Markets: Asia's markets have continued to show nervousness ahead of China's Communist party meeting that begins Saturday. The ECB's interest rate setting decision is due later today, as well as US third quarter GDP numbers. (Financial Times)
Twitter's valuation soared to $18bn after the messaging platform capitalised on surging investor interest to price its shares on Wednesday at $26 each, just above the range it had indicated just two days ago. Earlier on Wednesday Mary Jo White, head of the SEC, warned that investors in technology companies risk being bamboozled by the "sheer magnitude" of user numbers which may have no relation to profitability. (Financial Times)
"Goldman Sachs and other underwriters on Twitter's IPO will share about $59.2 million for managing the sale after accepting one of the smallest fee rates for a U.S. IPO this year." (Bloomberg)
In rapid succession on Thursday and Friday, the US will release two pieces of important economic data – on third-quarter output and the labour market in October – that were delayed by last month's government shutdown. The figures should cast light on the state of the economy before and during the fiscal crisis that gripped Washington for 16 days, threatening the recovery's momentum. But there will be distortions... (Financial Times)
U.S. Treasury to introduce floating-rate notes: "The U.S. government on Wednesday set plans to sell a new type of debt that pays more interest as market rates rise, marking its first new product since the introduction in 1997 of Treasury notes that protect buyers against inflation. The first sale of so-called floating-rate notes will take place on Jan. 29, with the auction of between $10 billion and $15 billion of two-year securities, the Treasury Department said." (WSJ)
Square, the payments company led by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, has begun informal discussions with investment bankers about an IPO that could come as soon as next year, according to two people familiar with the matter. Square has raised a total of $340m in venture capital funding, including $200m last year in a round that valued it at $3.25bn. (Financial Times)
Shell filed a formal exploration plan for the Arctic waters north of Alaska, marking an important step forward for its ambition to drill next summer what will be the world's most closely watched oil well. The plan for multiple wells in the Chukchi Sea off the northwest coast of Alaska was delivered to US federal regulators in Anchorage. It needs the interior department to approve the programme. (Financial Times)
India has unveiled a shake-up of the rules governing foreign banks that is likely to lead global institutions including Standard Chartered, Citigroup and HSBC to establish separately capitalised local subsidiaries. The rules, which the Reserve Bank of India described as a "significant step towards granting foreign banks equal treatment to domestic banks", allow greater leeway to open retail branches and possibly take over Indian institutions. (Financial Times)
"China has approved two domestic fund managers to offer products in the U.S. that for the first time would give investors there indirect access to shares traded in Shanghai and Shenzhen, a significant move to further open the country's capital markets and globalize its currency, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said Thursday. China's securities and foreign-exchange regulators recently gave joint approval for Bosera Asset Management Co. and Harvest Fund Management Co. to sell exchange-traded funds linked to China's yuan-denominated A shares in the U.S., said the person, who declined to be named." (WSJ)
Ray Kelly, the uncompromising chief of the New York Police Department, is in talks to join JPMorgan Chase in a senior security-related role, according to people familiar with the matter. (Financial Times)
UK gov 'encouraged' Co-op Bank to expand in run-up to failure: Paul Flowers who was replaced as the Co-op bank's chairman in the summer, shocked MPs by admitting he did not know how much the bank lent. Rev Flowers also told the Treasury select committee the Co-op's total assets were about £3bn, when they are actually £47bn, prompting suggestions he was not a "fit and proper" person to have chaired the bank. He said politicians had "encouraged" and "willed on" the expansionary drive that ended in the rescue of the bank by its bondholders and the parent Co-op group. (Financial Times)
"Canada's Chemtrade Logistics is in advanced talks to buy General Chemical Corp, two people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, in a deal that could value the specialty chemicals maker at around $1 billion." (Reuters)
"Exxon Mobil Pipeline faces a fine of nearly $2.7 million for a pipeline spill of thousands of barrels of Canadian crude oil in an Arkansas suburb last spring, the U.S. pipeline safety office said on Wednesday." (Reuters)
COMMENTS & CURIOS
The ghost at China's third plenum: demographics (Financial Times)
Come democratise with me: Beijing edition (WSJ)
The uncomfortable truth in China's property market (Reuters)
And how a failure to dismantle the country's labor camp system underlines Xi's lack of control (Reuters)
The forex market is designed to encourage crime (Financial Times)
Labour's focus on the cost of living is likely to pay political dividends (Financial Times)
LME keeps market hanging (WSJ)
The onion in Indian politics -- cause and effect (WSJ)
Taking aim at the wrong deficit (NYT)
OVERNIGHT MARKETS
Asian markets
Nikkei 225 down -74.66 (-0.52%) at 14,263
Topix down -6.55 (-0.55%) at 1,186
Hang Seng down -167.06 (-0.73%) at 22,870
US markets
S&P 500 up +7.52 (+0.43%) at 1,770
DJIA up +128.66 (+0.82%) at 15,747
Nasdaq down -7.92 (-0.20%) at 3,932
European markets
Eurofirst 300 up +5.00 (+0.39%) at 1,297
FTSE100 down -5.15 (-0.08%) at 6,742
CAC 40 up +33.59 (+0.79%) at 4,287
Dax up +31.76 (+0.35%) at 9,041
Currencies
€/$ 1.35 (1.35)
$/¥ 98.59 (98.62)
£/$ 1.61 (1.61)
€/£ 0.8405 (0.84)
Commodities ($)
Brent Crude (ICE) down -0.41 at 104.83
Light Crude (Nymex) down -0.06 at 94.74
100 Oz Gold (Comex) unchanged 0.00 at 1,318
10-year government bond yields (%)
US 2.64%
UK 2.72%
Germany 1.75%
CDS (closing levels)
Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe +0.24bps at 68.39bp
Markit iTraxx Europe -0.31bps at 84.7bp
Markit iTraxx Xover -2.8bps at 346.69bp
Sources: FT, Bloomberg, Markit
