Markets: Asia-Pacific bourses were mixed, echoing a loss of momentum in the US market, with Japanese trade data failing to galvanise the Nikkei. (Financial Times)
JPMorgan agrees $13bn settlement over mortgage securities: JPMorgan Chase agreed on Tuesday to pay $13bn in fines and consumer relief in a landmark settlement with the US Department of Justice and state authorities, admitting that it mis-sold mortgage securities in the lead-up to the financial crisis. Roughly $4bn of the pact will be in the form of consumer relief to help struggling homeowners. The rest will be divided between the DoJ, attorneys-general from states including New York and California, the National Credit Union Administration and the Federal Housing Finance Authority. (Financial Times) How JPM is haunted by a 2006 decision (WSJ) And how US "prosecutors are seeking to hit Wall Street where it hurts most: the bottom line." (NYT)
Bernanke at the NEC: He did not drop any hint on when the Fed would start to slow its asset purchases from $85bn a month – referring only to "coming meetings" – but his remarks suggest a move is still possible at the Federal Open Market Committee's December meeting. (Financial Times) (Alphaville)
"A surge in car shipments spurred Japanese exports to their biggest annual increase in three years in October... The 18.6 percent increase in exports in the year to October blew past the median market forecast for a 16.5 percent rise and accelerated from a 11.5 percent gain in September, data by the Ministry of Finance showed on Wednesday." Japan also logged a record October trade deficit on the back of fuel purchases. (Reuters)
US funds place big multibillion-dollar bets on euro bank recovery over the past four months in the belief that the region's stuttering economic recovery will soon start to gather steam. (Financial Times)
Democrats eye tax on US groups' overseas cash: The US would impose a one-time 20 per cent tax on an estimated $2tn of cash held overseas by American multinationals under a proposal from Democrats on the Senate finance committee that would reshape international tax policy. The proposal by Max Baucus, the veteran Montana lawmaker who chairs the panel, was unveiled on Tuesday as a way to stoke momentum for a much more sweeping rewrite of the US tax code, which is facing uncertain political prospects. (Financial Times)
Devon Energy is close to buying GeoSouthern Energy in a $6bn deal that will accelerate the US group's shift away from gas and into more lucrative oil production and afford significant exposure to the Eagle Ford shale formation in south Texas, one of the heartlands of the US oil boom of the past four years. (Financial Times)
Johnson & Johnson has agreed to pay $2.5bn to settle claims from 8,000 US patients who used artificial hips made by its medical devices subsidiary DuPuy Orthopaedics. (Financial Times)
Yahoo said it increased its authorization to buy back shares by $5 billion. (WSJ)
"ThyssenKrupp is nearing an agreement to sell its steel-rolling mill in Alabama to ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal for around $2 billion, according to people familiar with the matter." (WSJ)
"Barclays is exploring options for its index business after equity index provider MSCI Inc approached the British bank recently about buying the unit, according to several people familiar with the situation." (Reuters)
China's central bank has said it will "basically" end normal intervention in the currency markets, a more explicit commitment than it has previously made when outlining its plans to liberalise the renminbi. However, no details or timetable for reforms were given. (Financial Times)
Barack Obama made a personal appeal to leading senators on Tuesday to postpone new sanctions on Iran. Republicans are not all playing ball with a group of six Republican senators not at the meeting had introduced a new sanctions measure which accused the administration of being "deeply naive" in the way it was negotiating with Iran and called for Tehran to halt all enrichment of uranium. (Financial Times)
Guillermo Moreno, Argentina's powerful internal trade secretary, resigned on Tuesday, a day after a Marxist professor was put in charge of the economy ministry, heralding a major shift in economic policy. (Financial Times)
COMMENTS & CURIOS
Wolf on Summers and why the future looks sluggish (Financial Times)
Libya: Rule of the gun (Financial Times)
"History will look back at China's one-child policy with bewilderment, even disbelief" (NYT)
Will China and India destroy the world? (Bloomberg)
China Central TV: champion of the people with a blurred picture (Financial Times)
Rajan's revolution (Financial Times)
The Co-op Bank's collapse was all too avoidable (Financial Times)
Bankrupt Jefferson County completes $1.8bn sale of bonds (Bloomberg)
Harold Evans on Kennedy's assassination (Reuters)
Some new objections to the "Volcker rule and that possible delay (WSJ)
OVERNIGHT MARKETS
Asian markets
Nikkei 225 down -30.93 (-0.20%) at 15,096
Topix down -3.91 (-0.32%) at 1,233
Hang Seng up +76.66 (+0.32%) at 23,734
US markets
S&P 500 down -3.66 (-0.20%) at 1,788
DJIA down -8.99 (-0.06%) at 15,967
Nasdaq down -17.51 (-0.44%) at 3,932
European markets
Eurofirst 300 down -8.43 (-0.65%) at 1,296
FTSE100 down -25.45 (-0.38%) at 6,698
CAC 40 down -48.39 (-1.12%) at 4,272
Dax down -32.14 (-0.35%) at 9,193
Currencies
€/$ 1.36 (1.35)
$/¥ 100.02 (100.13)
£/$ 1.61 (1.61)
€/£ 0.841 (0.8397)
Commodities ($)
Brent Crude (ICE) up +0.26 at 107.18
Light Crude (Nymex) up +0.25 at 93.59
100 Oz Gold (Comex) at 1,273
Copper (Comex) at 3.16
10-year government bond yields (%)
US 2.72%
UK 2.73%
Germany 1.73%
CDS (closing levels)
Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe at 64.4bp
Markit iTraxx Europe +2.93bps at 82.65bp
Markit iTraxx Xover +4.55bps at 337.02bp
Sources: FT, Bloomberg, Markit
Bringing an End to a Senseless Policy
