http://www.ft.com/Financial TimesBearish reaction to Opec's 2.2m barrel production cut, with crude prices tracking multi-year lows even as the dollar continued to weaken http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1218200810212586622008-12-18T10:08:41.0000000-05:00PwC, KPMG and Ernst & Young, three of the 'big four' accountants, and an arm of BDO International, the fifth largest, were all auditors of the feeder funds which channelled money into Madoff fundshttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1218200808264486502008-12-18T08:11:42.0000000-05:00Rating agencies have downgraded either the credit ratings or the outlooks for more than two dozen Gulf banks and companies, including a number of Dubai government-related entitieshttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1218200803452686162008-12-18T03:32:10.0000000-05:00The airlines have put out a joint statement announcing that after detailed discussions they had not been able to proceed with what many had judged a bold gamble to accelerate consolidation in the global airline industryhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1218200802272386072008-12-18T02:16:05.0000000-05:00The South Korean memory chipmaker says slumping demand and excess capacity have caused semiconductor prices to plunge, pushing makers to reduce outputhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1218200812264186742008-12-18T00:05:37.0000000-05:00Politicians and regulators must appeal directly to institutional investors if they are to break the paralysis in the banking sector, the chief executive of Standard Chartered has warnedhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200819022485782008-12-17T18:50:04.0000000-05:00The fund, believed to be the biggest single loser in Bernard Madoff's alleged $50bn "Ponzi" scheme is considering suing PwC, its own accountants, for failing to detect the fraud, as victims start looking for deep-pocketed sources of compensation for their losseshttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200818511685732008-12-17T18:40:38.0000000-05:00Partners at Goldman Sachs are set to see their bonuses fall by up to 80% and the cash component of their year-end packages capped at $400,000, with the rest paid half in stock and half in optionshttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200818511785752008-12-17T18:40:38.0000000-05:00The dollar and sterling plunged and government bond yields in the US and Europe fell to multi-decade lows as investors tried to digest the implications of the Federal Reserve's new near-zero interest rate policy.http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200814562785142008-12-17T14:44:21.0000000-05:00Fears that other banks may follow example over 'hybrid-capital' instrumentshttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200814451285072008-12-17T14:30:20.0000000-05:00Vietnam has outlined a series of tax breaks and other measures as it fights to live up to a target of 6.5 per cent economic growth next year despite the slowdown in its main export marketshttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200812513384742008-12-17T12:38:19.0000000-05:00Bernard Madoff, the New York financier accused of perpetrating an alleged $50bn fraud, was ordered by a US judge to be detained in his Manhattan apartment as his bail hearing was postponed for a second timehttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200811332884522008-12-17T12:22:44.0000000-05:00The Bank of Japan is under growing pressure to act more aggressively to boost the recession-mired economy, with many economists expecting a further trimming of its already slim 0.3 per cent policy rate this weekhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200812271884652008-12-17T12:14:29.0000000-05:00The Opec oil cartel announced a further – and record – 2.2m barrels a day cut on top of the 2m b/d it had pledged since September in an attempt to shore up falling oil prices. http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200811204384512008-12-17T11:57:10.0000000-05:00Beijing has said it would lower taxes, make it easier for property developers to obtain credit and reduce the lockup period for home sales, during which owners are unable to sell without paying stiff taxeshttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200809571184432008-12-17T09:40:04.0000000-05:00Morgan Stanley reported a fourth quarter loss of $2.2bn this morning, or $2.24 per share, leading to year-end totals of $1.8bn in profits and $1.54 in earnings per sharehttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200810324984462008-12-17T09:01:48.0000000-05:00Wall Street stocks were set to retreat from their monthly high as euphoria over the Federal Reserve's interest rate cut to virtually zero fadedhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200808570484302008-12-17T08:50:37.0000000-05:00Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Merrill Lynch are embroiled in a public war of words after the Australian bank was forced to cancel a A$2bn share placement managed by Merrill when investors cried foul they had not been informed of a rise in bad debtshttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200803082683872008-12-17T03:25:17.0000000-05:00In spite of massive production cuts, the Japanese carmaker's inventories are piling up due to a shrinking global demand for cars, prompting it to issue its third profit warning this yearhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200809571084412008-12-17T03:11:29.0000000-05:00Shares of India's fourth largest information technology company, Satyam Computer Services, plunged as angry investors dumped the stock over its aborted attempt to buy companies controlled by the chairman's familyhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200802512783862008-12-17T02:38:09.0000000-05:00Christopher Cox, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, has called for an investigation of his own agency, saying there were previous multiple failures to investigate allegations of wrongdoing by Bernard Madoffhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200822142783762008-12-17T00:38:23.0000000-05:00The currency's growing strength puts pressure on the Bank of Japan to cut interest rates from their current level 0.3 per cent to 0.1 per cent at its meeting that starts on Thursdayhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200823504483842008-12-16T23:36:42.0000000-05:00A sale of Wizard Home Loans' Australia unit, whose purchase price could be less than A$100m would further consolidate the country's bank and non-bank lending marketshttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200823210383832008-12-16T23:07:51.0000000-05:00Bernard Madoff left behind a trail of 'falsified' and 'unreliable' records, hampering efforts by investigators to unravel the mystery of the $50bn "Ponzi" scheme allegedly perpetrated by the New York broker, officials said http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200820022183642008-12-16T20:14:54.0000000-05:00Extremely low short-term interest rates in the US are sharply eroding the functioning of the government repurchase or repo