Markets: Chinese President Xi Jinping's blueprint for economic reforms in the coming decade pushed Greater China markets higher. Companies involved in selling infant formula, nappies and prams were doing particularly well. (Financial Times) (Reuters)
Federal Reserve considering a one year delay to Volcker rule, pushing the compliance date out to July 2015: Banks are currently required to comply with the rule – which bans proprietary trading that puts a bank's own capital at risk – by July 2014. But regulators are still putting the final touches on the long-delayed proposal, and the final rule will probably not be released until December – giving banks less than a year to make changes to comply with the proposal. (Financial Times)
NYSE and Nasdaq plan to back up one another's data streams: "The collaboration would strengthen one of the stock market's common points of failure. The committees, which together include members of all U.S. exchanges, are also discussing other ideas that could stabilize the infrastructure of the financial exchanges. Negotiations between the committees are under way, and an agreement could come by the end of this month, according to a person familiar with the matter." (WSJ)
Treasury arm gets earful from asset managers: "Large firms such as BlackRock, Pacific Investment Management Co. and Fidelity Investments are blasting a report by the Office of Financial Research that found asset managers could pose risks to the broader financial system. The finding is significant because it is among the criteria a group of senior U.S. regulators will use to determine whether large asset managers are "systemically important" and should be drawn in for stricter oversight." (WSJ)
Barclays warns of more UK branch closures: Ashok Vaswani, who looks after Barclays' global retail arm, said: "I'm a firm believer that branches will survive but the format – where they are located and what happens in them – will change. There is no question there will be shrinkage." (Financial Times)
Edmond de Rothschild is set to launch a London-based merchant banking business this week in an effort by the Franco-Swiss private banking group to turn the City into its fourth major business centre. (Financial Times)
Directors' pay at the UK's biggest quoted companies has risen 14 per cent over the past year – more than six times the increase in overall average earnings – as company bosses enjoyed a windfall from long-term incentive plans. Essentially, share-based schemes linked to shareholder returns meant directors' total earnings grew markedly in 2012-13. (Financial Times)
In the UK, thousands of construction workers on an industry blacklist have been offered compensation payouts of up to £100,000 each, just as the government launches a review of malpractice by both unions and employers across all sectors. (Financial Times)
"Aberdeen Asset Management is set to buy Scottish Widows Investment Partnership from Britain's Lloyds Banking Group in a 500 million pound deal, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. The source said the deal, which is mainly in stock, would be announced on Monday." (Reuters)
"LightSquared has filed a lawsuit accusing Dish Network and its chairman, Charles Ergen, of improperly trying to take control of LightSquared's broadband spectrum. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. bankruptcy court in New York late on Friday, is an effort to revive an earlier case by LightSquared's controlling stakeholder, Phil Falcone's Harbinger Capital Partners, that was thrown out last month." (Reuters)
COMMENTS & CURIOS
The Obama presidency is not over, but it is failing (Financial Times)
The case for quantitative easing is overwhelming (Financial Times)
Geithner "wanted to write his own account of the financial crisis and bolster his bank account" (Financial Times)
EBA being undermined by the "impossible" committee-led governance says head of EBA (Financial Times)
China's Potemkin reforms (WSJ)
The plenum: keyword edition (WSJ)
And the coming local clampdown in China (Bloomberg)
A strongman is not the solution to India's troubles (Financial Times)
Who pays when India's billionaires don't go bust? (Bloomberg)
Does London need a higher minimum wage? (Financial Times)
OVERNIGHT MARKETS
Asian markets
Nikkei 225 up +21.62 (+0.14%) at 15,188
Topix up +1.98 (+0.16%) at 1,241
Hang Seng up +500.32 (+2.17%) at 23,532
US markets
S&P 500 up +7.56 (+0.42%) at 1,798
DJIA up +85.48 (+0.54%) at 15,962
Nasdaq up +13.23 (+0.33%) at 3,986
European markets
Eurofirst 300 up +3.58 (+0.28%) at 1,298
FTSE100 up +27.31 (+0.41%) at 6,693
CAC 40 up +8.32 (+0.19%) at 4,292
Dax up +19.03 (+0.21%) at 9,169
Currencies
€/$ 1.35 (1.35)
$/¥ 100.09 (100.21)
£/$ 1.61 (1.61)
€/£ 0.8364 (0.837)
Commodities ($)
Brent Crude (ICE) down -0.34 at 108.16
Light Crude (Nymex) down -0.37 at 93.47
100 Oz Gold (Comex) down -0.80 at 1,287
Copper (Comex) down -0.85 at 3.17
10-year government bond yields (%)
US 2.72%
UK 2.74%
Germany 1.71%
CDS (closing levels)
Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe +0.07bps at 64.56bp
Markit iTraxx Europe -2.04bps at 80.44bp
Markit iTraxx Xover -5.57bps at 336.35bp
Markit CDX IG -1.5bps at 70.25bp
Sources: FT, Bloomberg, Markit
