Not far off 1,600 for the S&P 500. The index closed at 1,593.37, a 0.3 per cent gain, following optimistic data on weekly jobless claims (Reuters).
The Bank of Japan will interpret its new inflation target "very flexibly", its governor Haruhiko Kuroda said, stressing that the central bank's attempt to double the Japanese money supply would not blow bubbles. "If there is any serious asset market bubble appearing or approaching, of course we will take necessary measures," Kuroda added (Financial Times).
Ex-KPMG partner Scott London received a Rolex, bags of cash and tickets for Bruce Springsteen in return for insider trading tips on clients, the US alleged in criminal and civil complaints. The US attorney's office in Los Angeles charged Mr London with one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, alleging that his golfing partner, Bryan Shaw, made more than $1m in trading profits from the confidential secrets received (Financial Times). KPMG clients including Herbalife, Skechers and Deckers were affected by the trades, the complaints said (Wall Street Journal).
"Uninvestable at this point": JPMorgan analysts on top-tier investment banks. Revenue from investment banking will remain almost a third below 2009 levels in 2015, the analysts said, citing regulatory costs and an increasing risk of 'universal' banks breaking up (Bloomberg).
European banks face a new push among officials for tougher stress tests. "We've been stuck in this rubbish for five years, because we've been doing everything to prevent the banks from being recapitalized properly and the stress tests from being stringent enough," one official said (Wall Street Journal). "If we don't do this, we will stay in this trap until 2020." The drive to reform reviews of asset quality will be one of the last chances to overhaul the tests before the ECB becomes the supervisor of banks in 2014.
FURTHER FURTHER READING
- "We have elected to put our money and faith in a mathematical framework that is free of politics and human error," because when has that ever not worked?
- The great BoJ-inspired yield chase, the Macro Man quiz.
- IMF: bans on naked sovereign CDS are stupid (essentially).
- The yen and spending effects: "some quick and dirty econometrics".
- "When I'm in a country and don't at least once find myself in a traffic jam, it makes me suspicious about its growth potential."