market, a foundation stone for the financial system and trading Treasury debthttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200818443783562008-12-16T18:33:02.0000000-05:00David Paterson, the New York politician catapulted into the state governor's chair in the wake of a sex scandal earlier this year, faces one of the most unenviable tasks of the presidential transition – navigating perilous dynastic politics to find a replacement for Senator Hillary Clintonhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200816443283292008-12-16T16:35:05.0000000-05:00English team suffer double blow as mobile phone company ends 12-year sponsorship and public funding falls short of expectationshttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200815144783002008-12-16T15:01:30.0000000-05:00The US Federal Reserve slashed interest rates from 1 per cent to a new range of 0-0.25 per cent.http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200814510182902008-12-16T14:35:47.0000000-05:00The eurozone has plunged deeper into recession, putting the 15-country region on course to report its worst quarter on record, while employment has also fallenhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200808024781992008-12-16T13:23:00.0000000-05:00With plunging exports and economic contraction overtaking inflation and liquidity as concerns, Asian central banks are starting to buy dollars, raising devaluation worrieshttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200812564582552008-12-16T12:48:36.0000000-05:00Prices in the US fell by 1.7 per cent in November as the plunging value of oil and deep discounts from retailers drove down the cost of living, the department of labour saidhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200809265882042008-12-16T09:14:56.0000000-05:00Wall Street stocks were set for a lower start after figures from Goldman Sachs and more economic data provided fresh insight into difficulties facing financial institutions and the scale of the recessionhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200809212582032008-12-16T09:05:34.0000000-05:00Goldman Sachs reported a loss of $2.12bn, or $4.97 per share, for the fourth quarter, its first quarterly loss since going public in 1999http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200809032482022008-12-16T08:52:45.0000000-05:00Opec's two most hawkish members called on the cartel to double the number of barrels it has already promised to withhold from the market as oil prices continued to trade far below the group's pain thresholdhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200807562881982008-12-16T07:42:10.0000000-05:00The Australian-listed group has issued a warning and suspended dividend payments due to an 'unprecedented reduction' in sales and unspecified accounting adjustment due to foreign exchange hedginghttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200801390581512008-12-16T01:24:51.0000000-05:00Container traffic at the Asian trans-shipment hub shrinks for the first time since 2001 as the contraction in global trade hits the region's shipping industryhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200801210581502008-12-16T01:09:02.0000000-05:00Investors are cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve's widely expected rate cut later on Tuesday and in anticipation of a round of negative earnings at US bankshttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200804513881602008-12-16T00:29:59.0000000-05:00Gome, the Chinese electrical retailer whose chairman is being investigated as part of an alleged share trading scandal, has held preliminary talks with foreign investors over the possible sale of a strategic stakehttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1215200818444381212008-12-15T18:31:45.0000000-05:00Smokers have been granted the right by the US Supreme Court to sue Altria Group and other tobacco companies over claims their marketing tactics for 'light' cigarettes are deceptivehttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1215200814324580442008-12-15T14:55:18.0000000-05:00The fallout from Bernard Madoff's alleged fraud spread through the global financial system yesterday as more banks revealed exposure to his brokerage firm, and hedge funds, charities and other investors were left nursing possible big losseshttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1215200815032880572008-12-15T14:47:17.0000000-05:00The European Central Bank could act as 'clearing house' to boost interbank lending http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1215200814565880562008-12-15T14:43:54.0000000-05:00South Korea hopes to beat the economic downturn by creating 190,000 jobs in projects along the rivers Han, Geumgang, Yeongsan and Nakdonghttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1215200814264480402008-12-15T14:11:21.0000000-05:00Kevin Rudd said the government was balancing the need to tackle climate change with supporting the economy, but a leading researcher accused ministers of using the global financial crisis as the 'perfect cop-out'http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1215200812572380182008-12-15T12:49:28.0000000-05:00Oil prices rebounded strongly, ahead of this week's Opec meeting, while base metals rose and gold gained as commodity markets staged a broad based recovery http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1215200810270679792008-12-15T10:17:25.0000000-05:00Australia's biggest homegrown investment bank has signed a memorandum of understanding with Hengtei Securities to form a joint venture in Chinahttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1215200807391479582008-12-15T07:27:11.0000000-05:00The telecoms group criticised the government of Australia after it was excluded from the bidding for a national broadband network that will cost up to A$10bn to buildhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1215200806505479552008-12-15T06:39:01.0000000-05:00Thailand's third prime minister in four months, former opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva was voted into power in a deal aimed at ending six months of political paralysishttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1215200803565279312008-12-15T02:11:35.0000000-05:00Japanese business sentiment has suffered its sharpest crash in three decades, a Bank of Japan survey showsand the central bank said no early turnaround was expected with the economy set to shrink next yearhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1215200800450579192008-12-14T23:31:47.0000000-05:00Japanese shares led a rebound in the region amid expectations rose that there was still hope for a bailout for the US automakers, despite a slump in business confidence in the world's second-largest economyhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1214200822083479022008-12-14T21:54:41.0000000-05:00New Zealand's competition authority has begun legal action against 13 airlines and seven airline staff for what it says was "extensive and long-term cartel activity in the air cargo market"http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1214200821392079012008-12-14T21:28:00.0000000-05:00