Markets await record bond auctions
Bond investors prepared for a record $34bn auction of US three year notes and £2billion of gilts. Asian stocks rose, lifting the MSCI Asia Pacific Index from its lowest level in five years. HSBC Holdings rose 15 per cent as the government investigated a 24 per cent drop in the stock yesterday. Chinese offshore oil producer Cnooc enjoyed a 6.4 per cent rally as crude oil rose to a two-month high. Yesterday the S&P 500 fell one per cent as Investor Warren Buffett said the US faced a crisis akin to an economic "Pearl Harbor". The FTSE opened 0.58 per cent lower at 3,521.91.
Merck buys rival in $41bn deal
US drugs company Merck agreed to buy American rival Schering-Ploughfor $41.1bn, the second "blockbusting deal" the drugs industry has seen in just two months, reported The Guardian. The union takes place against a bleak backdrop of falling drugs sales, expiring pharmaceutical patents and extensive job cuts across the industry. The combined company expects to lose a further 16,000 employees. This drugs consolidation is not likely to be the last - Swiss drug maker Roche is expected to buy the 44 per cent of US biotech firm Genentech it does not already own in the coming days.
Alexander Cockburn: will Obama bring audacity to US dope law reform 
Lloyds’ bosses face shareholder fury
Lloyds Banking Group shareholders have demanded chairman Sir Victor Blank and CEO Eric Daniels explain the reason they're handing over 77 per cent of the bank to the taxpayer, reported the Daily Telegraph. Lloyds' decision to put £260bn of toxic loans into the Government's Asset Protection Scheme "dominated" the meeting of the Association of British Insurers, whose members include Lloyds' major shareholders - Standard Life, Scottish Widows and Legal & General. Principal questions include how much leeway the bank had with the government, the exact assets placed in the scheme and whether more of the bank could have remained in private hands.
What Britain could have bought with the £1.3tn banking bail-out
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Buffet: it’s economic ‘Pearl Harbor’
The Sage of Omaha, Warren Buffet, said yesterday the current crisis was "an economic Pearl Harbor" and the US economy had "fallen off a cliff", reported The Times. "Multibillionaire" Buffett said he was worried about the confused approach the US Treasury was taking with the $2tn of toxic debt that continues to threaten the end of the financial sector. The pressure to nationalise banks like Citigroup and Bank of America is growing after repeated cash loans fail to breach losses in the financial giants. Geithner has thus far failed to come up with a plan to calm the sector.
People: Book reveals the real Warren Buffet
Gilt yields collapse ahead of auction
Gilt yields fell to the lowest since records began as investors prepared to receive £2bn into the economy, reported the Independent. Fears about the fragility of the UK financial system and the "looming reality" of the Bank of England's "reverse auction" today sent the benchmark 10-year gilt to a low of 2.95 per cent. Falling yields may add to pensioners' woes - currently a £100,000 pension delivers an annuity of around £6,488 a year - nearly £400 lower than it did just a year ago. Yields will likely continue to fall as the BOE is set to buy £75bn more debt in the next quarter.
US debates Citigroup bail-out
Only days after the third "rescue" of Citigroup, US officials are weighing up what new steps they'll take if problems continue to mount, reported theWall Street Journal. US officials are conducting stress tests on the largest banks in the US to determine how long they can bear up under continued economic pressure. One plan involves setting up a toxic bank which relieves US financial companies of their distressed assets. Meanwhile Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit reacted to the fall of his bank's shares to $1, arguing the price doesn't reflect the group's capital position and earnings power.
...in brief..................
RBS gives Goodwin £10k pension boost; FSA investigates Cowdery
Disgraced Royal Bank of Scotland CEO Sir Fred Goodwin received a £10,000 boost to his annual pension for working at the bank in January, reported the Guardian. He was entitled to £693,000 but this was lifted to £703,000 for working an extra month beyond the end of the financial year......
Will Self: Flagellating Sir Fred Goodwin over his pension won't save Gordon Brown
How taxpayers can get back Sir Fred Goodwin's pension
The Financial Services Authority has launched an investigation into the founder of financial services buyout group Resolution, reported theIndependent. The FSA is looking at "certain actions" taken by Clive Cowdery and four other directors during the £5bn takeover battle withPearl Group in 2007.
Thousands of videos disappeared from YouTube after talks between the internet site and the Performing Rights Society for Music broke down over license sharing agreements, reported the Daily Telegraph. The existing royalties payment contract has expired and YouTube says the suggested terms of renewable aren't "economically sustainable"......
Doubts emerged over the handling of the UK's drive to build a new generation of nuclear power stations after the auction of three sites was delayed "at the eleventh hour", reported the Times. The bidding system was supposed to start last week......
Hedge funds may shed a record 20,000 employees from their payrolls this year, reported Bloomberg.com. A report from a New York executive search firm says that the job cuts come on top of the 10,000 jobs already lost from investment partnerships last year.......
From the ashes of Lehman Brothers rises a new private equity house, reported the Financial Times. South African investor Johann Rupert joined forces with the managers from Lehman Brothers Merchant Banking Partners to purchase the buy-out business out of the failed bank.....
The People Page: Lehmans' Dick Fuld offloads a home
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