The One Big Risk That Could Derail the U.S. Economy

Is it tax increases and blunt cuts from the sequester or the nebulous impact of uncertainty stemming from budget fights? Here's what Jefferies' Ward McCarthy, says is really holding back the economy.

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China October official manufacturing PMI beats forecasts

China's manufacturing sector grew at the fastest pace in 18 months in October, official data showed on Friday, adding to signs of a stabilization in the world's No.2 economy as the government readies a series of key economic reforms. The survey's strength offered some relief on the growth outlook after a disappointing run of data last month, including a below-forecast official PMI and a surprise drop in exports. "This is in line with our relatively benign growth outlook," said Louis Kuijs, an economist at RBS, in a note. A breakdown of the sub-indexes showed that new orders in large industries reached 53.8, while for small industries the number was just 48.8, suggesting that the trend towards stabilization has still largely only been felt by larger firms.

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Fannie Mae sues nine banks for rigging Libor

Fannie Mae sued nine of the world's largest banks on Thursday, accusing them of colluding to manipulate interest rates and seeking more than $800 million of damages. In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the government-controlled mortgage company accused the banks of conspiring for many years to suppress Libor, or the London Interbank Offered Rate, including during the 2008 financial crisis. Libor underpins hundreds of trillions of dollars of transactions, and is used to set interest rates on such things as credit cards, student loans and mortgages. But according to Thursday's 71-page lawsuit, "defendants' promises and representations regarding the legitimacy of Libor were false," causing Fannie Mae to lose money on swaps, mortgages, mortgage securities and other transactions.

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U.S. Navy cancels notice on possible F/A-18 fighter jet order

The U.S. Navy on Thursday canceled a notice about a possible order of up to 36 more Boeing Co (BA) F/A-18 fighter jets or EA-18G electronic warfare planes after the posting on a federal procurement website sparked confusion this week. Boeing has sought for years to sell the Navy more of its F/A-18E/F Super Hornets for use on aircraft carriers, as a hedge in case the more capable carrier variant of the F-35 fighter jet runs into further delays or technical challenges. Navy officials this week said they had no plans to buy more Super Hornets or EA-18G Growlers in fiscal 2015 despite the notice on a federal procurement website. They said the notice was meant to ensure the "proper acquisition process" was in place if more U.S. or foreign orders materialized.

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Big Oil faces pressure from shareholders over costs

LONDON/HOUSTON (Reuters) - Oil industry shareholders concerned about poor returns and costly projects urged executives from Big Oil this week to return cash to shareholders - and at least one of the world's top five petroleum companies fully acquiesced. As they posted third-quarter results, the leading oil companies vowed to control spending and to put cash in the pockets of investors through asset sales, share buybacks or dividends while analysts grumbled about lagging stock prices. BP Plc (LSE:BP.), the smallest of the group of five, was the most aggressive. It raised its dividend, cut back capital spending plans, and ramped up its asset sales target to $10 billion over the next two years from between $4 billion and $6 billion previously - cash that will also go back to shareholders.

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Bitcoin Pursues the Mainstream

Advocates of the digital currency bitcoin say it is ready to emerge from its fringe status and become a common method of retail payment.

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No shutdown in U.S. Midwest as business activity index surges

Business activity in the U.S. Midwest surged past expectations in October as new orders hit their highest level since 2004, countering recent evidence of soft economic growth. Weekly unemployment claims also fell, in welcome news for the nation's battered labor market after the impact of a government shutdown on furloughed federal workers diminished. The Institute for Supply Management-Chicago business barometer jumped to 65.9 from 55.7, the strongest reading since March 2011 and well above the most optimistic forecast in a Reuters poll. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 340,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday.

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Two Key Indicators That Just Guaranteed a Year End Rally

Taken together, low volatility and seasonality hint at a year end in Wall Street's favor, says Ryan Detrick, senior technical strategist at Schaefer's Investment Research.

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U.S. Jobless Claims Declined by 10,000 Last Week

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits declined largely as expected last week as the impact of a California computer glitch worked its way out of the report. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits declined by 10,0000 to a seasonally adjusted 340,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday.

