Markets: Major bourses across Asia Pacific turned downward on Friday after the S&P500 experienced its worst session in more than a month. Stocks headed lower and the US dollar remained under pressure as the government shutdown continued for a third day. (Financial Times) (Reuters) (Bloomberg)
Boehner pledges to avoid default, Republicans say: The speaker "has privately told Republican lawmakers anxious about fallout from the government shutdown that he would not allow a potentially more crippling federal default as the atmosphere on Capitol Hill turned increasingly tense on Thursday... Lawmakers said that in recent days, Mr. Boehner, who is under fierce attack from Democrats over his handling of the shutdown, has made clear that he is willing to use a combination of Republican and Democratic votes on the debt limit if need be." (NYT)
Obama canceled his planned trip to Asia "saying the government shutdown had made it impossible to travel to a Pacific Rim economic conference in Indonesia or an East Asian security conference in Brunei next week." (NYT) (Financial Times)
Bank of Japan held steady: The policy board's statement on Friday was almost identical to the last, in September, which noted a "moderate" recovery in the world's third largest economy and a "general" pick-up in exports. As then, the BoJ said it would continue buying about Y50tn ($514bn) of Japanese government bonds a year, along with smaller amounts of stocks and corporate debt, to hit its inflation target of 2 per cent. (Financial Times)
No payrolls and " An alternative date for the employment report, usually released on the first Friday of each month at 8:30 a.m., hasn't been scheduled, the department said in a statement today in Washington. " (Bloomberg)
Samsung eyes record operating profit of about Won10.1tn ($9.4bn) in the third quarter, slightly exceeding market expectations and helping to address investor worries that have weighed on its share price in recent months. (Financial Times)
HTC posts deep loss, first in a decade: HTC had already warned that it would post a quarterly loss, but the details are worse than anticipated: it posted a net loss of NT$2.97bn ($101m), versus analyst forecasts of just -NT$1.71bn. (FastFT)
Citi fined $30m for passing an unpublished analyst's research to a handful of valued clients, including embattled hedge fund SAC Capital, giving them an opportunity to trade on weaker sales of Apple's iPhone ahead of other investors. (Financial Times)
Twitter launches countdown to $1bn IPO revealing that revenues tripled in 2012 but that it has never turned a profit during its seven-year history -- analysts put is value at $11bn and $15bn when it floats It can launch its roadshow as soon as three weeks after Thursday's filing of its S-1 prospectus with the SEC. The filing, the first time Twitter has published any financial information, showed revenues grew 107 per cent in the first half of 2013 to $253.6m. Net losses widened 41 per cent to $69.3m in the first half of this year, a period in which it made acquisitions, after shrinking during 2012 to $79.4m. (Financial Times)
US banks fearing default stock up on cash: "US banks were stocking cash machines with extra funds, investors dumping Treasury bills and US equity indices sinking on Thursday in a sign of mounting unease that Washington risks defaulting on its debt later this month. On the third day of a government shutdown, policy makers and business leaders expressed increasing concern that Republicans and Democrats would not reach a deal before the October 17 deadline to raise the debt ceiling." (Financial Times)
Adobe says some 2.9m customer accounts have been compromised and part of the source code that underlies its products stolen. The theft of source code could make it possible for hackers to break into the systems of individuals and companies that use Adobe's software, raising the spectre of new attacks, according to experts. (Financial Times)
Ackman's Pershing Square has seen "assets under management decline by $2 billion from a high point earlier this year, largely due to investment declines, according to people familiar with its operations." JC Penny and Herbalife bets stand out. (WSJ)
JPM's " Jamie Dimon stepped down as chairman of the lender's main bank subsidiary [which runs JPMorgan's deposit and consumer banking operations] at the start of July, according to a person briefed on the move." (Bloomberg)
China to invest in £650m Manchester project: The state-owned Industrial and Commercial Bank of China will invest in a new £650m business district at Manchester airport in a deal the government believes will mark a fresh wave of investment by Beijing in UK infrastructure. (Financial Times)
"Etihad Airways won Indian government backing to invest in Jet Airways (India) , paving the way for the first share sale by a carrier in the Asian country to a foreign airline since restrictions were eased. The approval will result in foreign investment of 20.6 billion rupees ($332 million), the government said in a statement after a cabinet decision in New Delhi yesterday. India modified airline ownership rules last year." (Bloomerg) Jet Airways soared 6.5 per cent in early Mumbai trading (FastFT)
COMMENTS & CURIOS
Don't ignore the rate risk (Financial Times)
Gensler's last stand on derivatives. "We're not going to create a new Enron loophole" (Financial Times)
Boehner's future in the balance (Financial Times)
Did John Boehner just end the debt-ceiling fight? (WaPo)
Tesla grapples with impact of battery fire in U.S. (Reuters)
The rise of Rahul Gandhi? (Reuters)
More than 5,000 stockbrokers from expelled firms still selling securities (WSJ)
Amid bloodshed in Pakistan, a stock exchange soars (NYT)
Argentina reserves: falling and falling (beyondbrics)
OVERNIGHT MARKETS
Asian markets
Nikkei 225 down -63.96 (-0.45%) at 14,093
Topix down -7.33 (-0.62%) at 1,167
Hang Seng down -132.81 (-0.57%) at 23,082
US markets
S&P 500 down -15.21 (-0.90%) at 1,679
DJIA down -136.66 (-0.90%) at 14,996
Nasdaq down -40.68 (-1.07%) at 3,774
European markets
Eurofirst 300 down -4.96 (-0.40%) at 1,242
FTSE100 up +11.54 (+0.18%) at 6,449
CAC 40 down -30.18 (-0.73%) at 4,128
Dax down -31.51 (-0.37%) at 8,598
Currencies
€/$ 1.36 (1.36)
$/¥ 97.25 (97.24)
£/$ 1.62 (1.62)
Commodities ($)
Brent Crude (ICE) down -0.11 at 108.89
Light Crude (Nymex) down -0.17 at 103.14
100 Oz Gold (Comex) up +0.70 at 1,318
Copper (Comex) unchanged 0.00 at 3.26
10-year government bond yields (%)
US 2.62%
UK 2.69%
Germany 1.81%
CDS (closing levels)
Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe -0.4bps at 85.07bp
Markit iTraxx Europe +0.53bps at 99.2bp
Markit iTraxx Xover +2.31bps at 399.97bp
Sources: FT, Bloomberg, Markit
