Australia needs to open its share market to competition in order to develop into an Asia-Pacific financial services hub, said the minister, Chris Bowen. He said more competition also should cut costs for 6 million Australians who own shares directly or through pension funds.
“If Australia seriously wants to be considered as a financial center, if we seriously want to be regarded as a global financial services hub, then the days of having a monopoly in our capital and financial markets need to come to an end,” Bowen told reporters.
Plans call for the second exchange to be set up by an - - - - >

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is taking up the question, a new twist for an agency with a hands-off approach in recent years toward the financial markets.
The CFTC is holding a public meeting Thursday to gather views from exchanges, banks and traders on restricting the amount of trading in gold, silver and copper futures by market players who are solely financial investors.
The discussion also will focus on how transparent prices are in the metals futures markets and how they are influenced by developments in the physical markets.
The agency in January took a first step aimed at reining in oil speculation, - - - - >

Over the past 18 months, Washington has taken extraordinary steps to keep home loans available and affordable. That caused a tentative housing recovery last year. Home sales reversed their four-year descent, while prices stabilized.
One big reason: The government seized control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, massive companies that purchase home loans, package them into investments and guarantee them against default. The price tag has been huge - $126 billion and growing.
Now comes the hard part: figuring out what to do next.
With the Obama administration largely mute on the issue, Congress will hold its first hearing Tuesday about how to - - - - >

Yang and many other young Chinese are finding their aspirations thwarted by an overheated property market that is enriching already wealthy speculators, local officials and other Communist Party allies.
Its a hard reality for a generation that views home ownership as a given after reforms more than a decade ago created a housing market open to the masses. Its also a challenge for leaders whose reliance on rising property values and land sales to property developers risks letting the market spiral out of control.
“I sigh at every fancy apartment building I see on the way to work everyday, but that wont - - - - >

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration told J&J in 1999 that its marketing materials for geriatric patients overstated Risperdals benefits and minimized risks. A J&J business plan for the next year called for increasing the drugs market share for elderly dementia sales, an unapproved use, according to newly unsealed documents in a lawsuit by the state of Louisiana.
“The geriatric market represents Risperdals second wave of growth,” J&J officials wrote in the business plan. “The aging population will continue to drive market growth well into the next - - - - >

The smallest of the worlds top four brewers, Carlsberg is focused on takeovers in its existing markets and overhauling its European operations to make them more profitable, Rasmussen said in an interview. Having lowered debt by 8.5 billion kroner ($1.6 billion) last year, the company now has the flexibility to buy smaller assets again, he said.
“To me, its less about being number four or number two on a global scale — its more important to have scale where we choose to be,” Rasmussen said from his - - - - >

Oil is up 1.3 percent this week, heading for its third weekly gain in four. Crude recouped some of yesterdays 0.8 percent decline after U.S. initial jobless applications fell in the week ended Feb. 27, easing concerns that todays jobs report will show a deteriorating labor market.
“Were flat-to-higher this morning as the market consolidates before the jobs report,” said Andrey Kryuchenkov, an analyst with VTB Capital in London. “Its really external factors like the currency markets directing oil right now, with the stronger dollar capping gains - - - - >

U.S. crude inventories probably rose 1.5 million barrels last week from 337.5 million, according to a Bloomberg News survey before an Energy Department report tomorrow. Oil fell yesterday as the dollar advanced against the euro. Demand for OPEC crude may drop this year on high stockpiles and a weak economy, the United Arab Emirates oil minister said today.
“The market is still well-supplied, perhaps even over- supplied,” said Gerrit Zambo, a trader at Bayerische Landesbank in Munich. “Eighty dollars a barrel is too much for the moment. - - - - >

Toyoda was due to speak at a news conference Monday evening in Beijing, the company said, in his second foreign appearance following last weeks visit to Washington where he was grilled by angry lawmakers. Japanese news reports said he would meet with Chinese officials.
“The fact that he is going to China second, after the United States, tells you the importance they place on China relative to other markets,” said John Bonnell, a J.D. Power analyst. “Toyota wants to make sure it puts its best foot forward, not only with its best products but in instilling confidence.”
The number of Toyota vehicles - - - - >

Prudential will pay $25 billion in cash and $10.5 billion in stock and other securities for AIA Group Ltd., the London- based insurer said in a statement today. Credit Suisse Group AG, JPMorgan Cazenove and HSBC Holdings Plc agreed to underwrite in full a $20 billion rights offer to finance the acquisition. The insurer will also sell about $5 billion of senior debt.
Prudential Chief Executive Officer Tidjane Thiam is trying to boost the insurers sales in Asia as growth in the U.K declines. By acquiring AIA, - - - - >