21.03 As mentioned earlier, we're expecting US jobs data for January to be released tomorrow, which will give a good indication of the rate of recovery in the economy across the Atlantic.
Analysts are forecasting a slowdown in job creation to have taken place after December's surge in holiday hiring, so it's likely that there'll be no improvement in the unemployment rate of 8.5pc. They also predict a fall in the net number of jobs added to the economy, to 155,000 from 200,000 in December.
Tune in tomorrow to see whether these estimates ring true.
20.52 Greek Government spokesman Pantelis Kapsis has spoken to Mega television:
As a country, we have reached the brink of official bankruptcy. We have been borrowing for so many years and now we have our backs to the wall, so we have difficult decisions to make.
19.59 The US reports jobs data for January tomorrow, and bond traders aren't sure what to expect: Treasury prices barely budged in trading today.
The price of the 10-year Treasury note rose 6.2 cents for every $100 invested, sending its yield to 1.82pc from 1.83pc late yesterday.
19.45 Italian PM Mario Monti is in hot water after saying that job security was "boring".
A commenter on his Facebook page said: "You should be ashamed of yourself."
Another chimed in with: "How could you say such a stupid thing? University graduates are working as doormen just to survive."
His original comment was made on a television chat show last night:
Young people have to get used to the fact that they will not have one fixed job all their lives. Having the same job all your life is boring.
19.23 Potentially bad news for HMRC: Switzerland signed a deal with the UK last year over secret bank accounts that the Treasury claimed would generate £4bn to £7bn in tax revenue. But Switzerland is now saying that the income may not even reach a billion...
18.51 The ECB must take part in Greece's debt swap, says Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos. Talks with banks and insurers are almost finished and the focus has switched to whether the ECB will take part in the debt swap:
In parallel with negotiations with private creditors, there must be negotiations for the official sector involvement. This means that the ECB must be mobilised, and we must resolve issues pertaining to national central banks.
18.29 No real surprise, but still bad news: Fitch has downgraded the Bank of Cyprus, Marfin Popular Bank and Hellenic Bank from BBB- to BB+ after last week's sovereign rating cut of Cyprus.
18.15 French newspaper La Tribune reports today that Nicolas Sarkozy could seal a deal to sell 60 Rafale fighter jets to the UAE by April. Those jets seem very popular at the moment: on Tuesday it emerged that India had dumped the idea of going with BAE's Typhoon and opted instead for 126 Rafale jets from Dassault.
18.01 Many eurozone member states are in financial strife at the moment, but the EU still has enough spare cash to splashed out on new gadgets...
Today it signed contracts with German and French firms to build another eight satellites for Galileo - Europe's answer to GPS. Germany's OHB System AG got a ?250m contract, while France's Arianespace and Astrium SAS share ?60m.
Galileo is expected to cost ?5.4bn and will be complete in 2020, when 30 satellites will provide an alternative to the US GPS network.
17.27 Spain's Government is pushing new reforms that will oblige banks to create a safety net for bad loans by building up capital reserves of ?50bn. "This process must be carried out in one year," said Economy Minister Luis de Guindos.
17.02 More from US Fed chairman Ben Bernanke: he warned that the debt crisis in Europe risked undermining recovery across the Atlantic:
Risks remain that developments in Europe or elsewhere may unfold unfavorably and could worsen economic prospects here at home. We are in frequent contact with European authorities, and we will continue to monitor the situation closely and take every available step to protect the US financial system and the economy.
16.59 Time for a chart showing the performance of European markets over the last couple of weeks. As usual, you can hide individual markets by clicking on their name to get a closer look at those remaining. It all looks plain sailing until you get close-up...
16.45 European markets have drawn to a close for the day now.
The FTSE 100 ended up 0.02pc, the DAX rose by 0.62pc and the CAC gained 0.28pc.
16.36 Earlier on Bernanke warned that the US must rein in its spending or risk moving closer to a situation where its borrowing costs spike dramatically - something which Italy and Spain are all too familiar with. But he also says that the US remains a safe haven at the moment and that investors are putting cash into Treasuries...
