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Wall Street Derivatives Lobby Links With New Democrats to Blunt Obama Plan As President Barack Obama vowed in a Sept. 14 speech in New York’s Federal Hall to correct “reckless behavior and unchecked excess” on Wall Street, Mike McMahon and Barney Frank sat in the audience discussing how to ease proposed rules for the $592 trillion over-the-counter derivatives market.

Worst BRIC China Becomes Best Buy for Fisher, Schiff on Consumer Rebound China’s stocks, the worst performers among the largest emerging markets in the third quarter, are poised to rebound as investors say shares are too cheap to pass up with economic growth accelerating.

Cameron's Debt Fix Called `Bizarre,' `Wrong' by Ex-Central Bank Officials Conservative leader David Cameron’s suggestion that the Bank of England end its asset purchases soon was criticized by two former central bank officials, a setback to the opposition’s effort to build credibility on the economy.

Thomson Default-Swaps Settlement May Snarl Debt Restructurings in Europe Debt restructurings in Europe may get tougher to complete after creditors that agreed to take part in the reorganization of Thomson SA were hampered in how they can settle credit-default swaps on the debt.

Jamie Oliver Seeks $22 Million From Investors for Restaurants Across Asia Jamie Oliver and his venture partner are seeking $22 million from private investors to help fund 30 of the U.K. celebrity chef’s Italian restaurants across Asia.

Surge in Stocks Reaching 52-Week Highs Sends Bullish Signal: Chart of Day More U.S. stocks are trading at 52- week highs than at any time since June 2007, a sign to some investors that the steepest rally in 70 years may be sustained.

Monsanto Forecasts African Farmers Will Increase Planting of Biotech Crops Monsanto Co., the world’s biggest seed producer, expects African countries to increase planting of genetically-modified crops to boost food security and economic development as the region is affected by climate change.

Cocaine Survivors Find Losing London Bonus Brings Ending to Bubble's Binge Neill Junor remembers the exact moment he decided to quit snorting cocaine. On a chilly December afternoon in 2005, the former equities analyst took a stroll in London’s deer-filled Richmond Park to select the tree from which he would hang himself.

I-Believe-in-a-Strong-Dollar Refrain Becomes Relic as China Begs Stability More than a decade after former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin made the “strong dollar” national policy, currency traders say the same words coming from the Obama administration have little meaning.

BlackBerry's U2 Love Comes With Budget No Label Can Match as Artists Flee Irish rockers U2 will step on stage tomorrow in Tampa, Florida, helped by BlackBerry’s sponsorship of their world tour in a deal no record company could offer.

Harvard Losing Money With External Managers Helps Mendillo Return to Roots Losing money with 86 percent of its fund managers last year is giving Jane Mendillo, chief executive officer of Harvard Management Co., a big excuse to return to the university’s investing roots by making more of its own decisions on what to buy and sell.

Shoppers With Money in Hand Find Less Luxury to Buy at Saks, Neiman Stores Jennifer Prentice spent half of what she usually does when she and a friend shopped at Neiman Marcus Group Inc., Saks Inc. and Nordstrom Inc. stores on a recent business trip to San Francisco. They weren’t cutting back. They just didn’t find much to buy.

Italian Makers of $100 Million Yachts Resist Rivals' `Suicide' Price Cuts Italy’s largest yacht makers are resisting the price cuts started by overseas rivals and will target wealthy consumers by offering more services and eco- friendlier vessels.

Vivendi May Prefer to Concede Price Battle for Brazil's GVT to Telefonica Vivendi SA, whose planned acquisition of Brazilian phone operator GVT (Holding) SA was derailed by a counter-bid from Telefonica SA yesterday, may walk away from a fight that analysts say the company is bound to lose.

`Disruptive' Kamei Roils Japan's Markets, Hatoyama's Cabinet With Comments In the three weeks since becoming Japan’s financial services minister, Shizuka Kamei has sent bank stocks plunging, accused the central bank of sleeping on the job and blamed the nation’s biggest business lobby for increasing the murder and suicide rates.

Hamas Finds Gazan Tunnel Investors' Losing $500 Million Worse Than Madoff Investment opportunities are rare in the Gaza Strip. So when Nabila Ghabin saw one last year, she pawned her car and jewelry and put $12,000 into a network of tunnels that brought in supplies smuggled from Egypt.

Winters Shows JPMorgan Bankers a Path to Safety, Dimon Shows Him the Door William Winters told a former colleague in London six months ago that JPMorgan Chase & Co. shunned the structured products and off-balance sheet vehicles that crippled global markets because they didn’t make financial sense.

Britain Risked `Bank Runs, Riots' as RBS, HBOS Neared Collapse Last Year A year ago today, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and HBOS Plc were close to collapse, causing a chain reaction that could have ended with riots in U.K. cities, security analysts and economists said.

RBS Faced Risk of Full Seizure by Brown at 2008 Crisis Climax, Gieve Says Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc posed such a threat to the British and global financial systems at the height of the crisis last year that Prime Minister Gordon Brown could have ended up fully seizing the bank, former Bank of England official John Gieve said.