Ft.com
Citic Securities, China’s biggest publicly-traded brokerage, raised HK$13.2bn ($1.7bn) selling shares at the low end of a revised price range in Hong Kong, Bloomberg reports, citing two people with knowledge of the matter. The Shanghai-listed company sold 995.3m shares at HK$13.30 each, http://ftalphaville.ft.com/thecut/2011/09/28/687456/citic-securities-sai...
Anadarko Petroleum has asked advisers to sound out potential buyers for a collection of its Brazilian oil assets in a deal that could be worth up to $5bn, in the latest attempt by oil and gas explorers in the region to attract investment, http://ftalphaville.ft.com/thecut/2011/09/28/687421/anadarko-sounds-out-...
Banks are being discouraged from big project-finance deals by new global capital rules and the eurozone crisis, the FT says, citing market participants who say infrastructure schemes will increasingly be funded by investors. Standards ordered by the Basel committee of international regulators will make large long-term loans harder to hold on banks’ balance sheets, http://ftalphaville.ft.com/thecut/2011/09/28/687371/banks-wary-of-financ...
Market expectations for US inflation have dropped to their lowest level in a year and are now below the Federal Reserve’s unofficial target, as investors respond to the central bank’s latest attempt to stimulate the economy,http://ftalphaville.ft.com/thecut/2011/09/28/687321/us-inflation-expecta...
Europe’s banks are seeking increasingly creative ways to finance themselves as they attempt to make up for a dearth of traditional debt funding amid market turmoil, the reports the FT. Banks have rushed to issue covered bonds in record numbers this year, http://ftalphaville.ft.com/thecut/2011/09/28/687306/european-banks-innov...
A split has opened in the eurozone over the terms of Greece’s second €109bn bail-out with as many as seven of the bloc’s 17 members arguing for private creditors to swallow a bigger writedown on their Greek bond holdings,http://ftalphaville.ft.com/thecut/2011/09/28/687311/split-opens-over-gre...
China intends to suspend some military exchanges with the US, in the first concrete sign of the fallout from Washington’s decision to provide a $5.9bn arms package to Taiwan, reported the FT. “I think they have indicated that they’re going to suspend or to cancel or postpone a series of […] military-to-military engagements,” a senior US administration official told reporters on Monday, http://ftalphaville.ft.com/thecut/2011/09/27/687241/china-to-suspend-som...
Wsj.com
Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average was up 0.2%, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.8%, South Korea’s Kospi Composite was 0.3% higher. The Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.2%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.7%, while India’s Sensex was flat. Southeast Asian markets, which plunged recently on global growth worries, were mixed. Indonesia’s stock market was up 1.5%, while Thailand’s SET index was off 0.8%. Both markets plumbed multi-month lows in recent sessions. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020483130457659764036207682...
Greece’s parliament approved a new property-tax law in a closely watched vote Tuesday, taking a key step in the country’s efforts to secure further aid from its international creditors and avoid default. The measure was approved with 155 votes in favor and 142 votes against, narrowly surpassing the 151-vote majority required for passage in the Greek body. Three lawmakers abstained. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020483130457659615023393465...
Apple Inc. invited reporters to an iPhone-related event Oct. 4, setting the stage for the widely anticipated launch of its latest smartphone. On Tuesday, Apple sent reporters an email with the message, “Let’s talk iPhone,” inviting them to an event at its Cupertino, Calif., headquarters. Apple has traditionally held an event in the early fall to update iPod products, as well as its iTunes digital music jukebox software. Apple shares recently were up $2.14 at $405.31. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020442240457659677264133797...
Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. said it could raise up to $11 billion from debt markets over the next nine months, in the latest effort by a major Chinese bank to replenish capital amid widening concerns about potential bad loans. The bank, one of the world’s largest by assets, has already raised 170 billion yuan ($20 billion) from the capital markets over the past two years. During that period, China’s major banks raised more than $100 billion from equity and debt markets both locally and in Hong Kong. Tougher capital requirements are set to be implemented next year http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020442240457659613016539988...