16.35 He says the worst case for the US economy is that investors lose confidence that the country can manage its fiscal situation. The biggest fiscal problem it faces beyond the next decade will be cause by its ageing population.
16.31 Ben Bernanke says that European banks remain undercapitalised and that many European countries will see slow growth.
16.06 Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany's finance minister, has said that his country's part in the stabilisation of Greece is "sufficient". Earlier today Greece's debt inspectors warned that the nation needs an extra ?15bn - on top of the ?130bn bail-out and ?100bn debt write-off - in order to avoid bankruptcy.
It certainly doesn't sound like Germany are keen to put their hands deeper into their pocket...
15.45 More from Ben Bernanke now: he's spoken on European bond markets and how they can turn on the most indebted governments, sending debt costs skyrocketing. He warned that the US could face a similar fate if it doesn't rein in its own borrowing:
As we have seen in a number of countries recently, interest rates can soar quickly if investors lose confidence in the ability of a government to manage its fiscal policy. We can be sure that, without corrective action, our fiscal trajectory will move the nation ever closer to that point.
15.27 Archbishop Leronymos, head of Greece's Orthodox church, has called for his government to reject what he calls "foreigners' blackmail and fatal recipes".
He's written to PM Lucas Papademos, claiming that the country's being asked to implement "even tougher, more painful and unjust measures".
Greece was being asked to take bigger doses of "fatal medicine" and that the "illogical phenomenon... is taking on nightmarish proportions". Strong words.
15.15 US markets just opened for the day and have risen slightly in early trading. On the upside, initial jobless claims showed signs of improvement in the labour market, but Ben Bernanke talking about the economy remaining vulnerable to eurozone troubles has largely balance things out.
The Dow Jones is 0.02pc higher, the S&P 500 rose 0.16pc and the Nasdaq managed to gain 0.34pc.
15.08 Ben Bernanke has spoken to Congress, claiming that the US economy has strengthened but still remains vulnerable to the turmoil in the eurozone. If things turn worse the Fed would "take every available step to protect the US financial system and the economy," he added.
Even after sharp budget cutting by the Obama administration, based on current US taxation and spending policies, the budget gap and the ratio of country's debt to the size of the economy will rise rapidly:
This dynamic is clearly unsustainable. To achieve economic and financial stability, US fiscal policy must be placed on a sustainable path that ensures that debt relative to national income is at least stable or, preferably, declining over time. Attaining this goal should be a top priority.
15.04 US Fed chairman Ben Bernanke says that a sustainable budget should be the country's "top priority".
14.45 We've just been sent some betting odds on Facebook by Paddy Power. First, here are the odds for the initial share price:
10/1 - Less than $25
7/2 - $25 to $34.99
10/11 - $35 to $44.99
9/4 - $45 to $54.99
7/1 - $55 to $64.99
9/2 - $65 or more
And you could even put some money on who'll ring the opening bell on the first day of trading:
1/100 - Mark Zuckerberg
25/1 - Sean Parker
50/1 - Bill Gates
100/1 - Bono
14.10 Britain's Financial Services Authority, due to be replaced in 2013 after being heavily criticised during the credit crisis, has said it needs a 16pc rise in funding for its last year.
The regulator said it had an annual funding requirement of £578.4m for 2012-13, up from £500m in 2011/12.
14.07 The head of Italy's bourse regulator says further bank capital hikes requested by the European Banking Authority risks worsening investor confidence.
14.02 BREAKING NEWS...
The OECD has said that current eurozone bailout funds are not enough. It adds that they need to be around ?1 trillion; and that a fracture of the eurozone is possible but avoidable. OECD says ECB should consider QE to support growth and confidence.
13.59 The central bank in the Czech Republic, which recently rejected membership in the EU's new budgetary discipline pact, has cut GDP forecasts to 0pc from 1.2pc in 2012; 1.9pc in 2013.
13.55 Olli Rehn, vice-president of the European Commission, says talks on Greece are very close to conclusion, but the country has done many things such as reduce its fiscal deficit. He expects the Netherlands to take pre-emptive action after the Dutch PM said its budget deficit levels were not sustainable.
Rehn says he prefers a Financial Transaction Tax at a global level. France is to introduce a 0.1pc tax on financial transactions in August.
