Eurozone common bank regulator agreed: Eurozone finance ministers finally agreed a plan to cede power to a common bank supervisor in the early hours of Thursday morning, in the first step towards a banking union. Terms were agreed for the ECB to begin direct supervision of big eurozone lenders from early 2014. Wolfgang Schauble made clear that commonly-backed direct injections into banks would not happen before this date. Banks holding less than €30bn assets - which include most of Germany's retail banks - would be primarily overseen by national authorities. Non-eurozone countries such as the UK and Sweden won coveted safeguards to check the power of the ECB and maintain some influence over technical standards applying to all EU banks. The package will require approval from the EU parliament and the Bundestag. Asian stocks rise, yen falls: The MSCI Asia Pacific was 0.4% higher and headed for an 11-day rally, the longest in three years. The yen touched a nine-month low against the dollar, boosting Japanese exporters such as Canon, which rose 2.9%. Barclays to cut up to 2,000 investment bank jobs: "The cuts, which the British banking giant is expected to announce early next year, would represent a relatively small slice of Barclays's total investment-banking workforce of roughly 23,000 full-time employees." Investors eye negative ECB rates: "The interest rate on borrowing unsecured cash for one year in euro wholesale markets dipped below zero for the first time after the ECB last week downgraded steeply its 2013 eurozone growth forecasts." WalMart in talks to take control of Turkey's Migos: Walmart is in talks to buy a controlling stake in Turkey's biggest retailer by sales, in a deal that would value the company at more than $4bn including debt. London-based private equity group BC Partners bought a 51 per cent stake in Migros in 2008 but now owns 80 per cent of the shares. It is in negotiations with Walmart to sell the stake, several people with knowledge of the discussions said. AirAsia ordering 100 Airbus A320s: The airline's CEO is travelling to an Airbus factory in Broughton, Wales to make the announcement today, two people familiar with the contract said. The order would be worth about $9bn at list price. Graincorp rejects higher ADM bid: Australia's largest listed agricultural company has rejected an increased offer from Archer Daniels Midland, saying the A$2.8bn ($3bn) bid did not reflect its unique portfolio of strategic assets. UK Treasury is ok with Carney's NGDP comments: "Mr Osborne's aides added that the chancellor was well aware of Mr Carney's views on inflation targeting when he was appointed." McAfee arrives in US: Security software pioneer John McAfee arrived in Miami on Wednesday evening after he was deported by Guatemala, according to fellow passengers on an American Airlines flight. "I'm just going to hang in Miami for a while... there is a great sushi place there and I really like sushi," he told Reuters before his flight left Guatemala City. Rothschild may seek to remove entire Bumi board: "Unless the board dramatically alters course, this is exactly what we shall be doing in the weeks ahead," said Nathan Rothschild. Thomson Reuters wants to run new Libor: The data provider responsible for the administration of Libor, wants to run a toughened new system after being assured by UK regulators that it is not being investigated over attempts to rig global interest rates. LSE, NYSE Euronext and Bloomberg have also indicated they are interested. Thomas M. Hoenig: The diminishing returns of Basel iterations. "Optimal policy": How the Fed settled on 6.5% unemployment. The US regulatory "bad actor" logjam. Asian markets Nikkei 225 up +165.05 (+1.72%) at 9,747 Topix up +8.35 (+1.06%) at 799.64 Hang Seng up +8.44 (+0.04%) at 22,512 US markets S&P 500 up +0.64 (+0.04%) at 1,428 DJIA down -2.99 (-0.02%) at 13,245 Nasdaq down -8.49 (-0.28%) at 3,014 European markets Eurofirst 300 up +0.80 (+0.07%) at 1,140 FTSE100 up +20.88 (+0.35%) at 5,946 CAC 40 up +0.51 (+0.01%) at 3,647 Dax up +25.04 (+0.33%) at 7,615 Currencies €/$ 1.31 (1.31) $/¥ 83.58 (83.25) £/$ 1.61 (1.61) Commodities ($) Brent Crude (ICE) down -0.30 at 109.20 Light Crude (Nymex) down -0.18 at 86.59 100 Oz Gold (Comex) down -16.90 at 1,700 Copper (Comex) down -3.35 at 366.65 CDS (closing levels) Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe -1.6bps at 112.09bp Markit iTraxx Europe -0.39bps at 114.8bp Markit iTraxx Xover -0.6bps at 463.25bp Markit CDX IG -0.66bps at 93.24bp