Asian stocks held gains, the Nikkei rose 1.1% and the MSCI rose 0.3%, headed for its highest close since June 2008. (Bloomberg)
Bank of Japan maintains asset-buying programme: The May monetary policy statement made no mention of recent rises in JGB yields, and said its decision came amid signs of “positive movement” in the economy. (Financial Times)(Statement)
Today: Bank of England MPC minutes; Bernanke’s Congressional testimony; FOMC minutes published. FirstGroup, Cable&Wireless report full-year results. Hewlett-Packard Q2, first PC maker of season.
Sony shares jumped as much as 12% on a report that its board may discuss spinning off its entertainment division. (Bloomberg)
Japanese trade data disappoints. Exports rose in April by 3.8% compared to a year earlier, the second consecutive month of gains, but fell short of median forecasts of a 5.9% increase. Imports rose at a faster rate, 9.4%, and the trade deficit was Y879.9bn, the biggest since comparable records began in 1979. (Reuters)
Dimon prevails on dual role: Just 32.2% of JP Morgan shareholders voted for a resolution to split the two positions of chairman and chief executive. Investors instead targeted their disapproval of the whale affair at the bank’s independent directors in a vote against the re-election of Ellen Futter, David Cote and James Crown; they received 53.1%, 59.3% and 57.4% votes in favour of their positions, respectively. The bank’s shares jumped 1.4% to a six-year high on news of the Dimon vote. (Wall Street Journal)
Temasek raises stake in ICBC as Goldman exits. A purchase of ICBC shares yesterday raised Temasek’s stake to 7.04% from 6.71%. The Singaporean state-owned investment company also bought a 10% stake in Markit yesterday. (Bloomberg)
“Fiat Industrial aims to move its tax residency to the UK from Italy after a merger with US business CNH to take advantage of a lighter fiscal regime, according to a regulatory filing. The move is the latest blow to Italy where the new coalition government of Enrico Letta is seeking to staunch an outflow of investment.” (Financial Times)
Italy considers plan for older workers to ‘handoff’ to younger generations: Labor Minister Enrico Giovannini said that he planned to discuss the idea of allowing older workers to reduce their work hours while mentoring younger employees with union leaders, who so far have been strongly supportive. (Wall Street Journal)
COMMENT AND CURIOS:
- Martin Wolf: The climate sceptics have already won. (Financial Times)
- James Mackintosh: Dumb money is arriving, late, to Japanese party. (Financial Times)
- Is Sony un-Japanese enough to change? (Reuters)
- Steve Cohen fan doesn’t care about any of this insider trading probe business. (Reuters)
- SAP wants programmers with autism. (Financial Times)
- Chris Giles: Scottish skirmishes use little-read economics reports as weapon of choice. (Financial Times)
OVERNIGHT MARKETS: UP
Asian markets
Nikkei 225 up +178.96 (+1.16%) at 15,560
Topix up +8.25 (+0.65%) at 1,279
Hang Seng unchanged 0.00 (0.00%) at 23,366
US markets
S&P 500 up +2.87 (+0.17%) at 1,669
DJIA up +52.30 (+0.34%) at 15,388
Nasdaq up +5.69 (+0.16%) at 3,502
European markets
Eurofirst 300 up +1.13 (+0.09%) at 1,253
FTSE100 up +48.24 (+0.71%) at 6,804
CAC 40 up +13.33 (+0.33%) at 4,036
Dax up +16.37 (+0.19%) at 8,472
Currencies
€/$ 1.29 (1.29)
$/¥ 102.47 (102.46)
£/$ 1.51 (1.52)
Commodities ($)
Brent Crude (ICE) down -0.33 at 103.58
Light Crude (Nymex) down -0.49 at 95.69
100 Oz Gold (Comex) unchanged 0.00 at 1,378
Copper (Comex) unchanged 0.00 at 333.90
10-year government bond yields (%)
US 1.93%
UK 1.91%
Germany 1.39%
CDS (closing levels)
Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe -2.08bps at 80.56bp
Markit iTraxx Europe +1.55bps at 91.84bp
Markit iTraxx Xover +3.86bps at 384.09bp
Markit CDX IG -0.88bps at 70.12bp
Sources: FT, Bloomberg, Markit