Markets: Accelerating economic growth in China coupled with a fresh all-time high for the S&P 500 brightened sentiment across the Asia-Pacific region. (Financial Times)
China's economy expanded 7.8 per cent in the third quarter from the same period a year earlier, marking an acceleration from the second quarter when it grew by 7.5 per cent. The rebound in the world's second-largest economy was largely the result of government efforts to shore up growth with looser monetary policy and a "mini-stimulus" of investment in infrastructure such as rail and subway systems. (Financial Times)
"SAC Capital Advisors LP and federal prosecutors have agreed in principle on a penalty exceeding $1 billion in a potential criminal settlement that would be the largest ever for an insider-trading case, according to people familiar with the matter... The penalty means SAC would pay the U.S. government a total of nearly $2 billion, including a $616 million penalty the firm agreed to in a civil insider-trading settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission in March." (WSJ)
Fed could taper as early as December: "The US government shutdown sabotaged a crucial month of data and dealt a blow to the world's largest economy, but the Federal Reserve could still begin reducing its asset purchases as early as December. Analysts have slashed their growth forecasts for the fourth quarter to 2 per cent or below, with many expecting a hit of about 0.5 percentage points from the prolonged shutdown. But many said the economy would bounce back quickly with federal employees back at work." (Financial Times)
Payroll Friday is now payroll Tuesday. The US Department of Labor said it would release the next monthly employment report on Tuesday, a delay of more than two weeks after one of the most-watched economic measures became a casualty of the US government shutdown. Other important reports, such as the consumer price index and the producer price index, will also be delayed. They will be released on October 30 and October 29, respectively. (Financial Times) (FT Alphaville)
"U.S.-based money market fund assets recorded their largest one-week decline since August 2011 as investors pulled $43 billion out of fear over a possible U.S. government default, data from Thomson Reuters' Lipper service showed on Thursday." (Reuters)
WSJ ordered not to divulge Libor names: "A British judge ordered the Journal and David Enrich, the newspaper's European banking editor, to comply with a request by the U.K.'s Serious Fraud Office prohibiting the newspaper from publishing names of individuals not yet made public in the government's ongoing investigation into alleged manipulation of the London interbank offered rate, or Libor." (WSJ)
"Wal-Mart was cleared of allegations that it violated a prohibition on foreign investment in supermarkets, two senior officials familiar with the probe said. India's Finance Ministry had been investigating a 2010 purchase by Wal-Mart of $100 million in convertible debentures from the retail arm of Indian conglomerate Bharti Enterprises Ltd. Authorities were looking into whether Wal-Mart had tried to circumvent restrictions on foreign direct investment, since the debentures, which are debt instruments, could be converted into a stake in the Bharti unit that operates the Easyday supermarket chain. " (WSJ)
"Lenovo is actively considering a bid for all of struggling Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry, according to people familiar with the matter, the latest sign of the voracious appetite of Chinese companies for foreign acquisitions." (WSJ) Although there will be regulatory obstacles... (Reuters) ... and nothing has been confirmed, that didn't stop Lenovo's Hong Kong shares from dropping 1.5 per cent in the first minutes of Friday trading. (FastFT)
Google shares hit record on smartphone shift: Google's latest figures hinted at a continued decline in its overall pricing power as more advertising moved to mobile... The price decline was more than balanced out by a 26 per cent jump in the number of paid clicks recorded in the quarter, as smartphones and tablets boosted the number of times people looked at Google adverts. (Financial Times)
Chinese conglomerate Fosun is buying landmark downtown Manhattan office building One Chase Manhattan Plaza from JP Morgan for $725m. (FastFT)
COMMENTS & CURIOS
Global swaps market faces fragmentation (Financial Times)
No alternative to dollar except financial chaos (Financial TImes)
Obamacare's woes continue (Reuters) -- this time it's the data (WSJ)
SEC pads case tally with easy prey (WSJ)
China's overcapacity problem: here's the plan (beyondbrics)
India's closed shop (WSJ)
NY Fed's fired Goldman examiner makes weird case (Bloomberg)
OVERNIGHT MARKETS
Asian markets
Nikkei 225 down -42.06 (-0.29%) at 14,544
Topix down -2.77 (-0.23%) at 1,203
Hang Seng up +148.58 (+0.64%) at 23,243
US markets
S&P 500 up +11.61 (+0.67%) at 1,733
DJIA down -2.18 (-0.01%) at 15,372
Nasdaq up +23.72 (+0.62%) at 3,863
European markets
Eurofirst 300 up +2.43 (+0.19%) at 1,268
FTSE100 up +4.57 (+0.07%) at 6,576
CAC 40 down -4.08 (-0.10%) at 4,240
Dax down -34.02 (-0.38%) at 8,812
Currencies
€/$ 1.37 (1.37)
$/¥ 98.03 (97.89)
£/$ 1.61 (1.62)
Commodities ($)
Brent Crude (ICE) up +0.17 at 109.28
Light Crude (Nymex) up +0.12 at 100.79
100 Oz Gold (Comex) down -6.40 at 1,316
Copper (Comex) unchanged 0.00 at 3.28
10-year government bond yields (%)
US 2.60%
UK 2.78%
Germany 1.87%
CDS (closing levels)
Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe -0.25bps at 72.54bp
Markit iTraxx Europe +0.37bps at 87.96bp
Markit iTraxx Xover -0.76bps at 353.99bp
Sources: FT, Bloomberg, Markit
