Good morning New York,
FT ALPHAVILLE
Alphachat podcast: Cardiff Garcia discusses the economics books of the year with Diane Coyle and Tyler Cowen.
Is China's urbanisation really the answer? Kate follows up on Yukon Huang's argument that China's high rate of investment to GDP is a consequence of China's economic rise, not a problem in itself, by citing the work of Adam Wolfe of Roubini Global Economics, who is not convinced by the explanation, and argues instead that it is at best incomplete.
Digging into dealer inventories: Tracy peers into Fed data which breaks out dealer inventories by security type. She notes that Goldman Sachs analysts reckon that dealer-banks holdings of corporate bonds are down 40 per cent from a 2006 peak of about $38bn.
Immigration and Abenomics revisited: David directs readers to some fresh research from Credit Suisse on Japanese immigration and how it may or may not offset falling population trends in Japan.
NEWS
Verizon set for biggest-ever debt sale: Verizon is on course to sell $49bn of bonds on Wednesday, the largest corporate debt sale in history, as the US telecoms group raises funds for its $130bn acquisition of the 45 per cent of Verizon Wireless it does not already own. (Financial Times)
Apple introduced two new handsets at the same time: the 5s, which carries a fingerprint reader and comes in new silver and gold colours, and the cheaper 5c, sporting brightly coloured plastic casings. The iPhone 5c handset will be $549 in the US and $733 in China, still more expensive than rivals such as Xiaomi and Lenovo that have taken a larger portion of the market in countries such as China and India. (Financial Times)
Barclays faces $10bn damages claim from Saudi businessman: A prominent Saudi businessmen has taken legal action against a US law firm in a preliminary step toward suing Barclays for what he says are damages of potentially as much as $10bn. (Financial Times)
Private Swiss bank says it is under investigation in US: Rahn & Bodmer, a private bank that bills itself as the oldest in Zurich disclosed it is among the 14 Swiss banks currently under investigation by U.S. authorities for allegedly aiding American tax evasion. (Wall Street Journal)
Tesco to dispose of Fresh & Easy chain: The UK grocer is to suspend ill-fated US expansion plans, after agreeing to dispose of most of its money-losing Fresh & Easy chain to US billionaire Ron Burkle—at a cost to Tesco of £150m, or about $235m. (Wall Street Journal)
Intel unveils tiny quark chips for wearable devices: The US chipmaker has revealed a line of ultrasmall chips called Quark that can be used in wearable devices, skin patches or even swallowed to gather medical data. (Wall Street Journal)
Europe's plan for an expansive financial transaction tax hit a wall after an unusually blunt paper from the EU Council legal service concluded it exceeds national jurisdiction, "infringes" on EU treaties and "is discriminatory" to non-participating states. (Financial Times)
Ivan Glasenberg shows the 'Glencore way' to cut Xstrata 'fat': The Switzerland-based commodity group said it expected synergies from the $44bn takeover to grow when it completes an operating review. (Financial Times)
"The Russian billionaire who is the main shareholder in potash giant Uralkali is in talks to sell his stake in an effort to defuse a bitter conflict with Belarus, where authorities have jailed Uralkali's CEO, according to a person familiar with his thinking." (Wall Street Journal)
"China's broadest measure of new credit almost doubled in August from the previous month in a sign leaders are committed to meeting economic goals even at the cost of adding financial risks." (Bloomberg)
Markets: The rally for risky assets paused despite fears of an imminent US strike on Syria receding as the longest run of gains for Asian stocks for nine months was in danger of stalling. The damping of risk appetite was also evident in currency markets, where the haven asset of the yen rebounded from two-month lows earlier in the session to trade positively on the day.The Japanese currency rose 0.1 per cent to Y100.25 against the dollar after earlier falling to Y100.61, its lowest since mid-July. Sterling received a shot in the arm from positive UK labour market data with jobless numbers falling to an eight-month low of 7.7 per cent. The pound rose 0.4 per cent to $1.5789 after peaking at $1.5827 immediately in the wake of the release. European bourses opened mixed with the FTSE 100 index in London off 0.1 per cent while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 ticked 0.2 per cent higher. The FTSE Asia Pacific index pared stronger gains to trade up just 0.2 per cent after nine previous days of advances. (Financial Times)
