Libor will be overhauled - but not replaced - under reforms to be announced today by FSA managing director Martin Wheatley. The rate will still be based on a survey of banks, but more banks will be involved; bank staff submitting the rates will be approved by the FSA; rate submissions will be kept confidential for three months; five of the currency rates will be dropped along with 130 of the 150 daily fixings. The rate setting process will be overseen by an independent, regulated administrator to be selected by Lady Hogg, who heads Britain's Financial Reporting Council. Asian currencies rose and stocks markets swung between gains and losses on Friday, as positive sentiment about the Spanish budget was tempered by poor data from Japan and Korea. Riskier currencies such as the Australian dollar, the euro and commodities drifted higher as the dollar remained defensive. (Reuters) (Bloomberg) Japanese and South Korean industrial production fell more than expected in August as slowing demand in China and Europe weighed on exports. Japan's output fell 1.3% from July, the biggest decline in three months, when economists had expected a fall of about 0.5%. South Korea's production fell 0.7%, compared to expectations of 0.4%. France is pushing for its government to hold a large stake in a merger of EADS and BAE, raising concerns in London that such a demand would threaten the deal. People close to the deal in Berlin and London said Paris wanted to keep its 15% stake inEADS and reserved the right to buy a further 7.5% held by media companyLagardère - a move that could see the French state's stake in the new company rise from an initial diluted 9% to 13.5%. Brussels is looking more closely at CDS trading: The EU competition enforcer, Joaquín Almunia, Brussels is stepping up a probe into allegations that 16 of the biggest investment banks are blocking rivals from establishing derivatives trading platforms through giving most of their raw CDS information exclusively to Markit. Tim Geithner urged an overhaul of money market fund rules in a letter to the Financial Stability Oversight Council. The changes he called for were similar to those being considered by the SEC before it dropped its review of MMF regulations last month. NYT Dealbook Tesco's UK profits are expected to fall 13 per cent to £1.1bn in the first half, according to analysts" forecasts, although the retailer is likely to point to some stabilisation in sales from stores open at least a year. Heineken will gain control of Asia Pacific Breweries after Fraser & Neave's shareholders voted to sell its stake in the Tiger beer brewer to Heineken, ending a two-month tussle with a Thai billionaire. Jon Hilsenrath: How Bernanke won over the Fed sceptics. Gillian Tett: It's the US house prices, stupid! Chinese slowdown Appalachian coalmining towns. Wall Street Times Why the low volatility, Vix? The thorny problem of Glencore pay is the biggest challenge for Glenstrata. Asian markets Nikkei 225 down -79.07 (-0.88%) at 8,871 Topix down -7.13 (-0.96%) at 738.46 Hang Seng up +64.33 (+0.31%) at 20,827 US markets S&P 500 up +13.83 (+0.96%) at 1,447 DJIA up +72.46 (+0.54%) at 13,486 Nasdaq up +42.90 (+1.39%) at 3,137 European markets Eurofirst 300 up +4.25 (+0.39%) at 1,103 FTSE100 up +11.33 (+0.20%) at 5,779 CAC 40 up +24.48 (+0.72%) at 3,439 Dax up +13.51 (+0.19%) at 7,290 Currencies €/$ 1.29 (1.29) $/¥ 77.54 (77.58) £/$ 1.63 (1.62) Commodities ($) Brent Crude (ICE) up +0.34 at 112.35 Light Crude (Nymex) up +0.44 at 92.29 100 Oz Gold (Comex) up +1.30 at 1,779 Copper (Comex) down -0.25 at 374.55 10-year government bond yields (%) US 1.66 UK 1.73 Germany 1.45 CDS (closing levels) Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe +1.15bps at 148.75bp Markit iTraxx Europe -4.62bps at 136.77bp Markit iTraxx Xover -12.32bps at 568.68bp Markit CDX IG -3.85bps at 98.57bp This entry was posted by Kate Mackenzie on Friday, September 28th, 2012 at 5:35 and is filed under Uncategorised.