Markets: Asian bourses continued their ascent on the prospect of extended monetary stimulus in the US. Investors have been closely watching testimony from Janet Yellen, the nominee for chairman of the Federal Reserve, who has so far stuck to the view the central bank would tie policy changes to underlying improvement in the US economy. (Financial Times) Seven highlights from the Yellen hearing (Financial Times)
Disappointing growth figures in the eurozone and Japan driven by weak export numbers have dashed hopes that a global economic recovery would gather pace in the second half of the year. Growth in the eurozone faltered in the third quarter, expanding 0.1 per cent following growth of 0.3 per cent in the second quarter. In Japan, the rate of growth roughly halved to an annualised rate of 1.9 per cent. (Financial Times)
Iran has sharply slowed down the expansion of its nuclear programme over the past three months, the international nuclear watchdog said on Thursday, providing a potential boost to ongoing nuclear talks with Tehran. (Financial Times)
Investors in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could accept less than full value for their preferred shares in a mooted restructuring plan for the bailed out US housing finance agencies, says one of the plan's architects. (Financial Times)
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has taken a $3.7bn stake in ExxonMobil, handing a vote of confidence from one of the world's most famous investors to a company that has underperformed relative to its smaller peers in the US oil industry. The purchase, disclosed in a regulatory filing late on Thursday, was funded in part by the sale of $500m of Berkshire's shares in Exxon's rival, ConocoPhillips. (Financial Times)
Moody's has cut the credit ratings of big US banks including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase, after deciding that the federal government is less likely to bail the financial institutions out if they get into future difficulties. They had the ratings on their long-term senior unsecured debt lowered one notch to Baa1, Baa2 and A3, respectively. (Financial Times)
"Top U.S. hedge fund managers in the third quarter zoned in on the consumer sector, with investment plays ranging from Sotheby's, a high-end auction house that caters to millionaires, to J.C. Penney, the struggling department store chain." (Reuters)
"Activist investor Carl Icahn disclosed Thursday that he owned about 3.88 million shares of technology giant Apple at the end of September, a regulatory filing showed.Icahn's stake in the company at the end of the third quarter was worth about $1.85 billion." (Reuters)
ABG Shipyard, the Indian group, has told shareholders that "problems" servicing its loans in a timely manner have led it to seek a debt restructuring agreement with its lenders. ABG told the stock exchange that its banks are "supportive of the restructuring", which it asked for after its financial position weakened and it had "problems in servicing its debt in a timely manner." (FastFT)
"A wrong-way bet on global oil prices has hit some of the crude market's most high-profile investment firms, including hedge funds run by former Goldman Sachs traders, worsening what has been a dismal year for commodity-fund returns. Wagers that the gap between Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude-oil prices would narrow were upended when the "spread" between these two prices instead diverged during September and October." (WSJ)
"China's benchmark money-market rate jumped the most in almost five months as the central bank drained cash from the financial system for a second week." (Bloomberg)
COMMENTS & CURIOS
Potentially a Cohen test-trial (WSJ)
The four big truths that are shaping the Iran talks (Financial Times)
Inflation is an unpleasant side effect, not the cure (Financial Times)
Hedge funds prepare for higher global rates (Financial Times)
Bankrupt Jefferson County to sell $1.7bn of debt/ attempt to prove a point (WSJ)
"BitLicense"? (NYT)
Private restaurants: "We don't want the circulation of outside people" (WSJ)
OVERNIGHT MARKETS
Asian markets
Nikkei 225 up +260.50 (+1.75%) at 15,137
Topix up +19.94 (+1.64%) at 1,238
Hang Seng up +337.60 (+1.49%) at 22,987
US markets
S&P 500 up +8.62 (+0.48%) at 1,791
DJIA up +54.59 (+0.35%) at 15,876
Nasdaq up +7.16 (+0.18%) at 3,973
European markets
Eurofirst 300 up +10.60 (+0.83%) at 1,294
FTSE100 up +36.13 (+0.54%) at 6,666
CAC 40 up +43.97 (+1.04%) at 4,284
Dax up +94.83 (+1.05%) at 9,150
Currencies
€/$ 1.35 (1.35)
$/¥ 100.14 (99.98)
£/$ 1.61 (1.61)
€/£ 0.837 (0.8376)
Commodities ($)
Brent Crude (ICE) up +0.18 at 108.46
Light Crude (Nymex) up +0.47 at 94.23
100 Oz Gold (Comex) up +1.80 at 1,288
Copper (Comex) up +0.02 at 3.18
10-year government bond yields (%)
US 2.70%
UK 2.75%
Germany 1.71%
CDS (closing levels)
Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe -0.35bps at 64.49bp
Markit iTraxx Europe -1.82bps at 82.48bp
Markit iTraxx Xover -8.48bps at 341.92bp
Sources: FT, Bloomberg, Markit
