G20 leaders ended their summit in Mexico without a detailed plan for dealing with Spanish and Italian borrowing costs or creating a eurozone-wide deposit insurance scheme, the WSJ reports. "Euro Area members of the G20 will take all necessary policy measures to safeguard the integrity and stability of the area," the G20 declared. Specific proposals for a European banking union are not likely before September, Reuters says. The hedge fund elite is increasingly willing to bet against German debt, reports the FT. More than half of fund managers polled at an industry conference in Monaco said they expect Bund yields to double within a year as the eurozone crisis hits German credit, despite current record low borrowing rates for Berlin. Making rescue loans to Spain rank equally with its bondholders, rather than senior to them, is "back on the table" for discussion, amid official dismay at the market's reaction to Spain's bank bailout, according to the WSJ. The only problem is whether the bondholders will actually believe it. The CFTC's chairman has blamed lax London regulators for bringing banking crises "crashing to our shores," the FT reports. Gary Gensler promised a congressional hearing into JPMorgan's trading losses that derivatives rules due out this week would not "create another London loophole." JPMorgan's trading unit was a UK branch regulated by US officials. European banks have issued only $40bn in senior unsecured debt since the start of April, well below the same period in past years, the FT says. Credit Suisse's board will be backing Brady Dougan despite a tough few days for the bank's chief executive, the WSJ says. Credit Suisse was "blindsided" by the Swiss central bank's report last week that it needs more capital. Dougan has no obvious replacement at the bank. News Corp has offered to buy Australia's Consolidated Media Holdings for $2bn, in a bid to double its stake in the country's largest pay-TV service, Bloomberg reports. CMH said it welcomed the offer, which is News Corp's biggest foray in pay TV since its bid for BSkyB in the UK, the WSJ reports. Ryanair has made a "pro-consumer," all-cash offer for Aer Lingus, its third since 2006, according to the FT. The low-cost airline pointed to increasing consolidation in the industry and the Irish government's plans to sell its Aer Lingus stake on revealing the renewed bid, priced at €1.3 a share. The CFTC plans to define high-frequency trading in 60 words, allowing a broad interpretation that may allow regulations to cover banks and HFT specialists with ease, reports the WSJ. Joseph Joffe: "I come to praise Ms Merkel, not to bury her." While here's Martin Wolf on the eurozone as a bad marriage. How the iPad started a lithium boomlet. Asia now has more millionaires than the USA. That's 3.37m vs 3.35m people. Why $18bn in average daily trading volume for US corporate bonds is a big problem. Asian stock markets edged upwards, with eyes on whether the FOMC statement later on Wednesday will deliver a fresh "Twist" or other easing. The Nikkei rose 0.8 per cent while the Hang Seng increased 0.4 per cent, says Bloomberg. The euro fell, falling from its one per cent gain against the dollar on Tuesday, reports Reuters. Asian markets Nikkei 225 up 72.59 (0.84%) at 8,728.46 Topix down up 10.24 (1.39%) at 744.93 Hang Seng up 69.86 (0.36%) at 19,486.50 US markets S&P 500 up 13.20 (0.98%) at 1,357.98 DJIA up 95.51 (0.75%) at 12,837.30 European markets Eurofirst 300 up 15.88 (1.60%) at 1,009.55 FTSE100 up 95.22 (1.73%) at 5,586.31 CAC 40 up 51.73 (1.69%) at 3,117.92 Dax up 115.16 (1.84%) at 6,363.36 Currencies €/$ 1.26 (1.26) $/¥ 78.86 (79.38) £/$ 1.57 (1.55) Commodities ($) Brent Crude (ICE) up +0.05 at 95.81 Light Crude (Nymex) down -0.13 at 83.90 100 Oz Gold (Comex) unchanged 0.00 at 1,620 Copper (Comex) unchanged 0.00 at 343.25 10-year government bond yields (%) US 1.62 UK 1.74 Germany 1.53 CDS (closing levels) Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe -5.9bps at 311.50 Markit iTraxx Europe -5.1bps at 172.50bp Markit iTraxx Xover -16.2bps at 669bp Markit CDX IG -4bps at 115.50bp This entry was posted by Joseph Cotterill on Wednesday, June 20th, 2012 at 5:37 and is filed under Uncategorised.