- World’s Oldest Shipping Company Closes In Industry Slide (Bloomberg)
- Japan Growth May Slow to Half Previous Pace as Exports Wane (Bloomberg)
- China Export Growth Slides As World Recovery Slows (Bloomberg)
- Weidmann tries to muffle not spike Draghi's ECB guns (Reuters)
- Draghi lays out toolkit to save eurozone (FT)
- Concerns grow over prospects for sterling (FT)
- RIM Said To Draw Interest From IBM On Enterprise Services (Bloomberg)
- UN urges US to cut ethanol production (FT)
- Goldman Sachs Leads Split With Obama, As GE Jilts Him Too (Bloomberg)
- New apartments boost US building sector (FT)
- Singapore’s Economy Contracts Less Than Initially Estimated (Bloomberg)
- RBA Highlights Currency Risk as Growth Forecast Raised (Bloomberg)
Overnight Media Update
WSJ
* The initial public offering of English soccer club Manchester United Ltd priced lower than its underwriters expected. It sold shares at $14 each, a figure below the $16 to $20 range originally forecast by underwriters led by Jefferies & Co Inc.
* PepsiCo Inc said it reached a deal to distribute its products in Myanmar through a local partner, in the latest sign of rising investor interest in the once-reclusive Southeast Asian nation.
* Yahoo Inc said it could reverse its May decision to return more than $4 billion to shareholders from selling part of its stake in a Chinese internet company, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, a signal that new Chief Executive Marissa Mayer may want to use the cash for other purposes.
* Google Inc will pay $22.5 million to settle charges that it secretly bypassed the privacy settings of millions of people who use Apple Inc devices, the Federal Trade Commission said.
* Oil-field equipment maker National Oilwell Varco Inc agreed to acquire Robbins & Myers Inc for $2.55 billion, its largest deal yet in a yearlong shopping spree that has strengthened its position atop the sector.
* Barclays Plc named David Walker, a well-established London executive known for his efforts to revamp corporate governance, as the embattled bank's next chairman.
* China's CNOOC Ltd said it plans to defend its $15 billion proposed buyout of Canadian oil producer Nexen Inc before United States regulators by describing itself as a publicly traded company that has a record of compliance with U.S. law.
* Nokia Corp said it has agreed to sell its remaining share of software development kit Qt to information-technology firm Digia Oyj for an undisclosed sum and divest a number of patents to United States-based Vringo Inc as the ailing Finnish handset maker continues to divest assets in a bid to return to profitability.
* After a yearlong investigation, the Justice Department said that it won't bring charges against Goldman Sachs Group Inc or any of its employees for financial fraud related to the mortgage crisis.
* Carlyle Group LP plans to acquire asset manager TCW Group Inc from French bank Société Générale SA, in the latest example of a United States financial firm seeing value in assets that European banks are shedding under regulatory pressure.
* The Adelson center-funded by Las Vegas Sands Corp is now under scrutiny by the Justice Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the company's audit committee for possible violations of antibribery laws according to company documents and people familiar with the inquiries
FT
BARCLAYS ANNOUNCE DAVID WALKER AS NEW CHAIRMAN
Barclays has announced the City of London grandee Sir David Walker as its next chairman.
UN URGES US TO SLASH ETHANOL
The United Nations has called for an immediate suspension of government-mandated U.S. ethanol production.
EXPORTS PLUNGE IN FRESH BLOW TO ECONOMY
Britain's exports fell in the second quarter, leading to its biggest trade deficit in at least 15 years.
EX-URENCO DIRECTOR EYES STAKE BID
Plans have been made to form a consortium to buy a 66 percent stake in the government-controlled nuclear group Urenco for as much as 7 billion euro.
CORN AND OIL AMONG TOP ASSETS IN CRISIS
The best-performing investments in the five years since the financial crisis began in earnest has most of all been corn.
AVIVA HIT BY WRITEDOWN OF US UNIT
Aviva has taken a large writedown on the value of its US business as it looks to sell the division.
FSA SUGGESTS LIBOR SHOULD BE SCRAPPED
Banks could be obliged to contribute to setting Libor benchmark interest rates after a rigging scandal prompted demands for an overhaul.
OSBORNE LOBBIES GEITHNER ON STAN CHART
George Osborne has spoken to the U.S. Treasury secretary three times in the space of two days over the probe into Standard Chartered.
JAPAN LENDER CAUGHT UP IN LIBOR PROBE
Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi has become the latest lender to face questions in the Libor rigging scandal.