Top Russian officials sought Tuesday to reassure investors alarmed by the sudden removal of long-serving Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, predicting a rebound for the ruble even as the central bank said it spent $2.36 billion on Monday to shore up the slumping currency. The International Monetary Fund, meanwhile, warned that heavy government spending could threaten Russia’s economic stability if global conditions worsen. The IMF echoed Mr. Kudrin’s own concerns, which precipitated his ouster on Monday by President Dmitry Medvedev for insubordination after the minister voiced them publicly over the weekend.http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020401060457659696265478375...
An extraordinary dry spell in the market for long-term European bank funding is amplifying pressure on policy makers to devise a solution to the Continent’s banking crisis. For the past three months, European banks have been largely unable to sell debt at affordable prices to investors, who are wary of the banks’ vulnerability to risky euro-zone government bonds and other loans. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020401060457659482135221515...
Wall Street is glued to a gauge of trading fear that has surprisingly few trades behind it. In recent years, credit-default swaps—contracts that give the buyer the right to collect a payment from the seller if a borrower defaults on its obligations—have risen from obscurity to an avidly tracked barometer of the financial health of everything from Bank of America Corp. to Greece. In some cases they have even come to serve as a stand-in for stock quotes when U.S. exchanges are closed. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020401060457659720219943327...
Marketwatch.com
Australian house prices fell in the latest quarter and are likely to remain soft through the next year, a survey out Wednesday showed. House prices fell 2.4% in the September quarter of 2011, accelerating from a drop of 2% in the June quarter, according to a survey by National Australia Bank, released Wednesday. By state, prices fell 3.8% in Victoria, 3.2% in Queensland, 2.9% in South Australia and the Northern Territory, 1.1% in New South Wales and 0.8% in Western Australia, the survey showed. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/australian-house-prices-fall-24-survey-...
A strong Australian dollar is the new status quo, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said Wednesday as her government begins a major study on the impact for Australia of Asia’s burgeoning economic strength. Canberra has commissioned a White Paper titled “Australia in the Asian Century” to examine the economic, political and strategic change underway across China, India, Korea, Japan and the rest of Asia. The publication of the findings is due in the middle of 2012. “This rapid growth in much of Asia will change the social and economic, strategic and environmental order of our world,” said Gillard in a key note speech. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/australias-gillard-strong-currency-is-n...
Reuters.com
Spot gold fell $13.11 to $1,635.79 an ounce by 0304 GMT, down for a fifth day in six. It had tumbled to a two-month low of $1,534.49 on Monday — down from a lifetime high around $1,920 an ounce struck in early September. U.S.gold futures dropped more than 1 percent to a low around $1,633, while other precious metals tracked bullion lower, with silver falling more than 2 percent. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/28/us-markets-precious-idUSTRE78M...
Brent crude fell below $107 on Wednesday, after sharp gains a day earlier, weighed down by a stronger dollar as investors sought refuge in the greenback amid lingering concerns over a debt crisis in the euro zone. Brent futureslost 98 cents to $106.16 a barrel by 12:56 a.m. EDT, after falling more than a dollar earlier. U.S. crude shed $1.32 to $83.12 a barrel. Oil prices jumped more than 3 percent on Tuesday. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/28/us-markets-oil-idUSTRE77838320...
Americans worried about their incomes as they struggled to find work in September, holding consumer confidence near 2-1/2-year lows and pointing to weak spending in the months ahead. Other reports on Tuesday on regional manufacturing and services showed some improvement this month, and house prices stabilized in July, supporting hopes that slow growth will continue as long as Europe’s debt crisis does not escalate. But depressed consumer and business sentiment is holding back recovery. The Conference Board, an industry group, said its index of consumer attitudes was little changed at 45.4 this month from 45.2 in August. Economists had expected a rise to 46.0.http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/27/us-usa-economy-idUSTRE78C33C20...
Bloomberg.com
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev hardened his stance on military spending, the issue that triggered Alexei Kudrin’s exit as finance minister, as he seeks to bolster his chances of becoming prime minister next year. Government officials who question the president’s plan to boost defense spending must quit or “work elsewhere,” Medvedev said yesterday. Russia “isn’t a banana republic” and must maintain a military that reflects its status, he said.http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-27/medvedev-hardens-stance-to-side...