13.47 MPC member Adam Posen has told Sky that the Government hasn't made much progress on improving lending to business. He adds that the the UK Government is not getting value for money from banks, which are using capital requirements as an excuse not to lend.
13.44 BREAKING NEWS...
US weekly jobless claims fell to 367,000 in the week to January 28 against the previous week's 379,000. Analysts predicted claims of 372,000.
Continuing claims fell to 3.437m from 3.567m. Analysts expected 3.535.
13.35 Deutsche Bank has reportedly written down Greek bonds to a notional value of 29pc.
13.27 David Riley, head of the sovereign-debt unit at Fitch Ratings, has said that Portugal doesn't present the risk of default that Greece does to the rest of the EU because its government is "credible" and "committed".
13.25 AP is reporting that Greece's international debt inspectors have discovered that the debt-ridden country still needs an extra ?15bn in help - on top of a promised ?130bn bailout and a ?100bn debt relief from private investors, an unnamed European official said Thursday.
The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, has reportedly asked the other 16 countries that also use the euro to help foot the bill for the missing ?15bn, the official said, indicating that a limit has been reached of what can be achieved by Athens implementing further cuts and private investors taking losses on the bonds they hold in the country.
13.17 Further to the news that Xstrata and Glencore are in merger talks, Glencore chief executive Ivan Glasenberg has said that "we've always had the belief these two companies should be together".
12.55 Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas, who recently nixed his country's membership in the EU's new budgetary discipline pact, has said the eurozone needed a federal fiscal union in order to survive.
The eurozone has no choice now: either it will melt down - something which nobody wants - or it will move towards a federal fiscal body.
Necas called the new pact on budgetary discipline, which all EU states save the Czech Republic and Great Britain intend to join, a "fundamental step in this direction".
States are renouncing their right to a free vote in the EU on important topics concerning the budget, and they are giving up a part of their sovereignty.
12.46 Shell has said it doesn't plan to supply crude to Petroplus refineries. Not good news for the plant in Coryton, UK. Fuel shortage in the South?
12.33 Announced job cuts in January were lower than average for the month, showing firings in the US are on the decline, Bloomberg reported.
Employers planned to eliminate 53,486 positions, down from a January average of 101,084 covering 1993 to 2011, according to data issued today by Chicago-based Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The reading was up 39pc from the same month in 2011, the lowest for any January in almost two decades of data.
12.24 Time for a markets update:
FTSE 100 -0.3pc
CAC -0.1pc
DAX +0.1pc
IBEX +0.3pc
MIB -0.2pc
12.06 The Telegraph's Richard Blackden has written a blog on why the Facebook IPO is not completely good news for the US:
For a country battling almost 9pc unemployment, the most worrying statistic in the prospectus is that Facebook employs just 3,200 people. It is, of course, hiring and staff numbers did double last year. But it's far-fetched to imagine that Facebook will ever provide employment on the scale that companies like GE, Ford or, more recently, Microsoft did. Like other web-based companies such as Zynga and LinkedIn, Facebook is a business that just doesn't need as many people.
Meanwhile, Katherine Rushton reveals that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg will retain the right to choose his successor before he dies:
The documents make clear that Facebook regards Mark Zuckerberg as being as integral to the business as SteveJobs was to Apple, until his death last year.
The filings grant the Facebook founder use of a private jet for personal purposes, under a "comprehensive security programme? designed to "address safety concerns resulting from his position?.
12.00 The head of the Eurogroup, Jean-Claude Juncker (below), believes the measures from the January 30 EU summit are "largely insufficient", and the Greek PSI talks are "ultra-difficult". Euro hits session low versus the dollar of $1.3103.
11.56 Deutsche Bank chief executive Josef Ackermann believes that Greek aid is now less dependent on banks but on "others", adding that the present net haircut on Greece is 70pc or more. But he warns that if the country fell then Portugal could be next.
11.39 US economist Paul Krugman has said that Greece will default on its debt and will "more likely than not" quit the euro.
Meanwhile, Olli Rehn, vice-president of the European Commission, believes the Greek debt swap talks shoud be concluded in "coming days" and urges the country to show stronger political unity.
