Good morning traders!

In Asia today, the Nikkei was down 125.51 points at 10,459.95, while the
Hang Seng ended the morning off 407.7 points at 20,666.51.

Crude oil traded at $69.45 a barrel on Nymex.

Happy trading!

G.

Morning all. Market reports:

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

Financial stocks led US equities to their worst day in more than a month on Tuesday after the Congressional Oversight Panel, which runs the US governments TARP scheme, warned that the Treasury had not done enough to relieve banks of toxic assets.
Financials fall on toxic assets warning

Congressional panel warns that if unemployment remains high and the property market continues to crumble, banks will still incur further losses on bad assets.
US banking crisis far from over, Congress warns

China's loan growth plunged in July while exports fell 23pc from a year ago after grinding lower for nine months as consumers in the West tighten their belts further.
Credit tightening threatens China's 'giant Ponzi scheme'

Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu faces seven years in a Chinese prison after prosecutors formally charged him today with bribery and violating commercial secrets.
Stern Hu charged with bribery

Long-term UK government bond yields appear to have been suppressed by about 40bp to 100bp by the Bank of England as a result of its unorthodox monetary policies, an IMF study has found.
BofE suppresses bond yields: IMF

Figures show 23% rise in number of home loans, a 2.6% rise in house prices, and a forecast of price growth over the whole year.
Housing market receives triple boost

Shareholders will receive 10bn less from their investments in UK-listed companies this year than they did in 2007 as businesses slash dividends in an attempt to see out the recession. Companies have also raised record amounts of new equity over the past few months in attempt to bolster their shattered balance sheets.
Dividends payouts set to plunge by 10bn in 2009

The contango is widening, floating storage is on the increase, and Brents premium to WTI is intensifying by the day (note chart below) which means only one thing: stocks at Cushing, the physical delivery point for the WTI Nymex contract, must be reaching a critical level (again).
Betting on Brent

Russia's economy shrank at an annual rate of 11pc in the second quarter and has yet to show any signs of durable recovery, despite the rebound in the price of oil.
Russia's economy contracts 11pc as Putin model hits 'dead end'

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