FT.com
India is to throw open its $450bn retail sector to foreign supermarkets, granting access for the first time to giants such as Walmart, Carrefour and Tesco that have long sought to enter an underserved market of 1.2bn people, http://ftalphaville.ft.com/thecut/2011/11/25/763771/india-opens-doors-to...
The US, backed by Saudi Arabia, is refusing to sign off on a flagship global climate fund, the FT reports, days ahead of an important UN climate summit. The fund is one of the few measures to emerge from seven years of talks on how countries should share the burden of cutting greenhouse gas emissions, http://ftalphaville.ft.com/thecut/2011/11/25/763591/us-blocks-key-climat...
France is pushing for a European oil embargo on Iran, breaking a diplomatic taboo that could have significant ramifications for the energy market and global economic growth, the FT reports. Paris has made the proposal to European Union members preparing a new round of sanctions following the release of a UN nuclear agency report this month. http://ftalphaville.ft.com/thecut/2011/11/24/763511/france-pushes-for-ir...
The Chinese government has launched a crackdown on hundreds of unregulated electronic equity and futures exchanges that have sprung up in recent years to trade everything from fine art and commodities to insurance products, http://ftalphaville.ft.com/thecut/2011/11/24/763481/china-cracks-down-on...
The European Central Bank could offer banks loans lasting up to two or three years under plans being looked at to give extra support to the eurozone banking system, the FT reports. The introduction of longer term liquidity facilities would be part of an escalated ECB response to the eurozone debt crisis and difficulties banks face raising crucial funding. http://ftalphaville.ft.com/thecut/2011/11/24/763331/ecb-eyes-longer-term...
The leaders of Germany, France and Italy, the eurozone’s three biggest powers, made tougher fiscal governance a top priority in their battle to stem the sovereign debt crisis but offered no immediate concessions to calls for intervention by the European Central Bank, http://ftalphaville.ft.com/thecut/2011/11/24/763301/euro-leaders-push-fo...
WSJ.com
Most Asian stock markets dropped Friday, and the euro and the Sydney bourse slipped to multiweek lows, as continued discord between European leaders on a suitable solution to the region’s debt crisis and a credit rating downgrade in Hungary dampened sentiment. Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average was up 0.1%, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 tumbled 1.6%, South Korea’s Kospi Composite dropped 1.4%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.3%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.4% and India’s Sensex fell 0.4%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 53 points in screen trade. Http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020445210457705899033978850...
Violence and political uncertainty in Yemen only grew on Thursday after President Ali Abdullah Saleh pledged to end his 33-year rule, as tens of thousands of protesters denounced the promise of immunity from prosecution given the leader and his circle, and opposition activists questioned whether he truly intended to yield control. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020376480457705792129554632...
German air carrier Deutsche Lufthansa AG said Thursday it is taking the drastic step of halting investment in its business for six months to counter rising financing costs, the latest sign of how economic uncertainty is hurting the airline industry. Lufthansa said the move affects all the group’s divisions but will exclude investment in its aircraft fleet and necessary operational goods, a spokeswoman said. She didn’t say how much the company aimed to save. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020463090457705813060882792...
German business confidence ticked up unexpectedly in November, reversing a four-month decline, data from Germany’s Ifo research institute showed Thursday. The stronger-than-expected figures help offset rising concerns that Germany is being dragged down by the debt and banking crisis, following a disappointing government debt auction Wednesday that was taken as a sign that investors are now shunning even the safest euro-zone assets. Ifo’s closely watched business-climate index rose to 106.6 in November, as companies said they were less skeptical than before and that Germany’s economy is doing well relative to its peers. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020445210457705741153296559...
The International Monetary Fund warned in a new report that market concerns over fiscal sustainability could trigger a “sudden spike” in Japanese government bond yields that could quickly render the nation’s debt unsustainable as well as shake the global economy. The fund’s Japan Sustainability Report, released on Wednesday, was a signal to Tokyo policy makers that the international community is already worried about fallouts from Japan’s potential fiscal problems, after debt problems in some European economies evolved into a Continent-wide crisis. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020463090457705733178466788...
Marketwatch.com
Japan’s core consumer price index fell 0.1% in October, according to data out Friday. The data matched economist expectations, according to figures compiled by Dow Jones Newswires. Last month, the index rose 0.2%. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/japan-october-core-cpi-down-01-2011-11-...
The currency’s ability to withstand increasingly horrifying headlines has been the abiding mystery of the forex market since the middle of last year. It’s only intensified in recent weeks as the debt crisis swept in from the periphery, threatened to engulf Italy and Spain, and pushed up yields in AAA-rated France, Finland and the Netherlands. A failed German bund auction on Wednesday, however, threatens to change the game, leaving the debt crisis on the doorstep of the euro zone’s lone safe haven. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/more-than-one-reason-for-resilient-euro...
