Asian stocks rose, paring earlier losses and leading some analysts to say this week's sell-off was overdone. The MSCI Asia Pacific rose 0.2% after earlier falling 0.3%. The yen weakened against the dollar by 0.4% to 98.6 after finance minister Taro Aso told reporters that Japan's policies were unopposed at the G20 meeting. UK and IMF set for austerity dust-up: George Osborne is "prepared to "aggressively" defend his policies" when an IMF team arrives in London next month to make an annual assessment of the British economy, according to aides. He fears that an anti-austerity faction is gaining ground within the Fund, which could formally urge for a relaxing of Osborne's fiscal plans, providing a boost to the Labour party. Blackstone pulled out of bidding for Dell amid concerns about the computer maker's finances and the worsening outlook for global PC sales, said people with knowledge of the situation. Italy's centre left splinters after failure to agree on president: "Questions were immediately raised over Pier Luigi Bersani's continued leadership of the Democratic party after many of his parliamentarians rebelled and voted against his preferred presidential candidate, Franco Marini, an 80-year-old former Catholic trade unionist widely seen as emblematic of a discredited establishment." The election of a new president was seen as a crucial step towards either forming a new government or dissolving parliament for fresh elections. Mixed results for Google: The company beat expectations on profits but missed on revenues. Cost-per-click continued to fall, but at a slower rate than the previous quarter. Portugal promises austerity is on track: The Portuguese government said Thursday that it has identified a series ofspending cuts to fill a budget hole and keep its €78bn bailout on track. Budget Secretary Luis Sarmento said the government will impose new spending ceilings for ministries, renegotiate public-private partnership contracts and introduce a plan for wider public sector reform to address a €1.3bn budget gap created after a top court ruled unconstitutional some of the planned austerity measures. Ireland picks through debtors" lifestyles: "Irish homeowners applying for debt writedowns will have to give up satellite television, foreign holidays and private school educations for their children under a strict new insolvency law introduced to tackle the country's debt crisis." Energy companies pose stability risk: British economist Lord Stern says the size of energy companies means there is a risk of fossil fuel assets being devalued by climate policy. These carbon-based companies form a tremendous part of international financial assets and if those were at risk, as they surely would be if we took the [climate change] issue as seriously as we should, then that is potentially a major source of instability. UK dairy group plugs pensions hole with actual cheese. Analogue businesses in many sectors are unprepared for the digital revolution. Japan will make good on Abenomics promise, says finance minister. Gillian Tett: Wake up to the twitter effect on markets. Spend it if you've got it: China's consumers. Spain's tide of foreclosure squatters. Private equity groups regain enthusiasm for listings. Clues to how Rich Ricci's fate was sealed. George Soros is NOT dead. Asian markets Nikkei 225 up +46.15 (+0.35%) at 13,266 Topix up +0.24 (+0.02%) at 1,123 Hang Seng up +223.58 (+1.04%) at 21,736 US markets S&P 500 down -10.40 (-0.67%) at 1,542 DJIA down -81.45 (-0.56%) at 14,537 Nasdaq down -38.31 (-1.20%) at 3,166 European markets Eurofirst 300 down -0.38 (-0.03%) at 1,147 FTSE100 down -0.54 (-0.01%) at 6,244 CAC 40 up +0.13 (0.00%) at 3,599 Dax down -29.30 (-0.39%) at 7,474 Currencies €/$ 1.31 (1.31) $/¥ 98.53 (98.13) £/$ 1.53 (1.53) Commodities ($) Brent Crude (ICE) up +0.37 at 99.50 Light Crude (Nymex) up +0.27 at 88.00 100 Oz Gold (Comex) unchanged 0.00 at 1,392 Copper (Comex) down -3.75 at 316.70 10-year government bond yields (%) US 1.70% UK 1.69% Germany 1.23% CDS (closing levels) Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe +0.4bps at 100.98bp Markit iTraxx Europe +0.88bps at 114.06bp Markit iTraxx Xover +7.96bps at 461.65bp Markit CDX IG +0.87bps at 84.98bp