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Asian shares slip after upbeat U.S. data

Asian shares edged down and the dollar inched higher in early trade on Friday after upbeat U.S. economic data prompted some investors to price in a less dovish policy outlook for the U.S. Federal Reserve. The euro steadied after plunging in the previous session as euro-zone inflation dropped to its lowest rate in nearly four years, heightening expectations that the European Central Bank will further ease its monetary policy.

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Ziff Brothers Investments expected to close U.S. hedge fund: report

New York-based Ziff Brothers Investments plans to gradually shut down its U.S. hedge fund, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. Other money could be shifted to Ziff Brothers Investments' internal hedge fund based in London, or to external hedge-fund managers. The closure of the U.S. fund is tied to the planned retirement of its head portfolio manager, Ian McKinnon, in 2015, the report said. The Ziff brothers, Dirk, Robert and Daniel, set up their family office in 1992, after the $1.4 billion sale by their father, William Ziff Jr., of his Ziff-Davis publishing empire.



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Wells Fargo settles mortgage claims with U.S. government for under $1 billion: FT

(Reuters) - Wells Fargo & Co (WFC), the fourth-largest U.S. bank, has settled claims with a U.S. government agency over bad mortgages the bank sold ahead of the financial crisis, the Financial Times reported on Thursday. The San Francisco bank paid less than $1 billion to resolve claims from the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the overseer of government-backed mortgage enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the newspaper said, citing people familiar with the matter. A Wells Fargo spokesman and the government agency declined to comment. The bank said in a securities filing in the first quarter of 2013 that it had settled certain mortgage-backed securities claims with Fannie Mae out of previously established reserves, though it did not specify additional terms of the settlement.

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Monte Paschi's key shareholder open to bank's merger: document

The top shareholder in Monte dei Paschi dei Siena (BMPS.MI) is open to the idea of a merger of the troubled Italian bank with another financial group, preferably "of an international standing", it said in a document approved by its board this month. The comment is a major strategic shift for the Monte Paschi foundation, a not-for-profit body with close ties to local politicians, which now has a 33.5 percent stake in the world's oldest bank after being forced to sell down its majority holding to pay off its debts. The cash-strapped foundation, which has its Monte dei Paschi stake valued at 0.24 euros per share in its books, is seeking to reduce its holding in the bank to pay back 350 million euros of debts and has already said it will not take part in the capital increase. In the document, dated October 15 and setting out its strategic priorities through 2017, the foundation said it did not want to sell its stake "in dribs and drabs".

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BJ's launches $2.1 billion loan for refinancing, dividend recap

Warehouse retailer BJ's Wholesale Club (BJ.UL) is tapping the wide open credit markets for the second time in slightly over 12 months to finance a distribution to its shareholders, sources told Thomson Reuters LPC. Deutsche Bank is leading the transaction. Deutsche Bank declined to comment. The $450 million dividend comes on the heels of a $643 million distribution the company offered to shareholders in September 2012.

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Exxon Mobil's 3Q Profit Falls 18%

Exxon Mobil's profit is down 18 percent from last year, but the oil and gas giant is still making nearly $8 billion in three months.

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Google, Samsung, Huawei sued over Nortel patents

The group that owns thousands of former Nortel patents filed a barrage of patent lawsuits on Thursday against cell phone manufacturers including Google, the company it outbid in the Nortel bankruptcy auction. Rockstar, the consortium that bought the Nortel patents for $4.5 billion, sued Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, HTC Corp, Huawei and four other companies for patent infringement in U.S. District Court in Texas.

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The Simple Solution for People Locked out of Obamacare

Obamacare is basically a start-up system consumers experience through a technology innovation — the website. It’s hardly surprising there have been some snafus.

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Container Store Prices Offering at $18

The Container Store Group Inc. has priced its initial public offering of 12.5 million shares at $18 each, above the expected range of $14 to $16.

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AIG quarterly profit beats estimates

American International Group Inc reported a better-than-expected third-quarter operating profit, helped by strong growth in its property and casualty business. The U.S. insurer's net income rose 17 percent ...

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Trick or Treat: Facebook and LinkedIn Are Sweet as Candy…This One Is Not

Last Halloween, the scariest kid on the block was Facebook. Today the costume is entirely different.

