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Stories Report on Business is following today:
Global markets rally
Global markets are rallying this morning, following yesterday's gains in North America. Japanese stocks were up more than per cent at about 6:30 a.m. ET, while Europe's major exchanges notched gains of about 2 per cent or more. Wall Street was also heading for a higher opening as Dow Jones industrial average and S&P 500 futures climbed.
The Canadian dollar inched up again, though down from its earlier highs, continuing on yesterday's momentum. Including yesterday's gains, the loonie was up abut 1.8 per cent, noted Scotia Capital currency strategist Camilla Sutton, though volatility in the markets have sent currencies tumbling and climbing for weeks depending on the mood.
"The risk aversion that has dominated markets since the start of the month seems to be very slowly dissipating, and the fact that the [Bank of Canada]is poised to hike rates in a timely fashion owing to the 'considerable monetary stimulus in place,' should provide support to [the Canadian dollar] though nothing is a sure thing in noisy markets," said Royal Bank of Canada senior currency strategist Sue Trinh in Hong Kong.
No deal on bank tax expected
Officials gathering for the meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bankers in Busan, South Korea, believe there is little chance they will agree to a global bank tax, a victory for Canada, which has strongly opposed an international levy. Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty have oft said Canadian banks should not be punished given how well they came through the financial crisis. And while there is support for a new tax among some in Europe and the United States, it appears there's not enough to push for a wide agreement. "I don't think we're on the verge of a global consensus," U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told reporters. "... There's not universal support for that across the G20, at least at this stage, and I don't think that's going to change in Korea." Read the story
Related
Why Harper is taking his bank-tax fight to Europe's doorstep
Flaherty says China against bid for bank levy
JPMorgan fined in Britain
Britain's financial regulator has fined the London operation of JPMorgan Chase & Co. £33.3-million, or almost $49-million U.S., a record, for not properly segregating client money in its futures and options business. On average, JPMorgan Securities Ltd. did not properly keep separate $8.6-billion, the regulator said. Read the story
BP not prepared, CEO says
Tony Hayward, the embattled chief executive officer of BP PLC , says the energy giant was totally prepared to deal with, and lacked some of the equipment needed, for the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. "What is undoubtedly true is that we did not have the tools you would want in your tool kit," he told the Financial Times, though he added that the containment measures on the surface of the Gulf have been successful and "considering how big this has been, very little has got away from us."
Separately today, Moody's Investors Service noted that insurers have boosted their policies for rigs in deep seas by 50 per cent since the disaster on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig several weeks ago. "Pricing for offshore energy liability insurance is sure to trend higher as insurers and reinsurers take stock of their losses and re-evaluate the complex risks associated with drilling in deep waters, analyst James Eck said in a report.
Related
Fitch downgrades BP as costs mount
As BP disaster grows, Canada's deepwater well faces scrutiny
Eric Reguly: Why BP's Tony Hayward must go
Xstrata shelves Australian projects
Xstrata PLC is turning up the pressure on Australia's government to pull back on its proposed new "supertax" on mining profits, warning today it plans to shelve hefty spending on projects there. The projects involved are worth some $5.6-billion (U.S.).
"The [Resource Super Profits Tax]has created significant uncertainty for the future of mining investment into Australia and would impair the value of previously approved projects and exploration to the point that continued investment can no longer be justified," chief executive officer Mick Davis said in a statement.
Xstrata is the first among the world's major producers to announce such a move, but Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told reporters that "this is part and parcel of what will be the normal argy bargy of a very tense debate between parts of the mining industry and the Australian government."
Maytag recalls dishwashers
The famous Maytag repairman is about to have his hands full. Maytag Corp. says it is recalling some 1.7 million dishwashers, about 160,000 of them in Canada, due to fire hazard. There have been 12 reports, and no injuries. Read the story
From today's Report on Business
Moody's culture one of 'must say yes'
Slipping Chinese demand has miners on edge
Job losses take the froth off beer sales
The bank machine you can talk to
And, read Kevin Carmichael's G8/G20 Global View summit blog