Good morning New York,
FT ALPHAVILLE
Les Misérables banking: Izzy looks at the degree to which shadow banking services those in society that conventional banks cannot service, and how it is largely an endogenous system that adapts and mutates when it is reined in.
NEWS
Eurozone third-quarter growth falters: Growth in the eurozone faltered in the third quarter, taking some of the shine off a rebound earlier in the year that saw the currency bloc emerge from an 18-month recession. (Financial Times)
Burberry first-half revenues pass £1bn for first time: The luxury outfitter's first-half revenues have passed £1bn for the first time. Revenues for the six months to the end of September were up 17 per cent at £1.03bn. Pre-tax profit, adjusted for one-offs, was flat at about £174m – broadly in line with analysts' forecasts. The company said this was as a result of lower wholesale revenue and the integration of its beauty business. (Financial Times)
Gold demand falls to four-year low: Global gold demand fell to a four-year low in the third quarter amid widespread investor disillusionment with the precious metal, according to data published on Thursday. (Financial Times)
US internet companies look to the cloud: Dropbox, the cloud storage company that claims 200m individual users, revealed a new service to make it easier to access and share work information from different devices. Meanwhile, Amazon.com showed off a "virtual desktop" service that would simulate a Windows PC on a range of other devices, including personal iPads or laptops. (Financial Times)
Liechtenstein moves to shed reputation as secretive haven: The principality has stepped up its efforts to shed its reputation as one of the most secretive havens in the world by offering to press ahead with automatic exchange of tax information, and promising to sign a global tax treaty. (Financial Times)
RWE to cut jobs as green energy expansion hits wholesale prices: The German utility announced plans to cut about one in 10 jobs over the next two years as it released figures revealing a collapse in earnings from conventional electricity generation. (Financial Times)
IBM's Watson artificial intelligence to get new homes with rivals: IBM has opened up its Watson artificial intelligence technology for use by other software developers, potentially paving the way for a new generation of online services capable of responding to their users in smarter and more natural ways. (Financial Times)
BoE sees housing recovery as driver of growth: Governor Mark Carney said at the launch of the bank's latest inflation report that the pick-up in housing was "initially an important part of the recovery". The governor added that, while the BoE was "vigilant" to the threat of a housing bubble, it was "early days" and there was a "broad range of tools" to deal with surging prices. (Financial Times)
Moody's warns Ineos over financial exposure to Grangemouth: Ineos has been warned over its continuing financial exposure to the lossmaking Grangemouth petrochemical plant, despite having last month won a crushing victory over trade unionists at Scotland's largest industrial complex. (Financial Times)
"KKR and Google have struck a pact to invest about $400 million in six solar-power plants being built by Recurrent Energy in California and Arizona, according to people familiar with the matter. The deal, which could be announced as soon as Thursday, marks the second time the trio has tied up together." (WSJ)
Markets: Stocks were rising, gold was firmer and Treasury yields were falling as global monetary policy remained in focus. Europe's Stoxx 600 was up 0.8 per cent after the Asia-Pacific region jumped 0.9 per cent. US index futures suggested the S&P 500 would advance 5 points to a fresh record of 1,787, though the Nasdaq Composite could dip from its highest close since the dotcom bubble after Cisco's earnings forecast was poorly received. Wall Street's benchmark has moved into virgin territory partly on hopes that even though the Federal Reserve may soon need to begin tapering its $85bn-a-month stimulus programme as the economy improves, it is in no hurry to tighten monetary policy. This reasoning has received support via supposedly dovish comments from the proposed next chair of the Fed. Ten-year US implied borrowing costs were down 3 basis points to 2.72 per cent. In her Senate hearing on Thursday, Janet Yellen will emphasise that the US economy has fallen short of its potential and unemployment remains "too high", in what many analysts believe is indicative of continued largesse from the country's central bank, according to prepared testimony. (Financial Times)
