Daily News Roundup 2012: Tuesday 13 March

Good morning

The headlines:

1. In the more boring segment, the EU Finance Ministers are meeting this week to approve the Greek bailout package payment. Is that their official job description? "Hi, my Name is Eufin Anceminister, and I approve Greek bailouts"? Because that's all they seem to do. They must have good snacks. It makes me wonder if every week a new country takes a turn. And if they tell Poland to skip it because no one likes pickled herring. In any case - they're meeting now because Greece has met the debt swap requirement. Link: Greek bailout package to be approved.
2. The US is taking China to World (Trade Organisation) court over Rare Earth metals. They join Japan and the EU in feeling that China is being uncompetitive about their exports of Rare Earths ("Rare Earths" are the collective term for "17 chemically similar metallic elements used in making batteries, electric cars and wind turbines"). According to the US Geological Survey, China accounts for 95% of the global supply of rare earths. When China imposed an export quota on these metals in 2010, prices soared. Hence the complaint. The only real question in my mind is whether China is the global supplier because of its Chinese mines in China; or because of its Chinese mines in the rest of the world (ie. Africa). Link: US fights with China over minerals.
3. And in other suing news, Yahoo is suing Facebook for some kind of infringement. Like Yahoo sued Google (or, at least, their California-based entity Mountain View). Google settled the case by offering stock. Is this how Yahoo plans to survive? Link: Yahoo accuses Facebook of advertising-related infringement.
4. China's Money Market Rate has increased significantly after the Central Reserve Bank almost doubled the sale of repurchase contracts from a week ago. This is in an effort to drain liquidity from the market. Why? Around 254 billion yuan of Central Bank bills and repurchase agreements mature this month (compared to 12 billion worth in February). That's a lot of money to enter the market at once: so the CCB sells repurchase agreements to soak up the extra cash. Link: China's money market rate increases.
5. And more LIBOR pessimism, as investors call for an overhaul of how it's determined. Link: LIBOR: less guessing and more verifying.
6. And the Africa Business News in brief. Link: ABN Briefs. The highlights:
• Ethiopia's year-on-year inflation is up to 36.3% in February. Many countries in East Africa are suffering from double-digit inflation on the back of poor rainfall, low harvests and surging oil prices.
• The African Development Bank has granted Kenya a loan of 21.8 billion shillings for the construction of roads and energy projects.
• Anadarko Petroleum has announced that its first flow test offshore Mozambique has confirmed the deliverability of the reservoir.

That's all for now.

Have a great Tuesday.