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From Anonymity to Scourge of Wall Street

A onetime engineer who earned his law degree at night has been behind the government’s campaign to punish Wall Street for the financial crisis



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How Obama Overlooked 10 Million Americans Who Could Lose Health Insurance

We may now know what the most devastating statement of Barack Obama’s presidency is going to be: “If you like it, you can keep it.”

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Google, Oracle Workers Enlisted for Obamacare 'Tech Surge'

Google, Red Hat, Oracle and other companies are contributing dozens of computer engineers and programmers to help the Obama administration fix the U.S. health-insurance exchange website.

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Bombardier profit dips as plane deliveries, orders fall

Canadian plane and train maker Bombardier Inc (BBD-B.TO) reported a 15 percent fall in net profit on Thursday, pressured by fewer aircraft orders and deliveries in the third quarter and contract issues in its train unit. Montreal-based Bombardier also did not release any flight test data for its brand-new CSeries aircraft or offer an update on whether the plane will meet its ambitious schedule of going into commercial service by next September. After the test plane's inaugural flight about a month and a half ago, it has only flown three more times, raising questions over whether the testing phase is on track. Results fell short of forecasts and sent shares sliding more than 8 percent on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

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Analysis: For Merck, bringing cattle feed Zilmax back won't be easy

(Reuters) - U.S. pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co (MRK) faces significant challenges bringing its controversial feed additive Zilmax back to market in the United States and Canada, even after a vote of confidence from South Korea on Thursday. South Korea plans to begin accepting meat from cattle raised with the muscle-growing supplement early next year, a senior official in the country's food ministry said, opening the door to beef imports after a government risk assessment found the additive could be permitted at certain levels. To resurrect the once popular drug in the United States, Merck will need to shake this summer's controversy over animal welfare problems - and convince ranchers, feedlot customers and meatpackers that Zilmax was not to blame for some cattle that arrived at slaughter plants having difficulty walking and apparently in pain. It could be a tough sell: On Wednesday, agricultural giant Cargill Inc (CARG.UL) told Reuters it would not allow Zilmax-fed beef to enter its supply chain until questions over cattle health issues have been resolved and "until Asia and other trading partners accept it in their markets.



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Fannie Mae sues nine banks over Libor

U.S. mortgage finance company Fannie Mae sued nine of the world's largest banks on Thursday, accusing them of colluding to manipulate interest rates and seeking more than $800 million of damages. In a ...

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Cap-and-Trade Beat Acid Rain, It Can Beat Global Warming: Sandor

Dr. Richard Sandor, CEO of Environmental Financial Products, who has been called 'the father of financial futures,' is steadfast in his belief that financial innovation can be a force for good in the world.

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Facebook Status: Big Gains, but Worries Ahead

Facebook Inc. spooked investors with warnings that it may be nearing the limits of one of its most important areas of revenue growth.

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U.S. October auto sales expected to show 12 percent rise

U.S. auto sales to be reported on Friday are expected to be up 12 percent from a year ago as the federal government shutdown did not greatly impact consumer purchases. Analysts forecast that the largest automakers in terms of U.S. sales will have double-digit percentage sales increases, with the possible exception of sales leader General Motors Co (GM). Pickup truck sales are expected to again show double-digit gains, but the pace may be slower than in recent months before the usual end-of-year flurry of truck buying, analysts said. The 16-day shutdown of most of the federal government did not keep sales down, several analysts said, including Alec Gutierrez of Kelley Blue Book.

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Young and Smart, but Millennials Face Homebuying Hurdles

High debt levels and weak job prospects have made it hard for many young, educated Americans to buy homes, and that could be a drag on the housing market for years to come.

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Boeing to raise 737 production to 47/month by 2017

(Reuters) - Boeing Co (BA) said it would increase production of its workhorse 737 aircraft to 47 planes per month by 2017 from 38 now, a surprise move that analysts said boded well for the company, its suppliers and airlines. Boeing had already announced plans to increase production to 42 per month in the first half of 2014, matching current output by rival Airbus SA (EAD.PA) of its competing A320 jet family. With the new target, Boeing would enter territory that Airbus isn't attempting. The output, from the same footprint at Boeing's 737 factory in Renton, Washington, will not only boost Boeing's cash pile, it will give the company more delivery slots to sell to airlines who want new, fuel-efficient planes sooner.



