Markets: Strong retail sales in Australia and benign inflation in China were not enough to impress equity markets in Asia-Pacific. FT Global Markets Overview Chinese inflation slowed in December, as the government's campaign to rein in lavish spending by officials made an unexpectedly big impact on the wider economy... The consumer price index fell to 2.5 per cent from 3.0 per cent in November. Fed to "proceed cautiously" with taper: The US Federal Reserve plans to "proceed cautiously" in slowing down its asset purchases in an effort to calm market fears over the momentous decision to taper its third round of quantitative easing. Libya vows to stop rebel plan to sell oil: "The Libyan government and a rebel group stepped up rhetoric Wednesday as Tripoli responded to a vow by dissidents to sell oil with a threat to sink their cargoes. The exchange, which comes after Libya shot at a tanker it said was illegally entering its waters, raises concerns about whether the chaos that has more than halved oil production in the North African nation and rattled oil markets could get worse. Refiner PBF starts talks on lobby effort to keep US oil export ban: "Independent U.S. refiner PBF Energy has begun talks with a half-dozen of its rivals to consider jointly lobbying Washington against lifting a decades-old ban on U.S. crude oil exports, sources said on Wednesday." Colombia blocks Drummond loading coal: The Colombian government has toughened its stance over US coal miner Drummond, by halting loading of coal at its port until the company can comply with new environmental rules. Apple, Samsung CEOs agree to mediation, on or before Feb 19 in U.S. patent fight: "Apple CEO Tim Cook and Samsung CEO Oh-Hyun Kwon will attend the session with in-house lawyers only, according to a Wednesday court filing. Their legal teams had met on January 6 to "discuss settlement opportunities," the filing read." J.P. Morgan Chase has hired International Monetary Fund official Anoop Singh for a new role as head of regulatory strategy in Asia. The appointment comes as the bank's hiring practices in the region are being investigated. Mr. Singh is currently the IMF's Asian-Pacific head and starts with the bank next month in Hong Kong, according to a memo seen by The Wall Street Journal. Danone takes legal action over milk scare: French food group Danone has said that it will terminate its contract with Fonterra and begin legal proceedings against the New Zealand-based dairy supplier over a false botulism scare last year. Singapore Airlines has picked Airbus's A320 aircraft over Boeing's 737 for the launch of its Indian airline joint venture with Tata Sons, sources familiar with the decision said. The full-service carrier will take up to 20 A320s worth $1.83 billion at list prices. The planes will be sourced from leasing companies, rather than purchased direct from Airbus. Dish is officially pulling its bid for LightSquared, the telecommunications firm in bankruptcy that has wireless spectrum Dish has been coveting, according to people familiar with the matter. The reversal, after Dish last year put in a bid for $2.2 billion, marks the latest twist in the high-profile case, in which LightSquared has hit a number of speed bumps in its effort to emerge from bankruptcy. It is time for Carney to consider raising interest rates (Financial Times, Giles) as UK economy gains momentum (Financial Times) Asian democracy must serve the common man (Financial Times, Pilling) AJ versus AJ, Deutsche vs Barc (Financial Times) A transition in Fannie and Freddie oversight (NYT) Fraud trial is key to mortgage probe (WSJ) Chilling out about China's rare-earth policy (WSJ) Fiat's lone poker player needs to find another deal (Financial Times, Gapper) Borrowers hit social-media hurdles (WSJ) Asian markets Nikkei 225 down -229.36 (-1.42%) at 15,892 Topix down -12.67 (-0.97%) at 1,294 Hang Seng down -16.42 (-0.07%) at 22,980 US markets S&P 500 down -0.39 (-0.02%) at 1,837 DJIA down -68.20 (-0.41%) at 16,463 Nasdaq up +12.43 (+0.30%) at 4,166 European markets Eurofirst 300 up +1.45 (+0.11%) at 1,321 FTSE100 down -33.67 (-0.50%) at 6,722 CAC 40 down -1.72 (-0.04%) at 4,261 Dax down -8.36 (-0.09%) at 9,498 Currencies €/$ 1.36 (1.36) $/¥ 104.78 (104.83) £/$ 1.64 (1.64) €/£ 0.8255 (0.8252) Commodities ($) Brent Crude (ICE) up +0.35 at 107.50 Light Crude (Nymex) up +0.35 at 92.68 100 Oz Gold (Comex) at 1,225 Copper (Comex) at 3.39 10-year government bond yields (%) US 2.99% UK 2.99% Germany 1.91% CDS (closing levels) Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe -1.23bps at 53.6bp Markit iTraxx Europe +2.04bps at 70.66bp Markit iTraxx Xover +8.88bps at 283.88bp Markit CDX IG +0.98bps at 65.01bp