Saturday Papers: Osborne backs Bank action - other news

Financial Times

* George Osborne has given the green light to the Bank of England to pump more money into the economy.

* US lost worst-than-expected 95,000 jobs in September underlining the US economy’s chronic weakness and removing the last major hurdle to a new stimulus programme by the Federal Reserve; the unemployment rate held steady at 9.6% and the private sector created 64,000 jobs last month.

* US stocks higher on hopes of monetary intervention; the S&P 500 closed up 0.6 per cent to 1,165.15 on Friday, higher by 1.8% over the week; the Dow Jones Industrial Average had gained 0.5% to close at 11,006.48, up 1.9% over the five days; the Nasdaq Composite closed 0.8% higher at 2,401.91, gaining 1.5% on the week.

* The Office for National Statistics said the output price index for manufactured products rose by a stronger than expected 0.3% in September.

* Fears of a global food crisis swept the world’s commodity markets as prices for staples such as corn, rice and wheat spiralled after the US government warned of “dramatically” lower supplies.

* Bank of America said that it would halt foreclosures across the US amid mounting pressure from lawmakers for an industrywide investigation into the practices of leading lenders; JPMorgan Chase and GMAC have also suspended foreclosures in some states.

* Policymakers at this weekend’s International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington warned about a currency war and the dangers of failing to co-operate to cut global imbalances.

* The United Arab Emirates said it would not go ahead with the suspension of BlackBerry mobile communication services next week, saying the provider now complied with the Gulf’s state’s regulatory framework.

* Labour leader Ed Miliband has appointed Alan Johnson as shadow chancellor denying Ed Balls the coveted post.

* Speedy Hire said it expected to report an operating loss for the six months to September and said it would take a potential £3.4m hit from the demise of Connaught.

The Times