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Activist fund TCI backs EADS boss as defense cuts loom

The head of hedge fund TCI said he is backing the boss of aerospace giant EADS (EAD.PA) in his "aggressive" approach to slash costs and grow profit, and expects management to announce further cuts in its defense unit soon. Chris Cooper-Hohn, whose TCI owns more than 1 percent of EADS' share capital, said he believes EADS is set to benefit as its management focuses on commercial aircraft production and shields the firm from undue meddling from government shareholders in France and Germany. "We believe the company is in the process of doubling and then tripling its profitability," Cooper-Hohn told an audience at the Ira Sohn conference in London on Thursday. Cooper-Hohn, an aggressive activist investor with a record of successfully taking on high-profile executives, said EADS had a $1 trillion backlog of orders, would improve margins as its pricing power strengthened, and was in a better position to cut costs now negative political influences had been neutralized.

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Oracle shareholders oppose Ellison's pay at annual meeting

A majority of shareholders opposed Oracle's executive compensation, including Chief Executive Larry Ellison's pay, in a non-binding vote on Thursday following complaints that the world's third-richest man is paid too much as his company struggles against smaller rivals. The vote against Ellison adds to a similar defeat at last year's meeting, and while it requires no action from the company, it underscores concern among shareholders about high executive compensation in the face of lackluster financial performance. A majority of shareholders voted in support of Oracle's directors, including those on the board's compensation committee - Bruce Chizen, George Conrades and Naomi Seligman.



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Retailers Brace for Reduction in Food Stamps

Weak spending in this stressed consumer segment has already led retailers including Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Target Corp. to lower their sales forecasts for the rest of the year ahead of holidays.

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Bank Regulators Propose Tougher Trading Book Rules

The Basel Committee of banking supervisors from nearly 30 countries published a second round of consultation on reforming how risks on trading books could be added up after finding wide discrepancies among banks.

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Earlier Nasdaq Glitch Cued Talk, No Action

U.S. stock-market officials and regulators earlier this year may have missed a chance to head off problems related to a major glitch in August that stopped trading in Nasdaq Stock Market-listed securities for hours, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The red flag came on Jan. 3, when some exchanges halted trading in Nasdaq-listed stocks after a brief outage in a data feed that delivers price quotes. The committee is made up of representatives of nearly all U.S. stock and options exchanges and dictates any changes to the feed. It manages the data feed and supervises its performance, and amending the plan governing the feed requires a unanimous vote.



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Eike Batista's Empire Soared, Then Melted Into Bankruptcy

RIO DE JANEIRO—In 2006, Eike Batista strode into Rio's opulent Copacabana Palace hotel for cocktails with a Canadian pension fund looking to play Brazil's rise. Mr. Batista didn't make it. Starting in 2006, Mr. Batista publicly listed five startups in five years, creating a Brazilian commodities empire from scratch. The 56-year-old's backers ranged from General Electric's chief executive, Jeff Immelt, to portfolio giant BlackRock Inc. By last year Mr. Batista ascended to the Top 10 of the Forbes list, with wealth of more than $30 billion.



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Hedge Funds Big Bet: Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico has been called the next Detroit and the next Greece. It's buried in debt and possibly teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. But that isn't scaring away hedge funds. So-called vulture investors ...



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Wall Street edges lower, but Exxon gains on results

U.S. stocks fell modestly on Thursday, with investors cautious with indexes near record levels as they digested recent comments from the Federal Reserve, though some strong corporate earnings provided a reason to buy. Optimism about earnings was boosted by Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM), one of the largest U.S. companies by market cap, which reported adjusted third-quarter earnings that beat expectations, sending shares 1.1 percent higher to $89.78. Expedia (EXPE) also advanced following its results, topping the S&P 500 percentage gainers, while Facebook Inc (FB.O) fluctuated between steep gains and losses.

