Asian markets fell on Friday as fears about the US fiscal cliff continued to dominate market sentiment. (Dow Jones) (Bloomberg) China's October consumer inflation was lower than expected: The CPI was 1.7% higher year-on-year against expectations of 1.9%. Producer prices declined 2.8% from a year earlier after a 3.6% drop in September. UK threatens to block banking union. Greek aid payment may be further delayed: Eurozone finance ministers won't make a decision to release the €31.5bn when they meet in Brussels on November 12, an official said, because they wanted to await a full report on Greece's compliance with terms of its bailout. While a preliminary version may be available for the Nov. 12 meeting, it won't be enough for ministers to base their decision on, the official said. Bank of Korea holds rates: The central bank held its benchmark rate at 2.75% as expected by economists. New Archbishop to keep bank panel role: "The next archbishop of Canterbury, a former oil executive, is a trenchant critic of the excesses of capitalism who will keep his place on the parliamentary inquiry into banking ethics, the FT has learnt." Priceline acquires Kayak: Priceline, the US online travel booking company, announced the $1.8bn acquisition of specialist search company Kayak Software as it moved to counter the growing influence of Google in the internet travel business. CBO warns of fiscal cliff recession: Fiscal tightening would cut 3 percentage points from GDP, says the Congressional Budget Office. Allowing the high-income tax rates alone to rise would not hurt growth, it said. (Financial Times) (Reuters) Gary Kasparov and Peter Thiel on the dangerous illusion of technological progress. Gillian Tett: Expect a lengthy period of brinkmanship at the edge of the fiscal cliff. Stuxnet infected Chevron's network. Banking's "worst nightmare" is off to the Senate. Asian markets Nikkei 225 down -79.69 (-0.90%) at 8,757 Topix down -5.85 (-0.80%) at 729.50 Hang Seng down -129.04 (-0.60%) at 21,438 US markets S&P 500 down -17.02 (-1.22%) at 1,378 DJIA down -121.41 (-0.94%) at 12,811 Nasdaq down -41.71 (-1.42%) at 2,896 European markets Eurofirst 300 down -1.64 (-0.15%) at 1,098 FTSE100 down -15.58 (-0.27%) at 5,776 CAC 40 down -1.91 (-0.06%) at 3,408 Dax down -27.87 (-0.39%) at 7,205 Currencies €/$ 1.27 (1.27) $/¥ 79.50 (79.43) £/$ 1.60 (1.60) Commodities ($) Brent Crude (ICE) up +0.21 at 107.46 Light Crude (Nymex) up +0.14 at 85.23 100 Oz Gold (Comex) unchanged 0.00 at 1,725 Copper (Comex) up +0.95 at 348.00 CDS (closing levels) Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe +1.26bps at 114.25bp Markit iTraxx Europe +1.25bps at 130.92bp Markit iTraxx Xover +8.32bps at 533.38bp Markit CDX IG +4.56bps at 104.35bp