CARLYLE GROUP TO ACQUIRE TCW FROM SOCGEN
U.S. private equity investor the Carlyle Group has said it will acquire TCW from its French owner Societe Generale
NYT
* National Oilwell Varco Inc agreed to buy Robbins & Myers Inc, a maker of oil well drilling equipment, for about $2.5 billion, as deal-making in the energy sector continues unabated.
* On Thursday, Manchester United Ltd, which raised $4.3 billion, priced its offering at $14 a share, below the expected range.
* The Federal Trade Commission fined Google Inc $22.5 million to settle charges that it had bypassed privacy settings in Apple Inc's Safari browser and violated an earlier privacy settlement with the agency.
* Marissa Mayer, Yahoo Inc's newly minted chief executive, is assessing the company's restructuring plan, its acquisition strategy and its plans to spend the billions in proceeds that it expects to reap from its pending deal with the Alibaba Group.
* Barclays, whose top management was toppled amid an interest rate manipulation scandal, turned to a former Bank of England official, David Walker, to be its next chairman.
* The legal odyssey of a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc programmer, Sergey Aleynikov, took a surprising turn when the Manhattan district attorney charged him with state crimes.
* Federal authorities ended two investigations into the actions of Goldman Sachs Group Inc during the financial crisis, handing a quiet victory to the bank after years of public scrutiny.
* The Postal Service's financial problems worsened in the spring. The agency reported a $5.2 billion net loss for the quarter that ended June 30.
* The Carlyle Group LP said that it would buy the TCW Group, a Los Angeles-based investment manager whose clients include some of the nation's biggest pension and endowment funds, from Société Générale of France.
* E*Trade Financial Corp named Frank Petrilli, the board chairman, the interim leader, following the departure of Steven Freiberg. The company has started a search for a permanent chief executive.
* United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization reported that its food price index jumped by 6 percent in July. That was largely because of rising grain prices, with the drought in the United States and its expected impact on the corn harvest being the biggest factor
Canada
THE GLOBE AND MAIL
* Businesses located near national parks, historic sites and canals run by Parks Canada could be asked to pay fees to help offset upkeep and operating costs.
Environment Minister Peter Kent openly talked about the potential fees this week, while also suggesting that a plan to cut the operating hours of those sites - in some cases by half - could be reversed or scaled back.
* Toronto city council is getting a 3 percent pay increase next week, an automatic raise that would have added more than $5,000 to Rob Ford's annual salary if he hadn't decided to reject it.
The mayor's salary was set to rise to $172,803 from $167,770, while councillors' pay is scheduled to increase to $102,608 from $99,620, according to a briefing note sent to councillors this week and obtained by The Globe and Mail.
Report in the business section:
* Libor benchmark interest rates are no longer "fit for purpose" and must be changed or replaced, Britain's regulator said on Friday as he set out proposals to restore their credibility.
The initial review by the Financial Services Authority is the first concrete step to reforming Libor after a rigging scandal that has dragged in global banks and hurt the reputation of regulators on both sides of the Atlantic.
* Auto parts giant Magna International Inc has reached a deal to buy the remaining 27 percent stake in Magna E-Car Systems for $74.7-million.
Magna's purchase in the stake of E-Car, formerly owned by an affiliate of the Stronach Group, values the company at almost $300-million.
FINANCIAL POST
* British Columbia will be the biggest beneficiary of the construction and operation of the Northern Gateway and TransMountain Expansion projects, raking in more than half of the $16.9-billion the two pipelines could contribute to the nation's gross domestic product over the next 25 years, according to the Canadian Energy Research Institute
Economic Update
- UK PPI Input n.s.a. 1.3% m/m -2.4% y/y – lower than expected. Consensus 1.3% m/m -1.5% y/y. Previous -2.2% m/m -2.3% y/y. Revised -2.9% m/m -3.0% y/y.
- UK PPI Output n.s.a 0.0% m/m 1.7% y/y – lower than expected. Consensus 0.0% m/m 2.0% y/y. Previous -0.4% m/m 2.3% y/y. Revised -0.6% m/m 2.0% y/y.
- Italy CPI-EU Harmonized -1.7% m/m 3.6% y/y – lower than expected. Consensus -1.6% m/m 3.7% y/y. Previous -1.6% m/m 3.7% y/y.
- Germany CPI-EU Harmonized 0.4% m/m 1.9% y/y – lower than expected. Consensus 0.4% m/m 2.0% y/y. Previous 0.4% m/m 2.0% y/y.
- France Manufacturing Production 0.1% m/m -2.6% y/y – higher than expected. Consensus 0.0% m/m -2.1% y/y. Previous -1.0% m/m -4.3% y/y. Revised -1.1% m/m -4.6% y/y.
- Russia Money Supply Narrow Def. RUB 7.12T. Previous 7.16T.