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Pimco's Gross urges 'privileged 1 percent' to pay more tax

Bill Gross, manager of the world's largest bond fund, urged fellow members of the "privileged 1 percent," earning the highest incomes, to support higher U.S. taxes on carried interest and capital gains to help the economy. Gross, co-founder and co-chief investment officer of Pacific Investment Management Co., said in his latest investment outlook letter on Thursday that the super wealthy "should be paddling right alongside and willing to support higher taxes on carried interest, and certainly capital gains readjusted to existing marginal income tax rates." Gross, who oversees roughly $2 trillion in assets, noted that billionaires Warren Buffett and Stanley Druckenmiller, founder of Duquesne Capital Management and one of the best performing hedge fund managers of the past three decades, have advocated similar proposals. Gross, who acknowledged he was among the 1 percent, noted he is writing investment letters that "'dis' the success that provided me the soapbox in the first place." He said that increasing taxes could improve the U.S. competitive position compared with Germany and Canada.

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Facebook Exposes Twitter’s Teen Trouble

Facebook's earnings report sent shares on a wild ride last night after the company beat on the top and bottom line but cautioned that use among young teens was flat or possibly negative during the quarter.

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Chinese carmakers narrow quality gap with global brands

China's state-owned GAC Motor scored above average in a closely watched quality survey, as home-grown brands narrowed the gap with the foreign marques that dominate the world's biggest car market. GAC ...

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ConocoPhillips Profit Jumps as Oil, Natural Gas Prices Rise

(Reuters) - ConocoPhillips (COP), abandoning higher-risk assets in favor of oilfields closer to home, said it expects proceeds of nearly $9 billion from the sale of its interests in Kazakhstan, Algeria and Nigeria. Conoco's plan to focus on North America was reinforced on Thursday when the largest independent U.S. oil producer trimmed its output forecast for the year due to unrest in Libya. The reduced forecast was the main black spot in Houston-based Conoco's third-quarter results. Conoco's shares rose about 1 percent in morning trading.

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Future of state-backed UK lender RBS set to be cleared up

The future of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) should become clearer on Friday, with Britain's finance ministry expected to reveal if it wants the state-backed lender to be broken up. Bankers and political sources say the most likely outcome is that RBS, 81 percent-owned by the government, will agree to create an internal 'bad bank' to house more of its problem loans, with the government deciding against a formal break-up. RBS's new Chief Executive Ross McEwan, who took up the role at the beginning of last month, will set out his vision for the bank publicly for the first time. RBS will also unveil its third-quarter results.

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Facebook Shares Whipsaw as Traders Decipher Earnings

Facebook has always had one huge question looming over its business model: can it stay relevant and still monetize its massive user base?

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Bill Erbey Made $2.3B Off Your Underwater Mortgage

Soon after Bill Erbey and his wife Elaine moved last year to St. Croix, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, they ran up a $2,000 electric bill. They turned down the air conditioning in an effort to cut costs and Erbey, who is 64 and overweight, sat around sweating.



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Boeing to raise 737 production to 47/month by 2017

(Reuters) - Boeing Co (BA) said it would increase production of its workhorse 737 aircraft to 47 planes per month by 2017 from 38 now. Boeing, which produces the planes at its Renton, Washington plant, will increase the production rate to 42 per month in the first half of 2014. "This increase will lay a solid foundation as we bridge into production on the 737 MAX," Boeing Commercial Airplanes vice president Beverly Wyse said in a statement on Thursday. The company said it has an order backlog of 3,400 for 737 aircraft, of which about 1,500 are for the next-generation MAX model.

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Obamacare’s Unintended Losers

Obamacare is meant to provide health coverage to the millions of Americans who don't have it, but the cruel irony is that millions of other Americans may lose their current health insurance as a result.

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FAA OKs Air Passengers Using Gadgets on Planes

Airline passengers will be able to use their electronic devices gate-to-gate to read, work, play games, watch movies and listen to music — but not talk on their cellphones — under much-anticipated new guidelines issued Thursday by the Federal Aviation Administration.

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Daimler wants to expand cooperation with electric-car maker Tesla

Daimler AG (DAI.DE), the German parent of Mercedes-Benz, would like to expand its cooperation with Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA), the U.S. electric-car maker, a top Daimler executive said on Thursday. "I told my guys, go back to Tesla and look for other opportunities" to work together, Bodo Uebber, Daimler's chief financial officer, said at a press briefing. Tesla is supplying electric motors and batteries to Daimler for its Smart Fortwo EV and the new Mercedes-Benz B-Class EV that goes on sale next year in the United States and Europe.

