Markets: Asian stocks rose, extending the longest rally in the benchmark equity gauge this year, and the Thai baht and Malaysian ringgit climbed before Chinese factory output and retail sales data expected to show growth in August. Crude oil slipped for a second day and credit risk fell. (Bloomberg) (Financial Times)
Obama to halt attack if Syria destroys chemical weapons: Asked by ABC if he would hold off on air strikes were Syria to relinquish control of its chemical weapons, Mr Obama said: "Absolutely. If in fact that happens." Mr Obama was speaking hours after Russia launched an unexpected diplomatic initiative to defuse the Syrian crisis when it called on the Assad regime to place its chemical weapons stockpile under international supervision. (Financial Times)
UK chancellor Osborne claims austerity victory, dismissing Labour's argument that deficit reduction was hurting the economy excessively, saying that the opposition could not explain why the economy was "turning a corner" when the government was still practising austerity. (Financial Times)
Twitter has made its largest acquisition to date with the purchase of MoPub, a mobile advertising company, bolstering its ad sales platform as it prepares to go public in coming months. MoPub helps advertisers target users more specifically and in real time, for example during live events. It will continue to allow agencies to buy ads across a large network of websites, not just Twitter, paving the way for an expansion of Twitter's services beyond its own site for the first time. (Financial Times)
Freeport LNG signs gas export deals: Toshiba of Japan and SK of Korea, two industrial groups, have each contracted to use Freeport,the Texas liquefied natural gas project, to liquefy 2.2m tonnes of LNG per year, which at prevailing Asian prices is worth about $1.6bn. The new deals mean it has committed enough demand for a third "train", as LNG production lines are known. (Financial Times)
Deutsche Bank in Tokyo anti-bribery probe: Japanese regulators are scrutinising Deutsche Bank over concerns that its employees broke Japan's anti-bribery rules by providing corporate entertainment to pension fund executives who are involved in managing Japan's national pension scheme and are legally seen as public officials. (Financial Times)
Verizon will sell a combination of fixed and floating-rate debt spread across six different maturities that range from three to 30 years as part of its $130bn acquisition of Verizon Wireless, according to a company filing with regulators. The sale may surpass Apple's $17bn record sale in April and could be priced as early as Wednesday.(Financial Times)
Mining group Bumi's split from Indonesia's Bakrie family delayed again: "The separation process has already taken months. It blames the delay on the complexity of the deal, discussions on arrangements with the Bakries for payment, plus a simultaneous split between the family and their Indonesian partner Samin Tan, who would become the single largest investor in Bumi by buying the Bakrie stake." (Guardian)
Interdealer broker ICAP closes in on settlement over Libor claims: ICAP – which acts as a conduit for trades in the market – was in talks to settle for a sum that could total less than £100m, four people familiar with the situation said. However, the final total is being tightly contested and no final number has been set out for discussion. (Financial Times)
JP Morgan "increased its litigation reserve by more than $1.5 billion in the third quarter to help cover a "crescendo" of potential legal claims." (Bloomberg)
Foreign firms turn to FX swaps to fund Chinese operations: Multinational companies said that they could raise more money, more quickly and more cheaply by borrowing in dollars and swapping the money into yuan than if they borrowed directly in yuan through the offshore yuan-denominated bond (Dim Sum) market in Hong Kong. (Reuters)
Nine of Europe's biggest utilities have joined forces to warn that the EU's energy policies are putting the continent's power supplies at risk. Gérard Mestrallet, chief executive of GDF Suez, said one of the biggest problems was overgenerous renewable energy subsidies. (Financial Times)
Hybrid cars will account for at least a quarter of all the cars Toyota sells in the EU this year, as the momentum behind the green vehicles reaches what its European head calls a "tipping point" on the continent. (Financial Times)
Roberto Azevêdo urges WTO to reach $1tn global trade deal in Bali: The new head of the WTO, who succeeded Pascal Lamy at the beginning of this month, has used his debut address to members to issue a rousing call for them to reach a deal in Bali later this year that would add up to $1tn to the global economy. (Financial Times)
Koch Industries to buy Molex: The transaction values the shares of the company, which makes electrical and fibre-optic systems for the consumer electronics, automotive and information technology markets, at about $7.2bn. (Financial Times) "Sales to Apple accounted for about 14% of its $3.62 billion in revenue for the fiscal year ended June 30." (Wall Street Journal)
FT ALPHAVILLE
State and local, post office, and federal US government jobs, charted
Next stop, dishwashers
Guest post: China's unbalanced growth compared with Japan and South Korea
COMMENTS & CURIOS
A plan to finish fixing the global financial system, by Mark Carney (Financial Times)
ICC under scrutiny as Kenya's deputy president faces trial (Financial Times)
Don't bet against Bernanke's inflation quest (Financial Times)
The German election: "debating 'veggie day' and road tolls." (Financial Times)
Why Indian exports need more than a cheap rupee (Reuters)
China needs Beijing to be even bigger (Bloomberg)
Rouhani's New Year (New York Times)
OVERNIGHT MARKETS: middling
Asian markets
Nikkei 225 up +192.64 (+1.36%) at 14,398
Topix up +18.60 (+1.59%) at 1,192
Hang Seng up +134.74 (+0.59%) at 22,885
US markets
S&P 500 up +16.54 (+1.00%) at 1,672
DJIA up +140.62 (+0.94%) at 15,063
Nasdaq up +46.17 (+1.26%) at 3,706
European markets
Eurofirst 300 down -1.79 (-0.15%) at 1,228
FTSE100 down -16.59 (-0.25%) at 6,531
CAC 40 down -8.86 (-0.22%) at 4,040
Dax up +0.65 (+0.01%) at 8,276
Currencies
€/$ 1.33 (1.33)
$/¥ 99.55 (99.57)
£/$ 1.57 (1.57)
Commodities ($)
Brent Crude (ICE) down -0.97 at 112.75
Light Crude (Nymex) down -1.14 at 108.38
100 Oz Gold (Comex) down -9.40 at 1,377
Copper (Comex) unchanged 0.00 at 3.28
10-year government bond yields (%)
US 2.93%
UK 3.00%
Germany 1.97%
CDS (closing levels)
Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe +0.72bps at 91.21bp
Markit iTraxx Europe -3.8bps at 100.74bp
Markit iTraxx Xover -11.39bps at 401.4bp
Sources: FT, Bloomberg, Markit