Reuters.com
Rating agency Fitch downgraded Portugal’s rating to junk status on Thursday, citing large fiscal imbalances, high debts and the risks to its EU-mandated austerity program from a worsening economic outlook. Fitch cut Portugal to BB+ from BBB-, which is still one notch higher than Moody’s rating of Ba2. S&P still rates Portugal investment grade. Fitch said a deepening recession makes it “much more challenging” for the government to cut the budget deficit but it still expects fiscal goals to be met both this year and next. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/24/us-portugal-fitch-idUSTRE7AN0O...
Brent crude held steady above $107 on Friday as nagging concerns about a euro zone debt crisis contagion offset threats to supply emerging from France’s call for sanctions on Iran’s oil exports. France on Thursday backtracked on comments it had made earlier in the day suggesting it could impose a unilateral ban on Iranian crude oil imports, but it pushed hard to convince allies to impose such sanctions. Other Western governments are concerned that such moves could hurt the world economy as well as Tehran. The euro zone’s persistent debt problems are pushing policymakers to consider issuing a common bond underwritten by all members of the currency bloc as borrowing costs surged. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/25/us-markets-oil-idUSTRE7AD06820...
Eurobonds will exist at some point in the future but are not suitable at the current time given insufficient integration among euro zone member states, European Central Bank Executive Board member Jose Manuel Gonzalez-Paramo said. “I think eurobonds will exist at some point, there is no doubt,” he said in a Q&A following a lecture at Oxford University. “But at this point in time they would not be commensurate with the degree of integration”. He said the European Commission is studying options for eurobonds and that there are many ways in which they could be designed. However, implementing them now would be a “quick fix”. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/24/us-ecb-eurobonds-idUSTRE7AN1YU...
Bloomberg.com
Hungary lost its investment-grade rating at Moody’s Investors Service after 15 years as the Cabinet seeks International Monetary Fund help to boost confidence in the European Union’s most-indebted eastern member. The foreign- and local-currency bond ratings were cut one step to Ba1, the highest junk-level score, from Baa3, the company said today in a statement. Moody’s, which awarded Hungary its investment grade in 1996, assigned a negative outlook. The country is rated the lowest investment grade at Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-24/hungary-s-credit-rating-cut-to-...
Cnn.com
Dailyfinance.com
-Libya’s oil production is quickly increasing and now stands at more than 600,000 barrels a day, a prominent Libyan oil expert said Thursday. Ali Tarhouni, who just stepped down as the oil and finance minister, said he expects production to reach 700,000 barrels a day within a few days. He held his government post until a new transitional government was sworn in Thursday. He said he refused an offer to serve in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Abdurrahim el-Keib because of the many challenges it will face in establishing governance and economic stability. http://srph.it/uJjVTu
Foxbusiness.com
Credit Suisse analysts said Thursday the weakness in HSBC’s preliminary Chinese Purchasing Managers’ Index may have exaggerated the true pace of the manufacturing slowdown in mainland China, even as they acknowledged domestic demand had likely weakened since September. A separate, government-sponsored PMI, which tends to be more weighted towards conditions in large state-owned enterprises, is likely to show a moderation from levels in October, though “we do not think the result will be as drastic” as the HSBC results, Credit Suisse analyst Dong Tao said in a note released Thursday. http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2011/11/24/hsbc-pmi-survey-exagerates...
BBC.co.uk
The UK government’s implied cost of borrowing has dropped below Germany’s for the first time in 2.5 years. If the UK was to borrow for 10 years today, it would pay an interest rate of 2.21%. Germany would pay 2.23%. The move comes after Germany sold fewer bonds than expected at an auction, raising fears the eurozone debt crisis is affecting the German economy. The bond market moves suggest that some investors consider the UK safer than Germany, the largest economy in Europe. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15869094
Telegraph.co.uk
The drivers of the 0.5pc UK growth in the third quarter are unsustainable and signal a growing chance of a second recession, economists warned The first revision of gross domestic product by the Office for National Statistics was unchanged from the initial estimate, but additional detail revealed a much weaker-than-expected underlying position. “Economic growth in the third quarter was driven by stock building and Government spending, neither of which is the basis for a sustained recovery,” said Vicky Redwood, chief UK economist at Capital Economics. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/8913726/Economists-say-UK-e...
British banks must prepare for the worst-case scenario of a disorderly break up of the euro, according to a senior UK regulator. Andrew Bailey, deputy head of the Prudential Business Unit at the Financial Services Authority (FSA), noted that British banks are not heavily exposed to the eurozone, but said they must prepare for some countries to exit the single currency – or a complete break up. “We cannot be, and are not, complacent on this front,” Mr Bailey said. “As you would expect, as supervisors we are very keen to see the banks plan for any disorderly consequence of the euro area crisis. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/8914192/Andrew-Bailey...