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China's Alibaba to launch online fund sales service: media

Alibaba Group Holdings has secured approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) to act as a third party for the online sale of fund products, local media group Caixin reported on its website. The fund products will soon be available on Alibaba's Amazon-like Taobao website, according to the report. No-one at Alibaba was available to comment. The approval marks a further step for Alibaba towards providing an alternative to China's tightly regulated traditional financial system.

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Should Fed Start to Taper Stimulus Now?

How wise would it be for the Fed to start tapering its stimulus right now? We know it's not likely, but BlackRock's Larry Fink says this is the time to action. Why?

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Pricewaterhouse to Buy Consulting Firm Booz

Accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers said Wednesday it has reached a deal to buy business consultancy Booz & Company. PwC did not reveal the financial terms of the acquisition, which will boost its advisory business. Dennis Nally, chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers International, said the merger would give chief executives around the world "the opportunity to work with a global consulting team that could provide services from strategy development right through to execution." PwC, headquartered in London, focuses on audit and assurance, tax and consulting services.

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ConocoPhillips profit jumps as oil, natural gas prices rise

ConocoPhillips , the largest U.S. independent oil company, reported a 39 percent increase in quarterly profit, partly driven by higher oil and natural gas prices. Net income rose to $2.5 billion, or $2 ...

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Avon sales plummet in North America

Avon Products Inc on Thursday posted third-quarter sales that were down 1 percent, excluding the impact of currency fluctuations, hurt by a big drop in North America and said the size of its salesforce ...

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Britain mulls tax on foreign property investors: Sky

Britain is considering imposing capital gains tax on foreign property investors in an effort to tackle soaring house prices in the capital, Sky News reported on Thursday citing unidentified sources. It said the Treasury had provisionally costed the measure and was awaiting a final decision from finance minister George Osborne ahead of his budget update, known as the "Autumn Statement", on December 4. The Treasury said Sky's story was "pre-Autumn Statement speculation" and declined to comment further.



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Time Warner Cable profit drops after CBS blackout

(Reuters) - Time Warner Cable Inc, the second largest U.S. cable operator, posted a 34 percent drop in quarterly profit as it lost more video customers than analysts had expected when it blacked out No. 1 broadcaster CBS Corp for a month. Time Warner lost 304,000 video customers on a net basis in the third quarter. CBS went dark on Time Warner Cable systems on August 2 in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas and other cities as the companies bickered over content carriage fees. Net income attributable to Time Warner Cable dropped to $532 million, or $1.84 per share, in the third quarter from $808 million, or $2.60 per share, a year earlier.

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The World’s Most Powerful People 2013

Here are the 10 most powerful people in the world, chosen based on their scope of influence and their financial resources relative to their peers.

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3 Things Gold Bugs Need to See Now: McCullough

A year after Hedgeye CEO Keith McCullough said he started bailing on gold he's not quite ready to to start stocking bricks just yet, but he's willing to concede that he's 'starting to stop being bearish on gold.' Baby steps.

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Investors see opportunity as miners seek alternative finance

BANGALORE/LONDON (Reuters) - From fund giant BlackRock to activist shareholder Julian Treger, mining investors seeking predictable returns and better cash flows are stepping into mine finance. This has left alternative sources of financing - royalty deals, stake sales or debt that converts into shares - accounting for an increasingly significant proportion. Among the alternatives are mine royalty agreements - favored by BlackRock and the focus of UK-listed Anglo Pacific (APF.L), which Treger is now running. "The scarcity of capital today... has created a huge opportunity for non-traditional sources of finance," said Catherine Raw, portfolio manager for the BlackRock World Mining Trust (BRWM.L).



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Six major central banks make currency swap accords permanent

Six major central banks said on Thursday they would make their web of currency swap arrangements permanent as a "prudent liquidity backstop" in case of future global financial strains. The Bank of Japan, U.S. Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the central banks of Canada and Switzerland will convert their "temporary bilateral liquidity swap arrangements" into standing arrangements that "will remain in place until further notice". "The existing temporary swap arrangements have helped to ease strains in financial markets and mitigate their effects on economic conditions," a coordinated statement from the central banks said.

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