We are living through a mild recession which can be relatively short under the promise the euro area and the EU will take the necessary decisions on fiscal consolidation and firewalls. Then it can return to growth in the second half of the year.
11.13 EU officials have scheduled a meeting of the eurogroup for Monday, to discuss second bailout programme for Greece.
11.00 The Irish central bank has cut its growth forecasts for 2011 and 2012. It sees last year's GDP rising 0.8pc versus an earlier forecast of 1pc, and this year's GDP rising 0.5pc versus a previous forecast of 1.8pc. Sees 2013 GDP of 2.1pc.
The country should reduce its deficit to 8.6pc of GDP by the end of this year, but that a prolonged external slowdown would make fiscal targets for 212 and 2013 more difficult to attain. The central bank adds that bank deleveraging must take account of adverse market conditions in the short term.
10.43 Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao: "Europe must rely on itself, reduce its debt load and introduce structural reforms."
10.41 The UK has sold £1.25bn of inflation-linked 2029 bonds at a negative yield of -0.188pc. Good demand.
10.39 French President Nicolas Sarkozy says real estate prices are too high... has he tried buying a house in London?
He adds that state subsidies boosted property speculation.
10.31 José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, has been speaking in Brussels on competition policy:
If we want to regain confidence of investors and of market participants, this can only be achieved within a system based on solid rules that are fairly enforced. This is the basis of the Commission's approach to competition policy. Our Single Market is our greatest asset, the crown jewel of the European Union, our greatest asset in a competitive and globalised world, and it is our most promising engine for growth. Europe's future growth prospects depend on a rules-based Single Market that fosters openness and innovation.
"On one thing we have to be clear ? yes we need to consolidate undertakings, but in the medium to long term, only those who are able to successfully compete in Europe, will be fit to face competition globally. If an athlete aspires to compete in the Olympic Games, he must first be fit and be among the best in his own country. Competition helps undertakings to be fit enough to compete on a global scale.
10.26 German Chancellor Angela Merkel is in China for talks. Here she is looking at traditional houses in Beijing:
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has said it is very important to resolve the eurozone debt crisis. His country is considering greater involvement in the EFSF and ESM bailout funds.
Euro jumps against the dollar to $1.31889 on Chinese leader's comments.
10.24 OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría has said the ECB could contribute to cut Greek debt.
10.22 According to Reuters, an Italian minister has told unions that the government will push ahead with labour market reforms even without their agreement. Labour minister reportedly says the government intends to agree labour reforms within two weeks.
10.16 A map of the EU made from Lego is hung in the atrium of the European Council:
10.09 Eurozone producer prices rose 4.3pc year-on-year in December, slower than 5.4pc in November. Slowest since November 2010. Month-on-month producer prices fell 0.2pc, worse than the 0.1pc fall expected.
10.07 France has sold 10-year bonds at an average yield of 3.13pc (versus 3.29pc previously), eight-year bonds at 2.91pc (versus 3.64pc previously).
10.06 Time for an update on the markets:
FTSE 100 -0.2pc
CAC -0.1pc
DAX flat
IBEX +0.2pc
MIB -0.4pc
Ilya Spivak, Currency Strategist at FXCM, said:
European shares are sending mixed signals in early trade, with sentiment trends torn between headwinds from Europe and what is likely to be supportive commentary from the Fed?s Ben Bernanke later in the day. On the eurozone crisis front, the situation remains tense. An accord on private-sector involvement in the second Greek bailout ? without which the debt-strapped country may face default as soon as early March ? remains stubbornly elusive.
09.51 Spain has sold ?4.56bn of bonds, slightly more than planned. ?2.52bn of 2.861pc 2015 bonds, ?1.05bn of 3.455pc 2016 bonds and ?984m of 3.565pc 2017 bonds. Yields all fell from previous auction, demand higher.
Spain now issued close to 25pc of full-year target - not bad for the beginning of February.
09.41 Bloomberg is reporting that Anglo American chief executive Cynthia Carroll has undergone an operation on her hip after a horse-riding accident at the weekend.
