CA-BUSINESS Summary

Bank of Canada should hike rates to pop bubble: former BoC aide

OTTAWA (Reuters) - The Bank of Canada should raise interest rates now because five years of low rates are creating distortions in the economy, such as excessive debt and an overheated housing market, a former adviser to central bank Governor Mark Carney said on Wednesday. In a hawkish stand at odds with most economists and market players, Paul Masson, now a professor at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management, said the central bank should tighten monetary policy to lean against asset price bubbles rather than focus exclusively on inflation.

Analysis - Blackstone and peers have a bargain for you: themselves

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Alternative asset managers such as Blackstone Group LP and KKR & Co LP have for decades scoured the stock market for undervalued companies. Now they are trying to convince investors that shares in their own firms are a bargain. As a group, their valuations tend to be weighed down by at least three factors. Because they have gone public relatively recently, their track record as public companies is relatively short. The presentation of their results is complicated and makes comparisons difficult. What is more, their founders and partners have retained significant stakes, which can be negative for their stock when investors fear a significant share sale.

ECB rate cut talk pressures euro, lifts Bunds

LONDON (Reuters) - The euro slipped against the dollar and German bond prices rose on Thursday on investor positioning for more monetary easing by the European Central Bank following a run of weak economic data. Those expectations are likely to be reinforced when euro zone inflation data for April is released at 0900 GMT (5 a.m. EDT), which is expected to show an annual rate of just 1.2 percent, well below the central bank's target range.

Chief executives and the itch to quit

LONDON (Reuters) - On approaching his 60th birthday this year, long-serving Tullow Oil boss Aidan Heavey told staff he felt "like two 30 year-olds". A handful of recent shock departures by 50-something chief executives at European blue chip companies - none of them under any obvious pressure to quit - suggest some of his peers either lack that vigor, or want to channel it elsewhere.

Insight: Dimon has big say over who serves on JPMorgan board

(Reuters) - For years, JPMorgan Chase & Co Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon and other executives have hand-picked new directors, in a practice that is now unusual for a major U.S. bank. The JPMorgan board's governance committee, responsible for hiring new members, relies almost entirely on referrals from management to find director nominees, according to two sources familiar with the bank's practices and a review of bank regulatory filings. All of the other 10 largest U.S. banks say they use executive search firms, which have knowledge of a range of possible candidates.

JPMorgan presses Bloomberg on reporters' access to data

NEW YORK (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co , one of the biggest customers of Bloomberg LP, said on Wednesday it has sent a formal legal request asking the financial data and news company to provide details of what bank information Bloomberg News reporters had been able to see. JPMorgan's statement comes after Bloomberg acknowledged late last week that its reporters had limited access to data about clients' terminal usage, such as when a customer logs in, contacts the help desk or delves into the system for information about assets, such as equities or bonds.

Judge orders Dow Chemical to pay $1.2 billion in price-fixing case

(Reuters) - A federal judge in Kansas City, Kansas, ordered Dow Chemical Co on Wednesday to pay $1.2 billion in a price-fixing case involving chemicals used to make foam products in cars, furniture and packaging, according to court documents. Dow was one of several chemical company defendants named in a 2005 class action lawsuit alleging a conspiracy to fix urethane chemical prices, but it was the only defendant not to settle.

BP to ask UK government to intervene on Gulf spill payments: BBC

LONDON (Reuters) - British oil company BP wants Prime Minister David Cameron to intervene with the U.S. government over the escalating cost of compensating U.S. companies for the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster in 2010, the BBC reported Thursday. BP is still fighting a court battle in New Orleans over fines and other potential spill liabilities, but it struck a deal last year with a wide range of compensation claimants, including businesses.

Global growth jitters trigger TSX drop

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index slumped on Wednesday, with every major sector trading in the red, after sluggish data from Europe and the United States renewed fears about the global economic recovery. Investors were discouraged by data showing U.S. factory output dropped in April and manufacturing activity in New York state contracted this month. Further, wholesale prices recorded their largest decline in three years.

Quebec seeks fracking moratorium in shale gas rich area

OTTAWA (Reuters) - The Canadian province of Quebec, citing public concerns, unveiled a bill on Wednesday to impose a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking, in a region rich in shale gas deposits. The province's minority Parti Quebecois government needs opposition support to adopt the moratorium - which would last a maximum of five years. It would ban gas exploration and extraction in the Lowlands region of the St Lawrence River, site of the rich Utica and Lorraine shale gas formations.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ca-business-summary-015618024.html

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