Asian shares rose after the approval of the new BoJ governors in Japan's upper house, and better than expected US jobless claim numbers. The yen weakened slightly to ¥96.01 to the dollar and the Nikkei rose 1.3%. The Hang Seng rose 0.8% and the Shanghai Composite jumped 1.7%. (Bloomberg)(Wall Street Journal)
Bank of Japan nominees approved: Japan's upper house of parliament waved through the appointments of Haruhiko Kuroda as governor, and Kikuo Iwata and Hiroshi Nakaso as his deputies, following approval by the lower house on Thursday. (Financial Times)
King speaks out to halt sterling's fall: "In an abrupt change of tone, Sir Mervyn said sterling was now "properly valued", reflecting fears that the rapid fall in the pound this year will raise inflation and squeeze household budgets further." (Financial Times)
Big day for JP Morgan: Senator John McCain, senior Republican on the bipartisan panel investigating the 'London whale' episode, said the bank "misled investors" before "lying to investigators" about its $6bn trading losses. At a hearing today, the panel will attempt to force JPMorgan into admitting the trades that soured were designed to increase profits, rather than to hedge various exposures. (Financial Times)(300+page Senate panel report)(Highlights at FT Alphaville)
UK prop trading ban unnecessary, says commission: "The Banking Commission does not feel it appropriate to recommend the immediate prohibition of proprietary trading," said Andrew Tyrie, chairman of the PCBS. (Reuters)
JP Morgan and Goldman got the go-ahead for payouts, but were ordered to improve their capital planning in the Fed's CCAR results. (Financial Times)(FT Alphaville)
EU leaders to fight unemployment, kind of: European leaders pledged in Brussels to make the fight against unemployment a top priority, but did not clarify whether they would agree to soften the push for budget austerity, or what practical steps they intended to take to reduce joblessness. However the summit's statement made a reference to "balancing productive public investment needs with fiscal discipline objectives", which France and Italy viewed as a win for more leeway for public investment. (Wall Street Journal)
EU strikes down harsh Spanish foreclosure law: "Campaigners in Spain hailed a rare legal victory over the country's banks and government when Europe's highest court struck down a draconian foreclosure law that had come to symbolise the brutal fallout from the eurozone's debt crisis." The decision will give courts new powers to delay or freeze evictions. (Financial Times)
Shell has to provide more information before resuming Arctic drilling: Company "will need to provide more detailed plans before it can make another attempt to drill off the coast of Alaska, the US Department of the Interior said following a review of the company's troubled 2012 effort." (Wall Street Journal)
The Troika delayed the disbursement of a Greek bailout tranche after a dispute over the sacking of senior civil servants. The troika mission will return to Greece in April. (Financial Times)
Le Keqiang was today appointed China's premier, the first with a doctorate in economics. (Bloomberg)
Carbon prices spike briefly on EU vote: Carbon prices shot up as much as 20% after a European Parliament vote that narrowly supported measures to help prop up the market. Prices for EU carbon allowances reached €4.23 before sinking back below €3.80 as as it became evident Thursday's vote did not guarantee the success of a more important vote due in April to 'backload' or delay the release of credits to tighten supply. (Financial Times)
COMMENT AND CURIOS:
- Gillian Tett: Watch the maturity transformation in latest rush for junk. (Financial Times)
- Retail investors pouring money into junk bond funds. (Financial Times)
- Esoteric ABS getting ever more exotic in the search for yield. (Financial Times)
- Germany's infrastructure deficit: spending less than US. (Wall Street Journal)
- Germany's foreign minister on why the EU needs austerity. (Financial Times)
- Toyota's Prius could be winner in China, not Buffett-backed local BYD. (Bloomberg)
- UK Budget analysis: No plan B. (Financial Times)
- BRICs locals get out of stocks and into government bonds. (Bloomberg)
- Large US employers very upset about extra $63 per employee in new healthcare regime. (Wall Street Journal)
- Financial advisers don't like Fidelity's new ETF fee structure. (Wall Street Journal)
OVERNIGHT MARKETS: UP
Asian markets
Nikkei 225 up +166.55 (+1.35%) at 12,548
Topix up +12.31 (+1.19%) at 1,050
Hang Seng up +170.96 (+0.76%) at 22,790
US markets
S&P 500 up +8.71 (+0.56%) at 1,563
DJIA up +83.86 (+0.58%) at 14,539
Nasdaq up +13.81 (+0.43%) at 3,259
European markets
Eurofirst 300 up +13.72 (+1.15%) at 1,208
FTSE100 up +47.91 (+0.74%) at 6,529
CAC 40 up +35.54 (+0.93%) at 3,872
Dax up +87.46 (+1.10%) at 8,058
Currencies
€/$ 1.30 (1.30)
$/¥ 96.17 (96.06)
£/$ 1.51 (1.51)
Commodities ($)
Brent Crude (ICE) up +0.52 at 109.48
Light Crude (Nymex) up +0.26 at 93.29
100 Oz Gold (Comex) unchanged 0.00 at 1,591
Copper (Comex) unchanged 0.00 at 352.35
10-year government bond yields (%)
US 2.03%
UK 1.99%
Germany 1.48%
CDS (closing levels)
Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe +0.64bps at 98.59bp
Markit iTraxx Europe -2.28bps at 104bp
Markit iTraxx Xover -7.29bps at 402.85bp
Markit CDX IG -0.76bps at 78.25bp
Sources: FT, Bloomberg, Markit
