Markets: Asian bourses followed US stocks higher after blue chips led the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average to fresh record highs. SAC Capital Advisors LP will plead guilty to securities fraud as part of a landmark criminal insider-trading settlement with federal prosecutors set to be announced by next week, people familiar with the discussions say... SAC, run by Wall Street titan Steven A. Cohen, also will agree to stop managing outside money and to pay the government criminal penalties of about $1.2 billion, according to these people. That would be the largest-ever insider-trading penalty.  The timing of this is still unclear. A multibillion-dollar settlement between J.P. Morgan Chase and the U.S. over soured mortgage bonds is at risk of collapsing because of disagreements related to a criminal probe of the bank and its effort to get penalties reimbursed by a government-controlled fund, according to people familiar with the discussions. (WSJ) (Reuters) BlackBerry executives flew to California to meet with Facebook last week to gauge its interest in a potential bid for the struggling smartphone-maker, according to people familiar with the matter. It remains unclear whether Facebook is interested in placing a bid. Spokesmen for both companies declined to comment. Shake-up on charges for UK asset managers: Martin Wheatley , the head of the Financial Conduct Authority, will tell a conference that existing rules on how fund managers spend their clients" cash are failing to bite effectively and are likely to be tightened. The head of Eon UK, one of Britain's biggest energy companies said the UK's energy sector should be investigated by the competition authorities, acknowledging that the big six were "no longer trusted" by the British public. "It would be really helpful to depoliticise this debate," he told MPs during Tuesday's marathon four-hour energy select committee hearing, called to address a wave of price rises that have fuelled a political row about the cost of living. More than four-fifths of business chiefs in the financial and professional services sector want the UK to remain in the EU, according to the first detailed research on the industry's views - 37 per cent said they would relocate staff to somewhere within the single market if Britain ended up outside it. China's interest-rate swaps and benchmark money-market rate rose to four-month highs as corporate tax payments tied up funds amid uncertainty over the central bank's policy stance. Several months of voluntary restructuring talks with holders of $3.6bn of bonds ended in failure, prompting the company to prepare for a bankruptcy protection filing in a Brazilian court, people close to the company said.... although it does appear they have enough cash to continue operating until the end of December which could buy time to try to reopen negotiations with creditors, this time under a formal court process. Wolf on Carney's bravura and the implications of the UK becoming a greater Hong Kong (Financial Times) The next phase in the US's fiscal war begins (Financial Times) The Fed appears mired in a classic state of active inertia (Financial Times) How a digital currency could transform Africa, although we are far less sure about the image of a "pronking impala" (Financial Times) Russian drama has potash industry transfixed (Financial Times) The things bankers do for slices of Twitter pie (WSJ) Asian markets Nikkei 225 up +115.01 (+0.80%) at 14,441 Topix up +9.64 (+0.81%) at 1,203 Hang Seng up +193.97 (+0.85%) at 23,041 US markets S&P 500 up +9.84 (+0.56%) at 1,772 DJIA up +111.42 (+0.72%) at 15,680 Nasdaq up +12.21 (+0.31%) at 3,952 European markets Eurofirst 300 up +5.13 (+0.40%) at 1,288 FTSE100 up +48.91 (+0.73%) at 6,775 CAC 40 up +26.48 (+0.62%) at 4,278 Dax up +43.39 (+0.48%) at 9,022 Currencies €/$ 1.37 (1.37) $/¥ 98.14 (98.17) £/$ 1.60 (1.60) Commodities ($) Brent Crude (ICE) down -0.16 at 108.85 Light Crude (Nymex) down -0.43 at 97.77 100 Oz Gold (Comex) down -1.60 at 1,344 Copper (Comex) up +0.02 at 3.29 10-year government bond yields (%) US 2.51% UK 2.62% Germany 1.74% CDS (closing levels) Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe -1.11bps at 70.52bp Markit iTraxx Europe -1.65bps at 83.48bp Markit iTraxx Xover -6.8bps at 340.2bp