Morning all. Market reports:

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

If illegal practices are found to have taken place at Goldman Sachs, it will reinforce the need for Europe to act to regulate derivatives, Michel Barnier, the European Union market regulation chief.
Goldman lawsuit could force EU to regulate derivatives, says market regulator Barnier

Mortgage lending in the UK "remains subdued", home loan providers warned yesterday, with the value of advances last month reaching ￡11.5bn, only 3 per cent more than in March 2009.
Lending disappoints as housing stutters

The cloud of volcanic ash that had brought Europe's airlines to a standstill seems finally to be dissipating - and now its financial impact is becoming clearer.
The Cost of Europe's Volcanic Ash Travel Crisis

As a result the consumer electronics market, worth some ￡17.4bn, is shaping up to be a big battleground this year as Best Buy is entering the fray at a time when supermarkets are fighting tooth-and-nail for market share and specialists such as Currys owner DSG International are working hard to raise their game.
Tesco doubles its electricals staff as it prepares for UK launch of Best Buy

Think your FTSE 100 equity Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) investment guarantees you exact FTSE 100 returns, minus fees? When things are going well it might very well do. But there is a downside. In many cases these swap-backed funds are backed by derivatives written by just one entity - often the very same party (or an associated company) of the ETF-issuer itself.
Oh no, my ETF is turning Japanese!

Bear Stearns, the Wall Street bank now part of JP Morgan Chase, turned down a similarly structured deal to the one under scrutiny between Paulson & Co and Goldman Sachs because it "didn't pass the ethics standards".
Bear Stearns turned down Goldman Sachs-type deal for failing ethics test

NIKKEI 225	AUSTRALIA ASX200	HANG SENG	SHANGHAI COMPOSITE
KOSPI	SENSEX	VIX	GBP/USD
GBP/EUR	NYMEX CRUDE	GOLD

Good morning traders!

In the US last night, the Dow rose 73 points at 11,092, the Nasdaq fell a point at
2,480 and the S&P500 gained 5 points at 1,198.

In Asia today, the Nikkei was up 55.46 points at 10,964.23, while the Hang Seng
ended the morning ahead 168.21 points at 21,573.38.

Crude oil traded at $81.96 a barrel on Nymex.

Happy trading!

G.

Closing Market Overview