China’s conservative new leadership line-up holds little promise of economic or political reform: The seven men appointed to the Politburo Standing Committee include Xi Jinping and Li Kequiang, who will be president and premier, respectively, as widely expected. However the confirmation other five members of the elite group that effectively runs China makes it a more conservative line-up than many had hoped for. In particular, the relegation of Wang Qishan to second-lowest rank and the appointment of Zhang Gaoli, party secretary of Tianjin, to the PSC, make economic reforms look unlikely. Tianjin’s recent growth is a result of a classic control approach and has left much unused apartments and infrastructure. Another key surprise was that Hu Jintao will immediately cede control of the powerful Central Military Commission to Xi; a role which the outgoing party chief usually holds onto for some time. (Financial Times)(Wall Street Journal)

“BP is expected to pay the largest criminal penalty in US history to resolve the investigation arising from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Details of a settlement with the US Department of Justice were still being finalised on Wednesday night but an agreement could be announced on Thursday afternoon, according to people with knowledge of the talks.” Two sources said the company would still face actions for civil penalties and damages from federal, state and local authorities once the DoJ penalty was finalised. (Financial Times)

Panasonic is planning to cut another 8,000 jobs in the six months to March 31, having already cut 8.871 jobs in the previous six months. (Bloomberg)

Texas Instruments is eliminating 1,700 jobs, or nearly 5% of its workforce, as it halts investments in the highly competitive mobile processor business to focus on chips for more profitable markets like cars and home appliances. (Reuters)

FSA warns foreign banks that bonuses must reflect scandals: “Andrew Bailey, head of the Financial Services Authority’s prudential business unit, wrote to bank chief executives in late October ahead of this year’s bonus round warning them that the watchdog would be looking for evidence they had “clawed back” deferred bonuses from people involved in scandals.” (Financial Times)

Sony shares fell to their lowest level since 1980 after the company’s first convertible bond offering in 2003. (Bloomberg)

A Congressional panel blamed Jon Corzine for MF Global’s collapse. The report by the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight puts the blame squarely on the brokerage’s former CEO, the panel’s chairman, Randy Neugebauer, said. The report will be released today. (Reuters)

Starbucks buys Teavana for $620m: Wants to repeat its coffee success, this time with tea. (Reuters)

ICAP has shut its NYSE floor trading operations. “The closure, confirmed by two people close to ICAP, comes as chief executive Michael Spencer warned that one of the toughest markets in his 36-year career had led to a 50 per cent drop in first-half profits.” (Financial Times)

COMMENT AND CURIOS

- Who’s who of China’s new leadership line-up. (Bloomberg)

- Japan’s megabank losses tripled since last year. (Bloomberg)

- Europe must embrace banking union, says Santander chairman Emilio Botín. (Financial Times)

- The DTCC found 1.3m soaked securities certificates in flooded NY vault. (Reuters)

- Editorial: End the open invitation to abuse physical commodities’ benchmarks. (Financial Times)

- China’s banks have more non-performing loans than they’re reporting. (Wall Street Journal)

- South Sudan’s Chinese oil puzzle. (Reuters)

- Another US downgrade next year? (Reuters)

- Is it really so bad in Japan’s declining economy? (Wall Street Journal)

OVERNIGHT MARKETS: MIXED

Asian markets
Nikkei 225 up +146.82 (+1.69%) at 8,812
Topix up +14.72 (+2.04%) at 737.13
Hang Seng down -170.42 (-0.79%) at 21,272

US markets
S&P 500 down -19.04 (-1.39%) at 1,355
DJIA down -185.23 (-1.45%) at 12,571
Nasdaq down -37.08 (-1.29%) at 2,847

European markets
Eurofirst 300 down -10.73 (-0.98%) at 1,088
FTSE100 down -64.24 (-1.11%) at 5,722
CAC 40 down -30.58 (-0.89%) at 3,400
Dax down -67.20 (-0.94%) at 7,102

Currencies
€/$ 1.27 (1.27)
$/¥ 80.78 (80.24)
£/$ 1.58 (1.58)

Commodities ($)
Brent Crude (ICE) up +0.14 at 109.75
Light Crude (Nymex) up +1.03 at 86.32
100 Oz Gold (Comex) unchanged 0.00 at 1,730
Copper (Comex) unchanged 0.00 at 345.55

CDS (closing levels)
Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe +1.29bps at 124.39bp
Markit iTraxx Europe +0.41bps at 131.63bp
Markit iTraxx Xover -0.67bps at 537.21bp
Markit CDX IG +1.74bps at 108.5bp

Sources: FT, Bloomberg, Markit