumped to 350,000, from 130,000 a year earlier. (Financial Times)
US sues Novartis, alleging kickbacks: "The U.S. government filed a civil fraud lawsuit against Novartis AG on Tuesday, accusing a unit of the Swiss drug maker of causing the Medicare and Medicaid programs to pay tens of millions of dollars in reimbursements based on fraudulent, kickback-tainted claims." (Reuters)
Accor chief ousted: Denis Hennequin, chairman and chief executive of Europe's largest hotel group by rooms, was ousted. The board said Hennequin's strategy "was the right one" but made clear the results were not coming through fast enough. (Financial Times)
COMMENT AND CURIOS:
- What Merkel did in eurozone's most desperate moments. (Wall Street Journal)
- Martin Wolf agrees with Reinhart-Rogoff critics; not too late to reconsider austerity blunders. (Financial Times)
- Einhorn likes Apple's big payout. (NYT Dealbook)
- Shale gas develop 'much slower' outside of the US, says Shell. (Financial Times)
- The Libor vaccuum. (Financial Times)
- Blackberry diehards get their keyboard back. (Bloomberg)
OVERNIGHT MARKETS: UP
Asian markets
Nikkei 225 up +225.21 (+1.66%) at 13,755
Topix up +11.11 (+0.97%) at 1,155
Hang Seng up +282.34 (+1.29%) at 22,089
US markets
S&P 500 up +16.28 (+1.04%) at 1,579
DJIA up +152.29 (+1.05%) at 14,719
Nasdaq up +35.78 (+1.11%) at 3,269
European markets
Eurofirst 300 up +28.03 (+2.43%) at 1,183
FTSE100 up +125.50 (+2.00%) at 6,406
CAC 40 up +130.92 (+3.58%) at 3,783
Dax up +180.10 (+2.41%) at 7,658
Currencies
€/$ 1.30 (1.30)
$/¥ 99.40 (99.46)
£/$ 1.52 (1.52)
Commodities ($)
Brent Crude (ICE) up +0.27 at 100.58
Light Crude (Nymex) up +0.37 at 89.55
100 Oz Gold (Comex) up +11.80 at 1,420
Copper (Comex) unchanged 0.00 at 309.40
10-year government bond yields (%)
US 1.70%
UK 1.71%
Germany 1.26%
CDS (closing levels)
Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe -2.45bps at 95.58bp
Markit iTraxx Europe -3.58bps at 107.47bp
Markit iTraxx Xover -16.35bps at 433.75bp
Markit CDX IG -2.99bps at 80.76bp
Sources: FT, Bloomberg, Markit
