Markets: Asian equities weakened as the heightened prospect of support for the US budget deal sparked renewed speculation that the Federal Reserve may speed up plans to taper its monetary stimulus programme, prompting investor caution towards riskier assets. (Financial Times)
Confidence grows of support for US budget deal: US congressional leaders and business groups raced to rally support on Wednesday for a bipartisan budget deal designed to provide stability to America's fiscal policy for the next two years and spur its economic recovery. The high-stakes agreement sealed on Tuesday night by Patty Murray and Paul Ryan, the Democratic and Republican budget negotiators, will be taken up by the House of Representatives as soon as Thursday, to be followed by the Senate. (Financial Times)
Ukraine's president Yanukovich's position looked increasingly precarious by the end of Wednesday after thousands of riot police failed to clear protest camps from Kiev's Independence Square, prompting thousands more demonstrators to come out and defend the site. Public signs also emerged that more of Ukraine's influential oligarchs were siding with protesters. (Financial Times)
Hedge holdings soar despite returns trailing behind equities: Interest in hedge funds among institutional investors, particularly pension funds, has increased as equity market valuations have risen sharply and bond market returns are threatened by future interest rate rises. (Financial Times)
The White House is considering Stanley Fischer for vice-chair of the US Federal Reserve in a move that would add one of the world's most respected economists to the central bank under new head Janet Yellen. Mr Fischer, the former governor of the Bank of Israel, was a dark-horse candidate for Fed chair but he could now get the number two job, according to people familiar with the matter. (Financial Times) Your Fischer encomium (FT Alphaville Nov)
Shares in Cinda, the former Chinese bad bank, got off to a flying start, rising more than 20 per cent in the opening minutes of their debut Hong Kong trading session on Thursday. (Financial Times)
ECB poised to get tough on sovereign bond risks via health check: Executive board member Peter Praet said if sovereign bonds were treated "according to the risk that they pose to banks' capital" during the health check, then lenders would be less likely to use central bank liquidity to buy yet more government debt. If the health check were to choke off lending to eurozone households and businesses then the ECB would provide another round of cheap loans, Mr Praet said. (Financial Times)
"J.P. Morgan Chase is expected to pay more than $1 billion in penalties to the Justice Department to end a criminal probe into whether it provided adequate warnings about convicted fraud figure Bernard L. Madoff, said a person close to the case." (WSJ) (Financial Times)
Lloyds and RBS face £90m in fines: Lloyds was fined a record £28m for "serious failings" in its sales practices, the biggest ever UK regulatory penalty for a retail banking misdemeanour. Royal Bank of Scotland separately agreed to pay the US authorities $100m (£62m) to settle accusations it breached US sanctions through dealings with clients in Iran, Sudan, Burma and Cuba. (Financial Times)
Cost of Australia's Gorgon, the world's larges LNG project, rises to $54bn: First deliveries of LNG are now expected in "mid-2015", Chevron said, a delay of a few months from its previous target of the first quarter of that year. (Financial Times)
"Exxon Mobil , the nation's largest energy producer, is calling for the U.S. to lift restrictions on exporting domestic oil that date back to the Arab oil embargo of 1973." (WSJ)
"Morgan Stanley has launched a formal effort to sell its controlling stake in U.S. oil terminal and transport business TransMontaigne, four sources said on Wednesday, following other Wall Street powerhouses in yielding to intense regulatory pressure to get out of commodity investments." (Reuters)
Private equity firm Centerbridge Partners has bid $3.3bn for LightSquared, the wireless telecoms group which was backed by Philip Falcone's Harbinger Capital, beating an earlier rival offer from Dish Network worth about $2.2bn. (Financial Times)
Hilton IPO prices near top of the range to raise $2.35bn: Six years after one of the largest leveraged buyouts ever, private equity group Blackstone is set to return Hilton Worldwide , the world's biggest hotel chain by number of rooms, to the US market after raising $2.35bn in an initial public offering. Hilton sold 117.6m shares at $20 each, at the upper end of the $18-$21 price range it had set. An extra 5m shares were sold, demonstrating resurgent investor demand in hotel stocks, which have enjoyed a rebound in room rates, occupancy levels and business travel. (Financial Times)
Moncler remains baffling success: Investors rushed to take part in Italy's largest IPO since 2010, allowing the company to price its shares at €10.2, giving it a market capitalisation of €2.55bn. (Financial Times) Making Remo Ruffini a billionaire. (Bloomberg)
Facebook became one of the youngest public companies to join the S&P 500 on Wednesday, sealing the comeback of the social network stock which was shunned by investors after listing last year. Shares in Facebook rose as much as 4 per cent to $51.35 in after-hours trading on Wednesday after S&P Dow Jones Indices said the company would be admitted to the S&P 100 and the S&P 500 after the close of trading on December 20. (Financial Times)
"China's new yuan loans and broadest measure of credit exceeded estimates last month in data at odds with indications that the government wants to curb borrowing. New local-currency loans were 624.6 billion yuan ($103 billion), the People's Bank of China said yesterday in Beijing, compared with the 580 billion yuan median estimate of 41 analysts..." (Bloomberg)
COMMENTS & CURIOs
Volcker and Reed on leverage and accounting standards (Financial Times)
China now has the whip hand (Financial Times)
US fears Rouhani and hardliners are playing 'good cop, bad cop' (Financial Times)
A report into creative inertia (Financial Times)
Goodluck Jonathan's inbox contains letters about the whereabouts of $50bn in oil revenues and a broadside from a former head of state (Finanial Times)
Sprott, being phased out of investment decisions (WSJ)
High yield debt traders at CS walk after salaries drop to $3.5m (Bloomberg)
OVERNIGHT MARKETS
Asian markets
Nikkei 225 down -170.84 (-1.10%) at 15,344
Topix down -9.14 (-0.73%) at 1,241
Hang Seng down -90.25 (-0.39%) at 23,248
US markets
S&P 500 down -20.40 (-1.13%) at 1,782
DJIA down -129.60 (-0.81%) at 15,844
Nasdaq down -56.68 (-1.40%) at 4,004
European markets
Eurofirst 300 down -6.66 (-0.53%) at 1,256
FTSE100 down -15.59 (-0.24%) at 6,508
CAC 40 down -4.28 (-0.10%) at 4,087
Dax down -37.33 (-0.41%) at 9,077
Currencies
€/$ 1.38 (1.38)
$/¥ 102.56 (102.42)
£/$ 1.64 (1.64)
€/£ 0.8429 (0.8417)
Commodities ($)
Brent Crude (ICE) down -0.07 at 109.63
Light Crude (Nymex) down -0.09 at 97.35
100 Oz Gold (Comex) down -3.10 at 1,255
Copper (Comex) at 3.33
10-year government bond yields (%)
US 2.85%
UK 2.87%
Germany 1.82%
CDS (closing levels)
Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe -0.49bps at 62.63bp
Markit iTraxx Europe +0.42bps at 78.18bp
Markit iTraxx Xover +0.51bps at 319.14bp
Markit CDX IG +2.45bps at 70.23bp
Sources: FT, Bloomberg, Markit
