Good morning traders!

In Asia today the Nikkei reached the midpoint down 133.53 points at 12,961.06,
while the Hang Seng Index fell 202.97 points to end the morning session at
22,659.63.

US light crude oil for September delivery rose $1.08 per barrel in Asian trade on
Monday to $126.18 in Globex electronic trading.

Happy trading!

G.

Morning all. Friday's market reports:

Telegraph
The Times
The Times (Need to know)
FT
The Guardian
The Independent
This is Money

Saturday

The purchasing managers' index dropped for the third month in a row, falling from 45.9 in June to 44.3 in July, worse than analysts had expected and the lowest monthly figure since December 1998. Any figure below the 50 mark represents a contraction rather than an expansion of activity.
Bleak outlook for UK economy as manufacturing shrinks to 10-year low

The number of companies that have been placed in administration in the past three months has jumped 60pc compared with last year, official insolvency statistics reveal. Business recovery experts said the dramatic rise was a sign that the economic slowdown was taking hold.
UK company administrations soar 60pc

The financial watchdog has delivered a stern warning to the City that it will not tolerate malicious market rumours - despite conceding that it uncovered no evidence of market manipulation in its high-profile HBOS probe. The Financial Services Authority confirmed today that it would prosecute nobody after an exhaustive investigation into dealings that saw the price of shares in the mortgage-lending giant slump on one morning in March.
FSA finds no evidence of market manipulation on HBOS plunge

The City watchdog opened a review yesterday of how investors deal with rumours rocking financial markets, after admitting that it had failed to find the culprits who destabilised HBOS's share price with false speculation in March.
Financial Services Authority opens investigation into HBOS slide

The City is braced for Royal Bank of Scotland to report first-half losses of 1.2bn next week as the credit crunch continues to rebound through the banking sector. Britain's second-biggest bank reports on Friday, at the end of the half-yearly reporting season.
Banking: City braced for 1.2bn losses at RBS after A&L's profit vanishes

A windfall tax on the soaring profits of Britain's largest energy companies is under serious consideration, according to business secretary John Hutton. Having admitted it was under consideration, Hutton added there were a number of factors to "weigh up" and appeared not to support such a move.
Windfall tax: Ministers to consider action on massive energy profits

America's unemployment rate jumped to the highest level in more than four years last month, sparking fears that the economy could be sliding into a deeper slowdown. Figures released today from the US Labour Department showed that the unemployment rate increased to 5.7pc from 5.5pc.
US unemployment jumps to highest in more than 4 years

Russia is to form a state grain trading company that will control the majority of the country's cereal exports, it has been reported.The move by the world's fifth-biggest exporter of cereals raises the spectre of the old Soviet era and increases fears that the country will use it vast natural resources as diplomatic weapon.
Russia plans to form a grain powerhouse

Sunday

The Monetary Policy Committee could blindside the markets with an increase in interest rates this week as it convenes for a meeting economists describe as "the most difficult" it has faced.
MPC braced for 'most difficult' interest rates meeting

Britains second-largest bank is this week expected to reveal a pre-tax loss of at least 1 billion for the first six months of the year, with analysts warning it could slide to as much as 1.7 billion in the red.
Royal Bank of Scotland poised for biggest loss in UK banking history

HBOS, Britain's biggest mortgage bank, is to offload a 400m portfolio of investments in some of the country's largest private companies as it shrinks its battle-scarred balance sheet and scales back its principal investment activities.
HBOS launches fund to offload company stakes

The credit crunch might already have sown the seeds of the next house price boom, according to a report out tomorrow from the Centre for Economic and Business Research (CEBR). A sharp fall in house building, with 20 per cent fewer completions forecast for 2008 and 10 per cent fewer in 2009, is likely to be one of the key factors in prices recovering by the end of next year.
House building grinds to a halt - and sows seeds of next boom

British businesses are heading for the biggest cashflow crisis since the last recession, prefiguring a major slump in corporate spending and potentially pushing unemployment up by almost 1m, experts have warned.
UK businesses face biggest cash flow crisis in two decades

