ROUND-UP
FT markets round-up: “The euro hit a fresh four-month peak against the dollar and stocks hovered near recent highs as traders welcomed news that Germany can support the eurozone’s bailout mechanism. The FTSE All-World equity index rose 0.4 per cent, after a 1.3 per cent pop for the Asia-Pacific region. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 gained 0.2 per cent up to 1,436 points, leaving the benchmark only 2 points shy of its best closing level since January 2008. The index also advanced as Apple unveiled the new iPhone 5. The tech group alone accounts for almost 5 per cent of the S&P 500’s capitalisation and carries even greater sentimental heft. Apple shares fluctuated through most of the day and ended the session 1.3 per cent higher. The German court’s decision has helped push the euro cross above $1.29, before paring some of the gains to close at $1.2893.” (Financial Times) Read more
An invitation to American congressmen to blow a gasket..
And to competition lawyers just about everywhere to get involved… Read more
Kleinmanwire has suddenly pattered back to life!…
One of the former executives who led HBOS to the brink of collapse in 2008 is to be hit with a massive fine and a lifetime ban from the industry, I can exclusively reveal. Read more
Would you like three long, dense paragraphs of German legal rumination on a idea that’s already DOA? That’d be the ESM funding itself through European Central Bank liquidity.
Of course you would (and if not, you can always skip to the analysis below): Read more
Something of a puzzle is emerging in the UK’s labour market.
The overall employment picture is definitely improving. According to the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics, the economy added more than 431,000 new jobs in the past year and the employment rate is now considered to be relatively high. At the same time, however, there’s no doubt that labour productivity has been falling — quite the opposite to the picture in the US, where productivity has been rising sharply. Read more
It’s election day in the Netherlands, and the latest polls indicate that the Dutch are mostly over their brief flirtation with the anti-Europe, anti-bailout parties. You can almost hear the sighs of relief in Berlin!
Until recently, the polls had the Socialist party in first place, following a surge in support for its calls for a sharp easing of recently-agreed austerity measures and an end to bailouts in the south of Europe. But that was a bit of a one-night stand. In the harsh light of day, voters seem to prefer a more moderate approach. From Citi’s Tina Fordham (emphasis ours): Read more
Live markets commentary from FT.com
It’s a proposal from the EU Commission. You know, the one that wants to move towards a ‘federation of nation states‘:
Read more
The IEA’ September Oil Market report paints an interesting picture of developments in the global refining industry. In short, having restructured intensively over the past few years — by closing off a lot of unprofitable capacity — the industry is now in a position to respond to the product tightness it itself created (as a result of its restructuring).
Which is important because product tightness persists despite an overhang of crude in many regions. Read more
Update
From the wires: Read more
China’s data for August did seem to have some good indicators that stimulus was beginning to wind its way into the economy via the traditional channel of bank lending. Loan figures were much higher than expected and a big jump on July’s lending, even if they were well below that of June.
Plus the proportion of medium and long-term loans — that are more likely to help growth, rather than just providing short-term financing — rose. It was only by a percentage point or so, but a positive nonetheless. Read more
Elsewhere on Wednesday,
- You might not agree with Matt Levine on AIG but you have to admire his footnotes. Read more
Asian stocks rose for a fifth consecutive session after Wen Jiabao, China’s premier, signalled Beijing had room to do more to shore up slowing growth in the world’s second-biggest economy. The MSCI Asia Pacific index advanced 0.4% with Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average up 1.2%, South Korea’s Kospi Composite index adding 0.9% and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index 0.7% higher. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 1% and China’s Shanghai Composite index gained 0.6%. (Financial Times)
It’s Karlsruhe day. The German Constitutional Court ruling on the ESM and the fiscal compact is due at 8am GMT. (Reuters) Read more
1Bernanke weighs in on robot wars; brings Keynes for backup
2Secret liquidity and Scottish independence
3Spain's awful unemployment
4Pump up, debase
5S&P 2,100, by Goldman Sachs
Show more6Buyback to enrich
7Apple Operations International, facts (?) du jour
8Collateral crunch-counting gets sophisticated
9In which the FTSE puts the crisis behind it
10Further reading
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