The South Korean government approved a plan by the head of the nation’s ruling party to visit North Korea this month in a further sign that ties may be warming between the two civil war foes. Hong Joon Pyo and four other members of President Lee Myung Bak’s Grand National Party were cleared for the visit yesterday, the Unification Ministry said in an e-mailed statement. Hong will travel to the Gaeseong industrial complex close to the border, where South Korean companies have factories using North Korean labor, and meet with business owners there, the statement said. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-27/south-korea-approves-trip-to-no...
Cnbc.com
The stock market’s three-day rally is at risk of tripping up on new hurdles from Europe. The S&P 500 has gained 3.4 percent so far this week, after last week’s 6.5 percent decline. But it would have been higher, were it not for a Financial Times story published ahead of Tuesday’s market close, highlighting disagreement among euro zone countries over the Greek bailout and the role of the private sector. “It seems like it was kind of a vapor run today. To see us give some of it back on some of the same vapor — month end and quarter end trading — does not seem like a stretch,” said Keefe Bruyette trader Pete McCorry. http://www.cnbc.com/id/44694126
Global markets have been whipsawed in recent weeks as uncertainty over Europe’s debt situation persisted. But renowned investor Jim Rogers says the U.S. economy has more serious problems than Europe. “Europe has a few bad, bankrupt states, so does America. We’ve got Illinois which is bigger than Greece, we’ve got California, we’ve got New York, you know those are pretty big states that have serious economic problems. We have pension plans in America that are terribly under water,” Rogers told CNBC on Tuesday. According to Rogers, the U.S. has deeper structural problems than Europe as well as higher debt levels. http://www.cnbc.com/id/44681050
The U.S. economy is on a “knife’s edge” between growth and contraction, and if it were a dashboard, it would be flashing “watch out, danger ahead on all gauges,” Dallas Federal Reserve Bank’s top economist said Tuesday. “The economy is moving along at stall speed,” Dallas Fed research director Harvey Rosenblum told a forum sponsored by the greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce. “Unless we start moving a little bit faster, we are at a tipping point where things may not go the right way.” The U.S. jobs engine has lost momentum and could be set for further “backtracking,” Meanwhile, he said, there is also a “credible” risk of rising inflation http://www.cnbc.com/id/44689267
Foxbusiness.com
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday she is confident Germany will support Greece and that she wanted the country to remain in the euro zone, according to media reports, following a meeting in Berlin with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou. The Greek prime minister, for his part, said he was ready to lead Greece toward economic stability and that targets laid out by the European Union, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank will not be change. http://www.foxbusiness.com/2011/09/27/merkel-confident-germany-will-supp...
BBC.co.uk
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has named Anton Siluanov as acting finance minister after Alexei Kudrin’s dramatic departure from government. Announcing the appointment to his cabinet, Mr Putin said it had been agreed with President Dmitry Medvedev. Mr Kudrin resigned after publicly declaring he would not sit in a cabinet led by Mr Medvedev, set to swap roles with Mr Putin next year. Mr Siluanov, 48, was deputy finance minister under Mr Kudrin from 2005, and responsible for overseeing the budgets of Russia’s 83 regions. According to his biography on the finance ministry’s website, he graduated from the Moscow Finance Institute in the 1980s, specialising in finance and credit. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15076765
Telegraph.co.uk
Germany and America were on a collision course on Tuesday night over the handling of Europe’s debt crisis after Berlin savaged plans to boost the EU rescue fund as a “stupid idea” and told the White House to sort out its own mess before giving gratuitous advice to others. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/8793010/Germany-slams...
Most advanced economies are lapsing back into recession, while the US is already in the throes of an economic contraction, according to Nouriel Roubini, co-founder and chairman of Roubini Global Economics LLC.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/8792864/US-and-UK-alr...
