Commodity central bank action: Andrew Sentance, senior economic adviser at PwC and former member of the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee, has penned a strongly worded think-piece in the FT about the current lack of action stemming from central banks with respect to rising commodity prices. Stamp duty avoidance for the masses: FT Alphaville's interest was piqued by Chancellor George Osborne's proclamations that there would be an end to stamp duty land tax avoidance schemes. There's one scheme that's widely known about, but there's another much more interesting one aimed at the masses. It involves options, buy-back agreements and tax deferral. All the details are explained here. Greece CDS: The Greece CDS auction is over!! Full results explained by Lisa here. Carry unwinds and bond fakeouts: Joseph has come across another theory about what caused the Treasury sell-off last week from RBC's Michael Cloherty, who reckons the ongoing flatness of the curve during the sell-off reeks of a carry trade being closed out. UK budget: Forecasts for the UK economy will be revised a touch higher in the Budget on Wednesday, as the Office for Budget Responsibility is expected to follow recent more optimistic moves by private sector economists (FT). Meanwhile, sharp-suited NM Rothschild bankers have been seen at the Treasury, offering advice to a Tory chancellor on the transfer of public assets to the private realm, reminiscent of the role the bank played in advising on the Thatcherite sell-offs in the 1980s (FT). Glencore nears Viterra deal: Glencore is in exclusive talks with Viterra to buy the Canadian grain handler for roughly $6bn, according to people familiar with the situation - an aggressive move by the Swiss commodities-trading powerhouse to expand in North America, even as it works to complete a separate $90bn merger deal (WSJ). Saudi crude: The kingdom is taking steps to cool the overheating global energy market, boosting its exports to the US and re-opening old oilfields to expand production, as the world's largest oil producer tries to prevent damage to the global economic recovery (FT). Barcap's commodities hit: Barclays Capital, which for most of the past decade has ranked alongside the two leaders, suffered a sharp fall in revenues last year, hit by a large loss trading copper and aluminium according to the Financial Times. In its annual results last month, Barclays said only that commodities had experienced a "challenging environment" (FT). Dodd-Frank's mineral provision: Tacked into the financial reform package is an odd provision, which requires publicly traded companies whose products use certain minerals commonly mined in strife-torn areas of Central Africa to report to shareholders and the SEC. whether their mineral supply comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Manufacturers are now questioning the effectiveness of having to trace every scrap of refined metal back to its original hole in the ground (New York Times). Brazil charges Chevron for oil leak: Brazil will file criminal charges Wednesday against executives from Chevron and drilling-rig operator Transocean accusing them of environmental crimes related to an offshore oil spill in November, prosecutor Eduardo Santos de Oliveira said in an interview Monday (WSJ). China raises fuel prices: China raised its heavily regulated gasoline prices by 6.4 per cent and diesel by 7 per cent, the second increase this year for the world's No. 2 economy, as it grapples with the rising cost of crude (WSJ). Markets: A dearth of freshly positive market catalysts leaves risk assets struggling to maintain forward momentum, with equity benchmarks easing back from multi-month, and in some cases post-financial, crisis highs. This entry was posted by Izabella Kaminska on Tuesday, March 20th, 2012 at 9:27 and is filed under Uncategorised.