Markets: Asian stocks fell, with the regional benchmark index on course to snap an 11-day rally, as the U.S. and Russia hold talks on Syria and investors await the outcome of a Federal Reserve meeting next week. (Bloomberg) Major indices around the region were down between 0.3 and 0.5 per cent, including Japan's Nikkei 225 index, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index, South Korea's Kospi Composite and the Shanghai Composite. (Financial Times)
Elite Syrian unit scatters chemical arms stockpile: "A secretive Syrian military unit at the center of the Assad regime's chemical weapons program has been moving stocks of poison gases and munitions to as many as 50 sites to make them harder for the U.S. to track, according to American and Middle Eastern officials." (Wall Street Journal)
Twitter tweets IPO news: "We've confidentially submitted an S1 to the SEC for a planned IPO. This Tweet does not constitute an offer of any securities for sale" (Financial Times) (Alphaville)
Michael Dell pulled off his hotly contested $24.8bn buyout of the PC maker that bears his name on Thursday. (Financial Times)
Vodafone wins backing for €7.7bn Kabel bid: The takeover of Kabel Deutschland by Vodafone won shareholder approval when votes in favour of the deal passed a crucial 75 per cent hurdle on Thursday night. (Financial Times)
"U.S. stock exchanges agreed with regulators on Thursday to reforms including a "kill switch" to stop trading during emergencies, after a software glitch with Nasdaq's stock quote processor last month led to a three-hour trading halt." (Reuters) Mary Jo White, Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, has asked the heads of exchange groups including NYSE Euronext and Nasdaq OMX to provide assessments on the robustness and resilience of US market infrastructure. (Financial Times)
Protests return to Turkey as fears grow of social divisions: On Wednesday for the second night in a row, police marched into Istanbul's secular stronghold of Kadikoy, firing tear gas as they went, as they sought to beat back protesters mourning the death of one of their number in the south of the country this week. (Financial Times)
Pimco and Blackrock purchased more than a quarter of the debt sold in Verizon's record $49bn offering -- they "bought about $13 billion of the largest corporate-bond deal on record, said people familiar with the matter." (Wall Street Journal)
Hilton Worldwide will look to raise $1.25bn from an initial public offering, expected in Q12014, as the hotel chain seeks a return to the US stock market six years after it was acquired by Blackstone Group. It is aiming for an enterprise value of around $30bn. (Financial Times)
"J.P. Morgan Chase, facing a host of regulatory and legal woes, plans to spend an additional $4 billion and commit 5,000 extra employees this year to clean up its risk and compliance problems, according to people close to the bank... the bank is spending an additional $1.5 billion on managing risk and complying with regulations, including a 30% increase in risk-control staffing [and] it expects to add $2.5 billion to its litigation reserves in the second half of the year, these people said." (Wall Street Journal)
UK wins backing on clash with EU over short selling rules: In a preliminary opinion on a keenly watched European Court of Justice test case, judges were urged to strike down a law giving the European Securities and Markets Authority the right to ban short selling of financial instruments in emergencies. (Financial Times)
Deutsche Börse is planning to build a derivatives clearing house in Asia, based in Singapore, as part of a strategic push into the region, two people familiar with the matter said. It's unclear if DB will partner up or go it alone. (Financial Times)
Sun Hung Kai profits fall amid Hong Kong's property cooling moves: The property company controlled by the family of the billionaire Kwok said underlying profit for the year ending June 30 fell 14 per cent to HK$18.6bn ($2.4bn) as government measures to dampen prices hit residential demand in the Chinese territory. (Financial Times)
Indonesia lifts interest rate for second time in two weeks: Bank Indonesia raised its main lending rate by 25 basis points to 7.25 per cent, the highest in more than four years, even though most economists had expected the central bank to keep rates on hold after increasing the cost of borrowing by 150 basis points since June. Inflation and a sliding rupiah were the targets. (Financial Times)
ALPHAVILLE
Fed Presidents are not going to let Money Market Funds off the hook
US multifactor productivity growth, charted, prognosticated
A gold surplus + no more Indian buying = ?
COMMENTS & CURIOS
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Lawyers and accountants log $3bn payday in Lehman aftermath (Financial Times)
While Paulson and Elliot are among the winning hedgies (Wall Street Journal)
'Tiger hunts' revisit a bloody era in China's history (Financial Times)
India's reliance on imported energy threatens long-term recovery (Financial Times)
Bullet-pointing the "insane" post-Lehman financial system (Financial Times)
"I know it seems crazy to have a bearish call" (Wall Street Journal)
UK tries again on bank switching (Wall Street Journal)
All change at the Fed (New York Times)
OVERNIGHT MARKETS:
Asian markets
Nikkei 225 down -104.38 (-0.73%) at 14,283
Topix down -5.25 (-0.44%) at 1,179
Hang Seng down -111.07 (-0.48%) at 22,843
US markets
S&P 500 down -5.71 (-0.34%) at 1,683
DJIA down -25.96 (-0.17%) at 15,301
Nasdaq down -9.04 (-0.24%) at 3,716
European markets
Eurofirst 300 down -0.30 (-0.02%) at 1,247
FTSE100 up +0.55 (+0.01%) at 6,589
CAC 40 down -12.48 (-0.30%) at 4,107
Dax down -1.73 (-0.02%) at 8,494
Currencies
€/$ 1.33 (1.33)
$/¥ 99.59 (99.54)
£/$ 1.58 (1.58)
Commodities ($)
Brent Crude (ICE) up +0.17 at 112.80
Light Crude (Nymex) up +0.95 at 108.60
100 Oz Gold (Comex) unchanged 0.00 at 1,330
Copper (Comex) unchanged 0.00 at 3.21
10-year government bond yields (%)
US 2.93%
UK 3.00%
Germany 2.00%
CDS (closing levels)
Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe bps at 90.67bp
Markit iTraxx Europe +0.35bps at 97.33bp
Markit iTraxx Xover +2.52bps at 389.56bp
Sources: FT, Bloomberg, Markit
