| » The Federal Reserve announced a plan to rebalance its $2.65 trillion securities portfolio, by increasing its share of longer-term Treasury bonds by $400 billion and selling an equivalent amount of shorter-term issues. The plan has been dubbed "Operation Twist" after a similar policy in the 1960s. The Fed hopes its impact will be similar to that of quantitative easing and push down long-term interest rates. See article
Elbow Greece » The Greek cabinet agreed to further austerity measures being demanded by European and international creditors before Greece receives its next tranche of bail-out money. With euro-zone banks finding it difficult to access short-term loans amid concerns about their exposure to a potential Greek default, on September 15th the European Central Bank took co-ordinated action with the central banks of America, Britain, Japan and Switzerland to boost dollar liquidity in the European banking system. See article » UBS raised the estimate of its loss from an alleged rogue-trading scandal to $2.3 billion. The Swiss bank claimed the loss resulted from unauthorised trading in London that was within its "normal business flow" and alleged that "the true magnitude of the risk exposure was distorted because the positions had been offset" with "fictitious" forward positions. UBS's biggest shareholder, Singapore's GIC sovereign-wealth fund, issued a rare rebuke stating its "disappointment and concern" about the matter. See article » Morgan Stanley confirmed that John Mack would step down as chairman at the end of the year. James Gorman, who has run the Wall Street firm on a day-to-day basis as chief executive since January 2010, will combine the job of chairman with his present role. Mr Mack will still advise the bank. » Moody's downgraded the long-term credit ratings of Bank of America and Wells Fargo, and cut the short-term rating for Citigroup, reasoning that the government "is more likely now than during the financial crisis to allow a large bank to fail…as the risks of contagion become less acute."  » A survey of economists and property experts commissioned by MacroMarkets, a company specialising in technology for financial innovation, found a "dimming outlook" for home prices in America. Robert Shiller, one of the founders of MacroMarkets, said that the "struggling" response of governments and markets to the recent crises was shaking underlying confidence in the housing market. » The IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook gave warning that the risks to growth are "clearly to the downside", and urged politicians in Europe and America swiftly to resolve their respective problems over debt. The fund shaved one percentage point from its projection of America's economic growth rate this year, to 1.5%, and cut its forecast for the euro area from 2% to 1.6%. Its forecast for Britain was also revised down, to 1.1%. See article » Speculation swirled that Hewlett-Packard's board would dump Léo Apotheker as chief executive, after less than a year in the job. During Mr Apotheker's tenure PC sales have slid, as has HP's share price. It rose by 7% on news of the board meeting. See article » United Technologies, a big aerospace and defence conglomerate, sealed a deal to buy Goodrich, which makes aircraft components, for $16.5 billion.
Showing its hand  » New charges were laid against Full Tilt Poker as part of the American government's ongoing fraud case against online gambling companies. A federal prosecutor alleged that Full Tilt was actually a "Ponzi scheme" that distributed money it had collected from customers (which it promised to hold in personal online accounts) to the firm's executives and celebrity poker players, leaving it unable to pay reimbursements. See article » SAB Miller, one of the world's biggest brewers, succeeded in its three-month pursuit of Foster's, after the Australian beermaker recommended that shareholders accept a higher takeover offer of A$9.9 billion ($10.1 billion). See article » An appeals court in Sweden granted Saab bankruptcy protection, overturning a lower court’s decision to deny the carmaker a legal shield from its creditors as it attempts to secure funding from China.
Rich pickings » Prada shrugged off concerns about struggling economies as it posted a healthy increase in revenue for the first six months of the year that helped profit to jump by 74%. The luxury-goods company is expanding in the Asia-Pacific region, from where it gets a third of its sales (Italy accounts for 19% and the rest of Europe for 22%). The fashion house made its debut on the Hong Kong stock exchange this summer. | 
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