Good morning New York,
FT ALPHAVILLE
Houses beating households, London edition: Dan notes that the average house in the capital is now earning as much as its occupants. This is because London house prices are rising far faster than in the rest of the UK, up 9.7 per cent over the 12 months to July on ONS figures.
NEWS
BlackBerry watchers see an uphill struggle: Even before Prem Watsa's audacious bid on Monday to take BlackBerry private in a cash transaction valued at $4.7bn, industry analysts were questioning whether the Canadian company could survive. Mr Watsa insisted that, if approved, his bid would "open an exciting new private chapter for BlackBerry, its customers, carriers and employees". But many analysts and investors remain unconvinced. (Financial Times)
CIC Chinese fund buys 12% equity stake in Uralkali: CIC has become the second largest shareholder in Russian potash producer Uralkali, the latest in a string of commodity-related investments by the Chinese sovereign wealth fund. (Financial Times)
Telefonica reaches deal to increase stake in Telecom Italia: The Spanish carrier will pay an initial €324m euros to increase its holding in Telco, the investment vehicle with three financial investors that owns 22.4 per cent of Telecom Italia, to 66 per cent from 46 per cent, Telco said in a statement.
JPMorgan faces US charges on mortgage-backed securities: The civil lawsuit, alleging the bank misled investors in mortgage-backed securities sold in the lead-up to the financial crisis, would be the third launched by government authorities against the bank's mortgage-securities operation. (Financial Times) (NYT)
"A U.S. regulator filed lawsuits against Morgan Stanley and eight other banks over the sale of nearly $2.4bn in mortgage-backed securities to two credit unions that later failed, according to a filing." (Reuters) (Bloomberg)
Citigroup said it would lay off around 1,000 people in its mortgage business, as refinancing volumes slump because of higher interest rates. (Financial Times)
Chrysler files for IPO as a last resort following a dispute between majority owner Fiat and the healthcare trust that owns the rest of the US carmaker. According to the filing, the company has set a place holder amount of $100m to calculate fees ahead of a possible listing. The number of shares and the offering price have not been determined. (Financial Times) (WSJ)
Apple sold more than 9m of its latest iPhones over the launch weekend, up from 5m last year and much higher than analysts had expected, sending its shares 5 per cent higher. (Financial Times)
Markets: Growth-focused assets were struggling for traction as uncertainty over US monetary and fiscal policy again weighed on investor sentiment. Copper was losing 0.8 per cent to $3.27 a pound and Brent crude was slipping 26 cents to $107.90 a barrel. Resource-linked currencies were soft, the Australian dollar was easing 17 pips to $0.9412.The cautious tone was encouraging the purchase of US Treasuries, pushing 10-year yields down 1 basis point to 2.69 per cent, a 6-week low, and helping to support gold, with the precious metal up $2 to $1,324 an ounce. Equities were mixed. Europe's Stoxx 600 was up 0.1 per cent following a weak showing out of Asia and as US index futures suggest the S&P 500 will fall for the fourth session in a row, easing 3 points to 1,699. (Financial Times)
