Resources stocks boosted Asian markets on bets China has hit the bottom. Australian shares rose 1.1 per cent and the Australian dollar hit a two-week high against the dollar. A weakening yen boosted the Nikkei, which rose 1.7 per cent. China's economy grew 7.4 per cent in the third quarter. The data mark China's seventh consecutive quarter of slowing expansion and a threat to the official target of 7.5 per cent growth. Economists and government officials had predicted growth to rebound by this point in the year, but are now hunting for signs the economy has bottomed out. (Financial Times) Chinese industrial production grew 9.2 per cent on a year-on-year basis in September, up from a three-year low of 8.9 per cent in August, while retail sales rose 14.2 per cent, above the median forecast of 13.2 per cent. Rosneft is on the brink of buying out BP's stake in TNK-BP, a deal which would catapult it into the list of global oil majors overnight. BP is expected to receive a $28bn formal offer by 9am on Thursday, which would give it a 10 to 20 per cent stake in Rosneft and $15bn-$20bn in cash in return for its 50 per cent stake. BP's board will meet on Friday to discuss options. (Financial Times) Rosneft has also reached an initial agreement to buy the remaining stake held by AAR, BP's partners in the often-fractious but lucrative joint venture. The billionaires behind AAR earlier dropped their own bid for BP's stake. (Bloomberg) A complete acquisition of TNK-BP would leave Rosneft producing more barrels of oil per day than Iraq, some 4 million, and also tighten the Russian state's grip on the country's oil industry. The FBI has arrested a man for attempting to blow up the NY Fed. Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, 21, was caught allegedly attempting to detonate a fake 1,000-pound car bomb next to the bank, following a complex sting operation involving undercover agents. (Reuters) The authorities allege Nafis entered the US in January and sought out contacts with Al Qaeda from July. Citi's new chief executive has signalled to staff that there will be no further departures after Vikram Pandit's exit. I know that yesterday's news came as a surprise probably to many of you. But I know we can handle this," Michael Corbat told Citi bankers on an internal conference call. Ringfencing UK banks will be "difficult to sustain," Paul Volcker has told MPs. Volcker warned that the Vickers Commission's proposed separation of retail and investment banking was at risk of meeting the fate of Glass Steagall in the US. People close to the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards have indicated that an unadulterated version of the Vickers rule may not make it into draft legislation. EU treaties may need to be altered to give an ECB bank supervision board decision-making powers, according to legal advice drawn up for European officials. Countries outside the eurozone which want to opt into the supervision regime would also be unable to vote on any ECB decisions, the opinion argues. While the opinion also suggests a compromise of creating a drafting board with voting powers which could send advice to the ECB governing council, legal differences are likely to sharpen divides over the future of a banking union. Moody's has sniped at a rating by S&P for the second time in a month. The agency questioned the complexity and ratings methodology behind the £463m Isobel Finance deal, the fourth CMBS to be created in Europe since 2008. Moody's said the deal structure was "not compatible with a Aaa (sf) rating," having already criticised S&P's rating of an earlier JPMorgan-sponsored CMBS. Nokia is widely expected to post its third quarterly loss in a row. Analysts have forecast underlying losses of 11 cents per share, and that Nokia's cash will dwindle to €3.4bn from €4.2bn three months previously, on average. Stolen art masterpieces not entirely liquid assets, apparently. John Gapper on post-Pandit Citi: "It remains implausible that better management will be enough." An accounting valediction for Pandit, from Jonathan Weil. Mystery trades haunt Australian stock exchange on Thursday. Sydney Morning Herald "Yeah, we're on the triple grande loan scheme." Starbucks and UK tax. Asian markets Nikkei 225 up +150.47 (+1.71%) at 8,957 Topix up +10.05 (+1.36%) at 749.84 Hang Seng up +129.41 (+0.60%) at 21,546 US markets S&P 500 up +5.99 (+0.41%) at 1,460.91 DJIA up +5.22 (+0.04%) at 13,557 Nasdaq up +2.95 (+0.10%) at 3,104 Currencies €/$ 1.31 (1.31) $/¥ 79.15 (78.68) £/$ 1.61 (1.61) Commodities ($) Brent Crude (ICE) up 0.25 at 113.47 Light Crude (Nymex) down -0.01 at 92.11 100 Oz Gold (Comex) down -2.40 at 1,749 Copper (Comex) unchanged at 375.25 10-year government bond yields (%) US 1.81 UK 1.92 Germany 1.63 CDS (closing levels) Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe -16.5bps at 107bp Markit iTraxx Europe -7bps at 114.94bp Markit iTraxx Xover -37.4bps at 470bp Markit CDX IG -2.7bps at 89.6bp