Henry Kravis, the co-founder of private equity firm KKR, said America must focus on cutting spending, less than two weeks after President Barack Obama aimed new taxes at the industry. “I happen to believe we have a spending problem,” the 67-year-old billionaire said. “In America we don’t have a revenue problem.” As part of the $447bn (£285bn) jobs plan he presented earlier this month, Mr Obama has proposed raising $18bn from the private equity industry and venture capitalists by taxing the carried interest, or profits-based part of their pay, as ordinary income rather than the more lightly taxed capital gains. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/8793203/America-must-...
George Papandreou, the Greek prime minister, said on Tuesday that Athens will live up to its austerity commitments as he urged European nations to “stop the cacophony and work more in harmony” to deal with the debt crisis.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/8791473/Greek-PM-urge...
Chancellor George Osborne will miss his deficit reduction target as he faces lower growth and higher unemployment than officially forecast, according to Pimco, the world’s largest bond house. Giving his take on economic prospects over the medium term, Mike Amey, managing director and head of sterling portfolios, said: “We don’t believe that UK real GDP is going to average 2.75pc in 2012 to 2015.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/8792511/Chancellor-Ge...
Smh.com.au
Brazil’s booming economy has the local car industry in high gear, which the government wants to protect from popular Asian imports by slapping hefty tariffs on rising rivals. Though many economic analysts fear the move will hurt Brazil’s reputation, the tariff shift approved this month was a major victory at least for the powerful local automobile sector. http://www.smh.com.au/business/world-business/brazil-defends-asian-car-c...
Xinhuanet.com
The Chinese currency Renminbi, or the yuan, strengthened 137 basis points against the greenback on Wednesday, with the central parity set at 6.3623 per U.S. dollar, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trading system. Dealers said the market sentiment is improving as the U.S. and European stock markets rallied for a second day running Tuesday on hopes that leaders are preparing a major response to the eurozone debt crisis.http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-09/28/c_131164588
Combined profits of China’s industrial enterprises of scale rose 28.2 percent year-on-year to 3.23 trillion yuan (about 504.4 billion U.S. dollars) in the first eight months, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Tuesday. From January to August, the main business sales revenue of the industrial enterprises of scale — referring to enterprises with annual sales revenue exceeding 5 million yuan each — surged 29.9 percent from a year earlier to hit 53.17 trillion yuan, said the NBS. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-09/27/c_131162684.htm
Thehindu.com
With a weight of 37.90 per cent in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), the eight core infrastructure industries posted a lower of growth of 3.5 per cent in August this year as compared to 4.4 per cent achieved in the same month of 2010. Accordingly, the cumulative growth rate of the eight industries — crude oil, petroleum refinery products, natural gas, fertilizers, coal, electricity, cement and finished steel — during the April-August period of 2011-12 works out to 5.3 per cent, down from the 6.1 per cent expansion notched up during the five-month period of the previous fiscal year. http://www.thehindu.com/business/article2490935.ece
Seeking to expand their economic cooperation and broad-base their trade basket, India and Myanmar on Tuesday agreed to set a $3 billion trade target to be achieved by 2015 from the existing $1.5 billion. This was decided at fourth meeting of Joint Trade Commission which was attended by the Union Commerce Minister, Anand Sharma, and the Myanmar’s Minister of Commerce, U. Win Myint http://www.thehindu.com/business/article2490804.ece
Thetrader.se
Some more color on today’s Shiller figures, and don’t forget the Long Term Chart at the bottom…. Data through July 2011, released today by S&P Indices for its S&P/Case-Shiller1 Home Price Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices, showed a fourth consecutive month of increases for the 10- and 20-City Composites, with both up 0.9% in July over June. Seventeen of the 20 MSAs and both Composites posted positive monthly increases;Las Vegas and Phoenix were down over the month and Denver was unchanged. On an annual basis, Detroit and Washington DC were the two MSA that posted positive rates of change, up 1.2% and 0.3%, respectively. The remaining 18 MSAs and the 10- and 20- City Composites were down in July 2011 versus the same month last year. After three consecutive double-digit annual declines, Minneapolis improved marginally to a decline of 9.1%, which is still the worst of the 20 cities. http://www.thetrader.se/2011/09/27/shiller-long-term-long-way-to-go/