2. Capital Investments
US to lift lid on “pervasive insider trading”: Report
• US officials are preparing insider trading charges against a host of
financial players, including investment bankers and hedge fund
managers, according to people familiar with the matter.
• The charges could surpass any previous investigations on Wall Street,
and examine whether certain players garnered tens of millions of dollars
in illegal profits.
• The investigations could expose "a culture of pervasive insider trading
in US financial markets", especially in ways private information is
transmitted to traders through connected insiders, the newspaper said,
citing federal authorities.
3. Capital Investments
Wells Fargo to pay Citi $100 mn over Wachovia
•Wells Fargo & Co will pay Citigroup Inc $100 million to settle multiple
lawsuits over the contentious 2008 purchase of Wachovia Corp, closing another
chapter in the receding financial crisis.
•The banks said the settlement will resolve all claims related to the dispute.
• Citigroup had originally sought as much as $60 billion of damages from Wells
Fargo for derailing its September 2008 agreement to buy large portions of
Wachovia and quadruple its US branch presence.
•Wachovia was struggling with soaring losses on mortgage loans, and the
agreement with New York-based Citigroup called for Federal Deposit Insurance
Corp to share in those losses.
4. Capital Investments
China to boost grain supplies to combat inflation
.
•China will increase grain supplies, open up more land for planting vegetables and
crack down on hoarding as the government steps up efforts to combat rising
inflation, state media said Saturday.
•The latest moves come after consumer prices rose at their fastest pace in two
years, fuelled by soaring food costs after severe summer flooding and more
recent cold snaps hit crop yields.
• Authorities would boost the supply of grain, some vegetable oil and soybeans to
"meet consumer demand and stabilise market prices", the official Xinhua news
agency said, citing the grain administration.
• The agricultural ministry also said it would increase the area of land available for
vegetable crops "to stabilise production and increase vegetable supplies during
the winter," Xinhua said.
5. Capital Investments
China emerging as player in global arms trade
• China is emerging as a competitor in the international arms market , offering
increasingly sophisticated fighter jets , missiles and equipment that are beginning
to rival Russia and other long time exporters.
• With the same low-cost strategy that worked for toys and electronics, Chinese
firms are targeting cost-conscious customers, albeit in an industry still dominated
by the United States, Russia, France and Britain.
• China's arms industry had long been known for cheap knockoffs of Russian
hardware: East Timor's president once described the Chinese patrol boats his
country was purchasing as a ``fake Gucci ship.''
