1.Chinese markets are rallying:
The Shanghai Composite is up 1.79%, after an extension of a ban on large shareholders selling stock.
2.JP Morgan Chase has been fined $48 million (£32.7 million) for failing to meet terms of a settlement to resolve mortgage servicing violations, US bank regulators said this week:
JP Morgan was among a number of banks which participated 2 years ago in a nationwide settlement with regulators over the practice of robo-signing, in which banks pursued faulty foreclosures by using defective or fraudulent documents.
3.Deutsche Bank economists on Tuesday reduced their forecast on US economic growth in the fourth quarter of 2015 and first quarter of 2016 due to recent disappointing data on trade, construction spending, and manufacturing activity:
They said in a research note they pared their view on domestic gross product in November of last year by 1 percentage point to 0.5%, which they added “still might be too high in light of what could be much larger inventory liquidation than what we have assumed.”
4.Pound Approaches Nine-Month Low Before U.K. Services Report:
The pound declined versus the dollar, approaching the lowest level in almost nine months, before a report economists said will show U.K. services growth slowed in last month.
5.Tough Stance by U.S. Regulators Deepens VW’s Dirty Diesel Crisis:
The road Volkswagen AG must travel to get out of its U.S. legal and regulatory morass just got rougher.
6.Local petrol refining hits 6.76m litres:
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) yesterday said the nation’s three refineries in Kaduna, Port Harcourt and Warri have attained a combined daily production of over 6.76 million liters of petrol per day.
7.Brent crude oil gives up gains, falls close to 11-year low:
Brent crude oil prices gave back earlier gains on Wednesday, retreating almost 1 percent and close to 11-year lows as concerns over growing supply and rising stock levels outweighed tensions between key Middle East producers.