Carroll, who is understood to be ?recovering well?, has been advised by her doctor not to travel internationally for about two months, Pranill Ramchander, a spokesman for the company, said by phone.
?Plans are in place to cover her overseas engagements,? he said, adding she is in full contact with her executives and is expected back in the office by the end of next week.
09.32 BREAKING NEWS...
UK Construction PMI fell to 51.4 in January versus 53.2 in December. Analysts expetced 52.5.
(For a larger version of this graph, click the right-hand-side of the main picture at the top of this blog)
Poor result for the construction sector, and was the weakest result for four months. But reading is still above 50 mark that seperates contraction from growth
09.06 Good news. S&P, the ratings agency, believes that the eurozone recession could end later this year.
Meanwhile, Norwegian Finance Minister Sigbjorn Johnsen has said there are "good signals" for a euro recovery.
09.02 A veteran retailer has urged the Government to reject Mary Portas's plans to save the high street, claiming many shopping streets are "in a death spiral".
Phil Wrigley, the chairman of Majestic Wine, who has held directorships at New Look, Debenhams and BHS, likened high streets to the shipbuilding industry and said many should be converted to housing.
Ms Portas made 28 recommendations to the Government, including setting up national market days and "town teams" to get retailers, landlords and councils to work more closely together and introduce more free parking.
Mr Wrigley said:
Unlike Mary Portas, I don't think we can continue to try and muddle through, supporting the traditional high street model. There comes a point when the vacancy rate is so high that no new retailers will come in to a location because they don't want to be sited among empty shops. It is, in effect, a death spiral. There is some debate about where the threshold lies but it is probably between 20pc and 30pc.
08.48 Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos is to announce an overhaul of the country's banks this afternoon.
08.28 Benedict Brogan's email focuses on the Miliband brothers:
David Miliband, Labour?s submarine, surfaces and launches a torpedo: the former foreign secretary has an essay in today?s New Statesman (where else?) which is being widely intepreted as an attack on his brother. We've put it on page one and Today is leading on the story.
And though there is some careful praise for Ed, it?s hard not to see it as unhelpful for the Labour leader. As we report in our splash , David M attacks Roy Hattersley and Lord Kinnock (both Ed allies) for adopting what David calls a?reassurance Labour? response to the Coalition government.
08.20 In his daily email today, Telegraph City Editor Richard Fletcher focuses on some of the UK's biggest companies:
Fourth-quarter profits at Royal Dutch Shell are up 14pc as the high oil price made up for dismal margins in its refining business. The oil giant is upbeat: claiming that new projects will drive a 50pc rise in its cashflow and a 25pc rise in oil and gas production in the coming years. Profits are also up at AstraZeneca , although the company has warned that it expects earnings to fall this year as patents on key drugs expire and governments squeeze prices. Alongside its results the UK?s second largest drugmaker has announced plans to cut a further 7,300 jobs. Meanwhile, Unilver chief executive Paul Polman has warned "of a difficult 2012".
08.14 The BBC's Robert Peston on the business events of the past 24 hours:
08.05 Spanish unemployment jumped in January, new figures show. Country saw 177,470 more people out of work last month, higher than an estimated 127,000 and the larget number in three years. Unemployment now stands at 4.6m, or 22.9pc.
08.02 European markets have opened. FTSE 100 is flat, DAX is up 0.4pc, CAC is up 0.8pc, IBEX up 0.7pc, MIB up 0.7pc.
Royal Dutch Shell falls 1.4pc after results missed forecasts, despite its 2011 profit jumping 54pc to nearly $31bn. Xstrata jumps 11.7pc on merger talks.
07.47 More on the rumours that Glencore is nearing an agreement to combine with Xstrata (see 07.15). Xstrata has confirmed it is has received an approach from Glencore regarding an all-share merger of equals and is in talks. Xstrata stressed that there can be no certainty any offer will be made.
07.44 BREAKING NEWS...
Royal Dutch Shell has revealed that its 2011 net profit jumped by 54pc to $30.92bn on the back of higher energy prices.
07.41 A spokesman for the Greek government has said that the bulk of talks with troika lenders is over and just a few sticking points remain.
