Good morning New York,
FT ALPHAVILLE
Don't miss Cardiff's post on how the supplemental leverage ratio might affect repo markets.
NEWS
Prosecutors alleged that Bo Xilai took $3.4m in bribes in power, as China's biggest political trial in decades began. The former Politburo membber denied one specific charge of taking bribes but faces others of embezzlement and abuse of power. No international media have been allowed near the trial, held in the eastern city of Jinan. Outside the courtroom there was a small protest by supporters of Mr Bo, although other demonstrators had come to publicise unrelated grievances (Financial Times).
Another record low for the Indian rupee. It fell to Rs65.1 to the dollar in early trading, suggesting that the new RBI policies have failed in to improve investor sentiment in Asia's third-largest economy. Minutes from the latest RBI meeting showed that some believe that the rupee should continue to fall, in order for India's exports to regain competitiveness (Financial Times).
India's richest man has lost $5.6bn of his fortune because of the rupee's slide against the dollar. Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries, still has $17.5bn (Bloomberg).
UK banks face a £1.3bn bill in the latest mis-selling scandal. The Financial Conduct Authority said banks and credit-card issuers mis-sold consumers protection for identity theft and credit card fraud. Barclays are likely to face the biggest bill, due to their dominance in the credit card market, and could be facing a bill of more than £300m, with HSBC and Santander UK likely to have the next highest payouts (Financial Times).
China's economy has showed sign of stabilising after manufacturing activity rose. The bank's flash purchasing managers' index jumped to 50.1 from 47.7 in July. Investment, construction, trade and factory production all ticked higher, providing evidence China has avoided a hard landing (Financial Times).
The FTSE 100 finally rose on early Thursday morning, after three sessions of losses. The FTSE 100 opened 0.6 per cent higher, led by engineer IMI. RBS were up 1.9 per cent, with Glencore Xstrata up 2.1 per cent. The mood has improved with only 7 of the FTSE 100's companies failing to rise (Financial Times).