Smh.com.au
Gold was barely changed at below $US1700 an ounce on Friday, heading for its second straight weekly fall, as the euro extended losses on growing fears the two-year-old debt crisis in Europe would drag on and eventually trigger a credit crunch. Instead of rising in times of uncertainty, gold safe-haven appeal was robbed by declines in equities, which prompted investors to cash in to cover losses caused by the crisis in Europe. A firm US dollar also capped gains. http://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/gold-flat-as-greenback-strengthen...
Xinhuanet.com
South Korea’s accumulated fiscal surplus posted 16.8 trillion won (14.46 billion U.S. dollars) in September due to a rise in tax revenue, the finance ministry said Friday. The nation’s consolidated fiscal balance saw a surplus of 16.8 trillion won for the first nine months of this year, up 9.8 trillion won from the same period of last year, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance. Cumulative fiscal revenue amounted to 228.5 trillion won during the January-September period, up 19.2 trillion won from a year earlier due to an increase in tax and non-tax revenues, according to the ministry. Fiscal expenditure grew 9.5 trillion won to 211.7 trillion won over the cited period. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/business/2011-11/25/c_131269322.ht...
Thehindu.com
In an effort to resolve a long-standing payment crisis, the Reserve Bank of India has given permission to the Central Bank of Iran to open rupee accounts with two Indian banks — UCO and IDBI. “Permission from the RBI has very recently come to open rupee accounts with two Indian banks, one of which is UCO,” a top official of city-based UCO Bank told PTI. The other bank is IDBI Bank. Both the accounts were opened in the respective banks’ Mumbai branches. The official said since the closure of the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) in December, payments for oil imports from Iran and non-oil exports to that country have been severely affected. http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/article2658987....
Economictimes.com
India’s growth story is still “credible”, RBI governor Duvvuri Subbarao said on Friday. Inflation should be brought down first to 5 percent, and then lower, consistent with India’s broader integration into the global economy, Subbarao said in a speech in Chandigarh, an advance copy of which was provided to the media. The Reserve Bank of India has lowered the country’s growth forecast to 7.6 percent for the current fiscal year ending in March from 8 percent previously. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/indicators/indias-growt...
TheMoscowTimes.com
The defeat of the ruling United Russia at the polls could plunge the country into an economic crisis “like with our friends in Europe,” Prime Minister Vladimir Putin warned Thursday. He also hinted that the parliament may have its powers slashed in case of a recession, saying it almost happened during the last economic crisis of 2008-09. Meanwhile, United Russia bosses insisted that the decrease of the party’s ratings ahead of the State Duma elections — which one pollster said has slipped 9 percent — was insignificant. Putin, who heads the ruling party without being a member, met Thursday with United Russia top brass in his Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow. http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/putin-links-elections-to-rece...
Fin24.com
Cape Town – Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the world’s most valuable lender, has so far invested more than $7bn in Africa through projects with Standard Bank [JSE:SBK] ICBC’s head said on Thursday. Jiang Jianqing made the comment at a ceremony to announce ICBC’s first representative office in South Africa.
The Chinese bank owns 20% of Johannesburg-based Standard Bank, Africa’s largest lender by assets http://www.fin24.com/Companies/Financial-Services/ICBC-boasts-7bn-iin-Af...
Thetrader.se
Reading for those who still believe there will be a Euro currency. There are some issues to be dealt with. From Paramo’s speech in Oxford today. The sovereign debt crisis will be the theme of my remarks today. I do not want to engage in the minutiae of the issue or signal any particular policy stance by the ECB. Instead, I would like to take a step back from the crisis and reflect on what it has taught us so far about economic and monetary union in Europe. Obviously, I concentrate explicitly on the euro area, i.e. the seventeen countries sharing the single currency. The status and role of the United Kingdom, the dynamics of the British domestic debate on Europe, and the cooperation with the Continent in addressing the crisis are not the focus of my remarks. http://www.thetrader.se/2011/11/24/the-sovereign-debt-crisis-and-the-fut...
Are the citizens of Europe losing Europe to the Politicians? Spiegels take on the subject; “Something is going to go ‘bang’ soon,” fears Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, 45, a member of the European Parliament for Germany’s business-friendly Free Democratic Party (FDP). Then the lights will go out in Brussels. The power outage would be the consequence of a serious breakdown in European democracy, a downing of the power lines connecting Brussels and Europe’s citizens. If Brussels no longer had the confidence of citizens, or what the Treaty on European Union refers to as the “peoples of Europe,” the European Parliament, Council and Commission would be operating without the basis of legitimacy. The idea of peace, freedom and prosperity would be out of juice. http://www.thetrader.se/2011/11/24/is-europe-lost-to-politicians/