07.39 Switzerland's exports rebounded 6.1pc in December, imports 7.6pc, trade surplus of CHF2.07bn. Watch exports rose 21pc that month.
07.33 And the winner is... not Kodak. The century-old photography trailblazer has filed a request to pull its name from the Los Angeles theater hosting the Oscars as part of bankruptcy proceedings launched last month.
The request, filed at a New York bankruptcy court, asks for the cancellation of a contract signed in 2001 with developer TrizecHahn Hollywood in which Kodak paid an annual sum to attach its name to the venue.
07.15 Glencore is nearing an agreement to combine with Xstrata in a deal that may value the combined entity at £52bn, Bloomberg said, citing two people with knowledge of the plan. The two commodities-focused companies may announce a deal as early as this week, the people told the news agency.
07.08 BREAKING NEWS...
Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca is to cut 7,300 jobs as part of a restructuring.
The company, which employs 8,000 people in the UK, is looking to axe 2,200 is research and development and 1,350 in operations. It will end R&D activity on two sites focused on neuroscience in Sweden and Canada. Around 3,750 positions in selling, general and administrative expenses will also be affected.
07.05 Key economic data out today include UK PMI construction at 9.30am, eurozone PPI at 10am, and US jobless claims and continuing claims at 1.30pm. We'll have the latest here when they come out.
07.00 Deutsche Bank has announced results. Net income of ?4.3bn for 2011. Q4 revenues of ?6.9bn were down 7pc from a year earlier. Provision for credit losses was ?1.8bn for 2011 versus ?1.3bn in 2010. Chief executive Josef Ackermann sees 2102 as "economically very challenging".
Meanwhile, Sony has reported a net loss of $1.2bn in the October-December quarter. Company blames weak TV sales and strong yen.
06.55 Back to the UK and Adam Posen, Monetary Policy Committee Member, believes things would have been much worse for Britain if the Bank of England hadn't launched quantitative easing.
He adds that inflation will fall all year, just as the BoE forecast.
06.53 First pieces of news coming out China, where Merkel is holding talks with leaders. She says high debt levels are not just a European problem, they are a global problem. She adds that the German market is open to Chinese business but urges the country to imporve its intellectual property protections.
Merkel wants rules for shadow banking to come about within G20 framework in the next two years.
Meanwhile, S&P sees Chinese soft landing as most likely scenario.
06.50 Meanwhile, in the Telegraph, Jeremy Warner asks what the Government has done for British business:
The banker bashing of the political class is now so out of hand it threatens serious damage to the UK economy. The tone and rhetoric is not just anti-banker, it is anti-business and sends all the wrong messages for a country which is meant to be "open for business". The only jobs being created in reasonable numbers in Western economies these days are in healthcare, education and business services. The first two of these sectors are largely public sector, which the Government is cutting as fast as it can. For Britain, the third largely revolves around the City, which the Government undermines with its every word and action.
06.47 In The Independent today, several financial experts offer their views on the future of the euro, with worrying results:
Danny Blanchflower, Professor of Economics, Dartmouth College: ?The fundamental problem that has not been addressed is that there is no growth plan for Greece."
Nouriel Roubini, Professor of Economics, New York University: ?The eurozone is a slow-motion train wreck. Not only Greece, other countries as well are insolvent. There?s a 50pc probability that over the next three to five years the eurozone will break up."
George Soros, currency trader: "We remain in the acute phase of the crisis; the prospect of a meltdown of the global financial system has not been removed. The trouble is that the cuts in government expenditures that Germany wants to impose on other countries will push Europe into a deflationary debt trap."
Alistair Darling, Chancellor of the Exchequer 2007-2010: "I don?t think anyone can realistically say that the eurozone will survive with its present membership and the longer the inaction goes on the greater the chance that one or more countries will be forced out."
Jim O?Neil, Chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management: "The reality is that too many countries joined the euro in the first place and ultimately without dramatic change they can?t probably survive."
Ed Balls, Shadow Chancellor: "Far from being over, I fear the eurozone crisis is this year entering a more chronic, drawn out but equally dangerous phase."
