Good morning New York,
FT ALPHAVILLE
Inflation in China: Veg now, pork later: David points us to a report by Nomura's Zhiwei Zhang who notes that CPI inflation in China rose faster in 2013 than the historical average despite the economic downturn.
NEWS
Senate takes over US budget negotiations: Senate leaders are set to resume talks on Monday in their desperate attempt to resolve the stalemate over the US debt ceiling amid warnings of a global recession should the US run out of money to pay its bills. With just four days left before the country faces the risk of default, Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, warned that if the debt ceiling, which will be reached at midnight on Thursday, is not lifted, the global economy would be disrupted. (Financial Times)
Lloyds warns of Help to Buy bubble unless steps are taken to free up planning restrictions and boost the supply of new housing. António Horta-Osório, chief executive, also said: ""I think the scheme should be focused outside London and the southeast," he said. "[In the rest of the country] you have nothing close to a housing bubble." (Financial Times)
Twitter squeezes banks on IPO: "The fees banks are set to collect for selling the shares—at 3.25% of the money raised, said people familiar with the deal—would be the lowest percentage paid on a U.S.-listed IPO in more than a year, according to Ipreo… What's more, the microblogging service is nearing completion of a $1 billion credit line from its bankers…" (WSJ)
Higher vegetable prices helped fuel Chinese inflation in September:China's consumer price index for September rose 3.1 per cent compared with a year earlier, accelerating from August's 2.6 per cent year-on-year increase. (Financial Times)
Gulf oil production hits record, defying expectations that the US shale revolution would break their 40-year grip on the global oil market and diminish their importance to the world's consuming nations. (Financial Times)
Europe's financial institutions are more exposed to their domestic government bonds than at any time since the eurozone crisis started. It has yet to be decided exactly how the European Banking Authority's stress test of about 150 banks next summer will treat sovereign bond holdings. (Financial Times)
Netflix pursues cable-TV deals: "Netflix is in talks with several U.S. pay-television providers including Comcast and Suddenlink Communications to make its online video service available as an app on their set-top boxes, people familiar with the matter say." (WSJ)
Urals Energy receives cash bid: Aim-quoted Russian oil explorer Urals Energy says that it has received a cash bid that values it two-thirds higher than its closing price on Friday.The approach is pitched at 12.25p, compared with Friday's closing share price of 7.5p. (Financial Times)
Markets: US equity futures, European stocks and the dollar were softer, while the "haven" yen was rising as investors expressed disappointment that the weekend did not deliver a fiscal deal in Washington. Tension was mounting as the US entered its third week of partial government shutdown. A deadline for raising the country's debt ceiling was only days away, with leaders of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank joining creditors and trading partners in warning of the damage to global confidence should the world's biggest economy bilk on its commitments. "With no end to the US budget crisis in sight, financial markets are showing some signs of weariness in addition to nervousness," said the forex team at Citi. Adding to the sour sentiment was news that China's exports fell in September, raising fears of softening global demand. Imports were stronger than expected, with purchases of crude oil setting a daily record, and this has helped industrial commodities overcome the dour broader market mood as copper gains 0.7 per cent to $3.28 a pound and Brent crude adds 4 cents to $111.32 a barrel.
