Good morning New York,
FT ALPHAVILLE
Please sir, I want some more - Italy edition: David explains why Italy is a central plank in the argument for a new vLTRO or at least an extension of what we already have.
In the loop: Dan spots a useful chart from Citi which shows the recent rise in bank holdings of sovereign debt. Across Europe total sovereign holdings are now 9 per cent of assets, up from a trough of 6 per cent in September 2009.
NEWS
Biden to raise China's 'unsettling behaviour' in visit: Mr Biden is expected to use a week-long visit to Asia starting on Sunday to press China about last weekend's announcement of a set of flight restrictions over an area including a disputed chain of islands in the East China Sea. (Financial Times)
Rio Tinto to expand Australia iron ore production operations: Rio Tinto is pushing ahead with a long-awaited expansion of its flagship iron ore mining operations in Australia, saying it plans to spend $3bn less than it once intended. (Financial Times)
Thai PM survives no confidence vote: Despite the anti-government protests that have gripped Bangkok for weeks, prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra has survived a no confidence vote. Members of the lower house voted 297 to 134 to reject a petition to censure her. (FastFT)
Cameron in U-turn on plain packaging for cigarettes: The government is to introduce plain packaging for cigarettes under plans to be announced on Thursday following a U-turn by the prime minister David Cameron. Ministers are to push ahead with a study on plain packaging after deciding enough international evidence supports the measure, which was previously thought to have been abandoned. (Financial Times)
US Regulators schedule dates for Volcker vote: The CFTC and the FDIC are among the regulators scheduling dates for a vote on the highly anticipated Volcker rule, according to people familiar with the matter. The FDIC plans to meet on December 10 to consider the rule aimed at banning proprietary trading, which involves banks trading from their own accounts. The CFTC has tentatively marked the same day to vote on Volcker, but that could be delayed depending on whether the rule is finalised by then. (Financial Times)
SAC's Steinberg asked for 'proprietary information', court told: Michael Steinberg, a former portfolio manager with SAC Capital, asked his analyst to get "early, proprietary information" about companies that he could trade for profits, a key government witness testified during an insider trading trial. Jon Horvath, the former SAC analyst, said that during the summer of 2007, after a string of losing trades, Mr Steinberg pulled him aside one evening with new marching orders. "You need to talk to your contacts", at companies, banks, consulting firms and peer network, to "get me that information", Mr Horvath alleged he was told. (Financial Times) (WSJ)
E&Y to pay $99m to settle Lehman litigation case: "Ernst & Young agreed to pay investors $99 million to settle litigation over its auditing of the bankrupt Lehman Brothers, according to a filing in federal court in Manhattan. [The deal] would resolve claims of investors who bought certain securities issued by the firm from June 12, 2007, to Sept. 15, 2008, the date Lehman filed for bankruptcy, according to the filing. It requires the approval of U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan." (Bloomberg)
Barclays to pay NY trader $2.1m: "Barclays Capital has been ordered to pay $2.1 million to a New York-based trader it fired last year in connection with the alleged rigging of the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, according to arbitration documents." (Reuters)
Guangdong to launch carbon permit market: "Guangdong, China's most populous province with more than 100 million people, is to launch a carbon permits market next month that will be the world's second biggest after the European Union. The scheme… will cap carbon dioxide emissions from 202 companies at 350 million tons for 2013, according to a statement on the website of the provincial Development and Reform Commission." (Reuters)
Vale has agreed to pay Brazilian authorities R$22.3bn ($9.6bn) to settle a decade-long dispute over back taxes, bringing an end to an issue that has scared away investors from the world's largest iron ore miner. The Rio de Janeiro-based company said late on Wednesday that it would accept the terms of the government's Refis tax amnesty programme, reducing an initial $14bn claim against the miner by about 30 per cent. (Financial Times)
Judge clears American-US Airways merger: The long-running effort to merge US Airways and the bankrupt parent of American Airlines looks close to success after a bankruptcy court judge threw out a last-minute private effort to block the deal and cleared it to go ahead. US Airways and AMR Corporation said they expected the two companies to merge on December 9 before markets opened. They anticipate the merged airline to be the US's largest by sales. (Financial Times)
Markets: Record levels on Wall Street were helping to propel global stocks to near six-year highs as the yen remained under pressure and gold hovered just above four-month lows. The FTSE All-World equity index was up 0.3 per cent to 264.7, on course for its best close since Christmas 2007, as the FTSE Eurofirst 300 added 0.4 per cent and after the Asia-Pacific region climbed 0.7 per cent. Stocks have been buoyed of late by signs of improvement in the US, European and Japanese economies as central banks continue ultra-loose monetary policies. In addition, China has shown evidence it has avoided what many feared would be a sharp slowdown in growth as Beijing strives to rebalance the economy. Along with generally supportive corporate earnings and reduced eurozone debt fretting, these factors have helped push the S&P 500 into virgin territory, up 26.7 per cent so far this year. US markets will be closed for Thanksgiving on Thursday. They will reopen for only half a day on Friday, but that should give traders a chance to react to news about how retailers have fared at the start of the US festive shopping season. (Financial Times)
