Good morning New York,
FT ALPHAVILLE
Spot the industry plagued by wrongdoing and huge fines: The fine that really made Dan gasp this week was the $2.2bn penalty levied against Johnson & Johnson for promoting unapproved uses of anti-psychotic drugs in children, the elderly, and disabled. He has more here.
How I learned to stop worrying and love (eurozone) deflation?:Is it time to sit back and embrace the Eurozone deflation? Whilst it might be tempting to go down the "deflation means you can buy more stuff" route, Izzy cites Capital Economics' Jonathan Loynes on why this could be a naively dangerous view.
The ECB's easing dilemma: The ECB is in a bit of a bind. It needs to ease, but there doesn't seem to be an easy easing option left. Izzy looks at the options the ECB has left.
NEWS
Twitter boosts IPO valuation to $17.4bn: Shares in the microblogging network will now be offered for between $23 and $25, giving the company a valuation of up $17.4bn including restricted stock units and options. It will be the largest technology IPO since Facebook went public last year and is expected to lead to a new wave of listings. (Financial Times)
BMW profits go into reverse: Third-quarter revenues declined 0.4 per cent to €18.75bn year-on-year, due in part to currency headwinds linked to the appreciation of the euro against a broad basket of currencies. Excluding currency fluctuations, revenues rose 4.4 per cent on the previous year. BMW blamed a "high level of expenditure for future technologies, intense competition and higher personnel expenses" for the earnings shortfall. (Financial Times)
M&S clothing sales continue to fall: M&S on Tuesday reported a 1.3 per cent decline in underlying sales of clothing and homewares in the three months to September 30, just ahead of analysts' expectations of a fall of 1.5 per cent. (Financial Times)
China stockpile sale expectation rumbles cotton prices: Beijing is expected by the end of the year to start selling off bloated cotton reserves that have kept domestic and international prices artificially high, stimulated planting of cotton internationally, and starved Chinese textile mills of raw material. (Financial Times)
G4S admits hit to reputation from SFO probe: The chief executive of G4S has acknowledged the damage to its reputation after the Serious Fraud Office launched a criminal investigation into the outsourcing group. On Monday, the SFO launched a criminal investigation into the company and its UK rival Serco amid allegations they overcharged the government on electronic tagging contracts. (Financial Times)
BlackBerry called off its sale plans and removed its chief executive on Monday sending the share price of the one-time market leader to its lowest in a decade. (Financial Times)
Vivendi agrees €4.2bn deal with Etisalat for Maroc Telecom: Vivendi struck a deal to sell its 53 per cent stake in Maroc Telecom to the UAE's Etisalat for €4.2bn, as part of the French company's strategy to streamline itself. (Financial Times)
The Co-op warned it would take up to five years to fix its troubled banking arm. It is handing 70 per cent of the bank to a group of bondholders, about half of which will go to hedge funds, in exchange for their debt and a new £125m cash injection. (Financial Times)
Pimco loses biggest fund crown to Vanguard: While Vanguard now has $250bn under management, Mr Gross's flagship fund fell to $248bn in assets at the end of October, after another month of withdrawals. Investors asked for $4.4bn back last month, taking the outflows for 2013 so far to $33.2bn. (Financial Times)
Markets: European bourses were treading water, while the dollar and Treasury yields nudged higher, as many investors awaited potentially significant catalysts in coming days. The FTSE All-World equity index, which at the end of October hit a near six-year intraday high of 264.2, was basically flat at 261.3 as the Stoxx 600 sat barely changed after the Asia-Pacific region was on aggregate fractionally firmer. US index futures suggested Wall Street's S&P 500 would dip 2 points to 1,766, leaving the benchmark only 6 points shy off its record close. "Risky assets have been broadly stable to begin the week on better news about global growth," said analysts at Barclays, citing well-received US and UK manufacturing surveys as examples. But they added that the market looked to be stabilising ahead of the week's main events: the European Central Bank's policy decision due on Thursday and Friday's US non-farm payrolls report. (Financial Times)
