FirstFT, the email briefing formerly knows as The (early) Lunch Wrap President Barack Obama and soon-to-be leader of the Senate Mitch McConnell have pledged to work together after the Republicans won control of the Senate - the oil industry is hopeful that the long-delayed Keystone XL pipeline for exporting crude from western Canada could now secure approval. But Evan Osnos at the New Yorker predicts a period of paralysisafter Mr McConnell told big donors that he would "work at every turn to thwart the Obama agenda."The Washington Post, meanwhile, says a decision by Mr Obama to use his executive authority to stem deportations would poison hopes of bipartisan co-operation. Salon suggests, however, that Mr Obama should welcome a Republican impeachment threat, take bold action on climate and immigration, and force the right to over-reach. Spinning the result as a verdict on Obama has one obvious beneficiary: presumed Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who can subtly suggest that she could do much better, notesPolitico. Free-floated rouble sinks The Russian currency crashed to record lows after the country's central bank said it would spend no more than $350m a day smoothing the fluctuations in the currency and allow the exchange rate to be determined "predominantly" by market factors. FT, Reuters Luxembourg tax deals exposed Leaked documents detailing the tax arrangements of more than 340 multinationals show hundreds of billions of dollars were funnelled through Luxembourg, saving billions of dollars in taxes. The cases are particularly sensitive, because Jean-Claude Juncker, new president of the European Commission, was premier of the grand duchy at the time of the deals. (The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, (FT) European equities cool Europe's main equities markets cooled in morning trade with sentiment cautious ahead of the European Central Bank's policy announcement. After a run higher for the region's indices, weak economic data are seen as signalling more aggressive action by the bank. AstraZeneka champions standalone prospects The pharmaceuticals group, under pressure from shareholders to show it is heading back to sustained growth, has raised full-year revenue and earnings guidance, even as it steps up investment in new products. (FT) Security challenge grows for Apple in China "Wirelurker," a virus aimed at Apple users in China, may have affected hundreds of thousands of people already. One-hour delivery gets closer Amazon has tested taxi delivery for its parcels, using a cab-hailing mobile app to provide a speedier delivery service. Jordan recalls ambassador to Israel accusing Israel of taking actions "provocative to 1.7bn Muslims." UK bank probe The regulatory watchdog is to investigate the dominance of Britain's biggest banks in personal current accounts and small business lending. Attention is fixed on its bond-buying effortsafter the Bank of Japan stepped up its monetary stimulus programme last week and eurozone core inflation slipped to 0.7 per cent last month. Claire Jones outlines three things to watch out for. David Cameron He has been warned by two of his closest allies, Finland and Sweden, that they will oppose any attempt to restrict Europe's rules on free movement of workers . But he is hoping fellow liberal European leaders meeting in Helsinki today will accommodate some of this other demands through legal opt-outs. Russel Brand irritates, but many listen The revolution he calls for won't happen, but many of the comedian's criticisms resonate, not just with his credulous fans, says Michael Skapinker. FirstFT was written by Amie Tsang (@amietsang) and Fiona Symon (@fionasymon). Ask your friends to sign up here to receiveFirstFT. Market data as requested: Asian markets Nikkei 225 down -144.84 (-0.86%) at 16,792 Topix down -15.41 (-1.12%) at 1,356 Hang Seng down -46.31 (-0.20%) at 23,649 ASX 200 down -11.77 (-0.21%) at 5,506 US markets S&P 500 up +11.47 (+0.57%) at 2,024 DJIA up +100.69 (+0.58%) at 17,485 Nasdaq down -2.91 (-0.06%) at 4,621 European markets Eurofirst 300 down -3.67 (-0.27%) at 1,345 FTSE100 down -9.28 (-0.14%) at 6,530 CAC 40 up +1.38 (+0.03%) at 4,210 Dax up +12.09 (+0.13%) at 9,328 Currencies €/$ 1.25 (1.25) $/¥ 114.59 (114.63) £/$ 1.59 (1.60) €/£ 0.7845 (0.7813) Commodities ($) Brent Crude (ICE) down -0.17 at 82.78 Light Crude (Nymex) down -0.28 at 78.40 100 Oz Gold (Comex) down -1.50 at 1,144 Copper (Comex) at 3.02 10-year government bond yields (%) US 2.34% UK 2.25% Germany 0.83% This entry was posted by FT Alphaville on Thursday November 6th, 2014 11:51.