The national export machine, so recently invincible, is shuddering under the weight of America's collapse in consumer confidence, while some look at the massive investment that has accompanied Beijing's ultra-ambitious approach to the Olympic Games - $43bn (22bn), according to official figures - and assume any such bubble must inevitably burst.
China's economic miracle at a crossroads as Olympics start

How the property-to-financial services group run by Guy Naggar and Peter Klimt came to grief.
Dawnay Day, an empire toppled by the credit crunch

After years of failing to stamp out market abuse, the City watchdog is taking off the gloves.
FSA enforcer wants insider traders put in prison

CMC, founded by its executive chairman Peter Cruddas, whose family still controls approximately 85 per cent of the business, informed about 130 of the 1,200 workforce in London just over a week ago that they would lose their jobs.
CMC Markets to cut jobs

Monday

Undersupply in the housing market could lead to a return to rapid house price inflation by 2010, according to a report published today. Falling output from housebuilders could lead to a 30pc increase in house prices between 2009 and 2012, according to the Centre for Economic and Business Research. The organisation makes its prediction on the proviso that the mortgage market returns to normal by the second half of 2009.
Undersupply could bring back house price inflation

Deutsche Bank has called the top of the commodity cycle. The uber-bulls of the oil, food and metals boom have advised clients to take profits before the downturn engulfing most of the global economy works its inevitable effects. Oil will slide back towards its "marginal production cost" of $60 to $80 a barrel; gold will slump to $650 an ounce as the dollar recovers against the euro; copper, lead and tin will slowly halve in price; grains will calm down as harvests in Australia and the Eurasian Steppe return to normal.
Bonds beckon as commodity boom flags

Commodity prices fell by 10 per cent last month, indicating that the five-year-long commodities price boom is coming to an end and easing pressures on the Bank of England to raise interest rates this week.
Commodity prices in biggest monthly drop since 1980

Defaults on American corporate junk bonds could more than quadruple in the next year as the declining economy in the United States severely restricts companies' ability to repay their debts, the Standard & Poor's ratings agency has said.
US junk-bond defaults may quadruple

Japans government may be forced to declare that the country has entered a technical recession, according to several economists, although any downturn is likely to be far milder than previous contractions in 2001 and 1998. A possible statement by Japans cabinet office that the economy was deteriorating would in effect declare an end to what has been the longest recovery since WWII.
Japan close to declaring recession

The former directors of Northern Rock have been gagged, preventing them talking to former shareholders of the bank preparing a legal case against the terms of nationalisation.
Northern Rock ex-directors barred from aiding investors' legal case

NIKKEI 225	AUSTRALIA ASX200	SHANGHAI	HANG SENG

VIX

The Monday Press RoundupThomson Financial UK at a glance share guide - weekend

London shares outlook - Easier after NY falls; bank earnings, interest rates key

BROKERWATCH HBOS upped to 'buy' vs 'hold' at RBS; target cut to 350p vs 540p

BROKERWATCH BBVA cut to 'equal-weight' from 'overweight' at Morgan Stanley

BROKERWATCH RSA & Aviva cut to 'hold' in non-life insurance review at Citigroup

Thomson Financial UK at a glance share guide

BROKERWATCH Rentokil price target cut to 68p vs 106p by Goldman Sachs; 'neutral'BROKERWATCH Elan Corp cut to 'neutral' from 'outperform' at Credit SuisseTokyo shares close lower on Wall St fall, poor corporate earnings

Tokyo shares close lower on Wall St fall, poor corporate earnings - UPDATE

BROKERWATCH United Utilities cut to 'hold' vs 'buy' at Deutsche Bank

BROKERWATCH Severn Trent upped to 'overweight' vs 'neutral' at HSBC

UK smallcap opening - Global Energy higher on positive well test update

STOCKWATCH Sage higher after reassuring trading statementSTOCKWATCH Home Retail Group lower as HSBC cut to 'underweight' vs 'neutral'

UK smallcap opening - Freeplay Energy gains on $14.5 million disposal

UK smallcap opening - Beale up as directors spurn Perloff tender offer