Olli Rehn, Vice President of the European Commission responsible for the euro: "The euro is here to stay and will emerge stronger from the current crisis. The events of the last two years have created the conditions for us to strengthen its foundations decisively."
06.44 Ed Balls has told the Financial Times that a "gaping hole" in the bill to revamp City regulation could prevent important warnings from reaching the Chancellor.
The Shadow Chancellor has criticised some of the extensive powers that the bill would grant to the Governor of the Bank of England, saying that the new structure could stifle dissenting voices.
I don?t think [the current system] can be said to have caused the global crisis. Countries with very different structures got this wrong. We are at best very unconvinced that this [bill] is a comprehensive solution.
Elsewhere in the FT, Kenneth Rogoff, professor of economics at Harvard University, has written a column on a crisis in capitalism:
The idea that Chinese capitalism provides a blueprint for the rest of the world economy is an absurd exaggeration.
06.41 German Chancellor Angela Merkel is in China today to reassure Chinese leaders that Europe is resolving its debt crisis. Merkel is to deliver a speech later at a government think tank and meet Chinese leaders. German officials say Merkel's goals include reassuring Chinese leaders about the stability of the 17-nation euro area. They said she will brief them on this week's meeting of European leaders, who agreed on a treaty to impose new spending controls.
Merkel is expected to press Beijing to buy less Iranian oil to help Western governments pressure Iran to give up a possible nuclear weapons program. China gets more than 10pc of its oil imports from Iran, and Beijing has rejected an embargo.
06.38 Mark Zuckerberg compared the launch of Facebook with the invention of the printing press as the company powered up a $5bn (£3.2bn) initial public offering last night, which is expected to rank as the biggest technology flotation in history.
The Class B shares of Mr Zuckerberg - who owns 28.4pc of the company - will each carry 10 votes, whereas the Class A shares being offered at IPO will have just one vote a piece. The filing said:
[The structure] provides Mr Zuckerberg with the ability to control the outcome of matters requiring stockholder approval, even if he owns significantly less than a majority of the shares.
Key points from Facebook's IPO filing include the fact that the site chalked up $1bn of net income last year, almost doubling the $606m it made in 2010. Revenues shot up to $3.71bn last year from $1.97bn in 2010.
In a letter, Mr Zuckerberg said:
Facebook was not originally created to be a company. It was built to accomplish a social mission ? to make the world more open and connected. We think it?s important that everyone who invests in Facebook understands what this mission means to us, how we make decisions and why we do the things we do... Simply put: we don?t build services to make money; we make money to build better services.
06.30 The Mirror has led on the news that Ravi Sinha, 47, was fined nearly £3m by the City watchdog for fraud but escaped criminal prosecution after his company JC Flowers allegedly refused to help police nail him. City of London Police and JC Flowers yesterday blamed each other for the scandal ? both accusing the other of having no appetite for prosecution.
Meanwhile, The Times says Lloyds is preparing to hand investment banking chief Truett Tate a £4.8m payout as he leaves the bank as part of a management reshuffle
06.25 This morning's business pages are split between the state of the UK economy and Facebook filing for its IPO:
06.15 Good morning and welcome back to our debt crisis live blog.
Debt crisis live: archive
In the week since Mitt Romney released his tax returns, the media has been abuzz with debate over his career history, his method of compensation, his amazingly high income and his incredibly low tax rate. Amid all the chatter, many pundits -- among them, DailyFinance's Dan Caplinger -- have wondered why more people don't take advantage of the deliciously low capital gains, dividend and carried interest tax rates that Romney enjoys. 
Valentine's Day is coming, which means that tens of millions of husbands and boyfriends are getting ready to drop money on Whitman's samplers and overpay for red roses. But there are other options out there -- and we know that our faithful DailyFinance readers have explored at least a few of them.
According to Homeland Security officials, the amount of counterfeit merchandise entering the United States is increasing, and the problem is especially acute in the lead-up to an event like the Super Bowl. For instance, federal agents recently seized more than $6 million of counterfeited goods and shut down more than 300 illegal websites in an action dubbed "Operation Fake Sweep." The 42,000 confiscated items include jerseys, hats and jackets. 
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